Ideas on splitting?

[turnkey4099]

Although I have a hydraulic splitter, I split most of my wood by hand as I need the exercise. Much better than paying membership in a club.

Anyhow the problem I have is that after so much gets done, the work area is beaten into powder dust. Any ideas for something to split on?

A chopping block is not an option as they are too high and there is work enough already without lifting 50 pound blocks onto one, usually repeatedly as they fall off on each split.

This year I tried using one of those door mats made from links of tires. No go as I can see it won't stand the abuse and also, hard to believe, but the mat has too much 'give'. That surprised me.

Now If I could find a good tight crotch of something like Locust and cut a 6 or 8" round then put an old tire on top...

Harry K

 

[yukiginger]

Thinly sliced round or cookie?

Where do you get your wood? Do you have a saw to cut a 5" or 6" slice of a large round (not too high so that you can still get your rounds up on it)? I think that this is the best option. Or try to fashion something out of sections of 2"x12" or something like that. Stake this platform or the cookie in place.

Just thinking out loud, as I have usually used a round as a block, but you are right that getting pieces up on that is no fun.

MarkG

 

[DDM]

Find you a 1/2" or preferebly 3/4" piece of plate steel.Having a hard plate will also help the splitting process.

 

[ranchjn]

Find you a 1/2" or preferebly 3/4" piece of plate steel.Having a hard plate will also help the splitting process.

that sounds like a sure way to screw up your maul's head and create excess vibrations, not to mention sending bits of metal flying everywhere. i split big west coast wood (~30 DBH oak), so lifting the rounds for me is definetly not an option. For this reason, i have always split the rounds right where i have cut them with the saw. I recommend doing the same. Also, using a splitting block will lift the round up higher. the result is that your maul will travel in a shorter arc in which you will not be able to accelerate it as much. I have tried putting my rounds on cookies, but i have found that i use up tons more energy and am competely wasted before i actually have to split the wood. Also, i normally end up splitting through the cookie since it is so weak. I use an 8 pound maul and let the rounds (tan oak and madrone) i split sit for a couple of days before i actually go at them with the maul. I personally think that splitting on a block is something that is really only done in movies, since it makes you a lot less effective, but whatever, thats just my 2 cents

what i like so much about splitting wood is that each round is a bit different. Take some time and stare at the wood and see what it is doing. I always spend 30 seconds studying the wood to see whats going on before i actually swing at it. Then i take another 10 seconds to see if i have created any cracks or changed anything. If i made no progress whatsoever and knew i had swung hard, i will move to a different part of the round and try there to see if i can do any damage. When you are splitting big wood, you have to work it in sections. Take off a bit here and there and thin the round down. I think the most important thing when it comes to splitting by hand is to know when to stop. There are plenty of rounds i cut that i realize i can not split efficiently. Dont be embarassed to walk away from a round. In fact, that could be the best thing you can do. You will save a lot of energy and frusteration. If you keep wacking at the same area without making any progress, it gets very difficult to actually split the wood because it starts to become "mushy". If you feel that you are denting a round up a lot on one side, flip it over and start on the other side. Swinging at the same place in a row several times is great, but swinging at a mushy dented up piece of wood is no good. Also, try to stand up hill when you split. I can accelerate my maul a lot more when i am uphill and can tear through a lot of wood that would be very difficult to split otherwise. Remember to split with your body as well as with your arms. Lean into your swing to generate more power and to further increase the power of the maul as it strikes the round. Once you get the hang of it then you will start becoming more accurate and efficient. I love the feeling of driving my maul through a big knot at the bottom of the round i am splitting. To me there is almost nothing more satisfying in life

alright and thats the end of my "how to" tutorial. Just watch someone will tell you to do the exact opposite the truth is everyone has their own techniques for splitting. Really it all boils down to what kind of wood you are dealing with and what the terrain is like. Good luck!

