Molly, I was thinking more like this. With the splitter, you might be able to split off strips, just to get to the wire. No need to split in half.
Molly sorry to hear about your chain, I really killed one myself on that pallet when I hit the wandering nail. Its actually beyond repair with a couple of chipped teeth and one bent that I cant quite locate because its slight,but I can feel it knocking every time it cycles. Remember I'm solely on battery power so a tooth thats catching can be a real pain for a plastic chainsaw Lol! Thing is I have a new chain somewhere, but cant find it even with all my great organization Anyway If I were you and I had a coupe wedges I would treat that 4 foot log like a stone cutter might. Use the saw to cut a few slits in the top bark side of the horizontally positioned log. Then put wedges all in a row down side and start to smack them in one by one to create a sideways split. This is also an old school technique for making beams or boards without a mill saw. Good luck! Oops I just notices MikeInMa put up a visual of what I was explaining while I was writing this. Visuals are always better
I see buZZsaw BRAD also explained this before me. Oh well, brevity is not my strong point plus I'm at work haha! By the way, great photos and gorgeous firewood being produced at the midwinter homestead!
Sorry about your chain. Maybe order one online from Home Depot? We haven't had to put a new chain on the EGO yet, but the original is on its last legs. OK for 2x4s but not much else. Yes, I think I'll try going Midieval on the cabled oak chunk and see what happens.
Yeah Im going to have to order another one. Those thinner kerf chains (what the EGO 56 and Ryobe 40 volt come with) are very susceptible to bending of teeth, but I suppose they are easier on the batteries.
"Sadly" if you cut any volume of wood, the inevitable is going to happen. I've hit my share of nails, chainlink fence, dog cable runs, hooks, spikes, old nails, even a piece of pipe the tree grew around! Remember this, what will dull a saw "quick" is hitting the dirt. Acts like sand paper on the teeth. When I go out cutting away from the house, an extra chain is the norm...
It actually wasn't very difficult! First I took off a strip of bark, to make sure there was no metal lurking... then I cut a kerf with the 180... got a few wedges out... bang bang bang.. last two, over a knot... trimmed up with the Fiskars... and cut into half rounds with the 180. No interior wrapped around cable, yay!
Any further splitting possible? Make sure you keep the bark side down, if you split further. If bark is up, the flat side is down and can't "fall away" as the split widens.
I took a look at those logs when I was there last week. Didnt look like the cable was going to be too obtrusive. Just toss the stuff that you cant get it out of, or put it aside if it's too much hassle and I'll cut the cable off for you, or can take it to dispose of in the fire pit. Great work wedging that open Molly!
