Hand Splitting Large Rounds: Questions

Until today, I have never needed to split a round any bigger than perhaps 12-14 inches. I just started working on a pile today where some of the pieces are up to around 24-30 inches. First impressions are that I LOVE these huge rounds; just amazing how many splits I get from one and so little of it is bark, just awesome. Here are my questions.

Regarding how to split these. I tried two ways and was wondering if one has an advantage over the other and what other peoples preferences are. Here are a couple pics of the two ways I tried:

First one kind of like a pizza, tried to leave half of the outside pieces larger for longer burns.
Second one was trying to create a rectangular block in middle so that block could then be split into rectangular shapes; as you can see, these didn't look too much like rectangles.

Question 1: Which style do you use? 1 ,2 or some other variation I have not shown?

The pile I am working on is all red oak; while I haven't tried any tough pieces yet, the ones I have split have been remarkably easy to split. I'm already planning to order two more loads of these large rounds and was wondering about the ease of splitting other species (white oak, locust, hickory, etc.).

Question 2: Which species should I try to get next? (more red oak, white oak, black locust, hickory)

My source already told me he could not guarantee me one species, but I'm pretty sure he won't mind any "open orders" for a load that contains a healthy portion of the species I am looking for.

Only worked a few full size pieces and some of the delivered quarters and shorts. Here is my first bite of a rather big pie.


Thanks.

D8Chumley said:

Cribbing the ends. Next wood I would get is something you can burn next year. Maple, ash, stuff that seasons in one year. Unless you already have that base covered

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Got about 2.5 years worth already stacked, this is stuff I hope to use to get up to my 5 years worth goal. I only burn about 3 cord/year +/- so not a huge amount compared to some on this board. Have a good supply of dead standing elm/black cherry I will be getting in spring to cover needs for next couple years.

Wilhelm911 said:

75% of the wood I get is Red Oak. Its plentiful, splits easily by hand (for the most part), and is great to burn. Most of what I get is large rounds. I love the big stuff. I normally split in quarters. Small enough to fit into my tire. Then Ill make my final splits.

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Red Oak really is nice to split.

How hard is it to split large rounds of species like White Oak, Locust, Hickory,Maple, etc.?

I'd like to get a few other kinds of wood to burn but I don't want to request a bunch of a particular kind of wood if the splitting will be a nightmare. I only split by hand because I enjoy it (well, not so much with elm); so need advice from others who have split large stuff by hand before I bite off more than I can chew. When I ordered this load I was expecting a mixed species load; was hoping to get a feel of what it took to split different species.

Flatbedford said:

Red Oak is about the easiest spicies to hand split. Black Locust can be pretty easy too. I split about 3 cords of White Oak last year and some of it was just about unspittable by hand. I had to noodle a lot of it into quarters or smaller before I could hand split it. I could hand split monster rounds of Red Oak all day. Great stuff to work with.

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I have the ability to order Red Oak, White Oak and Black Locust. I thought I would get a load of each; all to be split by hand. Would you suggest bypassing the white oak and doubling up on the red oak? Really like using the Fiskars X27 and I just refuse to rent a power splitter.