The splitting maul is drop-forged and has a heat-treated steel head with a fibreglass soft-grip handle.
The maul is designed to divide a piece of wood in two by forcing the wood fibres apart parallel to the grain. The V-shaped head forces the crack apart with continuous pressure, The dull edge exploits a crack between the fibres.
The splitting axe is smaller and easier to handle for longer periods of time, whereas the maul is heavy and requires both hands to swing.