How do you guys do it? This way I get more squarish splits....but it also makes it easier for me to split a round how I want - i.e. mix it up between big and little splits. First I went down the middle, took 5-6 whacks and then the round split. It had a small knot at the bottom inside the round. Then I went across with 3 cuts on each side..... And then 90 degrees 8 strokes. Super satisying. The tire is 15" so the round is 15-16". The tire is screwed to a nice round and I used the Fiskars x27 splitting maul on this nice piece of Ash.
I would do it that way if I got rounds that big. I get 6 splits out of my average round, which means 2 square splits. Big rounds get quartered at the scrounge site so I can lift them in the car.
I never really counted how many splits I typically do......until I did this round today and thought it'd be neat to see how other people do it. I would say this is the average sized round I get. The biggest so far was my spruce scroung where they were 26" tall and 30" in diameter....although a close second is the load of black oak I got recently that was 33" wide but only 14" tall......but still damm heavy!!! I have a lever I could push too........but I don't really want to use it unless I am super tired or I have a lot of wood to do....which, coincidentally, is going to be tomorrow......since I'm getting that crazy load of ash! Ooooo a super split! I fantasized about it....but I couldn't justify the price for me........and since I ended up paying only $799 for my Champion 34-ton (vs $1499), I'd say economically speaking I did alright......
I have to tip my hat to all you hand splitters. For various reasons it wouldn’t work for me, but I can appreciate all the effort involved. I’m sure it’s satisfying looking at the pile at the end of the day.
When I say I love Excel.......I mean I *love* Excel. I used to have dreams in VBA and wake up with a "EUREKA! I GOT IT!!!" after tussling with some code problem I was having. This happened many, many times.
I have a friend who only splits by hand....even the tough, knotty, crotch pieces. I don't know how he does it. And when he's over taking some of my rounds and splitting I always tell him "Forget about that piece! Just take an easy piece!" and he says "NO! I started it! I'm going to finish it!" That's dedication right there!
If I can get a round quartered, I'll split the middle point, creating a smallish triangular split. The rest of the quarter, will be split into 3 or 4 splits. I like the larger split sizes. I don't use a tire. Maybe, I should.
My wood is so irregular and knotty at times, I an just happy to get it to split anywhere. I don't use a tire or a big round, and I always split everything at the falling site. I hit each round, differently. I look for checks or the starts of splits in the wood and I take note of where any knots might be, or if it's a little rotten in middle. And if it's fairly easy splitting wood, I don't always even stand it up, just hit it where it lays, usually in the end, but sometime I will split it by hitting it on the side of the round or I might end up hitting it on the side of the round if it's partially split already. It's always a judgement call. But I split it where it lays, usually, but of course I will stand most of them up and hit them from the end. I don't own any splitting wedges. If a round turns out to be too difficult to split with ax or maul, I have been ripping some of them with the saw. It's just easier, sometimes then fighting it. And once in a while I will stick an ax and can't pull it out of the wood; on those occasions, I pickup a second ax or go to the maul and continue to bust the wood up until the first ax comes free. Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often. I love splitting wood by hand, and value it at good exercise, but I have been doing so much lately that I have to take a day off between splitting days, because my hands are giving me some problems, from hanging onto the ax and maul too much. I don't know if it's arthritis or just over working them. I did end up splitting about 4 cords lately, with a 30 something ton hydraulic splitter that belongs to a friend, on a partnership deal. Some of these rounds were 36 inches or bigger in diameter and hard as a rock with many badly twisted. I would have hated to of had to split that by hand. So, I can see the value of a hydraulic splitter on this big tough stuff. But I doubt I every buy one, normally, I am just careful about what I decide to cut down and having a farm with lots of timber, I don't have to tackle the really hard stuff to split, that often.
I split wood by hand for about 25 years or so. Never used tires or even a block to put the wood on while splitting (that just adds one more step and both bending and lifting). I did split squares and rectangles as I love them for cribbing and especially for packing the stove for long burns. Today I too happily use a handle rather than the longer handle of an axe or maul. bbtw, I did also use sledge and wedges for the tough stuff when I split by hand.
You should try the tire. Once I tried it I never looked back. Here's a video I watched before I tried it. I use a 15" tire. It's nice having the option to use the splitter if you need to, whether its your own or your neighbor. I've offered to lend my splitter for my neighbor but so far he hasn't taken me up on it yet. For the few rounds of beech I found at the dump, I realized quickly it wasn't going to happen with the maul or the wedge. That wood is DENSE. My argument for the tire is that while yes you have to lift the round onto the tire, you do NOT have to lift the wood every time you swing the axe and get a split. In my example I would have had to lift it again after splitting in half, and then 6 more times on the second set of cuts, and then 8 more times after that. With the tire I lift the round initially and then at a higher height I take the splits several at a time (depending on size) and toss them directly into the garden cart. I always try to minimize the number of touches and the number of times I have to stoop.
sirbuildalot Do you find the SS is faster than you can load the next piece? Also how does it do on crazy stuff like green spruce/pine, beech, pin oak, or black birch?
Another reason I use the tire is that all my processing is done on my asphalt driveway so getting it off the ground drastically reduces the risk of swinging the maul into the asphalt.
