A word about splitting large firewood rounds by hand

I have about 40 large oak rounds to split. I don't have a splitter, and I'm too old to work too hard, but I have come up with the following method that seems to work well. I stand the rounds on end, try to find a small center crack, and in line with that, I take my chain saw and cut a quick slanted slot from the outside edge to the center. Then I take a wedge set it in that slot, near the outside edge, and drive it in, and bingo! the round pops open. On a time I would start that split with a spltting axe, but I'm not the man I used to be.:msp_sad:

The good part is you can stand all the rounds up and make a lot of slot cuts in five minutes, and just think of all the grunting and swearing that can be saved. And best of all you get to use your beloved saw just a little bit more.

Try that same principal without the cut. I find a small check in the wood and align myself with it. Swing the splitting maul to hit the outside edge along the crack (imaginary line from the center to the edge) and even rounds in the 4' range I'm able to split in a couple whacks.

I do that as well with a maul or with a wedge for larger pieces.

I'm glad you found something that works for you.

I have bored into the round--and yes, my chain was sharp, to make a seat for a splitting wedge in gnarly Doug-fir. It worked pretty good. In fact, I started boring wedge notches in many of the rounds from one particular tree.

To bore in, do not just stick the tip of the bar in. Use the lower part of the bar tip and then work in the bar.
It doesn't take much.

Good one, Clayman. Thanks for the tip.

watsonr said:

Try that same principal without the cut. I find a small check in the wood and align myself with it. Swing the splitting maul to hit the outside edge along the crack (imaginary line from the center to the edge) and even rounds in the 4' range I'm able to split in a couple whacks.

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You are a better man than me for that is exactly what I am trying to avoid, but not too long ago I did the same thing. 74 years of walking under the sun forces one to find an easier way.

clayman said:

You are a better man than me for that is exactly what I am trying to avoid, but not too long ago I did the same thing. 74 years of walking under the sun forces one to find an easier way.

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Sounds exactly like you found an easier way... filed in my mind for later use, only 50 here but I know it's coming! Your still splitting by hand at 74... sounds like your the better man!

clayman said:

You are a better man than me for that is exactly what I am trying to avoid, but not too long ago I did the same thing. 74 years of walking under the sun forces one to find an easier way.

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Any chance you're splitting with a Fiskars ? You should be, the X25 and X27 for splitting wood is like buttering toast. Super easy. As long as you've got the strength to get a fast swing, the X will do the rest.

Good idea on creating the slice, it also creates a relief area for wood to move towards when you're splitting. Hardest part about splitting a big round is getting the first piece off, the rest come off by themselves afterwards.

I align myself with the crack and then I take a light swing at the furthest side and hit some wood but primarily I am trying to hit the bark and put a cut in it. Do the same on the close side, hit some wood but make sure to knick the bark real good. Now a good whack in the center and they usually pop on the first hit. Bark does not split like wood, hence knicking it first. Oh, my "axe" is a 6# maul. Good luck.

LITTLE wood use an axe or a fiskars.

Bigger stuff you need a maul or a wedge. Maybe TWO wedges and another maul/sledge.

Try 4' with a fiskars???? Ha HA HA

I've cut knotty hardwood, with no gurly splitter for 40 years.

If you get into real big stuff, get the 20lb sledge out, if you can heave it.

First, there are mauls, and there are MAULS. Not differentiated by weight, but by shape and metallurgy.

Typical cheapie mauls in the US of A widen far too quickly just past the edge, and are made of mild steel. I bought a 3 kg (6.6 lb) Muller (Austrian) maul late this winter- what an eye-opener that was! Both sides of the head are essentially planes (flat) from about .5" behind the edge to the center of the eye. Edge is sharp. Metallurgy: very tough stuff, as alloyed and forged. Other smiths make similar: Gransfors, Wetterling, Oxhead, etc. Muller makes splitting axes too, but recommend them only for kindling and medium-size stuff.

Luckily, straight-grain oak, especially red oak, splits pretty readily. One big double-stemmed red oak that I cut up recently was so big, and held so much water, that I had to quarter much of it on site to be able to carry it out. With the Muller maul, it generally took but a couple of hits to halve the 20-inchers, far-side, near-side, middle, then typically one hit to split the halves. Absolutely no use for chainsaw here. Ditto wedges.

With fork/knot a bit of noodling works. Or when you want to set a wedge (last resort) on one side and use a maul on the other of a really tough piece. (Noodling wastes a lot of wood and makes a huge mess.)

