Twentieth Century Life in these Houses: Maul

Maul

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Figure 152. Maul

In the 1980s when Amelia Vernon asked Archie Waiters to make a maul, he made three mauls for her. This is one of them. The handle of another maul was shortened to make it look more like a mallet so it could be used in the cabins exhibit about shingle-making. When John Parker Bultman donated a legitimate mallet for that purpose, the cabins collection was in a position to exchange its short-handled maul for this proper long- handled maul to be used in the cabins exhibit of tools for splitting wood. Waiters explained that a maul is very important in splitting wood. An ax is only used to make the first chop into the wood; after that, wedges are inserted in the crack and struck with a maul to open the crack wider and eventually to split the wood. (Photo 2002)