Top Performing Splitting Tools

Looking for opinions from folks who have hands on experience:

On one hand you have the composite handle tools: Of course the widely known X27, the Husky S2800, the newer Fiskars Isocore, and then the cheaper fiberglass handled mauls and splitting axes.

In the wood handled corner it sounds as though the Gransfors Splitting Maul and Splitting Axe are top of the heap along with Stilh/Big Ox selections followed by a whole host of other tools both expensive and cheap.

So...on the wood handled side, is there anything under the sun that will out perform Gransfors tools?

 

not from what I have researched. I bought the Stihl/Oxhead and it works well. But I can not afford the Gransfors. Wetterlings might be another option just shy of Gransfors

 

Bang for the buck, Fiskars, have not seen anything negative about them. Even warranty for broken handles everyone one says no questions asked. The reviews say they work to. I am happy with mine for the limited use it gets.
No experience with the high end stuff, sorry.

 

I'd love to get a Gransfors, but I think most of the time it would hang on the wall. I split all of my wood by hand, and I probably would have broken the handle on my Fiskars dozens of times by now if it was wooden. I may get one eventually, but it's hard for me to justify spending $200+ on a splitting tool with a weaker handle when the Fiskars already works so well.

 

No argument here that the Fiskars and S2800 are the best "general purpose" tools. But when you get into tougher stuff the Fiskars does have it's limitations as that is not what it was built for.

I'd be curious to see how the Isocore would stack up against the heavy Stihl and Gransfors.

 

My original maul of 3kg (6.6lbs) was of unknown make and did a reasonable job of splitting. Big rounds with knots and dead branches running through them made the work difficult, however. I then got a Muller maul 5KG (11lbs) from Austria. It was a much superior animal altogether. Rounds that were difficult to split before became much easier. It is sharp and holds a good edge. For lighter stuff, I shorten the grip and I dont take a full swing. The item comes in a number of different weights. It is not cheap, but is worth the extra money.

The gransfors bruks has been mentioned. No doubt, it is a quality tool, but at 5lbs it is too light for a lot of the stuff that I and other people split.

 

11LBS, that one will put hair on a boy's chest pretty quickly!

 

My wrists hurt just thinking about that monster! I love splitting with an axe but I'd never punish myself with something that heavy.

The formula for the kinetic energy of an object is ½mv² - IE ½ it's mass times the square of it's velocity. So physics would actually suggest that a lighter axe head that can be swung faster is better. Plus a lighter one doesn't wear you out as fast.

 

I agree in a "yes, but" manner.

Achieving equal kinetic energy of a 4 lb splitting axe or 11 lb maul can be the same if the 4lb axe is swung faster. However, the amount energy is retained in the head as it begins to split can vary and give the advantage to the heavier tool. Of course the shape of the head on the tool is one very important variable as well.

In example is elm or knotty rounds. The Fiskars does not excel in this medium, where a heavier tool can bully it's way through.

 

also the lighter head is going to give you more accuracy and control.

we used to have a 20 lb sledge hammer for busting concrete, that was a real treat to swing.

 

you are probably able to swing the heavier tool fast enough, that the energy is greater and appears to work better but it actually is not. 50 lbs force is 50 lbs. you need to swing the lighter one faster to be equal.

 

Well I only have the one axe, so if I need the maul, I just use the power stroke. Swung at the same speed, the heavier tool does more work. But when the weight starts to affect your speed, you'll begin to have diminishing returns in power. Theoretically. The best tool is probably going to be whatever you're most comfortable with.

Both of your examples involve wood with difficult grain. The key for both of these is understanding the wood grain and keeping it from working against you as much.

The trick with elm is to get the axe sharp, that way it can sever the interlocked grain fibers on the way thru. It also helps tremendously if its dry. Most of the dry standing dead elm I've run across hasn't been bad. Its no fun when its green though, as the saturated fibers will want to compress rather than split.

For knots, most of the time I find its more effort to try to work around them than to go right through them. If you've ever caught the side of a knot just right, you'll know it can be a real bell ringer. The trunk grain is turning around the knot and acts like a spring. But if you can split them radially in half, the grain in this orientation lines up vertically and it actually gives up pretty easy.

 

This conversation is getting interesting. To get the same power from say a three and a half pound axe and an 11 pound maul would mean swinging the axe at a speed that is probably impossible to achieve, and even if it were, it could not be sustained. Working in the real World, I know that it is pointless using the light axe against big knotty rounds, no matter how fast I swing (and remember there is a limit to how fast a person can actually swing), but using the bigger mass of the maul gets results that any amount of speed in the lighter implement would not achieve.

 

I think we're saying the same thing here. If you're comfortable swinging that sucker, there isn't anything that's going to stop it. I'm just a one axe kinda guy. If its not going down with the Fiskars, I switch to the chainsaw.

 

My 11 pounder will not split really difficult rounds. Then I take out the wedges and the sledgehammer, and the miscreant is split in half. At that point, it is usually possible to finish off the job with the maul.

 

Now that you mention wrists, mine are not particularly strong. I wrap a bandage around each of them fairly tightly before I start using the maul. Then I have no problems. It must be genetic. My father had the same issue.

 

I mean no disrespect but if the maul is hurting your wrists to the point you need to wrap them before using the maul, I would say that maul is too heavy!!!

 

If I am doing a lot of work with say a shovel, spade or a fork/pike, I have to do the same thing. If I lift something very heavy without taking these precautions, my left wrist in particular is sore for a day or two. My father, who was a farmer always wore a wristband on his left hand. I'm blaming the genes.

 

I just noticed: we both joined FHC on the same day

 

I have to agree, i have used 2 axes and a maul, if the Fiskars don't split it, fire pit pile.