How long does it take to split a cord?

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gyrfalcon

Minister of Fire
Dec 25, 2007
1,836
Champlain Valley, Vermont
OK, you guys, roughly how long does it take you to split a cord of hardwood (after you've cut it to length) with one o' those nice big gas-powered splitters? Just roughly. I realize there are a million variables, but I'm just looking for a guesstimate or even a range.

My very small stove chokes on splits of the standard size delivered by wood guys around here, 5 or 6 inches or so, and I want to either ask if I can pay them extra to split it smaller for me, or alternatively hire an independent guy to bring his splitter over here and do it after it's been delivered. (A cord of good hardwoods goes for around $170 here on average.)

I should say the guys I get my firewood from are not dealers, just local guys with woodlots who are willing to cut a few extra cords on weekends to sell to their neighbors, like me, who don't have one.
 
One hour with 2 people 1-1/2 with one.
 
if you ask they should help out, yes probably for a fee. but i wouldnt mention that unless they do.

I am in a simlar boat with the stove needing smaller then average splits.
If you get it delievered it may only take a whack or two with a maul to get it down to size. thats to me the easiest, and pretty fast. I would say if you are just splitting up smaller, probably faster then a powered spliter. doesnt take much strength as the toold should be doing most of the work. (considered an electric splitter?)

to split a cord of big rounds...with two people. one running the splitter (the nice job) and the other stacking and keeping rounds ready. i would say an hour, conservativly. some wood just decides to give you problems while others beg to be split so that a good number to use. i think they best me and a couple buddies did was about half that. of course thats with lots of hands and beer around with no one watching a clock.
 
[quote author="woodmeister" date="1296630621"]generally speaking smokinjay got it[/quote

A "Little quick guy" (gf son) can pull off a little more than those numbers but thats just pride!
 
hey now i gave an hour

when beer is involved and i am 'white hatting' the job its anyones guess. far as i know its a few minutes, but then again reality is when the wife asks where ive been all day...
splitting wood
 
tfdchief said:
smokinjay said:
One hour with 2 people 1-1/2 with one.
Yikes! When I was young maybe. Not anymore. I have to take my time. ;-P

We try to get enough people and put the right people in the right place. From standing tree to a produce cord of wood stack on truck or trailer. Cord an hour. Not always but a little more if the ground is right little less if its not.
 
Stump_Branch said:
if you ask they should help out, yes probably for a fee. but i wouldnt mention that unless they do.

I am in a simlar boat with the stove needing smaller then average splits.
If you get it delievered it may only take a whack or two with a maul to get it down to size. thats to me the easiest, and pretty fast. I would say if you are just splitting up smaller, probably faster then a powered spliter. doesnt take much strength as the toold should be doing most of the work. (considered an electric splitter?)

to split a cord of big rounds...with two people. one running the splitter (the nice job) and the other stacking and keeping rounds ready. i would say an hour, conservativly. some wood just decides to give you problems while others beg to be split so that a good number to use. i think they best me and a couple buddies did was about half that. of course thats with lots of hands and beer around with no one watching a clock.

Well, I have asked in the past and they've been more or less willing, but then if they don't do it small enough for me, which they really don't, it's hard to complain because they did it for free. My thought was to offer up front to pay them extra so they know I'm really not kidding about it. Again, these are local guys making a few extra bucks on weekends, not dealers who process real volume.

I have been hand-splitting up until now, and I recently got myself a small electric splitter. I can't go anywhere near as fast as you guys can, no doubt, with the maul, and I've been using up way too much of my time and energy with wood chores that I really need to put into my substantial produce garden and just general property maintenance. As a female in good shape but not, er, shall we say, getting any younger fast, there's a real limit to how much physical work I can do, and a question of whether that's how I want to be spending my time and strength or not. So it's really sort of time to face reality here.

The (small) electric splitter I got is great, but for various logistical reasons not worth going into here (mainly, a steeply sloped property up from the house), having splitter, stacks and wood supply in the same place isn't possible.
 
