Dropped by my former employer to check out his deer hanging from hi-low forks and after asking for wasted greenhouse plastic to cover my wood stacks (I was too late! ) this winter, we quickly delved into wood cutting.
He quickly asked if I had a splitter, which I don't, and proceeded to tell me about some big rounds he needed split. Big was right, but straight and quite apparently red oak.
As I took my first look at the rounds, I knew it was a simple task--with the right strategy. As I told him it would be easy to bust them up, and with what I would later show him as my Fiskars X27 axe, he thought it to be funny. I walked back to my truck, grabbed the axe, and proceeded make him laugh as I walked up to the rounds. What made me laugh was his story of a friend that uses a 25 lb maul to consistently bust up big rounds...
The rounds were about 24-30" in diameter but very straight. I started to swing, targeting the outer 5 or so inches of the rounds, and proceeded to successfully pop off the round into slender pieces. He was quite surprised at the ease and even more so at the dissolving need to get a splitter! It was only a matter of minutes and I split 7 of the 10 rounds he had moved.
If I had taken shots at the middle of the round like he was envisioning, I would certainly have difficulty. However, with the right approach, you can significantly reduce the need for big power tools. Not to mention, he had to LIFT those huge oak rounds into his lawn trailer to get them where they were when I had split them!
Serves to prove that, a lot of times, it isn't the absence power tools to get the job done--but instead, the approach itself.
He quickly asked if I had a splitter, which I don't, and proceeded to tell me about some big rounds he needed split. Big was right, but straight and quite apparently red oak.
As I took my first look at the rounds, I knew it was a simple task--with the right strategy. As I told him it would be easy to bust them up, and with what I would later show him as my Fiskars X27 axe, he thought it to be funny. I walked back to my truck, grabbed the axe, and proceeded make him laugh as I walked up to the rounds. What made me laugh was his story of a friend that uses a 25 lb maul to consistently bust up big rounds...
The rounds were about 24-30" in diameter but very straight. I started to swing, targeting the outer 5 or so inches of the rounds, and proceeded to successfully pop off the round into slender pieces. He was quite surprised at the ease and even more so at the dissolving need to get a splitter! It was only a matter of minutes and I split 7 of the 10 rounds he had moved.
If I had taken shots at the middle of the round like he was envisioning, I would certainly have difficulty. However, with the right approach, you can significantly reduce the need for big power tools. Not to mention, he had to LIFT those huge oak rounds into his lawn trailer to get them where they were when I had split them!
Serves to prove that, a lot of times, it isn't the absence power tools to get the job done--but instead, the approach itself.