Log splitting advice for the splitting enthusiast

[PhatWood]

A year ago, I got a bunch of 100 year old large oak trees cut down in my yard and got them sectioned into around 18" chunks. I soon fell in love with splitting wood and often found myself outside with my fiskars maul splitting in the heart of winter in the middle of night. I split quite a lot of wood, but there was so much that I stacked some of the chunks unsplit.

One year later, I tried splitting some that were sitting in a sunny spot over the past year and I can't split it at all. I think it got dried out and the grain is wavy and harder to split. I've noticed that drier wood is harder to split than green wood, so now I have to figure out a way to split it.

The problem I have is that the terrain on my property is very hilly and hard to get a large gas powered log splitter to the wood. I was looking into some of these manual log splitter and I was considering getting one like this one

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...DbjX56bK-TP1V-a_ZsI4KCL7RPzOaqrRLMaAuqL8P8HAQ

I'm interested in getting something that's relatively portable.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Do you recommend anything else? Most of the trunks I'm interested in splitting are around 20" diameter, which look much bigger than the ones demonstrated in the pictures. Can I use this for splitting that size?

Any other suggestions for this dilemma? I haven't tried using a wedge and a sledge, but would that really be any different than my maul?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[Minnesota Marty]

Phatwood,
I have split dead oak for more than 20 years. Just sold the 6 acres in the country due to the recent 6 years in the construction business. I too had large dry oak pieces that was on a very hilly property. I used 4 splitting wedges and a 10 lb maul. I broke the huge rounds into something that I could lift. Borrow the neighbors 4 wheeler and used a small trailer to haul things out to the back of the shop where the wood splitter was always ready to go. The wedges and the 10 lb maul are very portable. I think that splitter from Northern is a little awkward to haul into the woods, especially it they are as hilly as you say. I had about 12 cord of covered storage bunks that I would rotate burning. I always burned nothing less than 1 year dry after splitting and stacking. I heated my shop, my office and most of my house with that would usually took about 6 cords a year. NEVER ran out. By the time I sold the property I must say the woods were beginning to look pretty nice. When I bought it 24 years ago it was pretty rough looking. That is how long it took to get the old dead growth cut out and the new growth going. The wife and I looked at some photos the other day and it was amazing. My 22 year old son hardly recognized the place.
My advice, take your time. It is a concerted effort over a long period of time, but the results will be wonderful.

Oh, one more thing, don't split wood in the middle of the night.... the wife is going to start to worry. lol

 

[jillybeansisme]

How are your rotator cuffs? Are you really ready to do all that power pushing back and forth? It really reminds me of a ski machine. I don't have actual experience with it, but I am going from having had the ski machine. I've had 5 tears repaired on my right rotator cuff and wouldn't touch one of those log splitters because of it. Now, I did get me a manual splitter (which I also have not yet used, but expect to soon) that is a pole with a weight at one end and the maul at the other end. You drop the weight and it slides down the pole, hits the maul, and splits (supposedly) the round. Depending on the size, you might have to drop the weight a few times. I figure this is extremely portable and, if it works, it'll get rounds to a manageable size for me to move. It's called a Roughneck and it got extremely good reviews at Northern Tool.

It is available at Northern Tool also and was $39 if I remember correctly. (OK, all you guys with your big boy toys can now chuckle or outright laugh at my splitter if you wish! I'll start the laugh )

Anyway, I figured I could take a chance on it for $39.

 

[Wood Duck]

Have you tried a larger, heavier splitting tool than the Fiskars? You might want to try an eight or ten pound maul. If that doesn't work you could try wedges. Once a large log is split once, the subsequent splits get easier.

 

[Davidram]

So, is it easier to split green wood or seasoned wood? I just split up a walnut tree right after it was felled. A full cord split and stacked by hand in less than 2 hours. I felt like a like a he-man. Usually, I wait till winter to split and some of those rounds are like iron.

 

[SawdustSA]

I tried that splitter in the shop with some small gum rounds which I could not split with the axe. When I started bending the levers, I decided to rather revert to noodling, which is faster anyway.

You might find that if you noodle the round in halve, it will split easier with the maul. I assume you have a chainsaw, right?

 

[Fifelaker]

A 6# or an 8# maul was all I ever used for many years. I found that if you placed the round with the root end up and took wood off the edges it splits better. My middle daughter has me keep some rounds away from the splitter every year so she can get her workout I always give her some red oak because of the ease of splitting, I may or may not hide a piece of white oak just because it is fun to watch.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

10 pound sledge and 4 pound wedges. Nuff said!

 

[Beer Belly]

Ralphie....please tell me that is a "little person" sitting on that round

 

[Beer Belly]

I was thinking maybe an electric splitter may work....lightweight to carry / move.....just need an extension cord, and from some stories I've heard, some work just as well as Hydraulics

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Ralphie....please tell me that is a "little person" sitting on that round

It is! Little 'ol me!!

 

[Davidram]

I like that term, "Noodling around the edge." It took some hard experience to learn that splitting a round down through the center first go is not the efficient way to go. The object in my opinion is to split off only as much wood as you can with a single swing of the maul. Easier said than done. Now, I hardly ever use wedges. Shorter rounds also split easier than big ones. Elm splits best with 12" rounds. I can split poplar and pine in 24" rounds.
I talked a long time about getting a hydraulic splitter until an older friend told me to shut up and learn to split wood. Not that I am opposed to a splitter, maybe I'll get one for my 70th birthday.

