New Game plan

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Remmy122

New Member
Jan 7, 2011
257
East NC
I started burning wood last Jan. In the rush to get wood for this winter I was hand splitting all year. It wasnt too bad in Jan and Feb (in fact I really enjoyed it) but it started getting hot, and then it got way too frickin hot.

Buying a splitter isnt going to be in my picture for a while now, so Im thinking I need a new game plan.

Im thinking about stock piling a bunch of rounds, and then when I dont have room for any more renting a splitter and just knocking it out in a day or two.

Does any one else do this or should I just quit my whinning and get out there with the maul?
 
I bought a used 5 ton electric that has handled everything Ive thrown at it except for a couple knotty rounds. I was also splitting by hand til it got hot and my tendinitis in my shoulder acted up. I think HD charged $100 a day for a rental, I figured for another $100 I own one and can do it at my leisure.
 
Remmy122 said:
I started burning wood last Jan. In the rush to get wood for this winter I was hand splitting all year. It wasnt too bad in Jan and Feb (in fact I really enjoyed it) but it started getting hot, and then it got way too frickin hot.

Buying a splitter isnt going to be in my picture for a while now, so Im thinking I need a new game plan.

Im thinking about stock piling a bunch of rounds, and then when I dont have room for any more renting a splitter and just knocking it out in a day or two.

Does any one else do this or should I just quit my whinning and get out there with the maul?

Remmy, I'd say that's a good plan. Once your storage area is maxed out, reserve a splitter to be picked up first thing Saturday morning. Most likely you'll only be charged for one day if you have back first thing on Monday. Our local rent guy told me he allows a late Friday afternoon/Monday morning return for one day charge.

Have a helper or two ready to go. Plan to feed 'em lunch and keep them supplied with water and sodas and have the beer iced down for quitting time. With you running the splitter and two guys staging wood, you can knock out a lot firewood pretty quickly. Just be all set up ready to go and don't waste a lot of time getting set up. Wasted time is wasted money when you have a rental unit sitting there not getting used.
 
Remmy - thats a fine idea. I know lots of folks who have done exactly the same thing. Granted - you will work your tail off that weekend - but if you have some help (very necessary) you'll do just fine.
 
Save the splitting work for the colder temps. Stock pile the rounds when the opportunity presents itself. I tend to avoid "wood work" from Memorial day to Labor Day.
 
As you know im in the same boat. Nice when i can borrow one, but most is by hand. If you gather enough wife and i can plan a trip down and ill lend you a hand. Tough with hunting season coming down on us but should i put one down early enough a fall splitting weekend could be in store. In fact we are rolling into your state this weekend.
 
I say start swinging! I enjoy splitting a certain amount of rounds in a day, then it turns to work. Go out and split until you want to stop, then stop; do it again tomorrow. Even 10 or 20 rounds a day will make the pile disappear pretty fast.
 
We all know the splits will season faster than the rounds.
But your plan sounds good, thought out & practical.
If you have any birch, maybe bust it at least once, but most other wood will hold it's own without being split.
 
Back when I did all the splitting by hand, it got done only from about November through March or April. No splitting during the hot or even warm weather. Besides, there are too many other things that tend to take up our outdoor time in the warmer months. But if you aren't up to splitting at all, then by all means stockpiling is a good way to go and then rent the splitter.
 
Wood still seasons in rounds, especially in the wood is exposed to the elements. It just seasons more slowly.

Buck it into rounds and stack em accordingly. Then do all your splitting when you are ready. That's the way I was taught, that's the way my father in law does it, and it seems to work very well.

We can split and stack about .5 a cord a day that way - and I'm talking 2 hours a day of splitting and stacking. And that's not in anyway a fast pace. That applies to the stuff that splits decent - not elm or knotty pine :)
 
I split the easy straight grain stuff by hand, It's faster than using a splitter for me. I save all the hard Knotty stuff and once a year barrow a friends splitter for it.
 
I find the splitting bit the easy part.

It's the collecting, cutting, and stacking that seems to take me time.

If I had a huge pile of wood to split, I'd probably just split an hour a day and work through it steadily, little and often.

Remember, you 'll be having regular breaks to take pictures to post on hearth.com, so you won't be working solidly ;-)
 
woodchip said:
Remember, you 'll be having regular breaks to take pictures to post on hearth.com, so you won't be working solidly ;-)

Yea
We like pictures :)
 
I did that the second year I burned, the first year I also split by hand, third year bought me a 22 ton from TSC, best idea ever. Anyways, what you do is rent on a holiday that falls on a friday, I think I did it on new years so I only paid bout 65 bucks for Iron and Oak 20 ton for Friday, Sat, and Sun from United Rentals. I split while wife stacked but if you really want to optimize time, get one person (pref a guy that can lift big rounds) to feed you the wood while you feed it to the splitter and throw it in a pile that the 3rd person stacks. Have plenty, o gas, beer, and food on hand. Spend all day splitting and relax with a movie and some beers and good meal in the evenings. I believe just us two split round three cords so I'd say with enough people and motivation you could easily split 5 cords in a weekend. If you can, you can always just keep making huge split pile to optimize time usage and stack later, my splitting area was my driveway so my wife sorta wanted to be able to park there over the next week. Also, that Iron and Oak made the most annoying rattle sound the way the Ibeam pivoted to split vertically. That, and the way my huskee has built in log cradle I sorta prefer it to the I&O.
 
weatherguy said:
I bought a used 5 ton electric that has handled everything Ive thrown at it except for a couple knotty rounds. I was also splitting by hand til it got hot and my tendinitis in my shoulder acted up. I think HD charged $100 a day for a rental, I figured for another $100 I own one and can do it at my leisure.

That's what I did but I bought mine new. For $300 bucks, its prolly been my best investment for wood.
 
+1 on getting help. Every second the wedge isn't moving is wasted $$ in fuel/rental fee.
 
Starting to think its not going to wait till MLK, Irene has me swimming in oak...

The processing area is getting pretty full, and 2 people I got the wood off the curb asked if I could come back to take the rest of the tree (the big/straight rounds still there) so we will see what ends up hapening, might have to do 2 splittings. Not a bit of complaining around here!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.