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OT Splitting Firewood

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Sean (TX)

Well-known Member
Besides a log splitter...What is your weapon of choice for splitting oak?I split some already. That will get the blood pumping and warm you up fast. Dropping into the 20's tonight. We had some snow flurries today but that was about it. Its going to clear up and the bottom will fall out tonight.

I have made my decision today...It is one of the two in the below pic. Ill let you know later :lol:

axes.jpg
 
A wedge and a sledge. Two wedges actually and a 10 lb sledge are my preferred way to split firewood. Just take it easy and be safe.
 
A little bit heavier maul than the one that you have, I like the older ones, you can usually find them at flea markets.

Be dang careful with that double bit axe, if it bounces back just right, it could split your skull.

I also use wedges and sledges a lot on larger wood.
 
Hey, Sean. I use an eight pound maul but mostly use the sledge side with a tool called a "torpedo" or "grenade" or something like that. I bought it at Lowes. It's sort of snow cone shape with a heavy spiral on the tapered cone part. I tap it down into place in the middle of cut log and with a couple or three mighty whacks the log will split into two or three pieces. I can then use the blade side of the maul to split it down further. The "grenade" thing saves a lot swinging of that maul and rarely gets stuck in the wood like a wedge can.

22 degrees tonight here near Bellville. We had snow flurries all day but the skies are clearing now. Two hours ago it was 34 degrees. Now it's 38. Must be a heat wave moving in.

Ken
 
I wait till it's below zero then the wood pops apart real nice. But
now after 40 years of fixing all kinds of equipment I like to just
pour gas in the log splitter!
 
For many years I"ve used a "Monster Maul" Triangular shaped, steel handle, weighs about 18 #. I"ve never own nor used a power log splitter. The monster maul has worked fine for me.

Mr. Bob
 
(quoted from post at 17:43:10 12/04/09) Besides a log splitter...What is your weapon of choice for splitting oak?I split some already. That will get the blood pumping and warm you up fast. Dropping into the 20's tonight. We had some snow flurries today but that was about it. Its going to clear up and the bottom will fall out tonight.

I have made my decision today...It is one of the two in the below pic. Ill let you know later :lol:

axes.jpg
Click to expand...
Been heating our home now 35 years 100% hardwood (oak, maple, beech, cherry, etc.) 7 full cords or 21 face cords per year.
Never used a splitter
I still use nothing but a go devil (splitting maul) wedges, 8 lb maul. For the stubborn knotty and forked I lay down the log and rip it lengthwise with a 20 inch chain saw. When I was younger this was actually faster and easier than using a gas splitter. I'm slowing a lot but I guess I now have more time so I keep doing the old way.
The implement on the on the left is an ax and about useless for splitting anything other than already split, straight grained, dry, brittle wood
 
Wedge and sledge are what I used for a lot of years. Then, two teenage boys, now I buy it split! I was 69 yesterday and am waiting global warming!
 
I've been spiting wood for 30 years or more. Only use a maul - like the one on the left but a little bigger.
 
(quoted from post at 19:23:37 12/04/09) I've been spiting wood for 30 years or more. Only use a maul - like the one on the left but a little bigger.
Click to expand...

You mean the one on the right?
 

Ok here is a pick of the oak..I have some that are bigger.

firewood.jpg


That maul on the right bounces right off it. It puts a dent in it.. I have a wedge too. I have to notch it out with a chain saw to get it started LOL. Then beat the hell out of it with the sledge side.

I like the double edge axe. It belonged to my Dad. He got it from his Dad. I put a new hickory stick on it last year. I can swing it pretty hard. cut that oak like butter compared to the maul. Got it stuck a few times LOL. It is a way better tool. Split to big logs that will get me through the night and into the morning. Not very offen I split more then I will use in a day or 2.
 

Sean, that Grenade thing I told you about would be perfect for that wood. Just tap it into the heart of one of the logs and it will split in just two or three swings.
 

I left out one important fact. This is Spanish oak. The trees are a different bread compared to red or white oak...Cut and split a lot of that when I was a kid in Michigan. Dad used to buy the oak in 8 foot length's. He cut and split and we hauled and piled it LOL.... I split some when I got older.If I still lived in Michigan...I would still have a wood stove. I would get a log splitter. Its a long winter up there.
 
(quoted from post at 19:49:59 12/04/09)
Sean, that Grenade thing I told you about would be perfect for that wood. Just tap it into the heart of one of the logs and it will split in just two or three swings.
Click to expand...

I am going to look into it Kenster...You got a fire burning tonight? :lol:
 
Sean - I use an 8 lb maul and wedges. I do at least 7 cord a year and I am almost 60. Beats going to a gym.
Hal
 
Sean, I would throw that wood in my heater as is.

