Lots of great advice above. The only thing I'll disagree with is those recommending safety chain. IMHO, it's MUCH slower than full chisel chain, more difficult to sharpen, and promotes bad habits. If you actually keep a hold of the saw firmly with both hands, a kick back will never cause the bar to raise more than a few inches, and certainly never come close to hurting you. Safety chain or not, your holding the engine of a lawn mower that does not have a deck, and has 20 or more blades spinning several inches from your fingers. Treat it accordingly.
On splitting, get a Fiskars splitting axe, a cheap hatchet or boys axe for kindling, and start looking for a used hydraulic splitter. In good shape, a used splitter can be had for around $500. You can't build your own for twice that. They last a long time and are very serviceable when they do start to wear out. Swinging an 8 lb maul to split oak and hickory for the past 3 decades has all but destroyed my rotator cuff. Don't repeat that mistake. Save your pennies and invest in the right tool for the job. I still swing axes just fine, and use them for easier stuff, but the bulk of my firewood (and I cut mostly hickory in the 18" to 24" range) goes through the splitter at least once before using an ax.
On splitting, get a Fiskars splitting axe, a cheap hatchet or boys axe for kindling, and start looking for a used hydraulic splitter. In good shape, a used splitter can be had for around $500. You can't build your own for twice that. They last a long time and are very serviceable when they do start to wear out. Swinging an 8 lb maul to split oak and hickory for the past 3 decades has all but destroyed my rotator cuff. Don't repeat that mistake. Save your pennies and invest in the right tool for the job. I still swing axes just fine, and use them for easier stuff, but the bulk of my firewood (and I cut mostly hickory in the 18" to 24" range) goes through the splitter at least once before using an ax.
