The Zen of wood splitting

[Impalervlad]

I used to tell my friends about how relaxing it was to split wood but since they didn't do any splitting they just looked at me, smiled and shook their heads.
I used to get a similar feeling with archery practice at the end of a particularly taxing day. But, my obsessive compulsive nature would take over and I would start stressing about the arrows hitting a fraction of an inch to the left or right.
When splitting wood, I don't care if it takes one or two or three strikes to make the split and I don't particularly care if I'm a hair to the right or left with the X27 (which has made a tremendous difference in how long I can last splitting).
My son called me up today and told me he had another pickup load of wood - all oak - for me. Sometimes he drops it off but I feel better if I can stop at the shop, drop off my commuter car and take the pickup home to unload and then do the switch back. The shop is only half a mile away and my son already works late at his car repair business. I lost track of how many loads have come to my house this way this year.
Anyway, I unloaded the wood, about 3/4 of a load of 8-14 inch diameter 16 inch rounds and 1/4 of 8 foot lengths of 2-4 inch branches. I was pretty much done for the day after having a particularly stressful consultants work day and driving the 65 mile round trip commute but, I decided to split a few rounds just to relax. A full 4x8 by 16 inch rick later, I've got about a third of the load split and stacked and I'm enjoying a bourbon and water or two or three and I can't even remember why I was so stressed out after work.
I just thought I would post this here because it's one of the only places where I know there are people that would understand.

 

[CTYank]

Yes, hand-splitting can be great therapy and exercise.

I saw a major upgrade a year+ back on receiving a 3 kg (6.6 lb for the metrically-challenged) Mueller maul. Made splitting nasty stuff fun; tried it side-to-side with Fiskars. Fuggeddaboudit- lose the plastic toy.

Seriously, a properly shaped, sharp maul made of suitable steel (NOT the stuff Fiskars' are made of) really leverages your productivity. Right now you can get a 3 kg Ochsenkopf for ~$80 with Stihl badging. Good buy.

Then there's Wetterlings and Gransfors Bruks that are also levels above Fiskars stuff. Nothing against chinese products per se. The good stuff ain't cheap, but worth the price many times over. IMHO :msp_thumbup:

 

[zogger]

Yes, hand-splitting can be great therapy and exercise.

I saw a major upgrade a year+ back on receiving a 3 kg (6.6 lb for the metrically-challenged) Mueller maul. Made splitting nasty stuff fun; tried it side-to-side with Fiskars. Fuggeddaboudit- lose the plastic toy.

Seriously, a properly shaped, sharp maul made of suitable steel (NOT the stuff Fiskars' are made of) really leverages your productivity. Right now you can get a 3 kg Ochsenkopf for ~$80 with Stihl badging. Good buy.

Then there's Wetterlings and Gransfors Bruks that are also levels above Fiskars stuff. Nothing against chinese products per se. The good stuff ain't cheap, but worth the price many times over. IMHO :msp_thumbup:

I am sure those are very nice axes, never even seen one yet, but just for clarification, fiskars axes are not chinese made, they are made in finland, unless this has changed recently..

 

[woodchuck357]

The zen of splitting occurs when you do it in the dark!

I think the company is Finnish the quality is surely the low side of Chinese.

 

[AIM]

I'm not one to drink the Fiskers kool aid like a lot of folks but I don't see them as junk by any means.
Good tool for the right application.

 

[zogger]

I think the company is Finnish the quality is surely the low side of Chinese.

I have the original supersplitter and the quality is fine. I have never tried an x27 yet.

Seems quite a few people here really like them, if they were that cheaply made, wouldn't be as many good testimonials. And the OP is *happy* with his, loves splitting with it, relieves stress for him and gets wood in the stack. Why do you guys want to rain on his parade?

I mean, whut the heck, for the price point, tons of us here like them.

My daily driver cost me 450 bucks. It's an 81. yep, much better rides out there..for a LOT more money. Looks like crap, cranks, runs, gets 40 MPG on the interstate if I ain't trying to leadfoot it.

go ahead, rank my truck, because it isn't a quad turbo dual diesel whatever....oh, it is asian made, must be junk automagically!

I cut around 3/4ths of my wood last year with two poulans, one cost ten bucks the other 40. OMG, poulan, junk, all junk, OMG, embarassing, what would the neighbors say!!!!

Still waiting for one of you high end euro axe guys to do the match trick...been waiting a long time....

 

[woodchuck357]

As I have said before

the match trick only counts if the match is held vertically between the thumb and forefinger of your first born!

 

[Slade McCuiston]

I think the company is Finnish the quality is surely the low side of Chinese.

I've got an X-27 splitting axe from Fiskars. It is a Finnish company. The quality of the axe is amazing. If I haven't destroyed this axe yet, there is some merit to it. I'm rough on stuff. But, to each their own. This thread isn't about whether Fiskars suck or not.

Seems quite a few people here really like them, if they were that cheaply made, wouldn't be as many good testimonials. And the OP is *happy* with his, loves splitting with it, relieves stress for him and gets wood in the stack. Why do you guys want to rain on his parade?

+1 Rep.

Back on topic: There is something about splitting wood that is just calming. I grew up on a farm where it was a daily chore - I hated it... until I hit my 15-16 years where things weren't going well in my life. Some people turned to a bottle... I guess I took it out on the wood. Every since those years (which admittedly aren't that far away), I've loved splitting wood. It gives me a route to relieve frustrations and think... it's amazing how many problems can be solved when you're by yourself with a couple wedges and a stubborn piece of wood.

Back off topic: But now I've got a Fiskars - I leave everything else in the shed.

