Which is harder to split?

[JDavidS]

Which increased dimension increases difficulty to split more? Length or diameter?

All sorts of other factors involved I know- straightness of grain, species, "stringiness", knots/crotches etc.

My experience is in straighter grain material, that bigger diameter rounds are harder to split, in crotchy/gnarly rounds, length is a bigger factor.

I have always cut knotty/forky rounds shorter to make splitting by hand easier.

What say you?

 

[Cheesecutter]

Length...if you cut short enough pieces splitting any kind of wood is easy no matter how big around they are. But yes, there are other factors also.

 

[svk]

Depends on the species, grain of specific tree you are splitting, and presence/lack of knots.

For the wood I normally split, I'd say width is more of a deciding factor. To split big rounds it simply takes more hits to halve it the first time.

Otoh something like elm needs to be short whether the round is 6 or 16 or 30 inch diameter. You really have no prayer otherwise.

 

[Fred Wright]

Much depends on the type of wood. For softer woods I'd say length is gonna be harder to split than size. The wood bows slightly as it's being split. The longer the round or log, the longer it's gonna take to part it.

 

[Mike-M]

Length is a bigger deal to me.

 

[Ironworker]

I'm all about length, but the wife likes diameter.

 

[CTYank]

Definitely it's about the diam. Ever notice how the fiskars boys go for the "daisy" option (slabbing off the outside)? Makes it easier.

 

[hupte]

length is harder to split. IMHO.

 

[fearofpavement]

both and.

 

[JDavidS]

both and.

That is an interesting answer fearofpavement. ;-)

 

[ski24501]

Length. I've never had a log splitter just an 8lb maul. Shorter pieces atleast in my experience, have always been easier to split regardless of knots and species. If it's the fork of a tree I don't even bother swinging a maul I just cut it short and make a few rip cuts. Not the best thing for my saw though. My $.02

 

[babybart]

I believe you, the OP hit it on the head, depends on the grain which also was struck upon by other posters as far as species. 30"+ red oak that I have to bust in half to get on my horizontal splitter I will just continue to split by hand for the exercise as well as the ease of doing so, where as a piece of hickory same diameter that I bust in half to get on the splitter will be put on the splitter because it sucks to finish by hand! I don't really see a difference in length due to all my rounds are roughly same so...

 

[tla100]

I just picked up a 6 lb maul from the hardware store for fun. I did some grinding on head, not sure if made much difference. So how many times do you hit a large round before you get a sledge? New to this "hand splittin" and just curious. What is a good length to cut into?

In the little I have done, short large rounds are easier to split than smaller tall rounds

 

[ski24501]

I just picked up a 6 lb maul from the hardware store for fun. I did some grinding on head, not sure if made much difference. So how many times do you hit a large round before you get a sledge? New to this "hand splittin" and just curious. What is a good length to cut into?

In the little I have done, short large rounds are easier to split than smaller tall rounds

You want it to fit into your stove. I know that sounds kinda vague but my stove will take an 18" long piece so I usually wind up with pieces 14-16 inches long. Makes arranging it in the stove a little easier. As for how many times you swing it's gonna vary. Some pieces you'll get on the first swing others will take 20.

 

[wndwlkr]

Which is harder to split

 

[blumtn969]

I just picked up a 6 lb maul from the hardware store for fun. I did some grinding on head, not sure if made much difference. So how many times do you hit a large round before you get a sledge? New to this "hand splittin" and just curious. What is a good length to cut into?

In the little I have done, short large rounds are easier to split than smaller tall rounds

Anything hard to split is a lot more fun to noodle with a saw usually the bigger the saw the more fun it is

 

[Wood Doctor]

Dryness has a lot to do with splitting difficulty, but that varies by species. When green, I find that elm, cottonwood, and hard maple are stringy and refuse to split, but when dry they all split rather well. On the other hand, you can split oak, locust, mulberry, soft maple, ash and several others when green.

Twisted or spiral grain wood is the toughest of them all to split, green or dry. I've run into this on both elm and ash, and believe me, it's miserable. Luckily, you don't run into it very often. Some say that it's caused by the tree growing at a leaning angle, and it tries to straighten itself up for years.

 

[Ambull01]

Length...if you cut short enough pieces splitting any kind of wood is easy no matter how big around they are. But yes, there are other factors also.

Yep, I agree. Split it short enough and even sweet gum can be conquered with my Fiskars. Yeah, I'm a Fiskar boy.

 

[Iron Head]

For me it's the knotted branch area.
But the biggest painintheass that I've encountered are those trees which had swallowed a section of galvanized barbed wires.
You know back when a lazy farmers would use a live young tree as a line post for his barbed wire fence. And throughout the years the tree grew and swallowed the fence line.
It is amazing how the tree fibers would work around the galvanized wire to form a nasty gray mesh that can not be split.
And good luck trying to noodle it.

 

[chuckwood]

For me it's the knotted branch area.
But the biggest painintheass that I've encountered are those trees which had swallowed a section of galvanized barbed wires.
You know back when a lazy farmers would use a live young tree as a line post for his barbed wire fence. And throughout the years the tree grew and swallowed the fence line.
It is amazing how the tree fibers would work around the galvanized wire to form a nasty gray mesh that can not be split.
And good luck trying to noodle it.

I just pulled a wad of hot glowing barbed wire out of my wood heater. Somehow, my saw missed it, which was good. And yes, I've stapled barbed wire into trees myself. Here's what happens. It's mid July, you're tired, it's hot as hell, it's mid afternoon and you already want to go home. There's a small tree there that will make a perfect corner post. The poor dude that saws into it 30 to 40 years from now won't know that you are the SOB that did this. All you're thinking about is getting the job done and going home to an air conditioned house and drink a few beers and watch tv or play some pool. So you staple the wire to the tree and move on to pound in the next t post. That's how it happens.