anyone else hand split instead of using the splitter?

[seabert]

I love swinging my Fiskars 27 on big stuff and the Fiskars 25 on the rest. Every once in a while I have to employ a wedge on a stubborn piece. I use an Estwing short splitting maul and a pair of pliers to split pallet wood for kindling. Most of my wood is red oak. I also use Envi blocks

Have not used a power splitter yet.

 

[Blazing]

Hand spilt everything but pieces like the one on the left get the splitter treatment.

 

[ADK_XJ]

I largely split by hand — like others have mentioned, I find it very enjoyable and it's killer exercise when you'd otherwise be laid up hiding from the cold. I use an old Collins 6 lb maul for most stuff, a short-handle ATCO 8 lb maul for some peskier pieces and reserve a massive American felling axe (it's got to be 6+ lbs) which is razor sharp to cut through rounds with knots

That said, I now have a two year "tradition" of laying out a whole bunch of bucked rounds in mid-Fall and borrowing a neighbor's TimberWolf-2 for a full weekend of splitting with a friend or my FIL. I find that gives me a huge leg up on the next year's wood and it's an excuse to get together and drink beer...after splitting.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

I exclusively hand split until the rotator cuff surgery. Still hand splitting to rehab the cuff gently but
all the big or knotted stuff goes into the 22 ton I'm borrowing and I pay the "rental fee" by giving him some split wood.
Luckily he only burns on his days off work.

 

[tsquini]

It is quicker to hand split. I take 3 solid swings at a round. If it does not split I save it for the splitter.

 

[Stateguy]

I didnt think that many people still split it by hand.
What i like about it is that all you really need is the axe. Your not taking the log splitter out of the shed and brining it to the wood pile.
If i want to split on log or many logs. It doesnt take much effort to get started
I was just wondering on what type of axes you guys use
I use Grandfors Bruks

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Post #31 Stateguy,

Many of us, me for sure just enjoy it. It's fun to destroy stuff. LOL
With a decent technique hand splitting is faster too. Nice working at home outdoors,
providing free or very Cheap heat for the family, etc.

I use a Fiskars X-27, also have a 6lb maul, and a standard axe.
Borrowing a splitter for the big and ugly until I heal up fully.

 

[Blazing]

I didnt think that many people still split it by hand.
What i like about it is that all you really need is the axe. Your not taking the log splitter out of the shed and brining it to the wood pile.
If i want to split on log or many logs. It doesnt take much effort to get started
I was just wondering on what type of axes you guys use
I use Grandfors Bruks

The holy grail of axes ^ I'd love to try one. I myself have an x27.

 

[Hasufel]

I didnt think that many people still split it by hand.
What i like about it is that all you really need is the axe. Your not taking the log splitter out of the shed and brining it to the wood pile.
If i want to split on log or many logs. It doesnt take much effort to get started
I was just wondering on what type of axes you guys use
I use Grandfors Bruks

My main splitters are a Fiskars 8# maul and an X27. They make a good combo except that the X27 handle is about 2 inches longer so I sometimes overswing when I switch from the maul. They're a heck of a lot more portable than a powered splitter, which really helps because my trees seem to fall in the most inconvenient places. And you're right, it takes almost no effort to get started. It's really handy in the fall--when I have maybe a half hour of twilight available after work--to grab one and split a couple of rounds before it gets too dark.

 

[spirilis]

By hand, except my large dry (2+yr) splits I will use a free 5T electric splitter (neighbor gave me before moving away) to crack down into kindling. I use a sledge + wedge to knock rounds apart into halves, then whack off splits with my Helko 3kg maul.

 

[StihlKicking]

I split 75% by hand. I pull out the hydro for the really big tough jobs.

 

[bboulier]

I like the exercise and split with the Fiskars 27".

 

[HisTreeNut]

Generally split by hand & the weapon of choice is my Fiskars. Also have a 8# maul, but I rarely use it anymore. I have 2 sledges & 2 wedges as well. The Fiskars is that good, so again, I generally do not have to use the other stuff.
My brother wants to get me a splitter, but I do not have anywhere to keep it at this time. Besides, even though the muscles ache that night, there is something that makes you want to get up and do it some more.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Had a small honey locust pile, but didn't want to bother the neighbor to get the splitter. couple pieces were brutal knotty, branches and bends. Prob had over 50 swings in one of them, but after about ten it got personal. Hand split small piles, splitter for big ones.