 

[AIM]

Yes splitting is very relaxing. A beer in one hand and the splitter valve handle in the other.

Now THAT is soothing!!!!

 

[Impalervlad]

Thanks for getting it Zogger and Shade McCuiston.

 

[steved]

I
I cut around 3/4ths of my wood last year with two poulans, one cost ten bucks the other 40. OMG, poulan, junk, all junk, OMG, embarassing, what would the neighbors say!!!!

That's all my grandfather uses...but he has three or four of them with him at all times, for when one quits (wood chip in the reed valve), he can pick up the next one until it dies, repeat. He takes them back to his shop and pulls them apart, cleans them, starts it all over the next day...he's almost 90. He buys, restores, and sells used outdoor power equipment...I can't count how many Stihls, Husky, and the like he's bought and sold in the past five years alone...he will almost always keep the Poulans.

Splitting wood is almost like mowing grass, you can just shutdown and not really think about anything...

 

[WidowMaker]

I bought an X27 about 6 months ago, finally got it to the woods a couple weeks ago. Nothing cheap about the way they are made as near as I can tell, VERY sharp...

As a splitting axe I rate it a 12 out of 10 on wood up to about 20" that as been busted in half,
straight grain wood up to about 15" it does pretty good too. As a replacement for a splitting maul it get a 2 out 10, it just can not replace a maul where you need the mass, and I only use a six pound maul, I OLD, if you use an 8 lb or large maul, leave the fisker at home, or use after you have at least busted the rounds in half....jmo, your mileage my vary...

 

[ClassicSWC]

+1 on loving to split by hand, especially oak. Still try to keep my mind mildly engaged, I'd hate to take an axe to the shin, lol. The only time I get the electric splitter out is if it's hackberry, gum, elm etc.

 

[Fred Wright]

Regardless of how it's done, splitting wood is fine therapy for the body and the mind.

 

[unclemoustache]

Farther north the splitting must be nicer where you've got better weather for it. Down here in S. IL it's either hot and humid or cool and humid, and splitting is only great when the weather is great. But then, I'm a busy man and I still look at splitting as a chore to be done along with the million other things that need to get done. Wish I had the time to relax and enjoy it more. Maybe a better maul would help, but I've not heard many people at all say anything bad about Fiskars before.

 

[zogger]

the match trick only counts if the match is held vertically between the thumb and forefinger of your first born!

Bwahahaha..have to be adopted for me..you game??/HAHAHAHAHA

I think of the match trick I did as a stunt, just to see if I could do it. Haven't tried it since. good enough to hit cracksa in the wood.

I have several goofy things/stunts I have done just one time in my life.hmmm..like once a horizontal traverse, rock face overhang, hanging over a gorge (as in fall...dirt nap), no safety line, no gear at all, just freehand. Took me several years to build up guts and to be absolutely sure I had every single hand hold mapped out in my mind..but one day I was staring at it, felt good, went for it. I could do dead hang one handed chinups then, and my grip was real real real strong...

one time, did it, happy. Stupid young guy tricks, quite a few climbing ones, some real tricky off road point A to B and not crash down the mountain, whatever..some decent dives too.
... another day....

 

[stihl023/5]

the match trick only counts if the match is held vertically between the thumb and forefinger of your first born!

No, wifes lips and a 30yd bow shot!:msp_ohmy:

 

[cheeves]

I used to tell my friends about how relaxing it was to split wood but since they didn't do any splitting they just looked at me, smiled and shook their heads.
I used to get a similar feeling with archery practice at the end of a particularly taxing day. But, my obsessive compulsive nature would take over and I would start stressing about the arrows hitting a fraction of an inch to the left or right.
When splitting wood, I don't care if it takes one or two or three strikes to make the split and I don't particularly care if I'm a hair to the right or left with the X27 (which has made a tremendous difference in how long I can last splitting).
My son called me up today and told me he had another pickup load of wood - all oak - for me. Sometimes he drops it off but I feel better if I can stop at the shop, drop off my commuter car and take the pickup home to unload and then do the switch back. The shop is only half a mile away and my son already works late at his car repair business. I lost track of how many loads have come to my house this way this year.
Anyway, I unloaded the wood, about 3/4 of a load of 8-14 inch diameter 16 inch rounds and 1/4 of 8 foot lengths of 2-4 inch branches. I was pretty much done for the day after having a particularly stressful consultants work day and driving the 65 mile round trip commute but, I decided to split a few rounds just to relax. A full 4x8 by 16 inch rick later, I've got about a third of the load split and stacked and I'm enjoying a bourbon and water or two or three and I can't even remember why I was so stressed out after work.
I just thought I would post this here because it's one of the only places where I know there are people that would understand.

I hear yah Brother!! One of my favorite things in the world to do!! Absolutely love splitting wood by hand!
Had an old 7# Stanley I found in our old landfill in the early 70's! It was ripped off out of the back of my pickup this past winter from the Pike crew up from NC during that bad blizzard we had. Felt lost for a few days! My wife found me four old mauls very close to the Stanley on Ebay. I cleaned them up and now I'm back in action again! One is real close to my old Stanley! I hope the guy that got it enjoys that maul half as much as I did!! Keep on swingin'!!! Great Post!!!

 

[Blazin]

Get a OWB that heats three buildings, then talk to me about "Zen" :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[stihly dan]

I don't really like splitting. But when there is nothing to split and I want/need to KILL something I really miss having something to split. I use the fiskers, only thing I have found, is that my aim is not as good with it, and when it hits the round its at a bit of an angle which ends up hurting the elbow.