Ok I am tired of the square split question so here it is lol !

A buddy of mine came over today and hung out and then popped the question ! How do you do that !
There really is very very little since involved with this. Just split the round in half or quarters or whatever like normal and put the flat side on the beam and split away. Putting the round side on the beam makes it harder to control and does not help with square splits. The real squares happen when the split is to tall and needs to be split in half again. They won't all be square but mostly uniform which is all I am after anyway.

That is ash that was cut at Dennis property last year and to my surprise it was lying in plain sight ! I thought it was the perfect piece for the demo . Thanks Dennis my friend !

Pete

Funny, but I generally split all my wood squared. I find it's much easier to do. Though I admit it's not as attractive as triangled wood. I never have an issue burning it.

There are times where I may come across a nice load of oak rounds. I generally triangle that wood just in case I decide to sell a cord to fund my chainsaw addiction. I figure people are looking for firewood to look a certain way.

If the round is big enough, I always do the squares. I use a maul though, but same idea. Having flat sides lets me load em tight and get more in if I want to. It works especially well with ash since it splits so nice. For my typical size rounds (20 to 30 inches) I whack two opposite ends off then make all "squares" from what's left.

Square splits rock, for burning, and stacking. Yer buddy prolly needs the extra air space between the funky splits to get the wet ones burning.

I'm a square kind of guy. I like stackin' em in the back of the stove, solid

I always like to split some thin slabs too, so I can slide 'em in on top to fill out a load.

Nope good dry wood just curious because he does a lot by hand. I don't recall saying anything about wet wood !

Pete

Ah, good. I still don't know anyone with a supply of dry wood.

I like them for the cross stacks. Much easier to do with the splitter, so you get a uniform thickness.

I make some of each.....squares and 'triangles'. I like to use the squares for stitching the ends of the stacks and periodically in the middle of the stacks (around every 8' or so) to strenghthen the stack. The squared-off splits are easy to cross stitch the ends...

I like to make octagons and heptagons.

You are welcome Pete.

A true square split does not have the angle of a triangle. If that piece you are splitting in the picture were bigger, rather than splitting it down the middle, I'd split some off both sides. Then you'd have 2 triangles and 1 square. Like BB said, squares really are nice loading in the stove especially when it is cold and when you need long fires. You can pack them in tight that way.

Good point Dennis it is just set where it would not fall. It did not occur to me to point that out !

Pete

Try as I might I always manage trapeziums, trapezoids and parallelograms .
Squares don't roll and shift as often too.