how do you know when it is time to split.... by hand

[DiscoInferno]

A possible advantage to letting the rounds dry for a bit is that the ends crack and reveal the weak points to hit. That said, I've found that for most species the wood gets so much stringier if I let it dry too long before splitting. Red oak is a prime example. If your maul is bouncing off of a reasonably sized, straight-grained chunk of green red oak, then perhaps you should sharpen it a bit to make it easier to start the first crack?

 

[woodsmaster]

One thing that makes a BIG difference in splitting any wood is the length of the round. a 16" piece is going to split a lot easier than a 24" piece.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I actually split a fair amount of 40" wood for the kiln. Usually with the hydro- but I do split oak with a maul. Sharp maul, fresh logs seems to work best.

 

[PeteD]

Poplar is much easier dry in my opinion. Just buries in fresh wood.

Red oak is easy when dry...haven't split it wet recently, so I don't recall if there is a difference.

Also, pine is much easier dry. Same problem as poplar.

Probably depends on the wood type, round diameter and length, tools and technique (where and how hard/fast you hit it). I have a relatively light maul (no name with wood handle) and hit 'em pretty hard as a result.

Elm is the only thing I have found hard to split when dry.

 

[Kenster]

Thats how I do it, I have 15-16 30+inch rounds to break up this weekend, I hit it with the wedge and sledge then the fiskars (see below), easy as pie.

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Looks like it took at least ten whacks to split that round after you already had cracked it with a sledge and wedge.

Don't sound so "easy as pie" to me. A couple more whacks with the sledge and wedge would have probably done it.

I think part of the reason you had to expend so much extra energy with the Fiskers is that the log was so tall you could not take advantage of a full swing and centrifugal force. With an 18 inch or so round it really WOULD have been easy as pie.

 

[weatherguy]

Thats how I do it, I have 15-16 30+inch rounds to break up this weekend, I hit it with the wedge and sledge then the fiskars (see below), easy as pie.

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Looks like it took at least ten whacks to split that round after you already had cracked it with a sledge and wedge.

Don't sound so "easy as pie" to me. A couple more whacks with the sledge and wedge would have probably done it.

I think part of the reason you had to expend so much extra energy with the Fiskers is that the log was so tall you could not take advantage of a full swing and centrifugal force. With an 18 inch or so round it really WOULD have been easy as pie.

Actually that not me and thats Black Locust, Im talking about red oak that Ive split, splits pretty nice. I just put that up to show him what a Fiskars is.

 

[Kenster]

I have mostly Water Oak with some Post Oak and a wee bit of Pignut Hickory. The Water Oak, once it sits for a few months in the round, splits very easily. Nice straight grain. I've had several thick Water Oak Trunks that had been dead and down for years. The bark was blown but there was no sign of punk. That was some beautiful splitting. The Post Oak can be stringy when wet and splits pretty well when it's had time for the ends to check.

I once left some six inch diameter Hickory rounds for about three years. Nothing would dent those logs. Not a ten pound maul. A wedge could not make a dent in it and it just laughed at my Fiskers. I finally just burned them 'as' is for overnights. They made for some very sweet overnight burns.

 

[dave11]

This has been discussed on this site and many others. It amazes me that some folks believe wood splits better when green. Generally the feelings run 5 to 1 against that idea. Wood shrinks as it dries, and reveals the stress lines in itself, and start to pull apart along those lines. The idea that this makes it HARDER to split makes no sense.

The huge rounds of pin oak I have been working on have split much easier in recent months that they did last Fall. Which makes perfect sense.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Is it not the case that dry wood is stronger and harder than green wood? Seems like things that might at times correlate with harder splitting. In any case I wouldn't even necessarily say it's harder to get the initial separation, but there's no question that some wood gets a lot stringier when dry. So where a green red oak round will almost always split clean, a dry one will split but (like elm but to a lesser degree) often stay connected through a bunch of fibers that either require a second blow to cut or a harder swing in the first place. I call that harder to split. Whether that makes "sense", isn't my concern.

 

[oldspark]

This has been discussed on this site and many others. It amazes me that some folks believe wood splits better when green. Generally the feelings run 5 to 1 against that idea. Wood shrinks as it dries, and reveals the stress lines in itself, and start to pull apart along those lines. The idea that this makes it HARDER to split makes no sense.

