Estwing 6 lb Wood Splitting Maul with 36-Inch Hickory Handle - Forged Head Hardened to 50–55 HRC, Heavy-Duty Log Splitter, Model #62443

TLDR : 3/5 stars if i used it out of the box 5/5 stars if you put a little bit of effort into it pros: literally the perfect maul head for this weight, nice blend of "super splitter" style cheeks and icelandic beard nice long handle, tall guys like me are constantly on the lookout for a thick long handle, i know you other tall guys let out a sigh whenever you pick up what appears to be a perfect axe/maul and it has a 31" handle handle is thick and sturdy american hickory, hung with 2x conical wedge the metallurgy is perfect for a maul, not so soft to require re-profiling/sharpening after every use, and not hard enough to chip easily. i would guess its 50ish HRC hooked tip of beard is fantastic to pull/turn even the largest rounds. you will use a hookeroon about 30% less with this maul around perfectly profiled and sharpened , way better than my expectation cons: THE STUPID BLUE PAINT!!!!! i could write a book about how bad of an idea this paint is. its a cheap copout answer to a traditional problem, rust resistance. just quench it with oil and call it a day, this paint is pathetic and cheap, and it makes the rest of the product look like big box store trash. the overstrike guard is pointless, its location will never prevent harm to the handle as its way above the beard, either remove it or replace it with an overstrike guard thats 3" larger the varnish/label glue. another thing i really dont get about modern axe manufacturers. the label glue alone is enough to stop your hand from sliding down as it should, let alone the absurd amount of "dipping" varnish that needed to be removed before i could use it did i mention i hate the paint? its truly aweful the company "estwing" has the worst american based customer service i have dealt with in the tool industry. i hope you never have to contact them with an issue, the first one i received was damaged and not hung properly, the amount of frustration i was put through to get a replacement was unreal fawn's foot should be a little more pronounced "estwing" doesnt actually make this maul, they outsource it to another,much better, but smaller american company. i won't name them here, but i assure you that dealing with them was a dream compared to "estwing" customer service. as you can see in the pictures i put some hours into the maul...stripped all the varnish/glue from the handle, torched the fawns foot to add a little tensile strength (keeps it from splintering easily when handle comes in contact with hard surfaces). multiple applications of boiled linseed oil (once a day for a week,once a week for a month,once a month for a year, once a year from then on) till it had the perfect grip to hold and to slide down when using gloves. i removed the pathetic excuse for an overstrike guard and replaced it with a much larger 550 paracord, and last but not least i used a wire brush attachment on an angle grinder to remove the god aweful blue paint. the brushed look is decent, though now its lacking the rust resistance that it should have had from a proper quenching. my overall opinion is if you want a super well designed maul that requires a little work, you can't beat this, the final product after a little work would be worth 2-4x more than what i paid. if you want a ready to use out of box maul, i would go buy a composite handle instead. i have split massive rounds of red/white/red/swamp/pin oak, twisted grain sugar maple, knotty ash, and most of all the dreaded sweet gum, you can rest assured that it handled everything and stayed sharp through it all.

Great maul, splits dry and semi dry red/white oak with ease, I bought a Chinese special before this maul that had such soft alloy that the blade's edge was pitted after 4 logs. This maul kept it's edge after 30 logs, made short work of half a tree so far.

This is a super comfortable maul and a great value for the money. I don't like the finish that comes on any of these so I strip them and use boiled linseed oil instead. That gives a great grip. It is a good size with adequate length but nothing too crazy because it is a fairly heavy maul. It splits well and I suppose that is what matters most. The only downside is the blue paint comes off and it starts looking pretty rough pretty quick.

Very pleased with this splitting maul. It has a rugged handle that is more substantial that a typical 6-pound maul handle. I expect this will serve me well for years to come.

I have a acquired several different splitting mauls over the years. This one stands alone as the best. I prefer a wood handle because of reduced shock. Also, this handle is beefy with nice straight grain wood. The shape of the head seems to really help in splitting. The 6# weight is perfect. I can get greater speed on the head to deliver more force. Yesterday, mi amigo and I split wood for several hours comparing all my old splitting mauls with this new one. This one is so good Im ordering another. Mi amigo always grabs this one first, so I need another for myself.

It's a great maul, but the handle.... snapped in two on the third swing. Replaced the handle with a better one. Estwing responded once when I told them, asking me for details of the purchase, then ghosted me.

At first I was hesitant to buy this because many were saying it was made in India... So I personally reached out to Estwing and asked them if this was a legit axe and website via Amazon... Estwing assured me this was a branch from them. I bought this axe and I can't say anything bad about it! It is solid! The handle and maul is perfect weight combo. Ive so far with-in 2 days chopped up some gnarly read oak that had some really tough twists and knots in them. About a 1/4 cord. I usually do this for exercise. I would recommend this axe to any outdoors man, trying to chop up some thick, tough wood!

Great quality. Easily worth double the price. The hickory handle is better than any type of plastic handle. Less felt vibration.