Tools
- Wedged mauls
- A typical maul for wood splitting will have a head weighing in region of 4 kg (8 lbs). Traditionally, mauls have a wedge-shaped head, but some modern versions have conical heads or swiveling sub-wedges. The original maul resembles an axe but with a broader head. For splitting wood, this tool is much better than a typical axe. The weight of it is more advantageous and due to its width, it is less likely to become stuck in the wood. The wedge section of a maul head must be slightly convex to avoid jamming and it cannot have the elongated "hollow ground" concave-section that a cutting axe may use. Unlike an axe, maul handles are normally straight and closer to round than the elongated oval axe handles tend to be. A maul's handle, unlike an axe, is intentionally used for levering as well as swinging. The handles are typically made from hickory, though synthetic fibreglass handles have become common. Plastic handles are more difficult to break and their factory-attached heads are less likely to work free with the levering action of a maul. In the early 1970s a triangular head design with an unbreakable metal handle was introduced called the "Monster Maul."
- Separate wedges
- Splitting may also be done with a separate wedge and a large hammer. As this allows several wedges to be used together, it permits larger logs to be split. To avoid mushrooming the head of the wedge, they are driven with a heavy wooden mallet rather than an iron hammer. In parts of England the word "maul" denotes this tool with a very heavy wooden head. It is also known as a beetle; there is a well known pub on the River Thames at Moulsford called the Beetle and Wedge.
- Powered log splitters
- Hydraulic log splitters are commonly used today. They can be either horizontal or vertical.
Read more about this topic: Splitting Maul
Famous quotes containing the word tools:
“Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute power for the time being, are always the destroyers of it too; by frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“At the utmost, the active-minded young man should ask of his teacher only mastery of his tools. The young man himself, the subject of education, is a certain form of energy; the object to be gained is economy of his force; the training is partly the clearing away of obstacles, partly the direct application of effort. Once acquired, the tools and models may be thrown away.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“No man is born into the world, whose work
Is not born with him; there is always work,
And tools to work withal, for those who will:
And blessèd are the horny hands of toil!”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)