What is the best way to handle this...?

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teekal

teekal

Member
Nov 28, 2014
91
Manitoba, Canada
Hey guys, so far in my short woodsplitting career, I've only dealt with wood small enough to split with an ax or my hydraulic woodsplitter.

I got a bunch of very large rounds from my Uncle's property a few months ago. I'm finally gaining motivation to do something about them, only problem I have no idea what to do.

How do you guys handle these types of things:

[Hearth.com] What is the best way to handle this...?
 
teekal said:
Hey guys, so far in my short woodsplitting career, I've only dealt with wood small enough to split with an ax or my hydraulic woodsplitter.

I got a bunch of very large rounds from my Uncle's property a few months ago. I'm finally gaining motivation to do something about them, only problem I have no idea what to do.

How do you guys handle these types of things:

View attachment 161205
Click to expand...
I think you just need a sledge hammer and a couple wedges. I found this to be a helpful reference. One point to add is that I think the wedges work better if you start at the outer edge. Also, if you don't have a Fiskars X27 yet, I think almost everyone here would recommend you get one.

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Since your wood is bucked up already, maybe just try splitting them as is? Might not be very difficult. They look dried out already or maybe from a standing dead tree. If it's slow going, you could just cut them in half and try splitting again.

If you were cutting the tree down yourself, I'd say just cut the rounds shorter and split them as normal. I usually shoot for 12" or so in length. When I do this, I use the shorter splits to load my fireplace from front-to-back, so it all works out OK. Just have another (narrower) stack in my woodpile for wood from the bigger trees.
 
They look like pretty normal round sizes. I would quarter the larger rounds in the hydraulic splitter then divide up the quarters again into reasonable sized splits. The final split thickness will depend on what you are burning the wood in. For our stove that will be somewhere between 3 and 8". I like a mix of sizes for packing the stove tightly.

This is where a vertical splitter option is nice. We just roll them over to the splitter and start chunking them. If your splitter can only do horizontal then you may need to hand split them into quarters to make them more manageable. Some of the longer pieces may need to be resawn in half if they are too long to fit.
 
Hand splitting those should be no problem. I like to work using a round as a block. Keeps the work up a little higher so my hands are always level or lower than the ax head. You'll never stick the ax in your leg that way. Also keeps the Fiskars out of the dirt so it stays sharp. Guessing your hydraulic is one of those manual jobs not powered?
 
What are you using for a hydraulic splitter?
 
Gotcha. Maybe rent or borrow a gas powered splitter for the task?
 
That will work fine, especially if the wood is straight grained and fairly knot free. I split with a maul and wedge until my shoulder started acting up. Then I bought a splitter and now I am admittedly spoiled.
 
Wedge and sledge all the way. I wouldn't try it at first with a maul or Fiskars, you'll be a lot less frustrated on the tail end of things. Believe me, I've spend many hours trying to pry a stuck maul out of a thick elm round, and when 2 hours go by and you have 3 split rounds, you'll throw it across the yard, providing it's not stuck still. It's hard to tell, but those look like some kind of soft maple or ash. They might be a bit stringy if wet, and wedges can get a lot more power to the ground. You'll soon find there is a fine art to splitting by hand, and it's a helluva lot more satisfying than a hydraulic. I do it to keep entertained, and my neighbors have someone to call when I'm bored and they take down a tree.
 
Splitting up a few 42" base doug firs converted me. Though we did have to use 3-4 wedges to split up the bottom rounds just so that we could move them. I had to hire a couple high school football team members to move those rounds. Even quartered they weighed a ton as green wood.
 
Amen, begreen. Just took a 30" Doug down a couple months ago, and it was HARD to maul it. Good ole' knotted second growth. I lost my wedge, and had to use an old maul head. I had no idea Dougs were so fussy, most of my conifer experience has been with Lodgepole and White Pine. Damn that sprial twist on the grain as the trunk grows.
 
Yeah, pita to split but I do like burning the stuff. Those boys were great. Young, strong, full of testosterone and looking for a challenge. $30/hr for the two and they were well worth it.
 
Hey guys, so I picked up these two beauties today to handle the stumps in the original post...

[Hearth.com] What is the best way to handle this...?

It takes care of them in seconds, feels so badass! Thanks for the advice guys.
 
Now do a few of these.

[Hearth.com] What is the best way to handle this...?
 
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Yeah that is lame. Had a few down in the woods that size earlier this year and started splitting slabs off the sides with the Fiskars to relieve the tension on the interior and had'em done pretty fast. I don't even remember where I put my splitting wedges. And I have no desire to pound on my maul. Wherever it is.
 
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The video is lame. I'm not Mr. Safety but, he should be wearing eye protection. He would be better off putting that round up on a block and getting after it with a maul or sledge/wedge.
Or, as was stated earlier, chip away at it starting at the outside.

To the OP, that stuff looks dry and might be difficult to split, so I would go at it by placing on a block and swinging the maul or sledge/wedge. But I am a Meathead like that.
 
rwilly said:
The video is lame. I'm not Mr. Safety but, he should be wearing eye protection. He would be better off putting that round up on a block and getting after it with a maul or sledge/wedge.
Or, as was stated earlier, chip away at it starting at the outside.

To the OP, that stuff looks dry and might be difficult to split, so I would go at it by placing on a block and swinging the maul or sledge/wedge. But I am a Meathead like that.
Click to expand...
I don't use eye protection when splitting by hand either.
 
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