For all my hand splitting brothers and sisters

The ole splitting block was looking pretty ratty and I finally cracked it good the other day. My buddy was nice enough to drop off an old 20" truck tire that I'm going to attatch to my new block, probably made out of pressure treated 4x4.

I like I nice low block if I'm using one, and even then you can tell you're loosing some swing over splitting on hard ground.

So I decided to attach the tire to a low block made out of 4x4s as I saw Wranglerstar do on Youtube. It works pretty well and gives just a bit of height without costing too much swing. Handy for small to medium sized rounds.

smee said:

I'm good with aiming.
I think i was trying to split in the middle, i'll start from the side, maybe that will help..

Click to expand...

Be careful when aiming for the side. Your striking tool will have a much better chance of twisting and deflecting while using this technique. The reason for this as follows: when you hit the center of the log, whether or not it splits, there is roughly equal weight and resistance on both sides of the axe/maul bit pushing back. When you go for an edge, you have one heavy side of a log that doesn't move and one light side that splits off. The unequal forces will keep the heavy side in place while your striking implement and small split go deflecting off.

Make sure you are aware of what is in the path of your axe/maul if you attempt hard splits on edges rather than going for the middle. Stay safe!

BlueRidgeMark said:

That's a tried-and-true old trick.





Yep. That ground absorbs a lot of energy. I just a big oak or elm round as my splitting block. Gets the wood to a better height, too.

Click to expand...

I'm 6'3" and need the round up higher to make it comfortable to split by hand. If some of the big rounds are too big to lift up, i will swing at them on the ground, but it's awkward and doesn't feel right.

Holzstapel said:

I'm 6'3" and need the round up higher to make it comfortable to split by hand. If some of the big rounds are too big to lift up, i will swing at them on the ground, but it's awkward and doesn't feel right.

Click to expand...

I'm only 6'2" but I also like having the round higher up. The strike feels better, too, because the head is traveling closer to straight down at that point--the lower it goes, the more it starts to curve back in. After I bounced an axe off a knot and into my shin, however, I've changed my technique and started splitting rounds at ground level. It doesn't yet feel right but it does seem safer. I wonder if the effect of the increased head speed is basically cancelled out by the loss of power from having the round on a softer surface...

For splitting on the ground especially: in order to keep a downward momentum on the maul head and prevent it coming back towards you, keep your back straight-ish, bend your knees instead.

drz1050 said:

For splitting on the ground especially: in order to keep a downward momentum on the maul head and prevent it coming back towards you, keep your back straight-ish, bend your knees instead.

Click to expand...

Yup, if you keep your hands level with or below the head as you swing it cannot come towards you.

drz1050 said:

For splitting on the ground especially: in order to keep a downward momentum on the maul head and prevent it coming back towards you, keep your back straight-ish, bend your knees instead.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that makes sense. Bending your knees seems to be the preferred approach for just about everything involving some effort--but, alas, isn't always easy for those with bad knees!

smee said:

around 18 inch, A few diff types

Click to expand...

Not too many species of wood that I can whack an 18" round right through the middle. Though I'm a fairly thin guy, maybe the more Paul Bunyan types can. At 18" I usually got to take slabs off around the outside to get it more manageable size.

OhioBurner© said:

Not too many species of wood that I can whack an 18" round right through the middle. Though I'm a fairly thin guy, maybe the more Paul Bunyan types can. At 18" I usually got to take slabs off around the outside to get it more manageable size.

Click to expand...

Leverage is still king. While we all love those new Fiskars splitting axes, they are still relatively short compared to the mauls used in the past, meant to split big rounds of hard wood. I don't know who makes them stock but we have experimented with mauls hung on up to 50 inch handles and the difference is incredible. I'm also 6'4" and 230 pounds so I can effectively use a tool like that. Put one of those things in my wife's hand and she just shakes her head and grabs for the Fiskars

I've also buried my maul dead center in a large round without it coming apart.. if you're trying to split down the middle, a few whacks on the near and far side can do a world of good.

For bigger wood, you've gotta have all your ducks in a row. I'm no 6' 4" 230 lb Virginian (5" and 50 pounds shy) so if I need all the help I can get, haha.

For big wood it's definitely better to split on the ground, don't mess around with blocks that will rob your swing of speed. If the rounds you're splitting are the size of a splitting block, they'll resist squishing into the ground just as well as the block does (although a good firm surface never hurts). Use a good sharp tool that's not too heavy for you. You've got to be able to hit the same spot repeatedly as necessary or else you are going to really struggle, so if you are swinging so hard you're losing accuracy you're hurting your own cause. Let off a little bit and make 2-3 really good accurate strikes and you'll have better luck. It's important to exploit natural weaknesses in the wood by splitting along existing cracks, or going through or around knots and forks in the right directions.

Definitely warm up gradually and stretch as necessary to get the limbs moving and avoid injury. I usually spend 15 or 20 minutes on easier splitting stuff or just working gently before I try to really reach back and give it the thunder.

Posted more for other new people who find the thread than you guys. Just some general suggestions, please add on. Maybe we can build it into a hand splitting FAQ.

CentralVAWoodHeat said:

Leverage is still king. While we all love those new Fiskars splitting axes, they are still relatively short compared to the mauls used in the past, meant to split big rounds of hard wood. I don't know who makes them stock but we have experimented with mauls hung on up to 50 inch handles and the difference is incredible. I'm also 6'4" and 230 pounds so I can effectively use a tool like that. Put one of those things in my wife's hand and she just shakes her head and grabs for the Fiskars

Click to expand...

It's all about head speed. Think golf clubs, bats etc...

It's definitely all about speed. If you have the horsepower to turn a long lever into more head speed, then you're pretty much the Vladimir Guerrero of splitting wood I guess

DTrain said:

Someone here mentioned mentally swing thru the block as if you were targeting the bottom of the round. I'm not sure why but I think there is something to that.

Click to expand...

I tried this yesterday and it actually worked surprisingly well. "Aiming for the bottom" seems to help optimize both the direction and force of the swing. Thanks for the idea!

bad news said:

It's definitely all about speed. If you have the horsepower to turn a long lever into more head speed, then you're pretty much the Vladimir Guerrero of splitting wood I guess

Click to expand...

Yup, speed is great but once you get to the point where you can effectively swing a shorter splitting maul at high speeds, I've found increasing the lever arm can yield better results. It's like basic weight lifting. Once you can begin to press 250 pounds 15 times, there is not a lot of reason to go for 20, 30, or 40 repetitions. Instead you increase the weight and progress until you can lift that 15 times. A very basic and very incomplete analogy, I know, but same principle.

I've found I prefer a tad heavier maul and it's resulting slower swing speed than a lighter maul but faster swing. Seems most people disagree with this but it works better for me.

I have a lot of 25inch plus rounds at times I usually cheat and noodle them in half with the saw. Especially with white oak that stuff is so dense . You don't need to cut them completely in half even just ripping them half way with a saw makes splitting dense wood so much easier.

Then with the large noodles left behind on the ground you can put the large long noodle shavings in a bag to use for starting your stove. The large noodles make awesome kindling.