If you intend to use a maul on a bit of wood, then this is no replacement at all!! If you are going to use a a big axe then maybe. If it is a job for a small axe or knife then this will make it safer and quicker. For me it is the fact I don't have to keep bending down to pick up bits makes it all worthwhile.
I tend to work on the idea of "split half" . Cut a log in two, cut one half in two and then one of those into 2. Work my way down to something that birch bark will lit. The little stick will light the bigger one which in turn provides the heat to get big guys going.
I totally get the part about not bending down to collect the bits you split off, thats the one part about splitting big rounds thats hardest work in my opinion.
When I say maul people assume I'm kind of going crazy with it but as its a large heavy object with a wide wedge shape its easy to choke my grip right up by the head and chop quarter inch strips with it if I want.
Even my wife who's 5'2" and no powerhouse cuts kindling the same way with ease.
Mind, a lot of the time its cut from cladding boards or skirting offcuts from my work. Still, its easy enough to cut a big round up small enough to do it with that also.
Sometimes its easier to hold the kindling against the blade and move both the axe and kindling towards the chopping block as you're less likely to lop a finger that way.
Years ago I got a 7 Lb maul off a co-worker after someone had used it to break into his office then they left the maul.
Think I gave him a fiver for it. Since then I've been surprised at how versatile it is, from demolishing block walls at work, breaking concrete floor slabs, splitting decent sized sycamore and oak tree rounds through to gently splitting kindling.
Id go as far as to say I'll pick that for kindling over my Husqvarna hatchet any day. The hatchet needs a lot more speed and proper sharpness, I can do with that but unless I have to carry it a long way Id rather not.
Wouldn't fit in a daypack though eh?
I understand that when people hear the word maul they assume its full on two handed radgeness, its not, just the maul raising and dropping maybe six inches or so.
We all find the ways we find fastest/safest/most comfortable.
You found you way, nice one.
kinslingsplitter