When I use my Splitter I usually guess between 1 1/2 hr and 2hr per cord by myself. I can actually do faster with a maul and have recently started to do so rather than dragging the splitter to my other wood stock pile location. The Splitter I use is 27 Ton troy built with a honda engine, for reference.
 
Well, when I'm splitting, it goes right on a utility trailer. That only holds 1/3 cord, then I stack. Splitting that much usually takes me about 45 minutes, so I guess if I were doing a full cord, it would take just over 2 hours. 27 ton gas splitter, slow cycle time on the splitter AND operator. :coolsmile:
 
Well if I got everything in place and the rounds are managble by my self just to split and load on the trailer without stacking I avg. around 1.5 hours total time counting stacking a little over two hours if I stay busy. Myself and my cutting buddy have split and stacked a cord in an hour but thats moving along and everything in its place (perfect conditions). I have to agree with other posts if you already have it split a maul to split it again is your answer great excerise and the already split wood would split very easily to fit in your stove, if you are unable too due to a physical problem they sell 7 ton electric spliters that would be perfect for you around 300 bucks at rural king or tractor supply.
 
gyrfalcon said:
Stump_Branch said:

Well, I have asked in the past and they've been more or less willing, but then if they don't do it small enough for me, which they really don't, it's hard to complain because they did it for free. My thought was to offer up front to pay them extra so they know I'm really not kidding about it. Again, these are local guys making a few extra bucks on weekends, not dealers who process real volume.

I have been hand-splitting up until now, and I recently got myself a small electric splitter. I can't go anywhere near as fast as you guys can, no doubt, with the maul, and I've been using up way too much of my time and energy with wood chores that I really need to put into my substantial produce garden and just general property maintenance. As a female in good shape but not, er, shall we say, getting any younger fast, there's a real limit to how much physical work I can do, and a question of whether that's how I want to be spending my time and strength or not. So it's really sort of time to face reality here.

The (small) electric splitter I got is great, but for various logistical reasons not worth going into here (mainly, a steeply sloped property up from the house), having splitter, stacks and wood supply in the same place isn't possible.


since you have a elec splitter. i would plan on a day and knock whatever you have all at once. this limits you moving the splitter or wood around more then you have to. With any wood processing, the less you handle it the better. (and easier on the back)

Really though if you are looking for something quick an easy a splitting maul works best. Not only do you get a bit of an exercise, but you dont need to be some macho knuckle dragger to do it.
Adivce for that route would be to not buy the cheapest you can find, a few more dollars will go some distance here. I hear fiskars are great, but you can get a decent one at a hardware store im sure. Find one with a sharp blade that tapers out at the base, really helps with seperating nasty pieces. a baby sledge can be a nice side arm too.

It may take a few whacks for practice, but the thing to remember is let the wieght of the maul do the splitting, your job is to hit a point with fairly good accuracy. I find that my aim is much more important then brut strength. and while i am in peak shape, i must admit there are a few pieces that get tossed to the side for another day.

Whats not to love about a task that not just provides you with heat, but also exercise, sense of accomplishment and bragging rights, "yeah i did that all by hand", and on those certain days great relief from the stress of everyday life.
 
Depends on how motivated I am, but if I am well setup and am in a groove I can bust out a cord in a little over an hour.
 
Stump_Branch said:
gyrfalcon said:
Stump_Branch said:

Well, I have asked in the past and they've been more or less willing, but then if they don't do it small enough for me, which they really don't, it's hard to complain because they did it for free. My thought was to offer up front to pay them extra so they know I'm really not kidding about it. Again, these are local guys making a few extra bucks on weekends, not dealers who process real volume.

I have been hand-splitting up until now, and I recently got myself a small electric splitter. I can't go anywhere near as fast as you guys can, no doubt, with the maul, and I've been using up way too much of my time and energy with wood chores that I really need to put into my substantial produce garden and just general property maintenance. As a female in good shape but not, er, shall we say, getting any younger fast, there's a real limit to how much physical work I can do, and a question of whether that's how I want to be spending my time and strength or not. So it's really sort of time to face reality here.

