Anyone cut firewood for health/exercise?

[Oaktree]

We heat mostly with the wood stove and usually go through 3 cords a winter in northern AZ. My wife wants to get me a splitter but I keep telling here that splitters are for old people. I’m 72 and enjoy splitting all our firewood. Maybe one of these days, but not yet.

Got a good deal on a used splitter maybe 10-12 years ago and never looked back. Didn't mind splitting by hand, but the older I get the more I appreciate hydraulics. Waay faster plus a whole lot less "unsplittable" stuff that has to be diced up with a chainsaw.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

We heat mostly with the wood stove and usually go through 3 cords a winter in northern AZ. My wife wants to get me a splitter but I keep telling here that splitters are for old people. I’m 72 and enjoy splitting all our firewood. Maybe one of these days, but not yet.

My wife made me buy a hydraulic splitter to save wear and tear on the body. The last couple of years my hands would be in pain for days after splitting even a 1/4 of a cord. Not that old, but I guess I am in the old people category now.

 

[wolc123]

My wife made me buy a hydraulic splitter to save wear and tear on the body. The last couple of years my hands would be in pain for days after splitting even a 1/4 of a cord. Not that old, but I guess I am in the old people category now.

My wife did the same with me, about 20 years ago. I always split by hand before that, but I do love the hydraulic splitter. I am in better shape now than I was 20 years ago, because that hand splitting was tough on the joints, and it was asymmetric (I always split right handed).

I still do use firewood handling for some exercise though. Normally, I do some type of aerobic workout about 5 times a week (rowing machine or stationary bike). We burn about a face cord of firewood a week, when it’s cold out. I can fit about half of that outside, in the covered porch, next to the wood stove inside our house.

In the winter, I skip a bike or a rowing machine workout, every time I haul up a half cord of firewood from the wood stockpile out back, where I keep it stacked on old pallets, and covered with tarps.

It is time for one of those workouts right now in fact, because there is only 3 little chunks of woods left out on the porch, and it’s supposed to be below zero tonight.

I love all aspects of heating with firewood and I couldn’t imagine living up here, on the Canadian border, without it. The free workouts are one the best parts. Our farm has more “free” wood on it, than I will ever be able to burn.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Splitting wood by hand, "for fun"?

Sounds like running laps or hauling wheel barrows full of dirt around "for fun".

Nope.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Lots of people join gyms. I tell people just work...lift heavy things, climb, split wood. It's exercise and accomplishes something.
Dad used to say "wood warms you twice".
I just finished a horse stable tack room, helping a contractor. Up & down ladders with OSB, the 2x8 rafters, nailing, etc. Wow...I was tired! Now I feel better than before.

 

[Doughknob]

Yes, ‘work’ is a reasonable substitute for “lifting” at a gym, but not a substitute for real aerobic exercise which raises your heart rate to a certain level for a period of time.

i cut and chop wood by hand all summer and still ride the stationary bike 2 - 3 times per week.

sure, any exercise is better than no exercise. Just sayin true aerobic benefit is not typically had with

 

[Citydude]

Swinging a 3-4 pound maul certainly gets the heart rate up for me.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Swinging a 3-4 pound maul certainly gets the heart rate up for me.

My maul is 6 lb. I need to post a picture. It is a non-stick maul that never gets stuck in a split. I have shopped hard for another like it, and have never been able to find one. I can't even find a picture of one on the web. I bought it 25 years ago, the same year I bought my chainsaw, a Husky 51 that is a real workhorse.

For the last 20 years I have run nothing but Red Line 2-cycle oil in my chainsaw. It's designed to lubricate hot running air cooled 2-cycle racing bikes, and not much runs hotter than a wide open chainsaw chewing through big logs.

Red Line also burns clean and never fouls plugs. I had a cheapo leaf blower that used head bolts to attach the handle. When the handle broke I pulled the head while I was fixing it. The cylinder was shiny bright and almost white glove clean. NAPA stocks the stuff.

