For those who aren't familiar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_maul -- but I have to laugh to notice that the "related" tools listed are Sledgehammer, Axe, and War hammer.
You're offering solutions that take significant strength -- someone who can't safely swing a splitting maul or 20lb sledgehammer could still use this axe and get a much better result than a normal axe, I think. A maul is great until you get tired and hit a glancing blow; at which point you've got a heavy steel wedge flying off at high velocity, and you'd better be strong enough to hold on the other end of the handle.
My brother and I split a lot of wood as teenagers; our family heated our house in NY with a wood-burning fireplace insert, using wood from the forested acre or so around the house.
We definitely just powered through problematic logs, though -- e.g., splitting maul, and we'd swing it hard. We had a couple of steel wedges and a sledgehammer but hardly ever used them; normally it was faster to just beat the heck out of the knotted/wet/whatever log with the maul.
I'm certainly curious to see how the eccentric axe handles bad wood -- though in any case I suspect it'd decently handle the same logs a maul would, but requiring less strength. You could always fall back to wedges plus a light sledge (and patience) for the really nasty logs.
When your using a good size maul, you really should let gravity do the work for most of the logs. You really should only have to swing through on really tough ones. (That isn't to say you don't need some strength -- picking up a heavy maul over your head is not easy.)
I split a lot of wood in high school, while working for a tree cutting company. After half a day of splitting with a 15-lb head, steel handled maul you'd be unable to make a fist from the shock your hands took. We used to have wood splitting competitions, in which you'd pick logs for your opponents. I still remember one exceptionally knotty piece of cherry that a guy who I was working with found for me. While he split all his logs, the maul would just bounce of that log.
I don't disagree -- esp. with decent logs, the strength you need for a maul is more about safety when things go wrong than about swinging it; i.e., strength grants control rather than brute force.
The head is heavy and out on a long handle specifically so you can apply a lot of force just starting up high and letting it drop to the wood, but that works against you if you miss your target and it goes flying off to the side.
And of course, if you've been at it for a while and are tiring, or you're less strong to begin with, aim suffers.
> ...the maul would just bounce of that log
I remember a few like that! I'll bet it was also pretty green and/or water logged... that would have that effect.
You're offering solutions that take significant strength -- someone who can't safely swing a splitting maul or 20lb sledgehammer could still use this axe and get a much better result than a normal axe, I think. A maul is great until you get tired and hit a glancing blow; at which point you've got a heavy steel wedge flying off at high velocity, and you'd better be strong enough to hold on the other end of the handle.
My brother and I split a lot of wood as teenagers; our family heated our house in NY with a wood-burning fireplace insert, using wood from the forested acre or so around the house.
We definitely just powered through problematic logs, though -- e.g., splitting maul, and we'd swing it hard. We had a couple of steel wedges and a sledgehammer but hardly ever used them; normally it was faster to just beat the heck out of the knotted/wet/whatever log with the maul.
I'm certainly curious to see how the eccentric axe handles bad wood -- though in any case I suspect it'd decently handle the same logs a maul would, but requiring less strength. You could always fall back to wedges plus a light sledge (and patience) for the really nasty logs.