Hi there. I'm fairly new to the world of hand tools and traditional style woodworking. As a farmer/homesteader I've always been one to make most things that I've needed, just always did it with power tools and screws/nails in a modern construction type of way. I was recently given copies of Eric Sloan's "A reverence for wood" and "A Museum of Early American Tools". Those along with the Fox Fire Series have recaptured my fascination with the outdoors and true woodcraft.
Anyway - In one of them (I can't remember which one now) it mentions using a heat treated maul for riving shingles with a froe. Can anyone offer an explanation as to how/why one would go about heat treating a maul? Obviously a green maul is likely to peel it's layers quickly and you would want it to be dry, but wouldn't heat treating it reduce it's hardness and weight so much as to not make it worth it? Wouldn't it be ideal to make the maul and then let it air dry for as long as possible before using it? Any thoughts?