Mauls. Axe eye vs sledge eye

Zymologist

Zymologist

Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
1,058
I have a soon to be bump in the road. My Gransfors Bruks splitting maul which has served me well has its head loosening over the last year. I've reset the head a few times, tapped er down, and snugged up the wedge and regularly soaked and rubbed her down the BLO. However I think theres a split forming going down the handle as if I can almost see a crack in the grain.

I've been having a hard time finding a handle from house handle that will fit but I think I finally found one that may be close enough that I just may have to whittle down a bit. In the mean time I want to buy a council tools maul and I was leaning towards the 6 or 8lb head.

A fella at work who cuts quite a bit of firewood and splits all by hand for many years told me to stick with axe eye mauls as they're stronger than a sledge eye maul. He's given me a lot of information just from picking his brain but I asked him why and he just said just is. I trust him however I was hoping I could get a better reason from the more experienced woodsmen here.

Sorry for the ramble. I'll be replacing my first few axe handles here soon but I've done a lot of reading here and its a wealth of information so I think I'll be fine.

Plus side is I've been collecting axe heads over the last few years so I get to do about 5 replacements at once:D

Thanks in advance.
 
I can't speak on the matter of comparative handle strengths from experience, but it seems logical that an axe-eye handle would have more wood to dissipate the shock if the two handles are of equal thickness. Personally, I'd pick axe-eye over maul-eye simply because it's more familiar and because I'd have a better idea of where the bit is while I'm swinging.

As for the replacement handle, yes you can buy replacements from some GB retailers, though they're kind of expensive. I guess the cost is somewhat offset by the fact that you'd get the spiffy steel collar and have to do zero rasping/fitting to get a nice fit. Depends on how much you value your time and if you enjoy woodworking or not. I'm pretty sure a HH axe-eye maul handle can definitely be rasped down to fit though. You could also order a hickory blank and make on yourself from scratch if that sounds like an interesting project to you
 
You might even be able to salvage the metal collar from the old handle.

I agree, it seems like the axe eye would be easier to handle accuracy wise, but I can't think of a reason it would be stronger.
 
Ok well now that you explained the axe eye that makes more sense thank you for taking the time to respond fellas. That's kinda why I was going with HH because I refuse to pay $35+ for a handle just for the collar and logo. If I want a guard I could just paracord wrap it. However I'm not sure how much protection that adds if any. I have no problem whittling down a handle to fit I do like the hickory blank idea.

Is the hickory blank an option on the HH website? I'll have to look harder.

That seals the deal for me axe eye it is!
 
Sledges take a lot of hard impact ... for a maul I slightly prefer an axe eye if I have a choice to help keep it from rotating in your hand ... but to say the axe eye is stronger ... I don't know as the straight maul handles can have very tight straight grain with no run out
 
Never had anything until recently except sledge eye mauls. Never had an issue with them, and have been chopping with them 28 yrs.
Bought an axe eye maul ax a yard sale last year and replaced the broken handle, and it works great, but being used to the more straight, rounded shape of a sledge eye handle, I feel like the ax eye handle won't last as long, as it seems less substantial. I could be wrong, as I've only used it for this winter. I guess time will tell.
 
I'd never thought about this in engineering principles! Presumably to keep blades and cheeks narrow-tapered as possible on cutting and splitting tools, and to keep the weight down, evolved 'axe eyes' whereas implements that rely entirely on inertia (and no side to side leverage) can get away with simple round or slightly oval eyes. Curious, may be that explains why I've never had any desire to own or use a splitting maul!
 
We used to wrap our splitters with thin wire under the head for a few inches then coat with poly. Not really for overstrikes as much as the gouging by splinters and jagged splits. We split alot of locust and it tends to shard. We had both axe eyes and sledge eyes but I do not remember much preference.

Bill
 
Axe eye is better for swinging solo, sledge eye is better for working in a team with another fellow for using the maul as a splitting wedge with a long handle that's struck by a sledge hammer or beetle. Makes for very fast work if you have the extra set of hands. The thicker eye walls of the sledge eye make it better able to resist deformation from repeated strikes.
 
Choose based on how you will use it. If you will primarily use the bit rather than the poll then get an axe eye maul. The grip will be better for splitting. But if you are going to use the same tool for driving wedges and expect to use the poll a lot then get the sledge eye maul.

The differences will be minor either way.
 
Thanks again for all the input!

Yeah I very rarely pull out the wedges. I'm quite stubborn and the bit will get the primary use.

Axe eye it is for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top