 

[DDM]

that sounds like a sure way to screw up your maul's head and create excess vibrations, not to mention sending bits of metal flying everywhere.

I for some reason was thinking more along the lines of using a wedge or grenade.

 

[TimberPig]

How about a thick piece of plywood. As long as you level the area off, and make sure it is in firm contact with the soil, it will spread the load out without breaking and prevent the soil from being beaten to dust, but won't harm an axe or maul if it hits it.

 

[Gypo Logger]

that sounds like a sure way to screw up your maul's head and create excess vibrations, not to mention sending bits of metal flying everywhere.

Hahaha
LOL, You can tell DDM hasn't split much wood.

Chopping blocks are for making kindling, not splitting wood, unless you are doing it on the kitchen floor and don't want to mark the linoleum.
The nice thing about splitting wood in the kitchen is you can readily season it there with paprika, chili powder or what have you.
Also, since you're already there in the kitchen why not toss a clunker or two into the microwave to dry it right on the spot. The wife won't mind as long as she's not home.
John

 

[DDM]

Hahaha
LOL, You can tell DDM hasn't split much wood.
John

Splitting wood is what i built a logsplitter for.

 

[turnkey4099]

that sounds like a sure way to screw up your maul's head and create excess vibrations, not to mention sending bits of metal flying everywhere. i split big west coast wood (~30 DBH oak), so lifting the rounds for me is definetly not an option. For this reason, i have always split the rounds right where i have cut them with the saw. I recommend doing the same. Also, using a splitting block will lift the round up higher. the result is that your maul will travel in a shorter arc in which you will not be able to accelerate it as much. I have tried putting my rounds on cookies, but i have found that i use up tons more energy and am competely wasted before i actually have to split the wood. Also, i normally end up splitting through the cookie since it is so weak. I use an 8 pound maul and let the rounds (tan oak and madrone) i split sit for a couple of days before i actually go at them with the maul. I personally think that splitting on a block is something that is really only done in movies, since it makes you a lot less effective, but whatever, thats just my 2 cents

<snip>

All very true especially the part about better force applied with the round on the ground vice a block. I haven't tried using a 'cookie' but had played with the idea. I suspect one wouldn't last long unless it was from a very tight crotch from a dense hardwood. Someone suggested plywood. I had considered that but I suspect it wouldn't last very long either. Am debating making one from 2x lumber but have my doubts about its durability too.

As for hard to split pieces, they go on a separate pile to be sectioned with the saw at a convenient time.

My splitting tools are a 10lb sledge, 8lb maul and steel wedges.

Harry K

 

[mactel]

I saw a pic of a guys wood processing area once where he had buried two two foot pieces of railraod tie so that they were flush with the ground. This gave a surface to split on that offers more resistance than the ground (although I think the ground is plenty) but concerning your question it would keep you from pulverizing the processing area. Just a thought I will see if I can dig up the pic. I am not sure if it was here or at ********** - any help?

I generally just split on the ground. Works great for me- because I don't carry each round to a common site- just split it where it lay.

 

[turnkey4099]

I saw a pic of a guys wood processing area once where he had buried two two foot pieces of railraod tie so that they were flush with the ground. This gave a surface to split on that offers more resistance than the ground (although I think the ground is plenty) but concerning your question it would keep you from pulverizing the processing area. Just a thought I will see if I can dig up the pic. I am not sure if it was here or at ********** - any help?

I generally just split on the ground. Works great for me- because I don't carry each round to a common site- just split it where it lay.

Now that is an idea I hadn't considered. Not really practical for me as my work area moves as my split wood piles up. Then I have 3 separate 'bins' that are used in rotation each year. I split mine down to a size I can load in the wood patch, back the PU up to the splitting/stacking area and split the stuff down to stove size off the back of the PU. Have about 3 cord in now and should have around 10 by the end of the season.

