The first hit...

AKKAMAAN · Nov 7, 2008

Where do you all, hit the first hit, with your splitting maul, on a big round in a try to split it in halves....see my attached picture...plsease do the poll voting too..... :givebeer:

ents · Nov 7, 2008

How thick is the round (16", 18", etc)? What type of wood? Dry or green?

I use 16" wood in my stove. If it's poplar I go for the 2. If it's hickory (dry or green), may as well chip away on the edges, can't split it in half OR cut it in half with the saw. Oak, can go either way. Personally, I'm too old to split by hand anymore, use the good ole hyd. splitter.

Just my experience

Later,

The Lorax · Nov 7, 2008

Depends on the wood and how knotty it is.
If I think the wood won't split down the centre, I will chip a piece off the edge and work around the round so that all the sapwood is off, then I will start working in perpendicular to the centre.
The wood seems to lose strength when the edge is chipped off.

KsWoodsMan · Nov 7, 2008

Through the biggest natural crack is not listed as an option. Splitting by hand is all about technique.

If the log is hollow I hit area 1 on the far side of the log. If solid I usually start on area 2. If there isnt a crack, I'm probably splitting it to soon.

Marc · Nov 7, 2008

Maybe in between 1 and 2... on the biggest natural crack as stated.

If it's frozen, go for 1, but if not, sap wood, in my experience, can be too soft to transmit efficiently the energy of the strike. It compresses and absorbs.

Otherwise, by hitting towards the edge, the least amount of wood needs to separate to get a split started. In otherwords, if the edge separates on one side, the other side can remain attached, therefore making it easier to get the split started. If you strike in the middle to split, the whole round must separate for the middle to separate. Too much work to do all at once, IMHO.

Marc · Nov 7, 2008

Maybe a better way to explain it-

If you have a long, heavy log to lift by yourself, by hand... say on to a trailer or something... would it be easier to start by lifting one end onto the trailer and then move the other or to lift the whole thing in the middle? Same concept, more or less.

AKKAMAAN · Nov 7, 2008

ents said:
How thick is the round (16", 18", etc)? What type of wood? Dry or green?

Sorry I didnt crealify thickness...lets say its 16" then....with half radius sapwood, half radius heartwood....I only do doug-fir, cedar and hemlock uphere in the NW.....Very intesting to read different motivations from all of you guys....reason I made this poll is that there seem to be so many different opinions about different sort of splitting mauls.....and no one ever talks about the technique part of splitting... :givebeer:

btw....look at my video at youtube....I'm not claiming any good technique....but I luve my rubber cord....helps a lot... :cheers:

beerman6 · Nov 7, 2008

:greenchainsaw: As I was watching your video,the song Rubber Band Man was playing on the radio...

kyle1! · Nov 7, 2008

I have to vote none of the above. I'm usually splitting elm, mulberry..you know the stringy stuff and you have to start on the edge and work around the round before trying to wack the center.

Brian

woodbooga · Nov 7, 2008

As stated before much depends on species, presence/location of knots, natural cracks, etc.

I voted for #2 because it's a balance between relative ease of 1st pop along with the usability of the piece that gets knocked off. That first chunk to hit the ground would then be halved and be perfectly stove-sized for me.

If #2 is a no go and I find the maul bouncing back at me after a couple of whacks, plan B is to attack #1 just to alleviate the surface tension (probably wrong term) of the round.

Coldfront · Nov 7, 2008

I hit it as hard as I can on the biggest natural crack and always split on a fresh cut end not a old dark end piece. Also if there is any kind of knot or crotch I split in line with it not across. If I hit it hard and it does nothing then I work on the outside edges.

toddstreeservic · Nov 7, 2008

Gould Hoyt (old timer) taught me to "hang steel". Hit it right on the edge with a little blade overhang. Works good.

sredlin · Nov 7, 2008

not that much control here--wherever the maul lands

vcsnover · Nov 7, 2008

On an ordinary round, usually oak of some sort, I usually go for 1 then 2 then 3 and just work across the wood until I get her split. Look for the crack first, then the grain of the log and get to splittin'!

Coldfront · Nov 7, 2008

With nice red oak I line up about 10 rounds and go right down the line whack, whack, whack, then to 1/4 them I don't even bend over to stand them up again I just give them the old golf swing and 1/4 them laying right on the ground usually with one golf swing each, done. You will never split that fast with a hydraulic splitter.

vcsnover · Nov 7, 2008

Coldfront said:
With nice red oak I line up about 10 rounds and go right down the line whack, whack, whack, then to 1/4 them I don't even bend over to stand them up again I just give them the old golf swing and 1/4 them laying right on the ground usually with one golf swing each, done. You will never split that fast with a hydraulic splitter.

I don't do the golf swing, but otherwise, yeah it is pretty fast work with a small splitting maul. It takes longer to set the rounds on end than it does to split them.

TreePointer · Nov 7, 2008

Coldfront said:
With nice red oak I line up about 10 rounds and go right down the line whack, whack, whack, then to 1/4 them I don't even bend over to stand them up again I just give them the old golf swing and 1/4 them laying right on the ground usually with one golf swing each, done. You will never split that fast with a hydraulic splitter.

I do the first part of lining up the red oak logs, but I'm going to try the ol' golf swing when they're on their sides. Thanks for the tip! :cheers:

AKKAMAAN · Nov 7, 2008

beerman6 said:
:greenchainsaw: As I was watching your video,the song Rubber Band Man was playing on the radio...

LOVE IT....what channel? :cheers:

oke:

cmetalbend · Nov 8, 2008

Seriously all I hit is the cooler as my hydralic splitter does the work.

AKKAMAAN · Nov 9, 2008

Thanks all for voting on my little poll....

Thanks everyone for voting on my poll. Interesting to so many axe men with self confidence enough, for a first hit in center-mid center, of a 24" diam round....There is so much talk about different favourite mauls on this site, so I just wanted to make a little technique survey.....
Myself, I strongly believe in hitting in the outer peripheral #1 section, for maximum leverage to crack the d**m thing....and for the safety I allways work on the "opposite" side of the round.....I must say I have 110% respect for all of you guys axe splitting oak, ash, elm and other "terrible" speices.....I only do easy split fir, cedar and hemlock.....SKÅL TA MEJ FAAN.... :cheers:

The first hit...

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