Old Geezer Splits Knot Against All Odds

[quads]

No lightweight, professional, super splitting tool. No splitting block. No tire. No bungee cord. No hydraulics. No slabbing around the edges. Split through the middle. A straight handled antique maul, sharpened only once over 20 years ago on one end, an old geezer hanging on the other end. It's almost a miracle, being able to split a round against those odds. Sometimes I chuckle to myself because I feel like a display at the Smithsonian! Perhaps someday me and my old maul will be on a postage stamp. Now that would be cool!

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[Shari]

Hey, hey, hey! A video from Quads! Looks great!

Shari

 

[f3cbboy]

for an ole geezer - still swing that maul pretty good nice.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yup. That's how it is done...and done very nicely.

 

[quads]

Thanks! And that 13 seconds of video uploaded on my slow dialup is also a miracle in itself! Ha!

 

[ohio woodburner]

I don't know quads if i would buy that stamp with the both of you on it. Now if it was just your trusty ol maul that might be a different story :cheese:

 

[smokinj]

quads the one man recking machine!

 

[Monkey Wrench]

Quads, Thanks for sharing the video.

 

[billb3]

My maul may be older than yours.

 

[LLigetfa]

Thanks! And that 13 seconds of video uploaded on my slow dialup is also a miracle in itself! Ha!

Dialup?? You do belong in the Smithsonian! Are there not any WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Providers) up your way?

Wireless is one of my specialties. I've done some extraordinary things to get high speed internet to far away places even the WISPs said couldn't be reached. I get my high speed internet over Motorola Canopy 5.7 Ghz with speeds that are better than most people in town on cable or DSL. I run a free internet hotspot in town with a dozen APs covering a large area.

Getting back on topic, is that really a knot? Looks more like a Y to me where the one branch died off. I don't think that piece would have made my splitter groan like some of the burly stuff I come across. Still, you do OK for an old geezer.

 

[quads]

Thanks! And that 13 seconds of video uploaded on my slow dialup is also a miracle in itself! Ha!

Dialup?? You do belong in the Smithsonian! Are there not any WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Providers) up your way?

Wireless is one of my specialties. I've done some extraordinary things to get high speed internet to far away places even the WISPs said couldn't be reached. I get my high speed internet over Motorola Canopy 5.7 Ghz with speeds that are better than most people in town on cable or DSL. I run a free internet hotspot in town with a dozen APs covering a large area.

Getting back on topic, is that really a knot? Looks more like a Y to me where the one branch died off. I don't think that piece would have made my splitter groan like some of the burly stuff I come across. Still, you do OK for an old geezer.

Yep, dialup. Analog phone lines only out here. No wireless internet (we do have cellphone service, but no Internet available on cellphones). The only thing available besides dialup is satellite, and I don't even have satellite TV! Would never get a satellite Internet connection, unless of course I was rich.

It was a regular branch, growing out the side of the tree when it was alive. Looked like it had been alive as long as the tree was. This tree had many limbs, crotches, and smaller knots for some reason. It even had a triple crotch that was like splitting a jigsaw puzzle. The piece in the video was the last one. I did the rest of the tree before it. I don't think it would have made a splitter groan, especially if an old dude like me could split it manually with my antique! HA! But then again, I'm kind of ornery and stubborn so never know how hard it may have really split any other way.

 

[quads]

I don't know quads if i would buy that stamp with the both of you on it. Now if it was just your trusty ol maul that might be a different story :cheese:

I wouldn't buy one either! Unless it was Halloween!

 

[bogydave]

Hi Quads:
Nice video.
I like to golf so I know swinging harder is not what makes the ball go farther.
It's technique, & your technique is "professional".
I bet you can "ring the bell" at the fair too.

"It's the the technique dummy" just like "It's the wood dummy"
Now & then you get the one the maul bounces back out of, so you really swing the next time. It bounces again.
I has just became a chair for the fire pit.

Knots & crotches aren't the ones I have trouble with, it's the tree that grows in a spiral & is twisted.
Alaska has quite a few of those, spruce & birch. When they finally split, they stack good for drying, just not very level & lots of air space.

PS: I made a video of my chainsaw bar jig in use, but couldn't figure out how to post it. Tried to edit/shorten it & screwed it up. Will take another one & try again.

 

[quads]

Knots & crotches aren't the ones I have trouble with, it's the tree that grows in a spiral & is twisted.

