# Best way to split Ash?



## fields_mj (Feb 24, 2009)

I have a nice Ash tree that has blown down in a small ravine. I've cut and drug most of it out. Now I'm down to the trunk wich is about 20"~24" across, and about 20 foot long. I think I can drag the rest of the trunk out in pieces, but by the time I buck them to lenght, they will still be too heavy to lift into the truck. I don't own a log splitter. Just an axe, a couple of mauls, and a couple of wedges. What's the best way for me to split the Ash once I get it out of the ravine? Should I try to spit it while its still a little green, or let it dry over the summer and come back and split and load it in the fall, or will I need to wait until it gets back down around zero again?

Thanks,
Mark


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## outdoorlivin247 (Feb 24, 2009)

Ash should split pretty good w/ what you have...Swing away....


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## mimilkman1 (Feb 24, 2009)

Start with your mauls and wedges and split around the outside of the rounds moving your way in as you go. It usually splits pretty easy green.

Kyle


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## rngrchad (Feb 24, 2009)

If you want to do it quick, I'd bet using a lightweight splitting axe in 18" rounds would be super efficient. ASH is dreamy straight-grained wood.


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## Hlakegollum (Feb 24, 2009)

About the easiest wood to split.


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## flotek (Feb 24, 2009)

cut them to stove length ,set them up ,start it with a ax maul till it forms a crack ,then get your splitter wedge involved and mash it with the hammer side till it splits apart


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## slinger (Feb 24, 2009)

Try it now, find a firm base or a 'splittin stump' to blast away at it on.


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## Hlakegollum (Feb 24, 2009)

It should split best now when green, seasoned wood seems to bite back. If frozen even better.


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## Ductape (Feb 24, 2009)

I always split my ash the long way.


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## willsaw4beer (Feb 24, 2009)

You shouldn't have much problem quartering them with a maul. I dropped a dying 26-28'' ash at the base the other day, bucked it at 16-18'' lengths and split it with my old 6 lb maul with no problem. It did have a tad of punky wood running up one side but you still should have no problems splitting yours with just a maul. Only other advice I'd give you is buck it shorter where it's knotty.


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## Joshlaugh (Feb 24, 2009)

I was splitting some green ash today with my 6lb maul. No problems to split it as it is one of the easiest woods to split by hand(right up there with silver maple) I usually start on the outside of it and work around it till I have a nice piece of the heartwood left. I like to have a bunch of those bigger tougher pieces for night time burning.


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## forestryworks (Feb 24, 2009)

i try and split it down the middle


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## Dan_IN_MN (Feb 24, 2009)

*Ash splits really nice!*

Ash splits really nice! Once it's halved, I can split the halves with one blow. As with any wood the colder the better IMO. They shatter. It's almost not worth running the splitter.

I also like the smell of the smoke. I think it's kinda a sweet smell.


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## AOD (Feb 24, 2009)

Fiskars axe is a perfect tool for splitting Ash. Swing away and have fun!


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## mowarren (Feb 24, 2009)

depends on what week of the month.about once a month ash is a bxxch to split


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## fields_mj (Feb 24, 2009)

Thanks for the replies! I'll give it a go like it is. The farmer had already limbed the tree so I'm not sure how dead or how alive it was before the wind took it out. I've got a 6 lb and an 8 lb maul. I'll take both and an axe. Of corse the wedges stay in the truck box all the time  and for the knotty stuff I just use the chain saw then a wedge. 

Thanks again,
Mark


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## spankrz (Feb 24, 2009)

if they are too hard to split easily with a maul, you can always quarter or half them with a saw and throw them in the truck


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## 041fboss (Feb 24, 2009)

manyhobies said:


> Ash splits really nice! Once it's halved, I can split the halves with one blow. As with any wood the colder the better IMO. They shatter. It's almost not worth running the splitter.
> 
> I also like the smell of the smoke. I think it's kinda a sweet smell.



its almost not worth running the splitter.....you must sit behind a desk all day....whats worth....gas and starting it.


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## flashpuppy (Feb 24, 2009)

Gransfors Bruks: Large Splitting Axe. Handles all of the ash I've come into.


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## Dan_IN_MN (Feb 25, 2009)

041fboss said:


> its almost not worth running the splitter.....you must sit behind a desk all day....whats worth....gas and starting it.



No.....no desk for this guy........

What I was saying is that it's faster to use the maul than the splitter.

Dan


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## thejdman04 (Feb 25, 2009)

Id split it green, ash splits very easy.


