Is this weird?

[FatttFire]

Just bought a new log splitter, works great no complaints, already split a truck load of wood! Last night though I was going to get out my new log splitter, and instead I grabbed my trusty maul, :-/ and split about a truck load! I enjoy splitting wood by hand, can't do it all the time, my back would let me down, but I don't see it as work but as a type of "therapy"! :roll: Anybody else feel this way is this weird? Don't get me wrong I will use the snot out of the log splitter but sometimes, I think I am still going to get out the maul!

J

 

[MacKay]

I often do the same. If nothing else it is good exercise. Maybe we're both weird?

 

[tw40x81]

Another weird one here. I don't own a splitter, But I do own two mauls. I'm working on a load of nice straight ash logs. The logs seem to just look at the maul and split themselves. There's no way I'm going to loose 10 lbs with wood like this. Quite disappointing.

 

[bbb123]

Grab yourself a couple elm trees they will give you a work out.

 

[Vic99]

I do not own a splitter.

I agree. Splitting by maul is great exercise and very satisfying . . . if you stay away from elm.

Maybe I feel this way because for me it is not necessary to be a wood burner. I chose to get a wood stove, partly to get away from FF, partly because I love the concept of seeing a fire in my house for 5 months, but also because I want to live more off of the land. Modern conveniences make my life easier. I like this, I don't want to go back to the stone age.

Maybe heating with wood and splitting and stacking in my yard feeds something primal. Hunting with a bow for food does the same. Raising fruits in the yard also fills this need. I still like the supermarket, though.

 

[FatttFire]

I have a few pieces of shag bark hickory 24 " in diameter! Nice stuff splitt four pieces by hand then sat on the 5th piece and had a beer admiring my work! :coolgrin: Then split the 5th piece with my new log splitter!

j

 

[RedRanger]

My wife says that if I spend anymore time standing beside the chalk-a-block full woodsheds and admiring my work-"she is going to have me committed".. :lol: Funny, it doesn`t seem weird to me.

 

[savageactor7]

I mostly use my splitting maul in the winter when the trees are dormant...maple and ash, never elm. I have a bad back as well but when I bear down on the wood my knees are flexing and my back is straight. It's actually faster than the gas splitter...couldn't do it this year though with all the snow.

My favorite winters are the cold one's with little or no snow. Real easy to move through the woods with a tractor...

...just say'en, I'd never be without a gas splitter though. They're a lifesaver.

 

[woodconvert]

I have a few pieces of shag bark hickory 24 " in diameter! Nice stuff splitt four pieces by hand then sat on the 5th piece and had a beer admiring my work! :coolgrin: Then split the 5th piece with my new log splitter!

j

I read in the Wood Splitters Manual that the method you used above is almost code....sept you are supposed to look at the maul, drink the beer and split with the splitter!.

I used to split all my wood by hand. About the time I finished what I thought was what I needed I was in pretty good shape, strong back and hands like a rasp. But then reality set in and I needed more than I thought....aint no way I can split by hand what I need in a timely manner. A splitter may be slower to start but I can run my splitter ALL DAY without a problem...and drink beer.

If you can do all you need with a maul good on ya.

 

[oilstinks]

I feel the same. I somewhat enjoy getting wood and splitting it. Du no maybe just a certain breed. Good old fashion hard work gives me satisfaction sometimes. Dont get me wrong splitting wood for 8 hrs gets old ive done it.

 

[Rich L]

Most wood is too easy to split by hand if you want a good therapeutic work out.Only Elm makes me sweat soak and wet.Only real way to attack Elm is with 2 or 3 wedges and a 10 lb sludge hammer no axe ,no maul.If elm is wet forget it until it dries.

 

[FatttFire]

:lol: my girlfriend says the same thing! She will come riding up on the four wheeler and say " the neighbors called and said they saw you just standing next to the stacks of wood drinking a beer and holding an axe ( AXE ..... lol ..... amatuers ) staring at the wood and where wondering if I was okay?

One year my buddies and I where being nagged by the ladies about the fact we were drinking alot of beer while we split wood! Then the supply train of beer was not showing up on time ( the ladies ) so we secretly dug this pit in the ground, lined it with bark, put cold beer in hole, covered with ice, then put kindling on top! Ladies were so proud of us for not wanting any more beer .................. :lol: by the end of the day we got about 3 cords split ( not very good ) and we were 3 sheets to the wind! The ladies were suspicious, drove over to where we were and rove the four wheeler into the "buried cooler" ! Blew out a tire in the process, and I was told, I should have know better! >:-(

What am I going to say it was fun ................... while it lasted!

J

 

[Carl]

Splitting wood with a maul is fun if you can work an hour or so and take a long break. I have split wood
all my life with only a maul, including elm. The few elm blocks I couldn't split was left to rot since I had
no way of fitting them into the stove.

Last week I purchased my first gas splitter and it show me how easy those elms split. At least some of them.
Alice my wife was helping and when the splitter slowed to a crawl and began to squeek she would step
way back in fear of something flying out at her.

I am sure I will still split with the maul as it is quicker but the splitter is easier so will get a lot of use too.
Both worlds will work for me.

 

[bmwloco]

While living in Vermont in the late 80's, I first encountered a maul.

A relationship I'd been in for 6 years, really, my first adult relationship, was coming to an end. It was early fall and we lived in an old house that needed every stick of wood I could split and stack.

She left. I was left with a 5 months old Golden Retriever puppy, Hayduke, and 6 cords of wood. I started into it. It took about a week after work.

I'd split the log, then toss the splits into the barn. 'duke would obediently bring it right back, always wary of my swinging maul. After a while, he'd get tired of bringing it back, and I'd double my effort and get the wood tossed in.

Hayduke is a memory now, chasing his last ball when I was at the South Pole in 2000/2001.

Now that I have my VC Resolute up and running, I've had good luck, and better memories, swinging a 12 lb. maul into old oak that's been sitting for 2 years.

 

[Carl]

Hi Burning Chuck. I wintered over at McMurdo Station in 1967 with operation deepfreeze. All different now.
A couple of pictures of McMurdo Station if you are interested. No wood but lots of fuel oil and a nuke plant.

McMurdo Station 1967

 

[bmwloco]

Wow... small world. Great shots.

I spent 4 summers in McMurdo, 14 months at Pole, 2 Winters at Palmer and 2 more years on the RV/IB Nathaniel B. Palmer sailing Antarctic waters. We had a stove at Palmer. Now I understand it's gone, but it was great to set beside it overlooking the bay.

Carl, I think you'd be amazed how little has changed at McMurdo. At least it looked a lot like my first summer there in 1994. They've spiffed it a bit, but not much.

Once while monkeying around Ob Hill, we lounged in the sunshine. Only later did we learn it was the sight of the reactor.

 

[woodjack]

Splitting wood with my maul is my favorite part of the wood burning process - good exercise and great therapy.

If they had a class in my high priced gym with a door that led out to the field where I split my wood the waiting list would be three hours long. It beats lifting weights.

Also, it settles me down. Sometimes I'm so anxious to split a split that I miss it completely. I tell my self, calm down, take a breath, and focus. Ahhhh, much better.

For me, making heat from wood is not just lighting wood on fire in my wood stove, but it's a whole process that brings me back to myself, a primal human animal. ugh ugh.

 

[myzamboni]

When I split wood with a maul I think of the 'heads-up-their-asses' upper management at work when I look at the rounds. It helps my aim and focus as well as causes me to swing with a little more oomph.