Splitting wood by hand

[tcreeley]

I only split if I have to- my stove likes them big! I use a wooden handled maul- 6 or 8 lb is good. I chip and go around in a circle taking wedges off. I like the wood to be green or dead dry- nothing between. I got lazy some years ago and buy wood now. I ask for round, they deliver split!
That's nice little kindling in the video- good for a cook stove.

 

[crazyal]

I haven't split wood in decades, was one of my choirs when I was a youth. I always did it on days that were well below freezing so the wood would be frozen. Now that I burn wood again and have a hydraulic splitter the only splitting I do is to make kindling to make starting a fire a breeze. I would like to get something better than the cheap axe that I use now. It has to be light enough for one handed operation and short enough to split while kneeling. Since I can pick and choose which pieces of wood I'll split into kindling I usually pick the straight grain, no limbs wood. But that's not always the best wood to start a fire with. Lots of times yellow birch will not split cleanly. The small fibers often start quickly but it's hard to split into kindling. Any ideas which Fiskar would work well? They have so many different lengths and both splitting and chopping models. I assume chopping is for felling trees.

 

[s219]

Do not get the Fiskars X27 splitting axe if you want a workout!
It takes all the work out of splitting firewood, the Fiskars X27 splitting AX is awesome.
Harvesting firewood just got a little better.
Thanks for everyone's help in selecting the right splitting AX.
sherpa

That's a funny way to put it. But it really does breeze right through most wood.

 

[Larro Darro]

Glad you got a good ax Sherpa. I still split by hand, but only enough for my grill at home and our old cook stove at the creek camp. But for years I sold firewood. We cut long tall oaks, and it was faster and easier to split by hand. Not to mention quieter.
I still use my grandfather's old splitting ax. I have bought a few felling axes over the years, but never thought I could find a better splitting ax. If I had more to do I would check out one of the newfangled ones.

 

[Jstpssng]

She any good at chopping wood??:laughing: How's Maine....used to visit often. love Stonington. Our daughter went to school in Farmington several years back. :thumbsup:

She probably would be... she has her own gardening business. Yet she will tell you that's what her husband is for.
Farmington is in a nice area. (Is your daughter a teacher now?) I don't know how much sight seeing you did, but Mt Blue State Park has a very nice campground and hiking trails.

 

[tjse9006]

I used an 8 pound maul for years, but a while back I was at a hardware store and saw a big red 20 pound triangle shaped maul and bought it. Works great, most of the time I just lift it and drop it.

 

[MacLawn]

Well boys, I got it! Me Fiskars X27! When rainy season is over in GA, I'll give her a try.

 

[sherpa]

When rainy season is over in GA, I'll give her a try.

We could not wait until the rain stopped.
We (my wife and I) ran out of wood to split.
I am not talking about a few pieces, we split and stacked a couple of months heating wood in two days with the new Fiskars X27!
What an awesome splitting AX.
You will love it MacLawn, give us a report.
sherpa

 

[RedNecker]

I split wood by hand for several years. I had an accident & messed up my shoulders. I purchased a $300 5000 psi electric log splitter from Lowes. It has a small hydraulic pump system. I have used it to split about 10 cords of oak & hickory. Still works good. Logs up to 12" X 16".

 

[MacLawn]

Sherp, I'll give y'all a report when I can, but man, this rain is unbelievable! I mean everyday! When you think it might let up, bang! There it comes again! Oh well, we were very dry for a few years, so this should bring the ground water back up. I'll try to split a few I have laying around.