Is it time to retire the sledge and wedge and just noodle cut big rounds?

[PA. Woodsman]

The last couple of times that I ran into real tough rounds to split with a wedge and sledge-I mean the kind that you hit with ALL your might over and over again-I messed my upper back up and needed adjustments from either my chiropractor or this last time my physical therapist who also is a manual therapist. I use a 16 lb sledge and various wedges, am 51 years-old but in pretty good shape, but this can't go on like this. I DO know that I am "torqued" when I swing as I don't swing straight overhead but swing it more "lefty" so my left arm is extended out and my right arm is right in front of me, but that's how I am comfortable doing it. The problem is in my upper back the right side of the vertebrae get "torqued" and out of alignment and pull the muscles out of alignment which causes the pain. Do you think a change in technique would help or is it time to just use the saw to "noodle" the big rounds in half so I can handle them?

Your thoughts and advice/experience please gentleman and ladies and THANKS AS USUAL in advance! :msp_confused:

 

[turnkey4099]

Anything that I need to really hammer on gets noodled anymore, at least in half before it even sees a wedge.

I am fortunate not to have any back problems. Been abusing it all my life and it is still working.

Harry K

 

[Dalmatian90]

Fiskars or Noodle is all I do know.

The only circumstance I could see me hauling the splitting wedges and sledge out of the garage again is if I had a log I suspected had metal in it and needed to break it up to move it.

 

[Gologit]

Gas powered splitter. I finally gave up and got one. I wish I'd done it years ago.

 

[slowp]

Cut smaller stuff.

 

[cowroy]

Does your splitter not pivot to a vertical splitting position? If not it sounds like noodling is the best way to go.

I am only 28 and messed my back up lifting big round into the back of my truck. That is when I started saving money for my splitter and 10 months later I bought one. I still noodle big rounds when they get over about 24" rounds, just to make them easier to get over to the splitter.

Tools I have found it hard to live without is; sharp chain and good saw, splitter, and a cant hook.

It would be nice if we could all afford some type of small grapple boom to lift the big stuff up on the splitter, or in the back of the truck.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Some more information!

I have a 24-ton Brave splitter; this stuff was at a customers house that was cut months ago by a tree service and they left it there. I know she wanted the wood even though she said "you can do what you want with it". I loaded as much as I could into the Bronco, took it home and used the splitter and returned it and stacked it, but some of the bigger rounds I left there and figured since it was Ash it would split easily by hand-WRONG! See my post "Someone forgot to tell this tree that it is an Ash" for more kicks and giggles....otherwise I never would've gotten involved in this mess!

Thanks guys!

 

[owbguy]

I've had a slow Lickety Splitter to use since forever. Too slow, and too tough to get big rounds on the beam. So, I have mostly hand split the biggies with maul and wedges, and recently a Fiskars X27. I can split a lot of wood by hand. I've done it for many years. Well, like you, I tweak my back from time to time, no matter how physically fit I am.

Late last year and early this year I pulled muscles in my back swinging the maul against the odds. I finally decided enough is enough and bought a bigger, faster and better splitter. It has more power than I do. Its faster than me. And it has a log lift so I'm not trying to muscle rounds up a plank onto the beam. When splitting the big ugglies, what used to take me 4 hours is done in less than an hour now. I can do a cord of firewood in an hour by myself.

I wish I would have made the investment about 10 years ago.

 

[aaronmach1]

i recently bough a huskee 22ton splitter. before that, the splitting and lifting big rounds kept giving me pains in my stomach. Sharp pains that went from my belly button right to my johnson. Also happened this week after about a half hour of sawing and lifting big rounds into the truck.

 

[angelo c]

Yes noodle. Keep an extra clutch cover thats opened up in the back to let the noodles fly better and have at it. Yes on the Cant hook as well. Wonder how I ever got away w/o one for so long.

 

[CTYank]

Whenever I try to split a piece with really difficult grain, I rip/noodle through the difficult part, and if I use a wedge, that wedge will previously have been modified with a disc grinder. Modified to blend the obtuse factory angle at the edge into a more consistent face angle. Makes it much easier to drive into wood.

My mauls have also been modified similarly, essentially having flat face on each side, with a short (~.5") slightly convex (bulged out) section near the edge. And the edges are sharp. I copied this from a Muller maul I bought recently- made a BIG difference. Seldom use a wedge anymore, and split much more per hour.

I've found that the PP5020AV saw is excellent for noodling. Its clutch cover really lets them fly out the back. And it generates a lot with 20" bar fully engaged.

 

[psuiewalsh]

Does your splitter not pivot to a vertical splitting position? If not it sounds like noodling is the best way to go.

I am only 28 and messed my back up lifting big round into the back of my truck. That is when I started saving money for my splitter and 10 months later I bought one. I still noodle big rounds when they get over about 24" rounds, just to make them easier to get over to the splitter.

Tools I have found it hard to live without is; sharp chain and good saw, splitter, and a cant hook.

It would be nice if we could all afford some type of small grapple boom to lift the big stuff up on the splitter, or in the back of the truck.