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## woodbooga (Feb 25, 2009)

manyhobies said:


> No.....no desk for this guy........
> 
> What I was saying is that it's faster to use the maul than the splitter.
> 
> Dan



I took down an ash of similar size in early Dec. just before the snow really flew. Bucked to stove length and maul split all of it with the exception of one round. At an early stage of the tree's life, it bent either because of some disturbance or to face fuller life. The round with that kink was the only one that gave me any maul bounceback.

Easy enough to remedy:


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## TKeller (Feb 25, 2009)

*My ash has been tough to split!!!*

I have come to the conclusion just about any species of tree under certain conditions can be hard to split, with a maul anyway. I am trying to split a ash that fell from the ice storm we had here in Kentucky that isn't that easy. It was on the edge of the woods and I guess from leaning out to get sun it has a curvy trunk and lots of knots. Also ash doesn't seem to be that heavy a wood and doesn't seem like it will burn like red oak for example. I think the key to easy splitting is to get trees in a woods that have to grow straight up because of competition to get sun. I really need to get a splitter I guess. Tony


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## willsaw4beer (Feb 25, 2009)

TKeller said:


> I have come to the conclusion just about any species of tree under certain conditions can be hard to split, with a maul anyway. I am trying to split a ash that fell from the ice storm we had here in Kentucky that isn't that easy. It was on the edge of the woods and I guess from leaning out to get sun it has a curvy trunk and lots of knots. Also ash doesn't seem to be that heavy a wood and doesn't seem like it will burn like red oak for example. I think the key to easy splitting is to get trees in a woods that have to grow straight up because of competition to get sun. I really need to get a splitter I guess. Tony



Ash doesn't have quite the BTU's of oak, but the reason for it's lightness is that it contains very little water. Ash is superb firewood beyond any shadow of a doubt.


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## farmer (Feb 26, 2009)

If it is clear and straight grained all I would use would be the ax. Why swing 6 or 8 lbs. if 2 or 3 will do the job?


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## Lignum (Feb 26, 2009)

Ductape said:


> I always split my ash the long way.



I was thinking the same thing...opcorn:


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## darren_nh (Feb 26, 2009)

Doesn't get much easier to split than ash. I can usually split it by glaring at it.


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## fields_mj (Feb 26, 2009)

Well, the tree must have been dead to begin with. I had unloaded it into a pile on Saturday, and went out last night to split some of it. It had already started to check pretty good, and the axe just wouldn't touch it. I beat on the pieces several times with a 6 pound maul before they would so much as crack. I was even trying to split along with the check marks (cracks). Once I halved them, the few that needed split again split pretty easy. I'll take the 6 and 8 pound mauls back tonight to finish the work. There's still a truck load of wood left in the trunk of the tree, but I'm going to have to carry or drag the pieces out of the ravine. 

Thanks
Mark


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## GrizzlyAdams86 (Feb 26, 2009)

I've found 3 ash trees where I cut that were knocked down from windstorms this past summer, all ranging from 12-20". Split some today with the Fiskars, I just set a round on end and started taking off the sides and worked my way around. Sure is a break from all the elm I have been cutting/splitting there!


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## greengiant (Feb 27, 2009)

TKeller said:


> I have come to the conclusion just about any species of tree under certain conditions can be hard to split, with a maul anyway. I am trying to split a ash that fell from the ice storm we had here in Kentucky that isn't that easy. It was on the edge of the woods and I guess from leaning out to get sun it has a curvy trunk and lots of knots. Also ash doesn't seem to be that heavy a wood and doesn't seem like it will burn like red oak for example. I think the key to easy splitting is to get trees in a woods that have to grow straight up because of competition to get sun. I really need to get a splitter I guess. Tony



I agree. I have never had a bit of trouble splitting ash until last summer. I got all of a 24" DBH Ash growing in the middle of a residential yard that was about 75% dead. I am still working on pieces of it. Granted I could take my saw and do a bunch of cutting to help, but as far as hand splitting, it is tough stuff. Tight and wavy grained, with lots of knots. Typical mature forest ash drops its limbs before they get very large, so the grain is nice and parallel, thus making for easy splitting, where as this stuff had large branches throughout its life(up and down the whole trunk) that which created wacky grain, and add on the fact that it was almost dead, and you have a tough round to split (by hand that is). I have pics of this stuff that someday I hope to post.


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## woodbooga (Feb 27, 2009)

TKeller said:


> I have come to the conclusion just about any species of tree under certain conditions can be hard to split, with a maul anyway. Tony



I think that's a fair assessment. As a general rule, the ash I've handled has split easily. But the occasional butt end will prove challenging. One year, I even used an ash round for my splitting stump since it refused to yield. 

(The constant gentle punishing, as well as the vertical exposure to the elements softened it up eventually and I got even that one split, albeit the firewood the round produced was fairly punky. Still the stove didn't complain and it ate that wood up too.)


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