Harry K

 

[CNYCountry]

I have split cord after cord by setting up a large round on end, putting the round to be split on it, quartering a bunch of them, then putting a tire on my splitting block, taking the quarters that are now small enough to fit in the tire and hit them a few more times. With the tire you don't chase pieces all over the place, you can hit a 16" piece 4 or 5 times and then just pick the pieces out.

I found splitting on a block works better, the ground is too soft. Any extra power built up from the longer arc gets absorbed by the soft ground. But I am using a 12lb maul, similar to the old Sotz monster mauls. Only the really gnarly pieces need more than that, I got the idea on here of notching the edge with the saw and driving a wedge in with the sledgehammer. After the first split the 12lb maul handles the rest if you use your head about where to hit it.

With the 12lb maul with straight grained easy splitting wood I can work pretty close with a cheaper hydraulic splitter, with a decent sized truck tire you can split a piece four ways in just a few seconds without waiting for the ram to go back like you would with a hydraulic; this is where you make time. Of course working for more than about an hour at that pace will kill you...

I think the best idea I have heard, but not one I have tried yet, is to dig a hole deep enough to mostly bury a big round and then fill in around it. Just have a few inches sticking out of the ground. Now you have a heavy solid round to split on but it's lower to the ground so you can get that full swing.

 

[turnkey4099]

I think the best idea I have heard, but not one I have tried yet, is to dig a hole deep enough to mostly bury a big round and then fill in around it. Just have a few inches sticking out of the ground. Now you have a heavy solid round to split on but it's lower to the ground so you can get that full swing.

I am debating that one. Set up my work area in a central spot, split and then cart the splits to the area for stacking. Adds one more handling of the wood though as if there aren't enough already...but then I -am- doing it for the exercise so..

Harry K

 

[pigwot]

Friends here have a 10' x 10' sheet of epdm-like rubber roofing material. It came off of a fieldhouse at the University when they were re-roofing the structure. It is about 1/2" thick and you can wail on it with a maul without much damage, so the occasional 'miss' is not a problem. A lot quiter than a sheet of plate steel. Perhaps a commercial roofer would have a srap around.

 

[pigwot]

Friends here have a 10' x 10' sheet of epdm-like rubber roofing material. It came off of a fieldhouse at the University when they were re-roofing the structure. It is about 1/2" thick and you can wail on it with a maul without much damage, so the occasional 'miss' is not a problem. A lot quiter than a sheet of plate steel. Perhaps a commercial roofer would have a scrap around.

 

[CNYCountry]

I am debating that one. Set up my work area in a central spot, split and then cart the splits to the area for stacking. Adds one more handling of the wood though as if there aren't enough already...but then I -am- doing it for the exercise so..

Harry K

To be honest I haven't done it yet because I usually split at the site where I cut the tree, then I am not loading full size rounds up into my truck.

What I have been doing with this last tree (massive residential silver maple, with 5! 24" stems) is to chunk it up into rounds, then one by one roll them to where I am quartering them, throw the quarters over a few feet to another block with a tire on it where I split them into 4 or 5 pieces, then pick them off the top of that block and handthrow them a little further into a pile. Then I load the pile on the truck and drive it home, throw it off the back of the truck where I pile the wood on the edge of the lawn. It's about the minimal amount of handling I can figure out. This tree is big enough it might have been worth digging a hole, but I have gotten so used to splitting up on a block I am damned if I can hit a wedge solid when the block is on the ground.

The bottom line is, at least for me, if I expect to be able to split 24" rounds with a maul in less than 5 hits then it has to be on top of another round. Otherwise too much power is lost into the soft ground.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I think the best idea I have heard, but not one I have tried yet, is to dig a hole deep enough to mostly bury a big round and then fill in around it. Just have a few inches sticking out of the ground. Now you have a heavy solid round to split on but it's lower to the ground so you can get that full swing.

Or a stump cut flat & close. Works for me. In fact, I'm about to go do that with some big gnarly locust rounds that are bigger than my chopping stump.