# What Makes a Good Chopping Block?



## leeave96 (Jun 2, 2010)

OK, I posted a thread about log splitter tonnage, but now to the old fashioned way of splitting wood - a maul and a good chopping block!

When I was a kid, my Dad had a chopping block that I don't think you could have split if you wanted to - even with wedges!

I have hit a piece of oak setting on another piece of oak and split the first piece in half and cracked the oak choppping block beneath it!

My question is - what type of wood makes a good chopping block? What's your secret to keeping your chopping block from splitting with the rest of the wood being chopped?

Thanks!
Bill


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## chucker (Jun 2, 2010)

the biggest and nastest looking fork of a gnawrly ole piss elm !! squared of at the top and bottom !!! then wraped with a good piece of steel banding here and there will out last your woodcutting life time!!!!!!! oh yes ! dont forget to peel the bark first....


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## TreePointer (Jun 3, 2010)

Heehee! That's what I use--a big ol' round of American elm. I don't even use a crotch; the grain happened to be twisted enough to keep it from splitting. 

I also once used a sugar maple crotch that lasted for many cords of splitting.


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## vwboomer (Jun 3, 2010)

I've got about a 20" round of willow. Not as hard as elm but the thing has proved pretty durable.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Jun 3, 2010)

36" round of oak set on gravel works for me.


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## savageactor7 (Jun 3, 2010)

I've always used an elm stump...they'll last 3-4 years.


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## watchamakalit (Jun 3, 2010)

I use what ever is laying around. Usually a trunk piece from the latest kill. Then when I am done with the load it came on it gets split and put up in the pile. If nothing is available to use for a block I split on the ground (this is a rare occasion)


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## AKKAMAAN (Jun 3, 2010)

leeave96 said:


> OK, I posted a thread about log splitter tonnage, but now to the old fashioned way of splitting wood - a maul and a good chopping block!
> 
> When I was a kid, my Dad had a chopping block that I don't think you could have split if you wanted to - even with wedges!
> 
> ...


I agree with the others...use the largest diameter, for space and safety, plenty of nuts for life expectancy (rebar effect), and highest density for good response and performance


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## mga (Jun 3, 2010)

i made two with left over Brazilian cherry wood flooring.

3/4" thick.


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## AKKAMAAN (Jun 3, 2010)

mga said:


> i made two with left over Brazilian cherry wood flooring.
> 
> 3/4" thick.



I have 10 boxes of that stuff sitting waiting to get put in!!
Maybe I should gather all the small pieces into a new copping block....but I barely get any left over pieces...a few 5-10" is all.....
btw I mix 3 1/4" with 5" planks....works out real nice


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## trax (Jun 3, 2010)

Hard ground works good stand all your rounds up and start swingin


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## Pain Cow (Jun 3, 2010)

I'm one of the weirdos that doesn't use a chopping block. What I usually do is place two larger rounds next to each other as a brace of sorts, for the rounds I'm splitting to be held up by. I split until the ground compresses. Best way? Maybe not. Do I have 2 years worth of wood using this method? Yup.


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## gr8scott72 (Jun 3, 2010)

Whatever I can find to set them on. Never really had trouble with the block spitting.


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## IndyIan (Jun 3, 2010)

Pain Cow said:


> I'm one of the weirdos that doesn't use a chopping block. What I usually do is place two larger rounds next to each other as a brace of sorts, for the rounds I'm splitting to be held up by. I split until the ground compresses. Best way? Maybe not. Do I have 2 years worth of wood using this method? Yup.


+1 
I don't use one either. Usually I just have a pile of rounds on my gravel driveway, set up a few in a row and split them, if they need splitting again I put the halves in a row and go again. 36" handle is needed of course.


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## banshee67 (Jun 3, 2010)

the ground?

the edge on my fiskars is dull as hell


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## CWME (Jun 3, 2010)

Noodle two sides parallel to each other on the biggest piece of Pine you can get. Lay the piece down on one of the flats. You don't have to worry about splitting your chopping block anymore.


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## D&B Mack (Jun 3, 2010)

I bury half of my chopping block in the ground, this keeps the block wet and less likely to split.


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## BryanEx (Jun 3, 2010)

I'll add to the votes for elm but I normally use the bottom cut from standing deadwood. The stuff is like petrified wood and my maul just bounces off it no matter how hard I try.


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## Bushman_269 (Jun 4, 2010)

The best chopping block I ever had was a big piece of black locust. It sat on the ground for years and didn't rot. Next best is a big piece of elm.


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## Bruce 46 (Jun 5, 2010)

Black Locust about 20" in diameter & 24" tall.


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