And would be wishing it was 22" long.
 
i have both just like that, lol i inherited the doubble bit from my dad too, as well as the maul, i bought a new maul 3 or 4 years ago, it sits in the shed as the old one works way better, have no idea why, last year my back finally hurt too much to do that, [ i found out last week i have 2 discs missing completly, and the bones hitting each other, no wonder i hurt] mrs bought me my first powered splitter last month, nice, finally figured out how to work it, get 2 wheel barrows full of unsplit wood, on the operating side of the splitter, park tractor with 1 1/2 yd loader bucket on the other side, sit on 5 gallon can and split lol, 2 wheelbarrows unsplit will almost fill the loader bucket when split then drive tractor over to the house and dump on back deck, at least i can still do it that way, the ax and maul sit in the shed now too, they were my dads, maybe the kid will want them when he retires from the navy
 
My dad bought his 8N sidemount in 50 and I drove it the day it was delivered. I was 8 yrs. old We didn"t have any heat but wood until 1993. I spent a lot of time in the woods with a crosscut saw and axe. We used steel wedges with a maul made out of ash tree hadrened in the winter before the open fire. I still have a couple. Once the split was started with the steel wedge, we used a glut (large wooden wedge made of dogwood) to finish the log. We cut logs two and a half feet long as our fireplaces were three feet. The trees we cut and split were often over three feet in diameter. I split about a trailer load for the kids to burn outside on Thanksgiving but I am getting too old for that kind of work. One thing I"ll never forget is hearing the ring of that crosscut saw on a hard whiteoak tree on the hillside. It was music that not many young people will ever hear. I still have all the tools and 8N too.
 
(quoted from post at 19:58:45 12/04/09) Sean - I use an 8 lb maul and wedges. I do at least 7 cord a year and I am almost 60. Beats going to a gym.
Hal
Click to expand...

You are not kidding Hal...I get plenty of exercise at work..I been installing garage doors for years.
 
(quoted from post at 20:15:51 12/04/09) My dad bought his 8N sidemount in 50 and I drove it the day it was delivered. I was 8 yrs. old We didn"t have any heat but wood until 1993. I spent a lot of time in the woods with a crosscut saw and axe. We used steel wedges with a maul made out of ash tree hadrened in the winter before the open fire. I still have a couple. Once the split was started with the steel wedge, we used a glut (large wooden wedge made of dogwood) to finish the log. We cut logs two and a half feet long as our fireplaces were three feet. The trees we cut and split were often over three feet in diameter. I split about a trailer load for the kids to burn outside on Thanksgiving but I am getting too old for that kind of work. One thing I"ll never forget is hearing the ring of that crosscut saw on a hard whiteoak tree on the hillside. It was music that not many young people will ever hear. I still have all the tools and 8N too.
Click to expand...

I was driving Dads 9N about the same age. Plowed a bunch of snow in my early days in Michigan.Never used a cross saw. I have seen them and know what you are talking about.
 
(quoted from post at 20:11:06 12/04/09) Sean, I would throw that wood in my heater as is.

And would be wishing it was 22" long.
Click to expand...

To big for mine Dunk. Its wide but not to tall. Ill bet 24" logs will fit but less then 12" to the top. Not to mention the coal bed they are sitting on. They put out good heat. We have not used the electric heat in 2 years. We run the AC all summer. The winter is a nice break from the electric bill :D

IM000561.jpg
 
I bought the King wood heater that I am still using in 1981.

I have a heat pump, with no strip heat (aux) in it, that we use in 45* to 70* weather, it is cheap heat in those temps.

If it gets cold we build a far.

Nothing like backing up to a good heater in cold weather.
 
(quoted from post at 20:54:01 12/04/09) I bought the King wood heater that I am still using in 1981.

I have a heat pump, with no strip heat (aux) in it, that we use in 45* to 70* weather, it is cheap heat in those temps.

If it gets cold we build a far.

Nothing like backing up to a good heater in cold weather.
Click to expand...

It seems like a well built stove. Of all places tractor supply was selling them. Not cheap. Flue cost as much if not more then the stove. I have single wall flue to the ceiling. Then it is double wall flue all the way to the rain cap. Bought it when I replaced the shingles on the roof. Much better then the original that was in the house when we bought it. It was well build but no door and more like a free standing fireplace. All it had was a screen. I like the glass door.
 
(quoted from post at 21:17:54 12/04/09)
(quoted from post at 20:54:01 12/04/09) I bought the King wood heater that I am still using in 1981.