 

[baseroom]

I've been a maul, sledgehammer and wedges guy.....but guess what Santa brought! An x27!

 

[HisTreeNut]

I've been a maul, sledgehammer and wedges guy.....but guess what Santa brought! An x27!

You will like the x27...wait until you try it, if you have not already. Your maul might get a little rusty.

 

[baseroom]

You will like the x27...wait until you try it, if you have not already. Your maul might get a little rusty.

Thanks had to jump on the road to Charlotte to be with the grandkids. Won't get its first blows for a week.

 

[splions]

I love splitting wood...I use the X27 and the 8lb maul for the big stuff. My favorite form of exercise. Sometimes I get wood just for the exercise...I even got a couple of truckloads of white pine a few weeks ago just for the exercise...is this a symptom of a sickness?

I had a 55' red oak taken down in my front yard this week...guess what I am doing on Christmas day?

 

[fibels]

i split about 2 cord of elm by hand, then bought a splitter. Now I only split the easy stuff by hand so I feel super good about myself.

Actually, I have about another 2 cord of elm that is stacked in rounds, and I am debating getting out the fiskars and getting a workout. The wood is down back, and it would be a bumpy ride for the splitter. Wood by the splitter gets split by the splitter, wood away from the splitter gets split by hand...

I have about a cord of Elm rounds to split.The fiskars won't work against elm.For that job its the 10lb sledge and four wedges.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Fiskars x27 here. No splitter. With the wood processing and my dog, I do not need a gym membership.

 

[Lloyd the redneck]

8lb fleet farm special. I have a splitter my uncle built. I calculate it to be a 22 ton. I run it off my skid steer hydros , I didn't get 2 logs split and I broke it. So everything has been by hand thus far. My big nasty stuff stays round untill I get hungry and weld that baby back together! I do like splitting by hand. It's fast and helps me get excersizes! Ha.

 

[osagebow]

Depends, about 50-50. My splitter was crucial to getting to the three year club, splitting and stacking 4 cords out in the woods on a rocky slope. Recently I had a lot of small-medium locust that I tied a tow strap around for a super size tire method. The x27 made short work of it. The next load was knotty oak, so we split it with the husky 22 directly from the truck bed, and the boys stacked it. The husky makes it easier to split as a team. It's also nice to get some solo hammertime.

 

[pernox]

I will hand split when there's some nice ash to work up. Also if I'm scrounging something too big to roll up the ramps into the truck and don't feel comfortable towing the hydro there. Did some large by huge maple that way this summer...

I started off hand splitting exclusively, but street the first year of splitting and burning 10-13 cord, I bought a Huskee.

 

[heavy hammer]

I split everything by hand, I don't even have a log splitter. My father still splits by hand and he is over 60, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him. We have split everything by hand my whole life. That's why I have a unbreakable maul, and sledge from Wilton bash, plus about a dozen wedges. Splitting is the part of firewood processing I really enjoy, great exercise and stress reliever. I figured if he can keep splitting by hand then I should have no problem keeping up. I always figure if you hit it hard enough and don't give in it always splits, not the smartest way to get it done but it works.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

85% with 8 lb maul and two Fiskars. 6% with sledge and wedges, 6% with electric 5 ton splitter, 3% noodle and cookies with chainsaw (numbers are just for fun, but you get the idea).

I am way faster splitting by hand than with the splitter with most of the wood that I split.

I did run into a 36" diameter wavy tulip poplar last summer that hung on to the last inch, and that one I quartered with the sledge and wedges, then onto the electric splitter. The slow constant pressure of the hydraulics was just the ticket for that guy. I should have waited for it to dry out or freeze in the round first, but I wanted to get it done (it was not in my yard). I found a steel pipe in the last noodle on that bugger that wrecked a brand new Stihl chain that I had bought to try out. The $30 chain was great until it tried to cut the steel pipe.