TIL my rock hammer grip was all wrong

I was out near Sedona last fall trying to split some sandstone, and a geologist I met there watched me for a minute. He said, 'You're holding it like a claw hammer, you'll wreck your wrist.' He showed me to choke up on the handle and use a short, sharp swing from the elbow, not the shoulder. I tried it and immediately got cleaner breaks with way less effort. Anyone else get a piece of advice that totally changed a basic technique for you?

3 comments

3 Comments

marywells2mo ago

Reminds me of when I was learning to split firewood. My uncle saw me trying to swing a maul like a baseball bat, all arms and grunting. He just said to let the weight of the head do the work and drop it straight down. I mean, it felt wrong at first, like I wasn't putting any power into it, but the log just popped right open.

taylor_mitchell802mo ago

My grandpa taught me the same thing up in Vermont. You fight the urge to muscle it down, but once you stop trying so hard, the maul just falls through the wood. It's all about letting the tool do its job. I still have to remind myself every fall when I start stacking wood for the winter.

dakotab131d ago

HOLD UP. I gotta push back a little on this one. I get what @marywells is saying about letting the weight do the work, but I've found that a Deadlift grip with my palm facing up and thumb wrapped over the handle gives me way more control on the backswing. Tried the whole "choke up and use the elbow" thing for a month last summer and ended up with a sore forearm and worse splits. You can't just drop it straight down on every rock either, sometimes you need that controlled power to hit the strike point right. Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I'll stick with my weird grip.