Proper Splitting Swing

[ak4195]

I prefer to split my wood in the winter if possible,or atleast 2 seasons seasoning,and always with a mall,always on a chopping stump.Sure I have to pick wood up several times,but I get more efficient power swing as apposed to on the ground.Not to mention,why in the world would you want to rock out a perfectly good piece of sharpened steel.
I cant see twisting my wrist(specially while Im moving at he-man supersonic speeds).That might work on "girly wood",but I do like to drop my waist/bend knees at crucial "crux of the bisquit" moment.
Regardless of how you do it,youll find most of the worlds problems are solved on the wood pile.Supposedly Abe Lincoln said this"Chopping wood is one of the few things a man can do and see instant progress."
Im not as manly as I used to be,so anything with a crotch or knots usually goes into the "Winter solstice bonfire" pile,and I dont want to run short for that one(and my blue collar elbows dont like the pain).

ak4195

 

[airwolf]

When I was in my 20s, I once watched an old Indian guy working with a standard sized ax and 30-inch rounds of hardwood. He never went for the center split. His first split was to knock off a fairly flat piece along the edge, and then work his way through the round from one side to the other, using the edges he created and taking advantage of the natural fault lines in the wood, with each piece the appropriate size for either the cookstove or woodstove. I commented on this when he was taking a break. He said he'd been splitting wood his whole life with nothing but an ax.

I use a similar technique, splitting pieces of the edge of a big round using a maul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S55XLg3rG8
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiTkKj14DBg

If you watch his second video, he leaves one hand on the base of the handle. The other hand slides down the handle as he swings. I wear mismatched gloves using this method. I use a rubber coated grippy glove on the bottom hand, so that the maul doesn't fly out of my hands, and a leather glove on the hand that slides down the handle.

I am right handed, but swing the maul left handed. This allows my more coordinated right hand to aim the maul, since it is the hand that stays fixed at the base of the handle.

 

[angelo c]

Not to mention,why in the world would you want to rock out a perfectly good piece of sharpened steel.

ak4195

My theory is that it's easier to sharpen steel then to replace a shin...the compromise is to use a small block and a bungee cord to keep the rounds from flying about.

Realistically I have never sharpened a maul or my splitter head, I think it gets stuck more often when sharp, but that's just me. I'ld rather sharpen a saw chain then a maul.

Good discussion going here guys !
A

 

[toddstreeservic]

Its all about head speed at the point of contact. Its kinda like golf. If you buy a bigger driver will you hit the ball farther? Maybe. Can you be accurate and consistant all day with it? If yes then go for it. I can split all day with very limited stops with my fiskars, I can't do that w/ my 9lb maul. There are some rounds that the fiskars is too light for that get the maul or the hydraulic splitter.

 

[Dok]

I think both methods are correct and I use both depending on how much force is needed for the particular piece. I have all sorts and sizes of mauls but the only one I actually use is a 8# fiberglass handle. You gotta find what works for you. After some two and a half decades of swinging the maul, I finally bought a splitter
Dok

 

[AKKAMAAN]

Splitting wood by hand is all about transferring energy from the ax or maul to the wood in an accurate manner. The equation for the energy of a moving object is:

Energy = (mass x speed x speed) / 2

In simple terms, mass counts once, and speed counts twice. A lighter ax moving faster than a heavier ax will have more energy. This results in more splitting power. So the next time you see someone splitting wood with a small ax, maybe he knows something about physics!

:agree2:

 

[AKKAMAAN]

Up to a point. Go out there and try to split lots of firewood with a 2-lb maul.

I'll take an ounce of experience for a pound of theory any day.

:agree2:
You are right too.....up to a certain point....when you cant increase speed anymore by taking weight off the head....

If you guys play golf, you understand this.....older player with slower swing need little heavier club head....

 

[Wood Doctor]

:agree2:
You are right too.....up to a certain point....when you cant increase speed anymore by taking weight off the head....

If you guys play golf, you understand this.....older player with slower swing need little heavier club head....

That includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, etc. Older players, baloney. They have all gone to heavier, more massive drivers and fareway woods. Note also the weight of the golf club irons (such as Ping) compared to irons 40 years ago or even 20 years ago. Good grief, even the putters are bigger and heavier.

 

[redprospector]

I learned after overshooting the wood a couple of times and sending a flying split into my shin the importance of accuracy. Its gotta be one of the worse pains.

Maybe ONE of the worst pains, but the absolute worst pain known to man is the shot they give you when having hemorrhoids removed as an out-patient. WOW!!! :jawdrop:

When I split with a maul I generally come all the way around from the ground, using momentum to lift the maul over my head.
In my humble opinion, splitting wood efficiently is a combination of energy and accuracy. If you can't hit the same place twice, you'll spend a lot more time on a tough block of wood.
When I was a kid my dad was teaching me to drive nails. Every time I'd miss the nail he would ask me; Do you look where you hit, or hit where you look?

Andy

 

[AKKAMAAN]

That includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, etc. Older players, baloney. They have all gone to heavier, more massive drivers and fareway woods. Note also the weight of the golf club irons (such as Ping) compared to irons 40 years ago or even 20 years ago. Good grief, even the putters are bigger and heavier.

With older players I refere to the mens club at our local golf club....not the pro's. The reason they can go heavier is that pro golfers build muscles today, so they can accelerate that high mass head to enough speed to take advantage of that head weight...
They are so strong so they can swing a heavy head with almost the same speed as a lighter head.

We have been talking about lift and fall splitting here, that technique fits heavy heads, but if you want to accelerate that head more than the gravity does you need to use muscles......heavy head=big muscles, se Tiger...

I think we are on the same page Doc

 

[Wood Doctor]

I thought we were are on the same page all along. There is a tradeoff between mass and speed. It's all a compromise. I admit that in my younger days a lighter, 6-lb maul probably would have worked better than an 8-lb maul because I could have swung it faster.

However, I went with the 8-lb maul 34 years ago because I liked the head and blade angles on it, and it seldom stuck in the wood. That was more important for me at the time. I still have that big maul, and it still serves me well. Nowadays I start by halving the big rounds with the 10-lb sledge and an 8-lb wedge. Once halved, the maul and I take over to finish the billet.

Fabulous exercise!

 

[TallElf]

I use a similar technique, splitting pieces of the edge of a big round using a maul.



If you watch his second video, he leaves one hand on the base of the handle. The other hand slides down the handle as he swings. I wear mismatched gloves using this method. I use a rubber coated grippy glove on the bottom hand, so that the maul doesn't fly out of my hands, and a leather glove on the hand that slides down the handle.

I am right handed, but swing the maul left handed. This allows my more coordinated right hand to aim the maul, since it is the hand that stays fixed at the base of the handle.

Along with the hand slide, if it really a bugger of a piece, I have squared up a little bit instead of the walk through and just powered through almost leaving the feet. My father has seen a few that he said put on "the pile" get busted up to a size that met it's end in the soapstone. I don't know where I pulled the technique from, It is just something that I have done since I was 9. and for the previous comment. That is me in the vid. I will have one sometime this fall./winter taking on the likes of a lever driven log splitter. :monkey:

 

[unclemoustache]

Maybe ONE of the worst pains, but the absolute worst pain known to man is the shot they give you when having hemorrhoids removed as an out-patient. WOW!!! :jawdrop:

I see you've never had a kidney stone. Those little buggers hurt so bad I sometimes puke from the pain, and I enjoy the puking because it's a temporary mental relief from the overwhelming kidney stone pain.

 

[redprospector]

I see you've never had a kidney stone. Those little buggers hurt so bad I sometimes puke from the pain, and I enjoy the puking because it's a temporary mental relief from the overwhelming kidney stone pain.

Hahahaha. We could have a heated debate about that. I do know that when they stuck that needle in............................Well, lets just say that I never knew that thing went back that far.

Now back to the regular scheduled program.

