How sharp should a maul be?

DeadboxHero said:
Keep thinning it until it doesn't bounce
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Axes are designed to slice and mauls (and splitters) are meant to cleave. My splitters are merely kept pointy and acute angled enough so that they don't bounce out of the wood. Making them super sharp only increases the chances of sticking if the wood doesn't separate.
 
300Six said:
Axes are designed to slice and mauls (and splitters) are meant to cleave. My splitters are merely kept pointy and acute angled enough so that they don't bounce out of the wood. Making them super sharp only increases the chances of sticking if the wood doesn't separate.
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Yup, that's why I thin them until they don't bounce,no further

out the box alot of mauls are too thick and lose energy on strikes from lack of penetration.

Thats what works for me
 
DeadboxHero said:
Yup, that's why I thin them until they don't bounce, no further.
out the box alot of mauls are too thick and lose energy on strikes from lack of penetration.
That's what works for me
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Aficionados and purists are going to jump all over this statement. "Travesty; you traitors (DBH and 300) don't file, sand, hone and polish edges right down to 4000 grit?" Priorities change when winter is coming, time is limited and there's a mountain of wood needs to be split. Mirror-sharp-bladed mauls are pretty to look at but they don't accomplish any more work than does one that didn't undergo time-consuming 'well beyond necessary' effort.
Five, ten, fifteen years from now I'm supposing it'll become commonplace for blade forum folks to criticise factory-edged hoes, spades, shovels and picks.
 
300Six said:
Five, ten, fifteen years from now I'm supposing it'll become commonplace for blade forum folks to criticise factory-edged hoes, spades, shovels and picks.
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I can only hope. The factory edges on those are just "courtesy grinds" like common on axes. No fault of the manufacturer, as it's not intended as a finished edge in the first place, but it sure is miserable trying to use one without putting a little extra elbow grease into it. You don't need them gleaming or anything, but they certainly need work fresh from the manufacturer. I actually need to touch up the edge on my pick mattock as it's gotten a bit worn down in use.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I can only hope. The factory edges on those are just "courtesy grinds" like common on axes. No fault of the manufacturer, as it's not intended as a finished edge in the first place, but it sure is miserable trying to use one without putting a little extra elbow grease into it. You don't need them gleaming or anything, but they certainly need work fresh from the manufacturer. I actually need to touch up the edge on my pick mattock as it's gotten a bit worn down in use.
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A spade that gets constant use in sand and gravel is self-sharpening. Only time I mess with square shovels is when the blades wear differentially, become too thin or are no longer perpendicular. Today's pressed steel shovels break long before they need attention anyway.
 
In my experience, the term "self sharpening" is mostly bunk unless your base stock is very thin to begin with. Which most cheap shovels already are.
 
I think the real answer is that a maul should be as sharp as you can handle. Some dudes are very careless with there tools and would destroy an edge is seconds burying it in the dirt and rocks.

I bought a 12 lbs monster maul and instantly regreted it. The geometry was so obtuse I had zero penatration and all that energy was absorbed by the round and would just bounce.

So I thinned the cheeks closer to a zero but convexed the stock bevel into the cheeks

Much better. But now it takes more expert use to keep the edge out of the dirt.

Can't just swing it recklessly into the ground.

Unless I want a thinker more tiresome edge that bounces.

That's geometry in a nutshell
None of us will ever agree cause everyone has different preferences and uses there tools differently for better or worse.
 
Carondelet said:
I like this logic. If it bounces off, it's not sinking in, and if it's not sinking in, then the wedge-like head isn't able to do it's work!
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Not all woods behave the same (good luck bouncing off knot-free Pacific Alder or White Ash no matter what shape the axe or maul) but once you've experienced the frustration of 'bounce' you do not forget. You could mirror-shine hone and sharpen the tip of a maul and it'll probably 'stick' but that doesn't do much good either.
 
My experience has been that the grind behind the edge makes a huge difference.

So I grind it down, stop and test on wood until I get the desired effect, less bounces more splits

 
300Six said:
Aficionados and purists are going to jump all over this statement. "Travesty; you traitors (DBH and 300) don't file, sand, hone and polish edges right down to 4000 grit?" Priorities change when winter is coming, time is limited and there's a mountain of wood needs to be split. Mirror-sharp-bladed mauls are pretty to look at but they don't accomplish any more work than does one that didn't undergo time-consuming 'well beyond necessary' effort.
Five, ten, fifteen years from now I'm supposing it'll become commonplace for blade forum folks to criticise factory-edged hoes, spades, shovels and picks.
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I haven't read any posts in this thread that advocate this.
 
DeadboxHero said:
My experience has been that the grind behind the edge makes a huge difference.

So I grind it down, stop and test on wood until I get the desired effect, less bounces more splits
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My experience also. Had a few splitting wedges that didn't like to start well at all, so I ground a nicely blended convex about 2.5" deep that reduced the apex angle and removed the harsh shoulder and now they start nice and easy and blast the wood apart with an amount of force that just would have had them bouncing and falling over before.
 
I think many mauls would do well to be forged thinner behind the bit. A little heat, a little hammering. Better than leaving all that metal on the shop floor.
 
Eh. I think it'd be better if they just forged 'em thinner at the factory. It's more work to heat, hammer, re-true the shape, and re-heat treat and re-hang a head vs just takin' it to the grinder to blend the cheeks in and slim out the apex a bit. Most mauls aren't all that expensive and have plenty of metal in them to the point where it's not putting much of a dent in the weight or longevity of the tool to grind on it a bit.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Eh. I think it'd be better if they just forged 'em thinner at the factory. It's more work to heat, hammer, re-true the shape, and re-heat treat and re-hang a head vs just takin' it to the grinder to blend the cheeks in and slim out the apex a bit. Most mauls aren't all that expensive and have plenty of metal in them to the point where it's not putting much of a dent in the weight or longevity of the tool to grind on it a bit.
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I'm talking about vintage mauls. Many of them don't have the 'bite' of some newer mauls. Those old mauls would benefit from some simple work at the forge.

I have a nice vintage Warren maul that I like but don't love. One of these days I'll fix it at the forge so I can love it. A little more concave cheeks, a little more concave bit.
 
Grinding sounds good because it is quick and there is no shortage of cheap old maul heads. But, there is not a single thing wrong with having another fun project at the forge. I'd love to see that project when you get around to it. I've been thinking about taking a beat 4lb sledge head and trying to turn it into a sort of Fireside Friend. Just because.
 
I learned from Square Peg to make a concave sharp edge ...
Concave it enough to make it bite (not bounce) but without sticking (should easily remove from the wood). I just kept thinning and trying it on different wood till I got what I wanted.
 
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