THE TIME-HONORED ART OF SPLITTING WOOD
(Page 3 of 4)
November/December 1980
By Larry Diamond
I stick fast to my "ground up" rule, but I must admit that not all experienced wood splitters concern themselves with it. Instead, many simply attack the log end that has the most prominent checks or is farthest away from a large knot.
RELATED CONTENT
After 1,500 miles of alternative fuels vehicle driving, we found that you can run a truck with a wo...
Almost half the world’s original forests have disappeared, one-fifth since the late 1950s....
If you're looking for a way to reduce your high winter heating bills, consider wood heat. It's a gr...
Joining pieces of wood to create furniture or other projects can be easy. And the results will look...
From Shaker rounds to ricks, how to stack firewood for maximum seasoning. The classic cord, coverin...
UNRULY ROUNDS
The vast majority of rounds will yield to a few well-placed blows of the go-devil. But you will occasionally encounter the bane of any wood splitter's labors — one of those ornery, mule-headed, cussed, tough-fibered, no-good, gnarl-grained chunks that just won't cooperate. And the true artistry to billet-breaking comes in judging the best tactics to use on such hard-nut-to-crack rounds.
If the log is simply too thick to succumb to a splitting maul's blows, you can often halve it by using your wedges. Set one "prying triangle" into a check with a few taps of the maul's backside (or use a sledgehammer or mallet), and then drive it in. If you're sure that the wedge will do the trick, knock it all the way down. But if the log looks stubborn, leave the head of the wedge poking out and start a second wood opener — either on the opposite side of the crack, or along the split that will have started down the log's side. Then, if the number two wedge fails, you can knock the first one free and drive it in along the side. With any luck, the wood will soon give way. (If you somehow do sink all your wedges irretrievably deep, you can use a homemade glut — or wooden wedge — to get them out.)
Another, often easier, way to handle a thick round is to whittle it down to size by slicing sections off the outside with your maul. After you've worked all the way around the perimeter of the billet once or twice, the center should be small enough to split open.
Big logs do take work to open up, but the two types that really elicit those unprintable-in-a-wholesome-magazine expletives from wood stockpilers are timbers with knots and crotches.
Some folks recommend tackling knots by trying to split straight through the center of the branch outgrowths, but I think it's easier — at least while you're halving the round — to avoid trouble by splitting at right angles to the maul-stopping sections.
Crotches can provide even less amusement for the log buster than do knots! When wrestling with one of those "pair o' pants" pieces, you might try splitting a section off the outside of each leg and then cracking the remaining V piece, from the bottom, along the line that goes through the heart of each leg. On the other hand, cutting the two halves apart with a chain saw — and then splitting each leg open — can be an effective worksaving technique. (Whatever you do, though, don't waste time trying to split the two legs apart at the crotch — it "just ain't likely" to work.)
AVOID SPLITTING HEADACHES
Actually, wasting time and energy on any recalcitrant piece of wood is one of the best ways to make sure you have a miserable, frustrating time out at the woodpile and get little useful work done while you're there. As far as I'm concerned, when you find a piece that's not going to be reasonably cooperative, either cut the round up with a chain saw or toss the dang thing aside!