Generally, a GOOD maul used to hit various points along along your intended split line will do it nicely.

After busting up mountains of oak, cherry and ash this spring, that maul looks like new. Except the handle is a bit darker from some Danish oil. Still kicking myself for not buying a maul like that years ago. (I reshaped some cheapie mauls to mimic the Muller's head shape, and they're now fun to use, too.)

Or you could lay them horizontal on 2 other pieces off of the ground and noodle them with the saw........Saves wear and tear on the body of whipping an axe/sledge/maul around.:msp_thumbup: That's what I do for the real big stuff.

I dont have a mechanical splitter either plus it can be done in the field..

Mad Professor said:

LITTLE wood use an axe or a fiskars.

Bigger stuff you need a maul or a wedge. Maybe TWO wedges and another maul/sledge.

Try 4' with a fiskars???? Ha HA HA

I've cut knotty hardwood, with no gurly splitter for 40 years.

If you get into real big stuff, get the 20lb sledge out, if you can heave it.

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Technically I haven't done a 40"cher yet, but I have done a lot in the 30-38" range with a fiskars. It matters not the diameter, one just starts at the outside and whacks off chunks and go round and round until you get down to a small piece that contains the heartwood, then you quarter that.

The technique between a splitting axe and a maul is different enough that it pays to do it correctly. They are not the same tool and require different techniques to use them effectively.

I use fiskars axe, splitting maul, then sledge and wedges, (or noodling on a case by case basis) but well over 90% of what I do, including some pretty darn nice big chunks, can be done with the lightweight fiskars before resorting to the heavier tools.

I am not as old as the OP, but at 130 lbs with boots on, and still a greybeard, I have to work smarter as well, and always have, my whole life. Finessee for me, speed and accuracy and "focus" on the swing including reading the wood, trumps blunt force trauma with a larger maul in trying to split wood. More wood split with less effort and damage to ye aulde bod here. 15-20 minutes with my 8lb maul and I am ready for a new hobby, but I can go hours if I feel like it with the fiskars. It's really no contest as to calories burnt/wood in the stack.

IMO the original fiskars supersplitter should have received some engineering awards. To take such a common tool, used for millenia and improve it so much at once, then be able to retail it cheap...there was some real skull sweat involved, plus the input from guys who were serious about improving the wood splitting experience.

I wish fiskars would do up a little youtube documentary on the evolution of those axes, the who what when where how.

A Fiskars should split that straight grained oak like butter. I've split 30" rounds without any trouble at all. Forget about ripping, wedging etc. Get a Fiskars. I know they look cheap and gimmicky but they will change your entire outlook on firewood splitting.

rymancm said:

A Fiskars should split that straight grained oak like butter. I've split 30" rounds without any trouble at all. Forget about ripping, wedging etc. Get a Fiskars. I know they look cheap and gimmicky but they will change your entire outlook on firewood splitting.

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sometimes you cant teach an old dog new tricks, no matter how many new dogs tell them about it....

rymancm said:

A Fiskars should split that straight grained oak like butter. I've split 30" rounds without any trouble at all. Forget about ripping, wedging etc. Get a Fiskars. I know they look cheap and gimmicky but they will change your entire outlook on firewood splitting.

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They're made in Germany and you know the Germans make good stuff.

zogger said:

I am not as old as the OP, but at 130 lbs with boots on, and still a greybeard, I have to work smarter as well.....

....... 15-20 minutes with my 8lb maul and I am ready for a new hobby........

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lmfao !!!!

Yes, I agree that Fiskars has a winner here. Split some very green Tamarack last night (little stuff like 14 inches, but frikken wet) and just love playing with that axe. It seems to take me about 10 minutes of mucking around to warm up and get the "swing" of it every time I split wood, but once in the groove, the swing picks up, sweat trickles and rounds split with ease.

I'll never buy a splitter as long as I can swing a Fiskars.

I'm on the noodle all the way through team, I always use my saw as much as I can! On the same line of thought I don't split by hand anyway, too much time away from the saw.

If you lay them horizontally and noodle them 1/3 of the way through, they'll also pop open easily with a maul. Noodling has the perk of giving you plenty of good fire starter material. Bag the noodles up. You can start fair sized wood with a good pile of noodles and a match.

Every tree is different, that's why I have a bunch of different tools. And each tool requires different technique. For the 36" red oak I've been splitting lately the old Chopper1 lever axe is just blasting then apart. Sometimes it's useless I hate mauls and wedges, but sometimes they're the tool for the job. Cutting a shallow kerf is a good help when using wedges though.