Starting young

my boy will be 11 in dec and in the past year he has become a awesome help. he is not overly big or strong, he just is very careful and very persistent. Actually lately i have been letting him split without me out there. Its kinda funny watching him pick up the ax with the split on the end to flip it and pound the axe (it looks bigger than him sometimes)

My step son started when he was 8 and I got him a fiskars splitting axe. He loves to split wood and help out. It does slow me down a little bit but is well worth it to teach him a good work ethic.

My kids are too young but I do show them how it's done. They do help me carry logs and stack at the age of 4

I started very young but did it on my own. Being the youngest of 3 boys, I had to be content with watching and/or carrying wood and stacking wood. It really ticked me off that they would not let me or show me how to split. Ha! I just waited until my brothers were in the barn helping with the milking and I grabbed the axe. I doubt that anyone was concerned that I would put them out of a job as my production was a bit lacking at first. Also, it took a long, long time until someone realized that I had been splitting wood on my own. I think what caused that is one time I got a wedge stuck and could not get it out. Of course, this taught me the lesson on how to get a wedge unstuck. Amazingly, it was soon to be my chore; splitting wood along with keeping wood on the back porch, filling the stoves when I was around and cleaning ashes. Yes, all this took place before I was age 10. I was a skinny runt then because of polio but although many thought it would hold me back, it instead spurred me on to prove that I could do a man's work. Geeze, was I ever dumb....

red oak said:

Camping this past weekend, my son (8 years old) was practicing swinging the hatchet. He was doing so well I told him he could handle an ax. His eyes lit up, more so than I ever expected. So today I bought him a short, light ax to let him practice with. We only had time to practice a little, but he's pretty excited. I am too, thinking about having a helper with the splitting! Those of you with kids, did you let them start swinging an ax this young?

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Get the fiskars x17

I got my first chainsaw at 12. Father gave it to me assuming it was permanently broken, and was surprised to find that I had stripped it down and gotten it into working order. He let me keep it, but looking back I was lucky nothing ever went wrong.

Just started my 6 year old with a pocket knife this summer. Not even close to letting him hang onto it permanently, but with supervision he does really well.

Wood splitting however has me very paranoid. My old boss lost his son when a neighbor was splitting and a piece flew and hit his young boy in the head. I have since always had the policy that my kids are well away from anywhere I am chopping.

Bluerubi said:

Wood splitting however has me very paranoid. My old boss lost his son when a neighbor was splitting and a piece flew and hit his young boy in the head. I have since always had the policy that my kids are well away from anywhere I am chopping.

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Awful story. This is a big issue for my family, since -- if I'm home, I'm usually working with or around machinery of some form. I'm either cutting wood, splitting wood, or working in the shop on something. There's a similar story from years back, of a kid getting killed when his father was ripping a board on his radial saw, and it kicked out, nailing the kid in the head (he was standing in-line with the fence). My son always wants to go help dad, but dad's usually running the bandsaw, jointer, planer, radial saw, or log splitter.

Me? I got my first pocket knife for Christmas at age 8, and I still have and use it! I took it to school that year to show my friends, even though I knew it wasn't allowed. Thankfully, as was probably normal back then, the teacher just told me to put it back in my pocket and not to ever let him see it in school again. Message received and obeyed, without messing up my school career with a zero-tolerance suspension.

I think dad let me start using the 12" electric chainsaw on wood he would set up in the sawbuck (safest possible scenario), with his help and/or supervision about the same age. I remember splitting wood with wedge and sledge as far back as age 4 or 5, using a special sledge dad had re-handled shorter for me. I still have all or most of dad's old tools... I wonder if I can find it for my son, now age 4.

Dad used to split with wedges and a crazy heavy sledge, which I still have today. I've not weighed it, but can say it's still too heavy for me. I split all of my wood by hand for many years, and have quite good aim with a sledge... but not good enough with that monster.

red oak said:

Camping this past weekend, my son (8 years old) was practicing swinging the hatchet. He was doing so well I told him he could handle an ax. His eyes lit up, more so than I ever expected. So today I bought him a short, light ax to let him practice with. We only had time to practice a little, but he's pretty excited. I am too, thinking about having a helper with the splitting! Those of you with kids, did you let them start swinging an ax this young?

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My kids are only 4 and 6. I don't think I would let them use an ax at 8. I would be too worried about an accident. I'd want him to be a little older before doing that. I got an army knife when I was pretty young. Within an hour I had cut my finger with it. No permanent harm, just a small scar, but an accident with an ax could be a different story.

Bluerubi said:

I got my first chainsaw at 12. Father gave it to me assuming it was permanently broken, and was surprised to find that I had stripped it down and gotten it into working order. He let me keep it, but looking back I was lucky nothing ever went wrong.

Just started my 6 year old with a pocket knife this summer. Not even close to letting him hang onto it permanently, but with supervision he does really well.

Wood splitting however has me very paranoid. My old boss lost his son when a neighbor was splitting and a piece flew and hit his young boy in the head. I have since always had the policy that my kids are well away from anywhere I am chopping.

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That is always sad to hear about someone getting hit, especially in the head or face. For sure, everyone but the one doing the chopping should be well out of the way.

However, that should not make you paranoid; just aware and able to do something about it. I look at it just like the chainsaw. Some say they fear it and that is one of the worst things you can do. Respect it but don't be afraid of it. Being afraid can very well cause an accident. Respect the tools and use them as they are meant to be used but do not fear them.

I really didn't let my son help me split until he was 15 or so. Then he didn't want to.
He now has a home of his own with a nice insert. He c/s/s all season. He said he learned watching me.

Red oak. Get him started splitting something easy like Red Oak.

I was about 10 when my Dad had we start splitting firewood. I was swinging an mall by 12 or 13. My kids never were interested in the cutting and splitting so they were in charge of stacking and keeping Mama in wood all winter.

My son is 12 and I taught him to split last year. He listened to the safety talk and I still keep an eye on him. Typicallly with his axe, he'll only manage to make a few splits,but he works at it and he is also spending time with me, which is the most important thing. I'm sure in no time he will be moving up to a maul....growing like a weed!

I let my boys whack at sass in a tire. 10 year old is ok, 8 year old still needs some oomph.

Everyone is different I don't think it would have been a good idea for me at 8. My brother and I did get our hands on dad's hatchet he used to cut chickens heads off.
Still got all my fingers and toes at 51

I started very young. I thought my name was Get Wood until I was 12 years old.