Has anyone come up with something clever for an area to their splitting? I'm planning on having some relatives out to my place in a couple weeks for help with this. The only thing I've ever seen is to just use a big stump that is cut and placed fairly level.
Splitting station
- Thread starter Crash11
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What's wrong with just sitting the log on the ground? I've seen lots of folks sit their logs on top of a stump or another log but that just causes extra work lifting the logs all the time. Besides, if you sit the log on the ground, your axe or maul has a little further to go before hitting the log, giving you extra power in the swing. So for me, I'll just stand the log up where it is and give it a whack if I'm splitting by hand. Now I just sit on my back side and push a lever down. Ah, the ease of splitting!
Better use a tire to contain all that energy if you have some helping hands...you don't want to make them guy shy.
Dad told me he used to dig a hole and put a large round in the ground. On top of the he would use a old tire to help balance things. That way he didn't have to lift the big rounds on top of another round but had a good solid base.
Decent open area filled with a few inches of gravel. Put a sturdy stump in the middle and put your logs on top of it to split. The gravel will allow you to quickly and easily relevel your splitting spot since chainsaw cuts are rarely super square.
Make the stump low to keep your maximum power in the swings...ideally I'd say you want your impact on the round to be a bit below waist height, any further down adn I'm concerned about a mis-strike coming back and smakcing me in the leg.
Same reason why you don't saw all the way through a log thats resting on the ground. Why would you knowingly drive your nice sharp axe into the dirt and rocks?
Make the stump low to keep your maximum power in the swings...ideally I'd say you want your impact on the round to be a bit below waist height, any further down adn I'm concerned about a mis-strike coming back and smakcing me in the leg.
Same reason why you don't saw all the way through a log thats resting on the ground. Why would you knowingly drive your nice sharp axe into the dirt and rocks?
Depending on how tall you are, logs on the ground are just back breakers. I can split just fine by using a good sized split for a splitting surface. Saves tons of wear on the back.
A short round that you can put the rounds to split works well. The tire trick looks good too. I would cut the beads off the tire and turn it inside out. That way it has a bit of a funnel shape to it.
I split on the ground also, I hate having to pick up every log.
I use a bungie cord around the log instead of a tire. It works well until you accidentally cut it
I use a bungie cord around the log instead of a tire. It works well until you accidentally cut it
I don't have to deal with monster rounds of hardwood (or any other rounds of hardwood 
). I buy most of my wood, either in rounds or split. In either case, there's always a lot of re-splitting to do. I move rounds/splits to my hydraulic splitter in the bucket of my tractor, and just slap 'em over onto the rail (I typically split horizontally). My hand splitting consists mostly of re-splitting for my smaller shop stove, and splitting kindling. I like using a round as a splitting block, as shown in my avatar. That one's right outside my workshop, and there's another just like it in the open corner of my woodshed. Bark becomes my ground cover. If I was hand splitting big hardwood rounds, I'm sure my whole routine would be different. Rick
). I buy most of my wood, either in rounds or split. In either case, there's always a lot of re-splitting to do. I move rounds/splits to my hydraulic splitter in the bucket of my tractor, and just slap 'em over onto the rail (I typically split horizontally). My hand splitting consists mostly of re-splitting for my smaller shop stove, and splitting kindling. I like using a round as a splitting block, as shown in my avatar. That one's right outside my workshop, and there's another just like it in the open corner of my woodshed. Bark becomes my ground cover. If I was hand splitting big hardwood rounds, I'm sure my whole routine would be different. RickAttachments
![[Hearth.com] Splitting station](/talk/data/attachments/16/16339-83727760f48d449dbaa52cacc930e13a.jpg?hash=Cq3_3aaKgP)
CTwoodburner said:
If I'm splittin' with an ax or maul, the log goes on top an apprx. 24" round that is rougly 18 or 20 inches high. It's big enough that I set a log or a "Y" piece on it to help the pieces to be split stand up. I find that having the wood elevated usually helps my aim with the ax / maul. Plus, my splitting area is on a concrete driveway; the "stump" helps absorb the shock. If a log is exceptionally long, I'll stand it on the ground.
When I'm poundin' a wedge into a round (or attempting to), the log goes on the ground. In this case, the extra distance gives the sledge hammer a bit more velocity, but it always takes me a while to get the hang of hitting the wedge, rather than the split.
When I rent a splitter, it goes where the wood is.
Peace,
- Sequoia
I use a large diameter (largest I have handy) but short (I am using about a 16 incher right now) round and put the wood I am splitting on top of it. I find it is easier to split wood that is slightly elevated, and if I split wood that is on the ground, I find the wood tends to push depressions in the ground, making the wood and the ground muddy. Also, I prefer to have the maul hit wood instead of dirt if I swing the whole way through the wood. I guess placing each piece up on the round to split is a little extra work, but I don't mind. Splitting is my favorite step in the process of turning a tree into firewood.
Backwoods Savage said:
Well you shouldn't intentionally drive your axe into the ground...but I just cannot figure out how you'd prevent it if you're resting your rounds on the ground. How do do you keep the axe from going through the round? Maybe I'm just overdriving my splitting tools, but some pieces just pop really easily and the axe goes into my stump sometimes a couple inches...other rounds take a few extra whacks and go more slowly.
Just seems like splitting ont he ground is asking to ruin your tools. Maybe I'm all turned around on the subject though.
Using an old tire is real good and better if it is at least a 16". Jigsaw about four to six 4" wide ears/tabs from the top of the tread area down that you can bend down and fasten (drill and lag bolt) to the stump and use as legs to keep the tire off the "stump" piece. The legs will flex while splitting and the height of the tire will help prevent fly-offs from zealous splitting swings while the tire itself will generally hold your splits in one accessible area and reduce chasing. Going hydraulic you can place a tarp or sheet of plywood under splitting head area to make clean up easier.
I'm gonna need a picture of this one. I can easily get old tires, but I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.Cave2k said:
Crash11,
Sorry no pics. But...The idea is like making legs for the tire to hold it up from the stump but cutting ears/legs from the tire so the legs can be flexible. So here goes.. As the tire lays flat and you're looking at the sidewall and the edge of the tread (now called the "top" of the tire) imagine four to six white lines four to six inches long, about two inches in on the sidewall towards the wheel hole (like a smaller circle than the tread), equally distributed around the tire. Draw two more white lines out to the tread and straight down to the edge of the tread that is laying on the ground (bottom). Cut the lines with a jig saw using a metal cutting blade to cut the steel belting. The overlap cut from the "top" side wall section can act as feet when you pull them out and down past the "bottom" sidewall and secure them to your splitting stump. You can just cut the tread area as mentioned (instead of including part of the sidewall) if you want the legs to over lap the sides of the stump to make the setup a little shorter.
Sorry no pics. But...The idea is like making legs for the tire to hold it up from the stump but cutting ears/legs from the tire so the legs can be flexible. So here goes.. As the tire lays flat and you're looking at the sidewall and the edge of the tread (now called the "top" of the tire) imagine four to six white lines four to six inches long, about two inches in on the sidewall towards the wheel hole (like a smaller circle than the tread), equally distributed around the tire. Draw two more white lines out to the tread and straight down to the edge of the tread that is laying on the ground (bottom). Cut the lines with a jig saw using a metal cutting blade to cut the steel belting. The overlap cut from the "top" side wall section can act as feet when you pull them out and down past the "bottom" sidewall and secure them to your splitting stump. You can just cut the tread area as mentioned (instead of including part of the sidewall) if you want the legs to over lap the sides of the stump to make the setup a little shorter.
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