I have a heat pump, with no strip heat (aux) in it, that we use in 45* to 70* weather, it is cheap heat in those temps.

If it gets cold we build a far.

Nothing like backing up to a good heater in cold weather.
Click to expand...

It seems like a well built stove. Of all places tractor supply was selling them. Not cheap. Flue cost as much if not more then the stove. I have single wall flue to the ceiling. Then it is double wall flue all the way to the rain cap. Bought it when I replaced the shingles on the roof. Much better then the original that was in the house when we bought it. It was well build but no door and more like a free standing fireplace. All it had was a screen. I like the glass door.
Click to expand...

Yep, now they have come up with that double wall that is rated, 2 pipes with insulation between them.

Back in my day it was only triple wall, three pipes, one inside the other, and that is what I still run, single wall to the ceiling box.

And yep that triple wall was high dollar, as was the heater.

I have changed out the original triple wall with some that I bought for nearly nothing at a yard sale.

This heater started out in my mobile home, when my parents were still alive, and has now been in at least 3 different places in the big house.

One note to anyone reading this about the mobile home, I cut a fresh air vent thru the floor, to the outside, right in front of the heater air inlet.

No smufficating here....
 
(quoted from post at 21:30:27 12/04/09)
(quoted from post at 21:17:54 12/04/09)
(quoted from post at 20:54:01 12/04/09) I bought the King wood heater that I am still using in 1981.

I have a heat pump, with no strip heat (aux) in it, that we use in 45* to 70* weather, it is cheap heat in those temps.

If it gets cold we build a far.

Nothing like backing up to a good heater in cold weather.
Click to expand...

It seems like a well built stove. Of all places tractor supply was selling them. Not cheap. Flue cost as much if not more then the stove. I have single wall flue to the ceiling. Then it is double wall flue all the way to the rain cap. Bought it when I replaced the shingles on the roof. Much better then the original that was in the house when we bought it. It was well build but no door and more like a free standing fireplace. All it had was a screen. I like the glass door.
Click to expand...

Yep, now they have come up with that double wall that is rated, 2 pipes with insulation between them.

Back in my day it was only triple wall, three pipes, one inside the other, and that is what I still run, single wall to the ceiling box.

And yep that triple wall was high dollar, as was the heater.

I have changed out the original triple wall with some that I bought for nearly nothing at a yard sale.

This heater started out in my mobile home, when my parents were still alive, and has now been in at least 3 different places in the big house.

One note to anyone reading this about the mobile home, I cut a fresh air vent thru the floor, to the outside, right in front of the heater air inlet.

No smufficating here....
Click to expand...

This home was built in the mid 80's...It was triple wall too!! Just not a very efficient fireplace. I still have the whole system. Tried to sell on craigslist. No takers. Need to re list it. Winter is the time to sell them!! I may drop the price. Just to get it out of here..LOL
 
Use to split all of my folk's wood with a 5lb maul like the one on the right. 4-5 cords a year. When I hit my mid-20s, I decided I was getting too old for that, so we've upgraded to a gas splitter built from farm parts, including, I am told, the hydraulic pump off my Grandfather's first tractor - a Minneapolis Moline Z.

Colin, MN
 
I used a maul for 90% of my splitting.... I found that the sharpening angle has EVERYTHING to do with how well they work... I've seen an 8# bounce right off and the 6# got right through the same block, the sharpening ANGLE, not the sharpness of the actual edge was the difference.

Some kinds of wood just call for HYDRAULICS, though. Your call..


duey
 
I have owned a monster maul for many years. On the right wood, it will split faster than any other way. On the wrong wood, it will wear you out like no other way. Red elm needs hydraulics.

Mike
 
I have owned a monster maul for many years. On the right wood, it will split faster than any other way. On the wrong wood, it will wear you out like no other way. Red elm needs hydraulics.

Mike
 
I have owned a monster maul for many years. On the right wood, it will split faster than any other way. On the wrong wood, it will wear you out like no other way. Red elm needs hydraulics.

Mike
 
That axe shows a lot of wear.Some axes are made with a hard steel piece welded on to a softer steel for the eye.I have my dads double bit axe but dont use it.My dad and uncle cut a lot of firewood with axes and a two man saw.
 
I avoid big wood,save it for the sawmill.Split wood burns faster.I have a 5 inch round white ash chunk burning in the cook stove right now burning with a blue flame,70 degrees in the kitchen.Cattle are in the barn to avoid tomorrows rain and snow mess.Grandson just left some deer meat , sausage and 3 gray squirells.Stew to morrow.Have a pint plus can of beer to empty.Wood shed is full.
 
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