Splitting Maul Handle Lengths

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knight63

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Jan 17, 2014
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I have been thinking about buying a new splitting maul or splitting axe, but have been disappointed to find out that most of the Scandinavian companies like Gransfors or Husqvarna only make them with a handle of 31" or less. I am used to using at least a 36" handle on my mauls. I am sure the shorter handles give you a bit more control and accuracy, but I am not sure it is enough to make up for the extra power and reach of the longer handle. Are there more advantages to the shorter handle or am I making a big deal out of nothing? Thanks
 
I'm 5'11", and the 31" handle on the GB Maul feels very good to me. Not too short, and the tool splits on the mark. FYI, I normally swing a 33-34" axe for falling. By the way, GB makes their splitting axe in both 27" and 31", if you don't want the maul.

In contrast, Fiskars makes excellent splitting tools, and has a 36" splitting axe. Not the same style as other Euro axes, but cheaper and more durable.

A lot of adults use splitters on even shorter handles- 28" or so.
 
outdoors i use a 90cm(35,43 let's say 36!;)) plastic haft,and for indoor splitting a short wooden 60 cm (23.62 you can have it for 24!:D)
 
I use a hardware store special (recently re-profiled thanks to some suggestions here) with a 36 inch handle. My chopping block is about a foot and a half high and I'm 6'5". Once in my teen years while using a shorter handle I hit a large knot in some pine I was splitting and had the blade glance to the side where it found my left shin. By some miracle I did not break my leg but I've never been in that much pain before or since. With the longer handles I use since then a miss or glance goes into the dirt, not my leg. I don't find any issues with control; I don't use wedges and I split stubborn rounds by having the aim to hit the same spot repeatedly.
 
I've always looked at mauls as being crude cousins to an axe; namely axe blade physics mated to the characteristics of a sledge. Because of that I've never really used a maul very much and instead rely on setting splitting wedges and then steadily doing the dirty work with an ordinary sledge. When I was a 'young buck' the sledge might have been 8 or 10 pounds but nowadays I'm quite content to knock on a steel wedge a few more times with a long handled 7 pounder. To me a longer handle is a freebie gain to increase the striking inertia.
An old gentlemen I befriended (who grew up on a farm in the 20s and 30s) exclusively used a 'pulp axe' (what is now often referred to as a chainsaw axe) for splitting wood! For him it was not a matter of striking hard but choosing where to hit, watching the knots, reading the grain beforehand and then making a strategic wrist twist when the blade struck wood. It really was an eye-opener to watch the wiry old guy (he was in his 70s at the time) turn large gnarly maple and oak rounds into firewood at a steady pace.
 
An old gentlemen I befriended (who grew up on a farm in the 20s and 30s) exclusively used a 'pulp axe' (what is now often referred to as a chainsaw axe) for splitting wood! For him it was not a matter of striking hard but choosing where to hit, watching the knots, reading the grain beforehand and then making a strategic wrist twist when the blade struck wood. It really was an eye-opener to watch the wiry old guy (he was in his 70s at the time) turn large gnarly maple and oak rounds into firewood at a steady pace.
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I have never heard the terms pulp or chainsaw axe before. Is it just a normal felling axe? I have practiced using a regular double bit and the "wrist twist" and I found it to be effective, but my wrist kept hurting more and more so I quit trying. I am sure I was doing something incorrectly, but I don't know what.
 
I prefer 36" for mauls, because at that point I'm dealing with nasty pieces and want the extra inertia and with that the additional safety of distance. I typically use a chopping block for all splitting--for safety, to preserve the honed edge of the maul, and to have solid resistance to the blow.
 
I restored a Collins 7lb & put a 36" handle on it. I'm 6'3" and don't really care for the extra length over my 26" monster maul. Just picked a new 8lb head and bought a 30" handle for it. Hoping this will be a good length for smaller logs.
 
knight63 said:
I have never heard the terms pulp or chainsaw axe before. Is it just a normal felling axe?
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I'm not well versed in axe terminology either but 'pulp axe' is how the old Hastings County, Ontario gentleman described his and that matches pretty well with what Garant axes in Canada call a 'chainsaw axe'. The one I have (pictured in the "Ardex axe" thread in this forum) has a 2 1/2 lb head and a 25 inch handle. May well be that also matches the description of 'boys axe' (sizes and properties of which I know nothing) in that they're fairly short and light (for an axe) and very useful for limbing branches, chopping small/medium trees, and recovering chainsaw bars when they're pinched tight in a saw log.
 
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