 

[JamesHW]

Not heating with wood, but have split plenty w/ a maul for camp fires and giving wood to friends who heat w/ wood, but wanted to highlight a tool we got last year that has made splitting wood a much easier chore for small amounts, the Logosol hand splitter. A friend, who does heat w/ wood, his wife complained their only problem was an ongoing lack of kindling to start fires, so I ordered one for them. So easy to split dry wood to smallish sticks that are easy to start. I even will dump wood strips in my chimney charcoal starter and get them burning with nothing but newspaper tied in knots.

 

[ning]

I split pine & cedar by "hand" (karate chop! jk - splitting maul) for fun.
My oak is practically unsplittable without a sledgehammer and wedges; that's not fun after the first few times.
The hydraulic splitter has enough trouble with it; it's still a decent core workout and I enjoy the satisfaction of getting a bunch of wood split.
Fun, though... not like hitting pine with the maul and having pieces go flying apart. That's a blast. But I only need to split so much pine.

 

[Rustyiron]

I don't know if splitting 26" rounds by hand, especially the knotty Beech that I have an abundance of is humanly possible.
It's definitely not for me, I'm in the hydraulics club.

 

[Oaktree]

My maul is 6 lb. I need to post a picture. It is a non-stick maul that never gets stuck in a split. I have shopped hard for another like it, and have never been able to find one. I can't even find a picture of one on the web. I bought it 25 years ago, the same year I bought my chainsaw, a Husky 51 that is a real workhorse.

I've never been able to split with a maul worth beans, would either get stuck or bounce off. I recall seeing ads for gimmick mauls back in the 80s, one that had some sort of "wings" on the sides that were supposed to prevent it getting stuck, another called a monster maul that was triangular in shape. Never saw either type in a store.
Before I got my splitter, I'd use wedges and a sledgehammer for most splitting, an ax for the easier stuff like ash.

 

[lman]

Splitting elm is a beech.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Splitting elm is a beech.

Yeah, splitting box elder (very like elm) is horrible stuff unless it's already dried out.

Wet, stringy, miserable stuff. Thankful for the hydraulic splitter.

 

[Doughknob]

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I've never been able to split with a maul worth beans, would either get stuck or bounce off. I recall seeing ads for gimmick mauls back in the 80s, one that had some sort of "wings" on the sides that were supposed to prevent it getting stuck, another called a monster maul that was triangular in shape. Never saw either type in a store.
Before I got my splitter, I'd use wedges and a sledgehammer for most splitting, an ax for the easier stuff like ash.

I'll post a picture of the head of my maul. It just has a little thing on one side of the casting that works slick as can be. I had the same problem with sticking mauls until I got this one. In the last 25 years it has probably split 100 cords of wood, and has never gotten stuck in a split.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Speaking of the social life of getting wood

 

[fruitcakesa]

I still log all my own firewood and heat exclusively with wood.
I handsplit 6-8 cords a year for 25 + years then bought an 16 ton electric splitter.
I don't get much cardio from it but I do get a lot of picking up, putting down and walking around.
Logging is a much better exercise routine.

 

[turnkey4099]

Splitting wood by hand, "for fun"?

Sounds like running laps or hauling wheel barrows full of dirt around "for fun".

Nope.

Yep. Sometimes I will split that way just for old times sake. Ejoyable, slow but steady stacks up pile.

I have to watch what I am doing, splitting bhy hand yeilds bigger splits, sometimes too big while with the splitter I tend to split too small.

 

[turnkey4099]

Yes, ‘work’ is a reasonable substitute for “lifting” at a gym, but not a substitute for real aerobic exercise which raises your heart rate to a certain level for a period of time.

i cut and chop wood by hand all summer and still ride the stationary bike 2 - 3 times per week.

sure, any exercise is better than no exercise. Just sayin true aerobic benefit is not typically had with

Yes. I posted that cutting wood is not aerobic on a firewood forum. Nobody believed it but the truth is that most of the work involves mostly standing around and moving in a limited area...and at a slow pace.

At 86 I swing a saw with a 32" bar bucking logs for a good 3 hours or more but can't walk a hundred feet without puffing. Yes I know the cure for that but even taking walks along the road just for exercise is boooorrrinngg.