- Nov 26, 2012
- 88
I've been working my way through that large Big Leaf Maple for a while now, and it's almost all c/s/s at this point, but I wanted to share something I learned and ask if this is particular to this type of wood.
The rounds are medium large, mostly around 24" diameter, and it was standing dead and is extremely figured wood. It's actually kind of a shame, my stacks look like a guitar makers shop, quilted, spalted, tiger stripes, it's just gorgeous wood really. All that makes it really tough to split though, and most of the rounds have significant twist as well.
I had been using a maul and wedge to make the initial split, then working my way around perpendicular to the growth rings as usual. What I found was that if I could get it split to where one of the sections had a "point" where the heart wood was, I could go parallel to the rings, knock off the point, and then the outer section would split much easier since it was sort of "unlocked" from the twist and such.
Lately though, I have just started whacking the full rounds with the x27 about 4" in from the outer edge parallel to the rings. Surprisingly, it splits easily this way, and I can work my way around, sort of "peeling" the thing apart. Even the gnarliest rounds come apart really easily this way, and I'm getting much nicer splits with way less effort using this technique.
I'm wondering if this is particular to this twisted old dead maple, or if this technique has worked for others and I'm just slow to pick it up. I do use small splits, and it might not be practical if you were going for larger ones, but I am now cruising through the last big rounds and am really glad to have figured this out. Anyone else do this?
The rounds are medium large, mostly around 24" diameter, and it was standing dead and is extremely figured wood. It's actually kind of a shame, my stacks look like a guitar makers shop, quilted, spalted, tiger stripes, it's just gorgeous wood really. All that makes it really tough to split though, and most of the rounds have significant twist as well.
I had been using a maul and wedge to make the initial split, then working my way around perpendicular to the growth rings as usual. What I found was that if I could get it split to where one of the sections had a "point" where the heart wood was, I could go parallel to the rings, knock off the point, and then the outer section would split much easier since it was sort of "unlocked" from the twist and such.
Lately though, I have just started whacking the full rounds with the x27 about 4" in from the outer edge parallel to the rings. Surprisingly, it splits easily this way, and I can work my way around, sort of "peeling" the thing apart. Even the gnarliest rounds come apart really easily this way, and I'm getting much nicer splits with way less effort using this technique.
I'm wondering if this is particular to this twisted old dead maple, or if this technique has worked for others and I'm just slow to pick it up. I do use small splits, and it might not be practical if you were going for larger ones, but I am now cruising through the last big rounds and am really glad to have figured this out. Anyone else do this?
![[Hearth.com] Splitting with the rings?](http://s65.photobucket.com/user/mremine/media/P1040898.jpg.html "[Hearth.com] Splitting with the rings?")
