Wojo Modified Splitting Axe.

[PA Plumber]

Elm is tough. I've found the best way to tackle it is from the bottom up. That being put the big end up. Also read the wood real careful and hit it as near the center of the growth rings as possible. I've found that by doing that and swinging my 8lber as hard as I can it will split.

errr, let me get this straight, you aim for the CENTER of wood? no wonder you ppl cant split wood without some ridiculously heavy maul...

I took Peacock's quote to mean the center of the growth ring, not the center of the round. Maybe I misread.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I'm not wasting energy on 12-16" wood splitting it...block it up into 3' lengths and toss her into the ole woodmaster boiler.
Send that elm my way! It will burn great and I won't worry about splitting it.

 

[Peacock]

I took Peacock's quote to mean the center of the growth ring, not the center of the round. Maybe I misread.

Yep, it works on Elm. And pay special attention the the direction of the growth of the wood and even Elm will come apart with a good whack or two.

 

[habanero]

errr, let me get this straight, you aim for the CENTER of wood? no wonder you ppl cant split wood without some ridiculously heavy maul...

I think I would tend to agree with Peacock in a lot of the elm I've split. The heartwood is more dense and brittle than the stringy stuff nearer the outside. Of course you can't say one single approach will work for all logs you're going to come across-each one is different and might require a different plan of attack.

In the harder woods I've split, oak, hickory, locust, etc., working around the outside is always the preferred method. But those woods are night and day different from elm.

I don't know that I'd consider my 13 lb maul ridiculously heavy. If my 125 pound wife can swing it, it can't be that heavy.

 

[ciscoguy01]

Maul

Have you guys actually seen that video of that foreign axe??? Who in the heck actually uses toothpicks like that to burn??? Good lord, you have to stand right next to your stove filling it constantly. As for hitting the center of the log when splitting, it works like a champ for logs up to say 20" I'd guess, when bigger than that you kinda need knock pieces off the sides and work your way around. For splitting in the center, you ALWAYS need to look for that little crack thats in the middle of the log, 1 or 2 wacks hitting it there and it almost always busts, except for the gnarly twisty stuff like some maples and elm and a couple others I can't think of right now...

eh?

 

[blis]

Have you guys actually seen that video of that foreign axe??? Who in the heck actually uses toothpicks like that to burn??? Good lord, you have to stand right next to your stove filling it constantly. As for hitting the center of the log when splitting, it works like a champ for logs up to say 20" I'd guess, when bigger than that you kinda need knock pieces off the sides and work your way around. For splitting in the center, you ALWAYS need to look for that little crack thats in the middle of the log, 1 or 2 wacks hitting it there and it almost always busts, except for the gnarly twisty stuff like some maples and elm and a couple others I can't think of right now...

eh?

Geez, not everyone has 40" wood hardwoods lying around, especially when they dont grow at our altitudes... Strangely enough, we finns have survived all this time by burning toothpicks in wood ovens and stoves without freezing... strange isnt it... :monkey:

 

[Al Smith]

Geez, not everyone has 40" wood hardwoods lying around, especially when they dont grow at our altitudes... Strangely enough, we finns have survived all this time by burning toothpicks in wood ovens and stoves without freezing... strange isnt it... :monkey:

That is indeed a point to ponder,wood is wood .You might find it strange but I heated the house for years on just windfalls and dropped limbs from three acres of trees.It all burns,ya know.

 

[drmiller100]

Geez, not everyone has 40" wood hardwoods lying around, especially when they dont grow at our altitudes... Strangely enough, we finns have survived all this time by burning toothpicks in wood ovens and stoves without freezing... strange isnt it... :monkey:

hmmmmmm. silly finns. cutting their wood into little pieces.

don't you know this causes the smoke to burn, doubling or tripling the efficiency over a pre-epa US Stove????

this means you have to burn half the wood to get the same heat.

silly finns.

 

[ciscoguy01]

Sorry

Geez, not everyone has 40" wood hardwoods lying around, especially when they dont grow at our altitudes... Strangely enough, we finns have survived all this time by burning toothpicks in wood ovens and stoves without freezing... strange isnt it... :monkey:

No disrespect was meant about that. It actually get -30 there? And all you use is those little tiny pieces of White Birch?? I know up in Alaska they only have some birch and poplar and firs... And they stay warm no prob... I just thought they were small pieces, what do you use for stokers at night???

opcorn:

 

[blis]

No disrespect was meant about that. It actually get -30 there? And all you use is those little tiny pieces of White Birch?? I know up in Alaska they only have some birch and poplar and firs... And they stay warm no prob... I just thought they were small pieces, what do you use for stokers at night???

opcorn:

it actually gets below -30 here, around -35c is coldest i remember here in the coast, gets below -40 in some places thou... And now for the interesting part, we dont need to burn any wood overnight becouse our ovens are build so that they RESERVE the heat in the bricks, and therefore heat the house for +12hours per heating.

Also, we mostly use toothpicks for firewood by your standards, generally in ovens we burn half meter long pieces of white birch, split into ~4inch pieces or so, sometimes smaller but rarely any bigger..
And now for the most shocking part, we dont use any dampers or fans or anything on ovens to limit/increase the airflow, we just let it burn hot an bright for while it burns and thats it, no creosote but plenty of heat...


:monkey:

 

[Al Smith]

It might be of interest to some but the Scandavian countrys are most likey the leaders in stove/wood heating designs in the world.I have a book on stove designs from the early 70's that showed outside wood furnaces in use at that time.Didn't get to be a big thing on this side of the pond for another 20 years.

If you live in a climate that close to the arctic circle you either get real smart or freeze.Ha,northern Ohio is bad enough at times.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I think someone posted before that their stoves are of the stone type. They heat the stone, and it continues to radiate heat after the fire has gone out.

Still, with my limited understanding of wood heat, it would seem that uncontrolled burning of small stuff would allow a lot of wasted heat up the flue.

Ian

 

[blis]

I think someone posted before that their stoves are of the stone type. They heat the stone, and it continues to radiate heat after the fire has gone out.

Still, with my limited understanding of wood heat, it would seem that uncontrolled burning of small stuff would allow a lot of wasted heat up the flue.

Ian

yup, youre on the right track... The ovens are made of bricks and weight something around 3000-4000kg depending on size, so they have plenty of mass to store the heat. Also, the flue isnt traditional straight up from the top of oven that are common on your side of pond, but instead the smoke will travel from the top of oven along the both sides to bottom of oven and from there it will go to actualy chimney, so theres plenty of time for heat to store in bricks of oven, after the actual burn has finished the coals are then pushed into space for coals, where they will burn on their own pace and the primary flue is shut off from chimney, therefore not letting the heat escape...

 

[Finland]

yup, youre on the right track... The ovens are made of bricks and weight something around 3000-4000kg depending on size, so they have plenty of mass to store the heat. Also, the flue isnt traditional straight up from the top of oven that are common on your side of pond, but instead the smoke will travel from the top of oven along the both sides to bottom of oven and from there it will go to actualy chimney, so theres plenty of time for heat to store in bricks of oven, after the actual burn has finished the coals are then pushed into space for coals, where they will burn on their own pace and the primary flue is shut off from chimney, therefore not letting the heat escape...

Here I explain the differences between the fireplaces.:msp_smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XIZKNBnnNM

 

[MacLaren]

Russian fireplace? Ive done some reading on them.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

This thread is so old and dead that archeologists have dug up bits of it for research.

 

[MacLaren]

This thread is so old and dead that archeologists have dug up bits of it for research.

Dang! I hate it when that happens! I didnt realize. Thanks.