The Economics of Splitting Wood by Hand

[gerry100]

Might depend on how efficient your splitting stroke is and how well your bod is holding up.

Stand it up and whack it versus pick it up, put it in the splitter and pull the handle. Looks the same to me time wise.

Burn up bacon and eggs with a $20 maul or fuel/electricity with a splitter costing hundreds of bucks.

I'll be swinging the maul as long as I can

 

['bert]

First off let me say that I respect those that split by hand - I have done it and enjoyed it, but summers where I live are far to short. What I find a bit amusing are those that post about the virtues of hand splitting in the woods (exercise smell etc) then throw it into their trucks!! Why not go all out and carry it home by hand too?

 

[blazincajun]

... What I find a bit amusing are those that post about the virtues of hand splitting in the woods (exercise smell etc) then throw it into their trucks!! Why not go all out and carry it home by hand too?

That could be another whole separate philosophical thread;-)

 

[Firewood Bandit]

I'm a hand splitter and will be until I can't anymore. I guess the hydraulics save some time and work, but splitting the wood is only part of the whole process. There's still plenty other work to be done to make trees into firewood and to get the wood into the stove. I also think that if the hand splitter chooses and cuts his wood with hand splitting in mind, he can probably split almost as fast as another guy could with a machine. I can split Red Oak and Black Locust pretty darn fast by hand. The time is in all the handling of the wood through the steps.
I also feel that buying and maintaining yet another machine takes something away from the whole ''free heat'' thing.

I agree with you for the most part Flatbedford.

However last year I bought a splitter with the proceeds from the previous years firewood. Now I don't split much by hand anymore. With a splitter it is not hard to do a 3 hour stint splitting. With the Fiskars, that would be quite an ordeal and substantially harder to get motivated for. I wear the Peltor hearing protectors with a radio and enjoy myself.

 

[JA600L]

I have a friend who is 360 lbs and was diagnosed with fatty liver disease. He argues all the time that the work of cutting firewood Isn't worth it. So instead he sits and eats while the electric baseboard kicks on. Then he whines about the electric bill. Splitting and processing firewood in general makes me feel healthier. Some people will always say there time is better spent, but in his case it would probably help him live longer.

 

[lindnova]

I bought a hyd splitter this year to get thru the tough stuff. I get enough elm and tough stuff that a maul, or wedges and sledge sometimes won't get it. I do like splitting by hand, but don't like wearing myself out on one piece forever. I can split small stuff faster by hand, but those big 36" rounds are much faster to get started with the splitter. I have been splitting a lot of oak down to 10-12" size and then hand splitting to stove size as I need it. I am way ahead and the pieces dry for 3 years before I get to them and my moistures have been under 20%. I have sold some to friends, but with this winter have been considering if I could get a premium price selling some more as I have a lot right now.

After I got the splitter I used it about every other day splitting about 6 cords, now it has sat for 2 weeks and I have been doing more hand splitting. Depends on how much time I have. As far as splitting in the woods; it would be nice, but I don't have time for that. I the summer I cut scrounges on clearing sites and am pressed for time. In the fall I cut my property and am pressed for time with work and hunting. In the winter I have time I split. Makes for lot of extra handling, but its good exercise for me.

As far as the topic of hand splitting. I agree if I did not need that much wood and my species were easier to split I would rather hand split. It is more enjoyable for me to turn on some tunes and swing a maul after work for an hour than mobilize the splitter. My kid is too young to help split right now, so my splitter does give me more family time right now.

 

[Minnesota Marty]

lindnova,
Well stated. I agree with you totally. Trying to split in the woods in the summer, the Minnesota State Bird (mosquitoes) will carry you away. Cut it, load it and get the heck out of the woods in the summer. Once the fall hits you can get back in the woods without the state birds carrying you away.

 

[blazincajun]

lindnova,
Well stated. I agree with you totally. Trying to split in the woods in the summer, the Minnesota State Bird (mosquitoes) will carry you away. Cut it, load it and get the heck out of the woods in the summer. Once the fall hits you can get back in the woods without the state birds carrying you away.

I usually get her down and load her in truck. Haul home in logs to save space in pickup. Cut and split at home when time becomes available. If I cut in wood lot next to the house I split and cut in place and haul with wheel barrow.

 

[Flatbedford]

The problem I see with splitting in the woods is that you have a whole bunch of little pieces to load and unload. I like to haul biggest pieces that I can manage and then split as I unload. This at least feels like less labor to me.

 

[blazincajun]

...Cut it, load it and get the heck out of the woods in the summer....

I do the same. Here is a photo of today's harvest. Branches to cut with mitre saw and logs to cut to length and split. Keeps the wife from worrying.