Splitting by hand

[Tom Wallace]

I wish I could get some frozen red oak here. I've been beating up some plum wood for the last few weeks. I think I'm steering clear of fruit wood in the future. Too twisted, too many crotches, pain to split. Not much oak in this region. Douglas fir might be the best option. It's relatively easy to split, the trunk to branch ratio is fantastic, no crotch pieces and for a softwood, it produces a lot of BTUs. Recently I had to use a chainsaw to carve notches into some of the plum pieces just so I could insert a wedge and pound it through. So many bent pieces, this stuff is torture to split.

 

[jaychino415]

I wonder where to get pallets from. I've seen those thick blue ones. They seem very heavy duty. Every place I can think of would recycle them and not toss them.

Exactly what BB said Those blue pallets are own by a company and are re used throughout the nation. At wally mart I saw black plastic pallets those look awesome.

 

[bob burke]

I also find that frozen wood splits easier. Check out this video:

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[BEConklin]

Interesting idea. I've seen a great 'invention' in a video.

Take a light gauge chain, and use a bungee cord to connect the two ends around the base of your log. The bungee makes the chain adjustable, to fit any diameter log.

Then just split away. None of the chunks fall away from the log, and when you're done, simply open the chain. I keep saying I'm going to make one, but I still go back to splitting/chasing/bending.

Although, I do use a pulp hook for handling all my wood...split and unsplit. I HIGHLY recommend it.


http://www.amazon.com/Peavey-T-000-000-0606-Pulp-Hook/dp/B005J511RC

I've seen that chain trick online as well - but I worry about striking the chain. The edge on a Fiskars is sharp but soft....even a light gauge chain could really mess it up.

 

[BEConklin]

Exactly what BB said Those blue pallets are own by a company and are re used throughout the nation. At wally mart I saw black plastic pallets those look awesome.

I have a neighbor thats busts up old shipping containers for recycling. He's given me 6 of those black plastic pallets so far. They're much better than wooden pallets but they'd be even more useful to me if I had more level ground for stacking.....put thm on uneven ground and they bend under the weight..level the four corners and they sag in the middle.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

First and most important to me is to split in cold temperatures, fifteen degrees F, and less if possible. The red oak logs I get in are 8 foot and a couple or so inches long. They are harvested in November or December and I get them in late January. So they are not soaking wet but have enough moisture to get cold hard and mostly split like a dream. I buck em 19-20 inches. I see no need for a block or stump. If it is a large round, I stand it on end and work the edges first, with the smaller stuff laying flat on the ground is good.

I used to have a block but the lifting was the worse part of the whole thing. Fugetaboutit. Wedges, nope, used to but that was just extra work too. Finished a 10 cord load last week without lifting one piece up on a block and have just 4 pieces laying there from crotches. Whittled what I could off of em and will burn em in a campfire.

The stuff ya have to wrestle with in warm temps will explode at 10 degrees F. Knots, burls and bent stuff.

And I have a question. Why would someone want to split their foot?

I couldn't agree more about the block and lifting each piece up onto it. Wasted energy for sure. But what is this about splitting a foot?

 

[privatejoker75]

I burn mostly pine and fir here and if dry/mostly knot free i can split 18" rounds with just my maul. Anything bigger and i can sometimes split it after a few maul hits if not i have a few big wedges

 

[8686]

That's a great video with the chain and all. Yes, I would be worried about hitting the chain with an x27. That metal is too soft. #2, what type of wood splits that easy??? He is not even lifting the maul that high. He is swinging it like a hammer. Are my oak trees on the east coast much harder or something? I need to whale at mine. We're talking holding it high above your head, pause, and bring it down hard.

 

[bob burke]

It looked like he was splitting some pretty clear oak. Ash is the same...splits without any effort. Every species (for the most part...elm excluded if you can still find it) has the sections with no knots, and splits rather easily. I use a maul, so I'm not worried about hitting the chain...especially since I hit in the middle of the log most of the time. I think the chain is only to make the bungee adjustable, so you could use a bigger bungee, with a much smaller section of chain.

I'm definitely going to use that method next year.

 

[privatejoker75]

Dry wood, aim between the knots and most wood should split fairly easily. I have some wet pine that I tried to split the other day and it was like hitting a block of steel with my maul

 

[8686]

yeah. Not fun when you swing hard and the maul just bounces right off the wood. Then other times it just chips the wood and the maul goes flying off to the left and in the dirt. Or the other option, you over-compensate and it goes right through and the two ends fly off like dynamite into the neighbors lawn.

 

[HybridFyre]

Speaking of bending at the knees, I saw this video and tried it. It actually worked well for me. It kept my back from hurting and added power to my swing. I was able to bust though some pretty gnarly wood.

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Thanks for posting this. I was apparently one of the 'jabroni's' that was doing the over shoulder neanderthal swing. I was flying through splits that way but my body paid for it later. This is much better on the back and my knees.