Like this plus tongs?
Pickup Truck Crane W/ Cable Winch

 

[ShaneLogs]

I have a 24-ton Brave splitter; this stuff was at a customers house that was cut months ago by a tree service and they left it there. I know she wanted the wood even though she said "you can do what you want with it". I loaded as much as I could into the Bronco, took it home and used the splitter and returned it and stacked it, but some of the bigger rounds I left there and figured since it was Ash it would split easily by hand-WRONG! See my post "Someone forgot to tell this tree that it is an Ash" for more kicks and giggles....otherwise I never would've gotten involved in this mess!

Thanks guys!

I also had a senario like yours, My neighbors hired my buddy who is a certified arborist to come in and cut the trees which were really close to there house and after that they bucked the tops off and piled all the brush up. The wood was Ash by the way, So the landowner came over to my house and asked me if I wanted to Ash and I said yes so, I went over there and brought the 441 M-Tronic and cut the wood into stove length, This wood was big wood, Over 30" in diameter and I loaded them in the truck and brought them home. When I got home I unloaded the truck and got the maul and took some swings at the green Ash. It didn't do anything, Just bounce off the wood and didn't even put a hair line crack in it. So I got out the sledge and the wedge and swung and got a few split to my shoulder cups hurt so bad I couldn't do it anymore. I then got out the Dolmar and started noodle cutting which turned out good. Beat splitting and hurting my self! Needless to say, I got over 1 cord of premium grade ash out of those 2 trees and learned some lessons All in all a good day

 

[Steve2910]

My wedges were lost years ago, I have no plans on replacing them. Anything that defies the Fiskars gets noodled/ hydro split. Really nasty stuff is given away. Life's too short to deal w/ ugly firewood.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

If you are splitting by hand try windmilling the mall, using a lighter mall, with a rhythm like you've seen people driving railroad spikes in movies, and breath out heavily on the down stroke, an exaggerated karate exhale. I used to split in a pie shaped fashion after noodling the large ones, now I just noodle and quarter if necessary to save the back. On Youtube they split in a spiral around the perimeter. First choice, save the back and order a SuperSplit splitter...

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I also had a senario like yours, My neighbors hired my buddy who is a certified arborist to come in and cut the trees which were really close to there house and after that they bucked the tops off and piled all the brush up. The wood was Ash by the way, So the landowner came over to my house and asked me if I wanted to Ash and I said yes so, I went over there and brought the 441 M-Tronic and cut the wood into stove length, This wood was big wood, Over 30" in diameter and I loaded them in the truck and brought them home. When I got home I unloaded the truck and got the maul and took some swings at the green Ash. It didn't do anything, Just bounce off the wood and didn't even put a hair line crack in it. So I got out the sledge and the wedge and swung and got a few split to my shoulder cups hurt so bad I couldn't do it anymore. I then got out the Dolmar and started noodle cutting which turned out good. Beat splitting and hurting my self! Needless to say, I got over 1 cord of premium grade ash out of those 2 trees and learned some lessons All in all a good day

Yeah same type of situation; this woman is a friend of the wife's family but I didn't want to get into it-I just wanted to get the job over with and got a late start that day to begin with. Years ago I took the towing cup off my splitter and replaced it with a boat wheel so I could wheel it around easier-I only split at home so it works great, otherwise I would've hauled it to her house and worked there, but then the neighbors probably would've complained for whatever dumb reason.

There are a LOT of "I should've done this or done that" in this situation but the last line you had said it best "learned some lessons"! I SHOULD learn from this!

 

[Tiewire]

View attachment 239423View attachment 239424 The boom I made last fall for my splitter is a life saver!

 

[turnkey4099]

Does your splitter not pivot to a vertical splitting position? If not it sounds like noodling is the best way to go.

I am only 28 and messed my back up lifting big round into the back of my truck. That is when I started saving money for my splitter and 10 months later I bought one. I still noodle big rounds when they get over about 24" rounds, just to make them easier to get over to the splitter.

Tools I have found it hard to live without is; sharp chain and good saw, splitter, and a cant hook.

<snip>

.

You should add a hookeroon to that tool list. After the first time I used one, I feel naked
around wood without it.

Harry K

Harry K

 

[wudpirat]

Sledge & Wedge ?

Not anymore, I leave that for the strong backs and weak minds
Ditto on the Hookeroon, but also add couple pulp hooks and a pickeroon. Puts a "handle on the big rounds".
I still noodle some of the big stuff, I split verticle and don't lift any thing over fifty pounds.
From the wood pile to the splitter to the trailer to the finished wood stack to finish drying.
The only time I use a wedge is to break the hinge on a cut down or to keep the kerf open while bucking.
I'm 78 and wish I wasn't so macho in my youth, my back would be in better condition now.

FREDM

 

[ShaneLogs]

My wedges were lost years ago, I have no plans on replacing them. Anything that defies the Fiskars gets noodled/ hydro split. Really nasty stuff is given away. Life's too short to deal w/ ugly firewood.

The 'Uglies' I get go in my outdoor fire pit or my OWB. My OWB doesn't care what the wood looks like or if it has knots in it.