The (small) electric splitter I got is great, but for various logistical reasons not worth going into here (mainly, a steeply sloped property up from the house), having splitter, stacks and wood supply in the same place isn't possible.


since you have a elec splitter. i would plan on a day and knock whatever you have all at once. this limits you moving the splitter or wood around more then you have to. With any wood processing, the less you handle it the better. (and easier on the back)

Really though if you are looking for something quick an easy a splitting maul works best. Not only do you get a bit of an exercise, but you dont need to be some macho knuckle dragger to do it.
Adivce for that route would be to not buy the cheapest you can find, a few more dollars will go some distance here. I hear fiskars are great, but you can get a decent one at a hardware store im sure. Find one with a sharp blade that tapers out at the base, really helps with seperating nasty pieces. a baby sledge can be a nice side arm too.

It may take a few whacks for practice, but the thing to remember is let the wieght of the maul do the splitting, your job is to hit a point with fairly good accuracy. I find that my aim is much more important then brut strength. and while i am in peak shape, i must admit there are a few pieces that get tossed to the side for another day.

Whats not to love about a task that not just provides you with heat, but also exercise, sense of accomplishment and bragging rights, "yeah i did that all by hand", and on those certain days great relief from the stress of everyday life.

Thanks, Stump, but I have been hand-splitting with a good maul for the last several years (also have a wedge and a hand sledge), and while I enjoy it very much and intend to keep doing it to some extent just for fun, I'm hoping to get in 4 or 5 cords this spring in order to finally get a year ahead, and I ain't gonna spend my summer hand splitting that much wood. Not to mention one of my major woods I depend on is beech, which is often a beech to split by hand because it's so stringy and hard.

I think you big strong guys may not quite grasp how much more difficult a task this is for a single female of a "certain age"-- even if I didn't also have to dig up and plant a huge kitchen garden in the spring and everything else that goes with living in the country. :-( Don't mean to whine or "poor me," just trying to live with the reality of what I'm finding I can do and what I can't do. The wood chores are just taking up much too large a portion of my available strength and energy and crowding out a lot of other stuff I need to do.
 
I'm in my mid 60s and agree with Stump. Take your time, enjoy the exercise, and sense of accomplishment. . I was very happy to have split about 1 1/2 cords of maple from a tree we had taken down in our yard. Took me several weekends, but it was great fun. All done with a Fiskars, a maul, and a couple of wedges. (OK, I cheated on the final gnarly bits with a chainsaw.) At present, I enjoy admiring the stacks of wood, and next year will enjoy even more incinerating them. This weekend is set aside for scrounging and cheering for the Packers.
 
bboulier said:
I'm in my mid 60s and agree with Stump. Take your time, enjoy the exercise, and sense of accomplishment. . I was very happy to have split about 1 1/2 cords of maple from a tree we had taken down in our yard. Took me several weekends, but it was great fun. All done with a Fiskars, a maul, and a couple of wedges. (OK, I cheated on the final gnarly bits with a chainsaw.) At present, I enjoy admiring the stacks of wood, and next year will enjoy even more incinerating them. This weekend is set aside for scrounging and cheering for the Packers.

With respect, did you actually read what I wrote?
 
Thanks very much, everybody. You gave me a good sense of what doing this is likely to cost me-- ie, not much.

But please, I beg you, quit with the advice to hand split everything. As I keep trying to say, been there, done that for the last three years, and it ain't working for me.
 
gyrfalcon said:
bboulier said:
I'm in my mid 60s and agree with Stump. Take your time, enjoy the exercise, and sense of accomplishment. . I was very happy to have split about 1 1/2 cords of maple from a tree we had taken down in our yard. Took me several weekends, but it was great fun. All done with a Fiskars, a maul, and a couple of wedges. (OK, I cheated on the final gnarly bits with a chainsaw.) At present, I enjoy admiring the stacks of wood, and next year will enjoy even more incinerating them. This weekend is set aside for scrounging and cheering for the Packers.

With respect, did you actually read what I wrote?

I did miss your last post. Sorry for my reply, given your situation. I will also be very busy planting a garden this spring, but it sounds like my time is more flexible than yours.
 
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