 

[BEConklin]

That's a great video with the chain and all. Yes, I would be worried about hitting the chain with an x27. That metal is too soft. #2, what type of wood splits that easy??? He is not even lifting the maul that high. He is swinging it like a hammer. Are my oak trees on the east coast much harder or something? I need to whale at mine. We're talking holding it high above your head, pause, and bring it down hard.

Red oak splits very easily for the most part. Gets tougher with branches involved - as does any wood.

Maybe you're used to dealing with wood that grew in the open. Forest trees often have tall trunks with little or no branches all the way up until the tree nears the canopy. Lots of easy splitting on them.

 

[8686]

Yesterday I took huge swings at one log and it just bounced right off the top like I was hitting it with a rubber mallet! Then I underswung and the x27 went right into the dirt and clean through a rock about 4 inches in diameter! I just ordered the fiskars sharpener off Amazon. My blade is now shot.

 

[BEConklin]

I picked up one of those Fiskars sharpeners - it's just as well they're so inexpensive. It will sharpen the X27 a bit but only after I've restored the edge with a mill bastard file. If you try to hone anything more than the tiniest of knicks with that gadget you'll be at it all day.

On the other hand it works pretty well on some of my kitchen knives so it's nice to have around IMO.

 

[smokedragon]

I picked up one of those Fiskars sharpeners

+1 to your idea. If you get the knicks out with a file, that thing gets it back to razor sharp.

I use a splitting stump for smaller stuff that is straight grained, as it keeps me from aerating my yard as bad, and it saves my X27 edge.

I can't understand why anyone would use a splitting stump for large rounds........

 

[8686]

Check this out:http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/

BTW, returned that POS fiskars sharpener. It's way to narrow to fit the x27. And was very awkward to use. Picked up the true temper axe sharpener from Lowes. WOW, what a difference. This thing cuts!

 

[gerry100]

I tried the old car tire on the ground trick for the first time today. I took down an ash in the yard - maybe 15" DBH - and split the rounds right inside the tire. Of course it's ash so it was easy splitting for the most part - but that tire made the job a whole lot easier. Bout the hardest part was yanking the splits from the biggest rounds out of the tire when I was done.
Gotta get a piece of plywood for underneath it too - that Fiskars goes right through and keeps on going - tire or no tire.

Rilly? It's truly not some amazing achievement. How long does it take you to split a cord?

Must have a maul in each hand

 

[BoiledOver]

I couldn't agree more about the block and lifting each piece up onto it. Wasted energy for sure. But what is this about splitting a foot?

Earlier in this thread someone made mention of foot injury. Post #45 I believe.

 

[8686]

Yeah that was me. First time splittin wood. Lifted the maul and swung without bending or leaning over. Maul went right into my big toe.

 

[smokedragon]

Maul went right into my big toe.

Man, you must be a very stiff person.........I just can't thing of anyone who doesn't bend SOMEWHERE when they swing like that.

Lesson I learned from a hatchet "incident" when I was a boy, always cut with your feet at least shoulder width apart

 

[Woody Stover]

This is the video that should be taken down. This technique is bound to help people lose their toes. Plus his chopping block is very high.

Nothing like broadcasting on the internet that you have no clue.

Rory, what is pre-splitting?

Splitting a big round so you can pick it up and get it to the splitter?

Also keep in mind that some split right where the tree falls. Not many will drag a log out of the woods either.

In your sig pic, it doesn't look like you are splitting in the woods. The stuff I was working on last week was in the woods, and I had to drag dropped trunks out of the stickers to where I could buck 'em. I'm not talking about a few blackberry thorns, I'm talking Wild Rose thickets, where the fat, hook-shaped barbs will lacerate your arms 'til they are nothing but bloody stumps. But I mostly buck in the woods and bring the rounds out in the quad trailer, seldom drag a log all the way out.

 

[gerry100]

Splitting by hand can be very efficient IF... one has an efficient and accurate swing. This takes many thousands of swings.

35 years ago when I started there was a lot of exertion,broken handles and extra swings. One also gets an "eye" for the round ( whoa) that leads you to strike it in the right spot. A few extra swings on a round mean nothing to me.

I know that many don't have the time or conditioning to do this but don't give up on slitting too soon.

 

[8686]

I agree. getting your swing technique down takes time and practice to achieve that least amount of energy / maximum power balance.

Getting the "eye" is more learning than anything I feel. I don't have the eye yet. What I think looks easy to split I under-power my swings and what looks hard to split I over-compensate and over power the cut, often launching the wood several feet. I am dealing with very knotty oak too.

 

[privatejoker75]

I usually only have pine/doug fir here which isn't that bad as far as eyes go. I just spin it around so the eyes are on the sides and it usually splits in one maul swing.