Wedge for splitting large ash rounds?

[Mustang71]

I have several ash rounds that I just cut. Most are between 24 and 20 inches in dia and a bit heavy to move. I could use the tractor but idk how ill stack them. I saw cut the top of one a few inches and tried hammering my wood grenade style wedge in it and no luck. I can use my dads half beam splitter but I dont want to break it. I'm thinking about buying an estwing wedge to get these split in half. I did some searching but didnt find the info I was looking for. Any opinions on the estwing wedge? It seems when the ash is darker in the middle it doesnt split so easy.

 

[longbowch]

Why not noodle them?

 

[Mustang71]

That's a last resort. I'd rather cut the top a few inches and pop them in half with the sledge hammer. I dont want to let them sit in the yard and dry but I can if I have to then move and stack them.

 

[U&A]

Why not noodle them?

Bingo.

Take a saw with you. Noodle them into manageable sizes.




Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]

 

[Ryan'smilling]

Noodle. Even going half way makes them come apart with a maul very easily.

 

[Mustang71]

Theres like 25 of them it was a tall straight tree with nothing blocking the light. I'm up for partial cutting and splitting but fully noodeling them would suck. I rarely use a maul. I prefer the x27 or the wedge and my 10lb sledge. This was the first year I borrowed a splitter and these need to sit a year before fully split and stacked.

 

[Iaff113]

Buy a spitter

 

[U&A]

Theres like 25 of them it was a tall straight tree with nothing blocking the light. I'm up for partial cutting and splitting but fully noodeling them would suck. I rarely use a maul. I prefer the x27 or the wedge and my 10lb sledge. This was the first year I borrowed a splitter and these need to sit a year before fully split and stacked.

I take any excuse i can to get the 385XP out for some noodling. Your saw is a tool just like your axe. IMO....... use it for all 25 of them. You line them up in a row and you could noodle them WAY faster than figuring out how to split them. Then the time you save you can spend splitting them to wood stove size.

JMO.

I just noodled almost the entire main trunk of a large oak. Probably noodled 30 rounds easy. It made life easy.


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]

 

[Mustang71]

Buy a splitter

The splitter isn't the problem its lifting the logs up to it. I can borrow one anytime I want but even in the vertical position I dont want to break a half beam splitter.

 

[Iaff113]

The splitter isn't the problem its lifting the logs up to it. I can borrow one anytime I want but even in the vertical position I dont want to break a half beam splitter.

Yeah the other day when I did the 20+ inch ash and oak in the vertical position it sucks a$$. I would noodle them like everyone else says.


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[Ronaldo]

Noodle. Even going half way makes them come apart with a maul very easily.

This^^^^. Noodle even part of the way and then hit em with the wedge or maul.

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[Mustang71]

This^^^^. Noodle even part of the way and then hit em with the wedge or maul.

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I did but maybe not enough. It's not my first day or year with a wedge or axe. But this is where I question the wedge because the grenade wedged tend to shoot out and that's y I wondered about the estwing. The grenade works awesome in a natural crack but a man made one it's not so good.

 

[U&A]

My last helpful comment to you sir. This wood scrounging game is 100% a game of TIME. Find out how you can make things faster and you will be a wealthy man.

Wealth[emoji3596]
Plenty of wood AND plenty of time to do other things like spend time with your family.


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]

 

[rarefish383]

Cutting from the top is the slowest and hardest way to cut. Lay it on the side and noodle them, you can go all the way through in the time it takes to cut a quarter ways straight down. I throw a tarp on the grass and catch the noodles, just keep rolling the blocks on the tarp. Good luck.

 

[CR888]

Cutting from the top is the slowest and hardest way to cut. Lay it on the side and noodle them, you can go all the way through in the time it takes to cut a quarter ways straight down. I throw a tarp on the grass and catch the noodles, just keep rolling the blocks on the tarp. Good luck.

Bingo, change your technique and noodle not rip & a 70cc+ saw will make short work of them.

 

[LondonNeil]

How long are the rounds? 20-24" diameter should split easily enough with an axe or maul unless the wood is knotty or twisted. Even then if you have the technique you'll get some rounds. Try flaking splits off the outside and working the round down in size. Check where knots are and aim between them, put knots to the bottom of the round and if they doesn't work flip it over and try the other end. Bigger rounds can take a while to split but it's not so bad with a few tricks too try. Take a look at some of buckin Billy's wood splitting YouTube stuff, he always shows a few tricks.

For wedges, I find grenades useless, a flat or twist wedge will work. You will need at least 2 to split some rounds... And a third for retrieving those 2 when they get stuck in a particularly troubling round. I have wedges but will noodle before I use them.

 

[turnkey4099]

I have several ash rounds that I just cut. Most are between 24 and 20 inches in dia and a bit heavy to move. I could use the tractor but idk how ill stack them. I saw cut the top of one a few inches and tried hammering my wood grenade style wedge in it and no luck. I can use my dads half beam splitter but I dont want to break it. I'm thinking about buying an estwing wedge to get these split in half. I did some searching but didnt find the info I was looking for. Any opinions on the estwing wedge? It seems when the ash is darker in the middle it doesnt split so easy.

Just my opinion, but throw away that wood grenade and get a straight edge wedge. I get most of mine from second hand stores (I lose a lot of wedges, just lost my best one last week). Don't start the wedge in the middel but somewhere around 1/2 way from edge to center.

 

[turnkey4099]

Cutting from the top is the slowest and hardest way to cut. Lay it on the side and noodle them, you can go all the way through in the time it takes to cut a quarter ways straight down. I throw a tarp on the grass and catch the noodles, just keep rolling the blocks on the tarp. Good luck.

I rake and bag some of them. My neighbor (my housekeeper) loves them for her chickens.

 

[Mustang71]

How long are the rounds? 20-24" diameter should split easily enough with an axe or maul unless the wood is knotty or twisted. Even then if you have the technique you'll get some rounds. Try flaking splits off the outside and working the round down in size. Check where knots are and aim between them, put knots to the bottom of the round and if they doesn't work flip it over and try the other end. Bigger rounds can take a while to split but it's not so bad with a few tricks too try. Take a look at some of buckin Billy's wood splitting YouTube stuff, he always shows a few tricks.

For wedges, I find grenades useless, a flat or twist wedge will work. You will need at least 2 to split some rounds... And a third for retrieving those 2 when they get stuck in a particularly troubling round. I have wedges but will noodle before I use them.

Just your average wood stove length. When the ash gets dark in the middle it gets really hard and doesnt split like other ash. If its light all the way through then the x27 works fine.

I dont mind the grenade in dry ash that has cracks in it and I have saw cut a lot of rounds on top and they pop apart with the wedge and I know a lot of people do that. I can try noodeling them a bit and get a straight edge wedge. I just want them in half so I can stack them. They are still green so idk if that makes a difference.

 

[rarefish383]

I much prefer to split Ash green. Cutting from the top is like "Milling" and is quite slow. Noodling from the side is easy on the saw, but makes long noodles that may need to be pulled out of the clutch cover now and then to keep clear. If you are on a lawn you may want to put down a tarp. Not kidding, in the time we've been talking about it, I could have noodled it with my MS 290. This was an Oak that was close to 40" across. I had just put a new chain on the 660 and was just playing around. It took me 17 minutes from flipping the round on it's side, to a pile of split wood. I used a 4 pound ax for the finish work.