 

[HackBerry]

So, is it easier to split green wood or seasoned wood? I just split up a walnut tree right after it was felled. A full cord split and stacked by hand in less than 2 hours. I felt like a like a he-man. Usually, I wait till winter to split and some of those rounds are like iron.

Green Walnut practically splits itself when I get my x27 nearby. Last year I took out a leaning Walnut along the treeline that grew with some twist. Some of the rounds with the twisting grain won't crack with my Fiskars but most of the rounds I had to choke up and take half power swings. Walnut splits about like Cedar.

 

[PhatWood]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Few points of clarification. I've been using my Fiskars maul and have been able to split all of these tree rounds, no matter what the size was - until I tried these rounds that baked in the sun for the year. When I use the same technique and try all different alterations on it, the maul gets stuck in it, no matter how hard and how deep I penetrate it into the wood. It's like I"m trying to split a different material other than wood. I've spent 30 minutes on the same round and got nowhere.

I'm not sure, but I don't think a heavier maul would help, because I think that it would just get stuck even deeper in the wood and then I'd have a hard time getting it out. Possibly, a wedge on each side of the round with a sledgehammer would work. I saw a video on Youtube of some guy using 3 wedges to split an entire fallen tree in half. Probably should pick up a sledge and a wedge.

Also, what is noodling? Is that using the chainsaw to cut the round in half making the noodle like saw chips? I do have a chainsaw, but I was hoping not to have to use it for wood splitting.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Few points of clarification. I've been using my Fiskars maul and have been able to split all of these tree rounds, no matter what the size was - until I tried these rounds that baked in the sun for the year. When I use the same technique and try all different alterations on it, the maul gets stuck in it, no matter how hard and how deep I penetrate it into the wood. It's like I"m trying to split a different material other than wood. I've spent 30 minutes on the same round and got nowhere.

I'm not sure, but I don't think a heavier maul would help, because I think that it would just get stuck even deeper in the wood and then I'd have a hard time getting it out. Possibly, a wedge on each side of the round with a sledgehammer would work. I saw a video on Youtube of some guy using 3 wedges to split an entire fallen tree in half. Probably should pick up a sledge and a wedge.

Also, what is noodling? Is that using the chainsaw to cut the round in half making the noodle like saw chips? I do have a chainsaw, but I was hoping not to have to use it for wood splitting.

Trust me, a sledge and wedges . Start your first split about 4" from the edge of the round, move 90 degrees and split off the next 4". and so on. It'll be busted in no time. You will need at least 2, and preferably 3, wedges to get the job done.

 

[Minnesota Marty]

Another way to say it might be, "you can't eat the elephant in one bite".

 

[xman23]

I'm guessing that hand pump splitter is very slow and a lot of pumps to do much. I think it would get old real quick. If the maul won't make the first split, then the sledge an a wedge. Try noodle the top of the round for the wedge to into. If you have hydro spliter get it as close and roll the round to it.

Different woods have there ideal splitting time. Oaks rounds need a few months. I wait until they begin to have drying splits on the ends. I found they split well after they freeze.

 

[jeffesonm]

I've had much better luck splitting everything green... oak, ash, beech, you name it. Seems to get much harder after even a few months.

 

[Poindexter]

One thing I have noticed is that the colder it is the easier wood splits. What is very difficult now may be much easier when the temperature drops 50 degrees or so...

At zero dF I split like a middle aged guy with a receding hairline. At -20dF I split like a young man and at -40dF I split like Thor.

 

[PhatWood]

Ok, I think that wedges and sledge are the way to go. Any suggestions on weight of sledge hammer? I was trying to decide between 10 and 12lbs. I want to make sure its strong enough to get through the tough rounds, but not too heavy and onerous to swing. I lifted both a 10 and 16lb one today. 10 lb seemed a bit light and 16lb seemed way too heavy, so I was thinking 12lbs. Thoughts?

 

[Minnesota Marty]

10 lbs. I believe will do the trick. But, no harm going to 12 lb.
Like I said, I used a 10 lb and found that it did the job. You'll figure out where to place the wedges based on the grain in the log, it is a trial and error kind of thing.

 

[weatherguy]

I have one of those splitters and they work but you could probably split 5 rounds with a sledge and wedge in the time it takes to split one with that splitter. If you near the Mass borer you can swing by and borrow mine.

 

[WES999]

Lay the round flat and use a chain saw to make a cut on the corner, start the wedge in the cut.

Some wood you just need hydraulics, I had a real gnarly oak trunk, borrowed a 27T splitter,
no way could I have done that by hand.

 

[FIshing_Fool]

I'm not sure how you guys start those large wedges. What I do is take an old axe give it a low strength swing to stick it in the round where I want it and then pound the head with a sledge. Works fantastically but MAKE SURE you stand off to the side as when the round splits the axe can come out like a tomahawk but it always goes straight out or straight back not to the side.

 

[PhatWood]

I wanted to give you an update on my sledgehammer and wedges. It worked like a charm! Now I feel like I'm unstoppable - at least while I'm still young and physical ailments don't limit me. I thought swinging my 6 lb maul was a workout. It's nothing compared to using the 12lb sledgehammer. Thank you everyone for the advice.