The huge rounds of pin oak I have been working on have split much easier in recent months that they did last Fall. Which makes perfect sense.

I can quote sites and a book I have that states just the opposite so the 5 to 1 figure I doubt, I can not believe people think other wise as it has proven itself to me many times over the years.

 

[mayhem]

I can not believe people think other wise as it has proven itself to me many times over the years.

I agree with this 100%, but with the opposite conslusion. Over many years and hundreds of experiemental rounds, it has been proven to me repeatedly that the greener the wood, the harder it is to split by hand. Hands down, no question in my mind...can't figure out why others have different results. I cannot beleive people think otherwise.

 

[oldspark]

I can not believe people think other wise as it has proven itself to me many times over the years.

I agree with this 100%, but with the opposite conslusion. Over many years and hundreds of experiemental rounds, it has been proven to me repeatedly that the greener the wood, the harder it is to split by hand. Hands down, no question in my mind...can't figure out why others have different results. I cannot beleive people think otherwise.

Well well well let me explain my self a little, (my other post might have been over the top) by green I mean right after it has been cut, not a few days later when the wood is still "green", when the wood gets fairly seasoned it splits easy again, its that in between time for me that it splits harder not when it is mosty cured. A little as 4 or 5 days will make it split harder, not sure any one will agree with me any more than before but that has worked for me with all the woods I cut except elm.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

As I stated above- this MAY be partially due to equipment/maul sharpening. No starter crack needed for a sharp maul. A dull maul gets stuck less in a dry round.

 

[oldspark]

When you have expierenced some thing for many years it catches you off guard when others have the very opposite findings but we all know the many varible to cutting splitting and burning wood, just add this to the list.

 

[quads]

In my experience with splitting oak, mostly dead, occasionally green, with my never been sharpened dull 6# maul, I never have any trouble splitting it fresh cut. As to whether it would split easier or harder if I left the rounds set for some time, I will never know. Oak takes long enough as it is to dry, so I split everything within minutes of the chainsaw running through it, never waiting to split.

 

[lukem]

I vote fresh cut is easier than "aged".

 

[mayhem]

I have to be fair here, I have only tried to split one time the same day the living tree was felled and that was the maple my maul bounced off of and my wood grenade popped out of. Other than that, I have rarely even tried to split the same week it was cut. To my mind, wood is green until the color starts to change on the end of the round and it starts checking.

Diffrent strokes for different folks.

 

[oldspark]

I should have been using the term fresh cut instead of green.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ever tried splitting straws?.....

 

[mayhem]

No but I've split more than my fair share of hairs.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

:lol: Many of us have the same experience.

 

[pdxdave]

You can do the research your self but the fact of the matter is that green wood (except elm) splitts better fresh cut. Been splitting wood for over 30 years and thats the way it is plus info on the net says the same thing.

Totally disagree, but what eles is new?

I'm still searching for the elusive piece of wood that splits easier when green. Been looking for about 30 years now and I have yet to find ANY wood that splits easier when its fresh cut. Maybe its a New England thing, but wood around here will vary between harder to split up to utterly impossible to split by hand when green.

Tried to split a piece of fresh cut maple last fall when my brother and I dropped it. Took a round about 18" tall by 18" diameter, fresh cut off the trunk. Wailed on it wiht the 8lb maul for about 20 whacks and all I got was tired. Busted out the 12lb sledge and wood grenade...I was able to tap the grenade in about an inch or so, but thats as far as it would get...any good pounding I gave it would result an most of the energy being reflected back into the grenade and the sucker would pop up out of the round several feet. Same rounds right now pop open with a few smacks of that very same maul.

Same results with beech, red oak, yellow and white birch. Ash splits easily no matter what.

Wet wood is most definitely not easier to split around here. Let it sit till the ends start cracking. It would be so much more convenient if wood did split easily when green as it would speed up the seaoning time by a significant amount, sadly it is not the case, at least not for me.

I'm with Mayhem. In my [limited] experience, splitting wood that has sat for awhile was much easier than splitting green stuff. I suspect it might have something to do with the sharpness of your weapon, as someone opined. It seems logical that you'd need a sharper implement to get through all the moisture-laced wood fibers.

I'm with you as well.. by far the easiest splitting I've done has been with rounds that have sat around for 2 or 3 years. Probably depends alot on the type of wood, and the condition of the tree when it was bucked.