Splitting by hand

[Mag Craft]

I swing a maul once in a while and the muscles are willing but the joints will not take it.
So a good ole 22 ton Husky gets it done and at a pretty good speed. Just part of getting older.

 

[Paulywalnut]

I think you might have to up that 4 whacks theory for Black Gum

 

[peakbagger]

I cut my wood on someone else's property and cant drive my truck right up to the tree so I end up lugging the wood. I find its a lot easier to split it in place and then carry the resultant splits to my truck. If I were to buy a truck load of wood where I could set the splitter up next to the pile, a splitter would be more attractive.

I split mostly maple and birch which is easy to split. I set the difficult to wood to split aside and concentrate on the majority. Worse case I let is sit around a year or so or wait to very cold day and the ugly ones normally split.

 

[velvetfoot]

I've had better luck finding log loads of wood rather than split, from a quality point of view.

 

[mass_burner]

Crotches I noodle in half...

can you please elaborate?

 

[mass_burner]

3 swings? Wow, I've had some stubborn silver maple rounds I've been working lately, and a few of those have taken me 30+ minutes alternating between the X27 and the 8 pound maul. I would say 75% of what I split takes more than 3 swings to get through though.

i mean 3 swings and nothing, nada, not a sliver off the round. If a round eventually get you 8 splits. How many swings are you willing to spend per split?

 

[mass_burner]

so I got out there again this weekend and finished off the problem rounds using wedges/hammer. The spruce rounds had branch ends going through the whole round at both ends, almost as if someone put a 2" dowel through them. the cedar rounds were just too long, and too big to be cut in half. had a few red oak rounds that split like butter, except for the crotches, just put them aside. now i just have a load of maple.

 

[woodsman416]

can you please elaborate?

With your chainsaw, cut through opening of the "Y" in the crotch. Basically cutting it in half. It's called "noodling" because the saw spits out noodles instead of chips when you cut with the grain.

 

[mass_burner]

so this is what I have so far...

 

[tsquini]

If you take 3 swing and the round is not splitting then it's not worth the time and energy to split that round by hand.

Before I bought a splitter, I rented them from a local shop for a weekend. It was cost effective.

i mean 3 swings and nothing, nada, not a sliver off the round. If a round eventually get you 8 splits. How many swings are you willing to spend per split?

 

[Ashful]

With your chainsaw, cut through opening of the "Y" in the crotch. Basically cutting it in half. It's called "noodling" because the saw spits out noodles instead of chips when you cut with the grain.

Also useful for those monster 1500 lb. rounds that you can't easily move onto the splitter.



Just make sure your chain guard is "open" enough to handle the volume of shavings (noodles) coming off the bar. Many smaller saws continuously clog when noodling, due to the length of the noodles and the speed with which your saw will cut with the grain.

 

[SawdustSA]

I scrounged a couple of trailer loads of blue gum where the municipality has been cutting. I am very sorry I did, cause I couldn't start splitting straight away and they are rock hard now. The twisted grain makes my maul bounce off them without any damage to the round. I am busy wasting lots of fuel having to noodle most of it. Nobody in my area owns a splitter, but I might end up being the first!

 

[BCC_Burner]

i mean 3 swings and nothing, nada, not a sliver off the round. If a round eventually get you 8 splits. How many swings are you willing to spend per split?

I'm a 25 year old, physically fit, single male. I have some spare time and energy to expend on wood splitting.

It's something I've grown to enjoy doing, and I know I won't be willing/able to spend 30 or 40 minutes working a round by hand in the decades to come. I make a point of stretching before and after splitting, and won't spend more than 2 hours a day swinging if I have plans to split multiple days in a row. If I get into a longer splitting session on the weekends I take the next day or two off from it to give myself some time to recover.

I should also add that I work at a desk, writing emails and creating spreadsheets, etc. So it's hugely satisfying to watch my stacks of hand split wood in the yard grow. There's a satisfaction that I get from seeing the physical manifestation of my labor that I just don't get at the office.

 

[pricey106]

.My buddy scored 2 cords of cherry unsplit last year for 100 bucks off CL. He borrowed my other buddy's splitter to take card of it all. I won a bet with him. Which is faster? Splitter or by hand on a 20" round of cherry. I took 3 minutes, he was 8 minutes. I prefer hand splitting for that reason and all the others you guys have mentioned. There is nothing like watching a round of wood explode with a good swing. Now, onto that pile of black gum I came across not knowing what it was or that it is practically unsplittable. I may be borrowing that splitter for that stuff. Here isa pic of it. Yes it is still growing after being cut in February!!

 

[Jags]

I took 3 minutes, he was 8

8 minutes for a 20" round with a hydro splitter is redonkulous. Even with a slow cycle of 20 seconds that equates to 24 FULL cycles of the ram.

 

[Applesister]

I think you guys should all get Gold Stars for splitting by hand. Great stories about work ethics and such. If you are not that into "it", for whatever reason, then take a break. Its summer, go fishing or boating or paint your house or fix your roof. Buy firewood already processed, get the little lady to stack it. It wont kill her to get involved. Buy your firewood instead splitting it yourself, or just buy it this season...or switch to pellets. Firewood heat is serious work, its heavy to handle, there are a lot of regulations and safety issues, cutting trees down is dangerous and people get killed. Its messy and buggy, takes up alot of space and can be unsightly. If your hearts not in it, do something different.

 

[Maxgussam]

I agree, it's not for everybody.
I usually stop collecting wood when the temps go above 90 or so. I'm not interested in getting heatstroke.
Splitting can go on for a little longer, I have plenty to do, and enough stocked up that it can wait for Fall weather.

 

[Ashful]

8 minutes for a 20" round with a hydro splitter is redonkulous. Even with a slow cycle of 20 seconds that equates to 24 FULL cycles of the ram.

Ditto. A 20" round takes me about a minute on my cheapo Huskee 22 tonner.

 

[privatejoker75]

I split by hand, it's good exercise and the pine/fir here is mostly knot free. Any bad knot locations and i have a 5lb wedge that takes care of them pretty easily. I've done almost 3 cords over the last few weeks.

 

[pricey106]

We were splitting small for a smoker....about 1 to 2 inch thick pieces.

 

[Mag Craft]

I think you guys should all get Gold Stars for splitting by hand. Great stories about work ethics and such. If you are not that into "it", for whatever reason, then take a break. Its summer, go fishing or boating or paint your house or fix your roof. Buy firewood already processed, get the little lady to stack it. It wont kill her to get involved. Buy your firewood instead splitting it yourself, or just buy it this season...or switch to pellets. Firewood heat is serious work, its heavy to handle, there are a lot of regulations and safety issues, cutting trees down is dangerous and people get killed. Its messy and buggy, takes up alot of space and can be unsightly. If your hearts not in it, do something different.

They will have to pry my saw out of my cold dead hands.
Running the saws is something I really enjoy.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

I split by hand up until last year. When I did split by hand, all crotches and things I knew were going to be a real bear were left in the woods. Why hassle with something you know will slow down production.

 

[Enzo's Dad]

I am 44 in pretty good shape... I have been splitting by hand as exercise, a couple of hours a week is a great core work out., An honestly i think hand split wood looks neater.

I know I have issues.


I have a giant pile of odd lenghts and crotches...I'm thinking bonfire or fall or spring fires.

 

[Enzo's Dad]

so this is what I have so far...

That is a boatload of poison ivy by your piles

 

[mass_burner]

That is a boatload of poison ivy by your piles

you mean at the base of that spruce at center/right?