First, it's heavy. After splitting a good sized pile, my arm was tired. But I purposefully bought a heavy one as they split far better than lighter ones, and I'd rather swing a heavier hatchet at 50% effort than swing a much lighter one as hard as I could and hope I don't injure myself or others. Heavier axes and hatchets go through wood a lot easier, but it's a tradeoff. Having had both, I find a heavier one suits me much better, even if I'm a 5'8" IT guy and not a flannel wearing neckbearded lumberjack who lives for this stuff.Second, it's a maul, which means it has a much wider wedge than an axe or hatchet does. This makes it far more difficult to get the thing stuck in a piece of wood. If you take a full swing with a slim wedged hatchet on a knot-riddled piece of 2x6, you'll bury it. Good luck getting it out. But a maul is far more likely to split it wide. Wood can often accommodate a slender split without popping open when cutting with the grain, so it's easy to get a hatchet stuck. A wider maul shaped head is close to 3x as wide, making it more likely to pop the wood in half.The combination of the two (heavier weight and maul shape) make it great at splitting.
