Motor City Axe Splitting Maul, by Thomas Christianson

The Motor City Axe Splitting Maul is a highly effective tool for firewood processing. It is also a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It has a forged, tool-steel, hand-sharpened, tapered bit that is coated with boiled lindseed oil over the forged finish. It also has a beautifully-finished, 36-inch, curved, American-hickory handle. The handle has a Motor City Axe logo branded into the wood near the bit, engraved pine trees near the middle, and a hand-dipped “Up-North-Pattern” paint job in red, blue and green with a yellow stripe on the end.

In my testing, I found the maul to be among the most effective tools for splitting firewood that I have ever used. It is hard to believe that Motor City Axe was able to put so much handwork into a quality, American-made maul at such a reasonable the price. At the time of this writing the maul cost $152 at www.motorcityaxe.com .

If you are looking for a firewood processing tool that is both highly functional and beautifully ornamental, I doubt that you will find another to equal this one. I highly recommend it.

Background

I heat my home with wood. That process consumes between 7.5 and 10 full cords of firewood each winter. I split all of that firewood by hand. In the course of that splitting, I have developed some fairly strong opinions about the effectiveness of various tools for that task.

When I ran across the Motor City Axe Splitting Maul online, I was intrigued by the shape and the weight of the bit. I wanted to give the maul a try. So I contacted Motor City Axe and asked if they could loan me a sample for testing and evaluation. They were kind enough to agree. Not long afterward, a package arrived on my doorstep.

First Impressions

The maul arrived in a cardboard shipping box that was 44 inches long, 10 inches wide, and about 3 inches across at its thickest point. The maul was wrapped in paper inside the box, with the painted part of the handle also wrapped in foam sheets.

The box included a business card that announced that Motor City Axe sells both new and refurbished axes and hatchets. I strongly approve of refurbishing old axes and hatchets. Many of those old classics are as good as or better than the axes and hatchets that are being produced today. Back when a great many people used axes and hatchets daily, they knew what to look for in those tools. Now, when most people only use such tools on rare occasions, almost anything that is approximately the right shape and size seems to be good enough. To many folks, effectiveness and durability are no longer significant considerations.

Rant Warning

Feel free to skip this section if you frequently read my reviews. The topic I am about to discuss often comes up when I discuss edged tools.

Motor City Axe included a card with the maul. That card contained the following message: “Our products have sharp edges and are to be used with caution. Motor City Axe is not liable for bodily injuries or property damage that may occur from the use of this tool. Please use our products responsibly.”

I don’t blame Motor City Axe for writing something like this. It is almost a necessity in the litigious society in which we live. But I am disturbed to live in a society where it is almost a necessity to make statements such as these.

We live in a dangerous world. There is an element of risk involved in doing anything that is actually worth doing. Our modern society of safetyism tends to forget or ignore that fact. People try to wrap themselves in bubble wrap, and then look for someone else to blame whenever things don’t go according to plan. These things ought not to be.

Unless we can return to the place where people use common sense, take responsibility for their own actions and their own mistakes, and then accept the consequences, our society cannot long endure.

The curmudgeon has now finished curmudgeoning. We can return to our regular programming.

More First Impressions

Motor City Axe included a nice, hand-written, personal message with the maul. They wished me cheer and happy chopping. It was a friendly gesture.

The maul had a small plastic cover on the edge of the blade. This helped to prevent damage to the packaging during shipping.

There are subtle signs of handwork on the bit and handle in addition to the obvious branded, carved, or painted decorations.

The maul arrived just a little dull for my taste. I considered sharpening it, but decided to go ahead and try it in its original condition. It split so well out of the box that I decided to just leave the edge alone.

Testing

Over the course of the next several weeks, I split quite a bit of firewood. The maple rounds that I was splitting were about 18 inches long and varied between 15 and 24 inches in diameter. I would have cut the rounds a couple of inches shorter if I intended to use the resulting firewood in a wood stove or fireplace. Since I was planning to use the wood in an outside wood boiler instead, I cut the rounds just a little longer. I usually place the wood that I split on round stacks, to season them. In August of 2019, SurvivalBlog published a two-part article that I wrote about wood splitting. The round stacks are described in the second installment of that two-part article.

Since all eight of my round stacks were currently full, I just piled the wood near the stacks instead. In about a month, it would be time to move the contents of another round stack into the woodshed. At that time, I planned to use the wood from the pile to create a new round stack.

The maul did an outstanding job at splitting the rounds. The bit was lighter than the bit on any other maul that I have ever used. That made it much less exhausting to swing the maul for extended periods of time. The shape of the bit was highly effective for forcing the wood on each side of the point of impact apart.

I was also impressed by the durability of the paint job. I was expecting it to begin showing signs of wear under extended use. But the paint looked just as fresh at the end of the testing period as it did at the beginning.

On my last day of testing, I am afraid that I marred the handle of the maul near where it joins with the bit. This is why I can’t have nice things. I tend to be hard on them. I should have added a black rubber handle protector to the maul, prior to my testing. Those inexpensive “bumpers” are available at most hardware stores, for both axe and maul profile handles.  That is an example of “cheap insurance.”  Learn from my mistake.

Other than the wear and tear caused by my own overzealousness, the maul did an excellent job and held up well throughout the testing period.

Motor City Axe History

On the “Who We Are” page of the Motor City Axe website, they tell their own story in the following way:

In the hustle and bustle of the world we live in, a majority of people feel stuck. A pawn in the corporate world. We aim to help break the norm. Grab a hatchet, book a trip and hit the trails. Reconnect with yourself and with nature. Create a story worth telling.

The vision for Motor City Axe was born out of our love for lasting craftsmanship, a desire to work with our hands and a passion for the outdoors. Each axe/hatchet is made in the USA, customized and hand-painted in Detroit, Michigan.

This idea blossomed almost 8 years ago when our founder discovered his late-grandfather’s Kelly Axe and Tool hatchet in the garage. The hatchet had withstood the test of time.

The customized tools we sell, have and will withstand the test of time. They tell a unique story. The city they are crafted in has, countless times, been ruled out but both have risen from the ashes.

It is interesting that a Kelly Axe and Tool hatchet was a part of the Motor City Axe story. A Kelly Perfect Axe was also a part of my woodsplitting journey. That axe is described in part one of the August 2019 two-part-article about wood splitting that I referenced above.

Conclusions

Motor City Axe makes an outstanding splitting maul. It is a highly effective tool. It is also a beautiful work of skilled American craftsmanship. With a cost of $152 at the time of this writing, it represents a great value for a high-quality, highly-effective, beautiful, American-made tool. If you want a splitting tool that works well and looks nice, then I highly recommend this one.

Disclaimer

Motor City Axe loaned me a sample of their Splitting Maul for testing and evaluation. I subsequently purchased that sample at a discounted price. I tried not to allow their kindness to interfere with my objectivity, and I believe that I have succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.