When I was dating Kim, her only source of heat was a pot belly wood stove! She had a lot of wood, but it was all in big rounds that needed to be split. So I took my 10lb maul out to her place and I started splitting wood for her. I was just about done, and her brother Bart drove up. He asked me what kind of tool I was using. He had never seen a maul before, he and his dad always used a sledge-hammer and steel wedges to split wood. It looked easy to him, so he asked me if he could try my maul out. I knew it was a little heavy for him, because he is smaller than I am, and he would have better control with an 8lb maul. But I said sure, but please don’t miss because 10lb maul handles were hard to find! He said he would be careful, so I handed him the maul. I set a round up for him, he took a big breath, swung the maul, and over shot the round. The handle hit the round and snapped the maul right off the handle. You should have seen the look on Bart’s face!
Kim and I went from store to store looking for a handle. All the stores had 8lb handles, but nobody had 10lb handles! I gave up on looking for a handle, and I was thinking I would just go out and buy a new maul. Sometime had past, and Kim and I were in Auburn and we stopped at a store to look for a tool I needed, and low and behold I found a 10lb handle! I bought it and took it home and put the maul on the handle. I then put the little wedges in the end, then I soaked it in water for a couple of days. I finally had a maul again. One day Bart was up at Kim’s place, and we were having a good time visiting and listening to some Jethro Tull. He was getting ready to leave, and I walked him out to his car. He saw the maul leaning against the building and picked it up. He looked at me, and I said don’t even think about it! He set the maul down, and with a smile on his face he said, that’s good advice!