Yep, me too. Sometimes I run into an oak that has grown twisted. I split them, but you won't be seeing any video of it! At least not with sound, so you can't hear what I'm saying while I split them!

 

[Jim Post]

Excellent Quads!

Dial up was just as painful trying to watch that video. Finally got it going and I must compliment you on the technique. I had a maul like that way back but the handle didn't last. Last year my big orange monster maul broke...A guy at work welded it up for me and I am back in business. I often use the bang bang split swing and if it won't split by the 4th swing..it's on to the next.

When I grow up I wanna be just like you Quads...I'm on my way as we just took possession of a couple goat kids...Dairying is in my future. Now I just gotta find some woods and a four wheeler...

Stay warm!

 

[quads]

Goat kids! Ha! I don't know much about goats. I bet they kick like a cow when you milk them though!

The handle on my old maul isn't as old as the head. The head is 30 or so and the handle is 25. The handle is starting to show some signs of age. Just a couple days ago I noticed a new crack in it. I have a brand-new 6# maul hanging on the wall in the garage that I have never swung. At one time I thought I would use that and semi-retire the old favorite. But, I think I will just keep using the favorite and when the handle finally gives up I will buy a new handle for it. The new 6# I bought has a little different shape and the handle isn't glued in, it's tapered and just slips through the head until it wedges itself in there.

 

[LLigetfa]

Goat kids! Ha! I don't know much about goats. I bet they kick like a cow when you milk them though!

I thought you said your cows don't kick? Unlike cows that you milk from the side, goats are milked from behind. I'd rather not be at the North end of a South facing goat.

We had a goat once on the farm and it would butt my mother everytime she turned her back on it. I still remember the day the goat became dinner, a happy day for my mother.

 

[quads]

That's right, our cows don't kick me, usually. But other cows do! A cousin had cows that kicked so bad all the rest of us were afraid to milk them for him when he had to go somewhere.

 

[wapiti39]

NICELY DONE SIR!

 

[hareball]

One of the coolest things I saw was on the dirt road going up the mountain in Vermont were rows and rows of old Maples still being tapped but if you look high enough you still see all the old 1 by slats with eyelets that held the first phone lines.

Great video Quads! I was hard at it today splitting up the rest of the cherry and didn't want that new splitter to have all the fun so I took out the Fiskars along with the brand new 8lb maul and my Grandfathers Hatchet. I'm just not very effective Ha! My landings are an inch or 2 apart. I have really bad Peripheral vision from so many laser surgeries. I bet I can improve though if I concentrate and not get frustrated.

 

[bogydave]

Knots & crotches aren't the ones I have trouble with, it's the tree that grows in a spiral & is twisted.

Yep, me too. Sometimes I run into an oak that has grown twisted. I split them, but you won't be seeing any video of it! At least not with sound, so you can't hear what I'm saying while I split them!

Had a few today. Thank goodness it's 10 °F & was 0 last night. I got thru them, but I got a work out. 1 is next to the fire pit, for a stool.
One made me mad so I cut it 1/3 the way with the saw, then busted it.
They don't split, they bust into. But they burn good

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Well Quads, that was better then last time, but I still think I could have done it in 2 wacks. ;-)

 

[quads]

Well Quads, that was better then last time, but I still think I could have done it in 2 wacks. ;-)

Ha ha! You young whipper snappers with all the muscle!

 

[quads]

Knots & crotches aren't the ones I have trouble with, it's the tree that grows in a spiral & is twisted.

Yep, me too. Sometimes I run into an oak that has grown twisted. I split them, but you won't be seeing any video of it! At least not with sound, so you can't hear what I'm saying while I split them!

Had a few today. Thank goodness it's 10 °F & was 0 last night. I got thru them, but I got a work out. 1 is next to the fire pit, for a stool.
One made me mad so I cut it 1/3 the way with the saw, then busted it.
They don't split, they bust into. But they burn good

Speaking of twisted/spiral-growing trees, from today:

This was a white oak. I've heard it said that white oak splits easily, and while that is true for the ones that have grown straight, on the other hand some of the hardest splitting wood I ever split was white oak. This one didn't split too bad, it was fairly small, but usually when I run into a round like this it takes more than one swing to split it.

And then there was today's spiral tree. It actually didn't split too bad, but I did have to swing a little harder than normal a couple times. It wasn't too big either.

And a closeup of it, showing better how it grew twisted. It's funny how many of these I run into, and they aren't just twisted in a section or two, they grow that way all the way up.