Andy

 

[Marc]

All my life, I've split with a maul thusly- Start of with my left hand at one end of the handle and my right hand near the head. I lift it above my head and progressively slide my right hand towards the left as I bring the maul down directly from overhead. As the head approaches the block, I retract my wrists toward my abdomen, contract my ab muscles, which results in giving that "snap."

That swing delivers the best impact, so far as I can tell, similar to why a trebuchet can out distance a catapult. I don't split wood with many people other than my father, so I've only seen an over the shoulder swing once, but it looked awkward... of course the one using it was not an experienced splitter either so take that for what it's worth.

This swing is certainly more effective the taller you are, and the longer your arms are.

 

[SLVRTRC]

All my life, I've split with a maul thusly- Start of with my left hand at one end of the handle and my right hand near the head. I lift it above my head and progressively slide my right hand towards the left as I bring the maul down directly from overhead. As the head approaches the block, I retract my wrists toward my abdomen, contract my ab muscles, which results in giving that "snap."

That swing delivers the best impact, so far as I can tell, similar to why a trebuchet can out distance a catapult. I don't split wood with many people other than my father, so I've only seen an over the shoulder swing once, but it looked awkward... of course the one using it was not an experienced splitter either so take that for what it's worth.

This swing is certainly more effective the taller you are, and the longer your arms are.

:agree2: thats how i split with my 8lb when i need a little extra power i swing the maul around and using the centripetal force of the up swing to come done with more speed and power kinda a hybrid rise and fall and round house my right hand still slides form the top and butts to my left on the down swing.

a lot like tallelf's vids except i dont spread mine all out

 

[Islander]

Wow...Thanks for all the discussion

Looks like lots of diverse opinions on correct swinging methods.

I ordered a Fiskars 4 1/4 lb 28" splitter, and plan to practice my "rise and fall" swing with the new tool. Seems like it may be easier with my smaller rounds. I split a lot of Ash, and the smaller rounds go pretty easily unless they're really knotty, and the rise and fall swing may be more sustainable.

One thing I notice, especially with the True Temper Super Splitter, is that commonly my splits really get thrown to each side upon splitting. Makes me think I'm putting in more energy than needed. Some of this is caused by the shape of the head as the short radius of the curved head really launches the wood.

I hope the Fiskars splitter is a little smarter in design, and hopefully doesn't launch splits as much. That combined with a smarter swing may mean I get a little less exercise, but also maybe a little less pain on Monday morning (like today) after hoofing wood on the weekend. And hopefully a bigger wood pile if I can find more time to fall more trees (a whole other efficiency thread indeed)...

Thanks again!

 

[AKKAMAAN]

One thing I notice, especially with the True Temper Super Splitter, is that commonly my splits really get thrown to each side upon splitting. Makes me think I'm putting in more energy than needed. Some of this is caused by the shape of the head as the short radius of the curved head really launches the wood.

Try this tech....hit OPPOSITE SIDE of your LARGE round, FOR SAFETY. If you miss you wont hit into your legs. This is hard with smaller rounds if you dont BUNDLE THEM TOGETHER. Use a rope or a ROPE combined with a BUNGEE CORD. Use a LARGE DIAMETER SPLITTING BLOCK. HIT THE OPPOSITE SIDE, FOR SAFETY!

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Have fun, and use more time splitting and less time picking up logs from the ground!!

 

[Philbert]

I tried the spare tire method, after seeing it on this site. It helped alot.

Instead of a bungee cord, set the piece inside one or more old stacked tires to keep the pieces from flying.

Also cushions the blow of a missed swing!

Philbert

 

[Nonprophet]

I tried the spare tire method, after seeing it on this site. It helped alot.

Instead of a bungee cord, set the piece inside one or more old stacked tires to keep the pieces from flying.

Also cushions the blow of a missed swing!

Philbert

:agree2:

I've been using a tire for a month or so now--can't believe I used to split wood without one! Between my pulp hook and the tire on my chopping block, my back is in heaven!!! I also like the added safety of the tire absorbing any misses or glancing blows.

NP