Maul Question

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FLINT77

Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
836
Hey guys,

The handle on my splitting maul was cracked due to runout (although it took YEARS of extreme use with an 8lb maul to start the crack so I'm not sure runout on an axe handle is a super big deal) - so I decided to pull the head.

While I had it off I thought I'd check it for any identifying characteristics.

The only thing I can find on it reads:
WEAR
SAFETY GOGGLES
U S A
all very nicely centered on the side of the head


the head is 9" long, and the edge is 3 7/8" wide. it weights 8lbs




I've done some searches and it seems that the safety goggle warning stamp started probably in the late 70s.

There is no telling where the head came from, but I know that I've been using it since the 90s. My family has burned wood for generations though I believe my father and previous generations generally used axes in NY. we moved to VA in the 80s. After around 1990, I split most of our wood with splitting mauls, and we always seemed to have a pile of mauls in various states of repair, one or two with good handles, some with cracked handles, and then some heads laying around. As an older teen in the mid 90s I spent some time with one of those cursed monster mauls with the round metal handle.
Anyways, at some point as a young man, and after several years and many many cords of wood, I picked this maul head as my favorite, due to shape, weight (8lbs), and the fact that it has an axe eye which I preferred to the sledge eye mauls.

I've done some searches, and it seems that the ones with the US in a circle stamp were woodlings verona, and the ones with the M6 or M8 were collins. But I haven't found any mauls in my web searches with this exact stamp.

If anyone has a guess, let me know. Its not a huge deal and I don't really care that much, but you know how it is. I've split so many cords of wood with this maul its just crazy.

Oh right, and the last thing. I don't know whats up with the steel in this maul but its insanely hard. My Bahco axe file that plows through any of my vintage axes will not even scratch the edge of this maul. I thought I should try to maybe tidy up the edge for the first time in almost 30 years of splitting, but I almost couldn't. I got the belt sander after it which might have done something, but I didn't spend a lot of time on it.
 
I know there's a couple "wear safety goggles" maul heads floating around here. If it helps any, my dad probably got them in the 90's at I think it was Home Builders Outlet (put out of business by Home Depot). They split better than my WV oregon woodchoppers maul. Now our BIBER hand forged maul was great, nothing could stop it until the handle broke a second time. I learned Traditional Woodworking (where we got the maul) had stopped carrying the handles for it. I'm gonna have to modify a pick handle if I can't find someone else that carries the handle soon.
 
David Martin said:
T thunderstick , the 'control' you speak of; is this the same as an accurate swing or indexing the edge? Or something else? Thanks, DM
Click to expand...

I always found it easier to index with the axe eye handles.

The worst was the round metal handle of the monster maul. Pretty jarring when you come down full force and hit the round with the side of the head .
 
That's what I'd call it. Indexing. Knowing which way the bit is turned. I think octagoning a haft improves indexing even more.
 
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I use this technique as well. It works sometimes on my Emory oak wood. That looks like pine they are splitting in the videos and that technique should work well on that wood. Tom Clark was splitting something else perhaps Dog wood. Yes, indexing. An oval shaped handle does help with splitting as it improves accuracy of the bit strike. DM
 
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FLINT77 said:
Hey guys,

The handle on my splitting maul was cracked due to runout (although it took YEARS of extreme use with an 8lb maul to start the crack so I'm not sure runout on an axe handle is a super big deal) - so I decided to pull the head.

While I had it off I thought I'd check it for any identifying characteristics.

The only thing I can find on it reads:
WEAR
SAFETY GOGGLES
U S A
all very nicely centered on the side of the head


the head is 9" long, and the edge is 3 7/8" wide. it weights 8lbs




I've done some searches and it seems that the safety goggle warning stamp started probably in the late 70s.

There is no telling where the head came from, but I know that I've been using it since the 90s. My family has burned wood for generations though I believe my father and previous generations generally used axes in NY. we moved to VA in the 80s. After around 1990, I split most of our wood with splitting mauls, and we always seemed to have a pile of mauls in various states of repair, one or two with good handles, some with cracked handles, and then some heads laying around. As an older teen in the mid 90s I spent some time with one of those cursed monster mauls with the round metal handle.
Anyways, at some point as a young man, and after several years and many many cords of wood, I picked this maul head as my favorite, due to shape, weight (8lbs), and the fact that it has an axe eye which I preferred to the sledge eye mauls.

I've done some searches, and it seems that the ones with the US in a circle stamp were woodlings verona, and the ones with the M6 or M8 were collins. But I haven't found any mauls in my web searches with this exact stamp.

If anyone has a guess, let me know. Its not a huge deal and I don't really care that much, but you know how it is. I've split so many cords of wood with this maul its just crazy.

Oh right, and the last thing. I don't know whats up with the steel in this maul but its insanely hard. My Bahco axe file that plows through any of my vintage axes will not even scratch the edge of this maul. I thought I should try to maybe tidy up the edge for the first time in almost 30 years of splitting, but I almost couldn't. I got the belt sander after it which might have done something, but I didn't spend a lot of time on it.
Click to expand...
Mann era Collins Maul
collins-usa-m8-splitting-maul-axe_1_b5860b90d100167221b1745acbed6c07.jpg

collins-usa-m8-splitting-maul-axe_1_b5860b90d100167221b1745acbed6c07.jpg

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/collins-usa-m8-splitting-maul-axe-1898263598
 
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SWEET! That must be it. the third picture shows the same stamp as mine, except I don't think mine has the M or the 8 but they could just be from a slightly different time period. The dimensions listed in the ad are exactly the same as mine.



Thanks!
 
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