Do you think wood splits easier in a particular direction? I'm not talkin horizontal vs. vertical...everybody knows the answer to that one...I'm talkin crown to base or base to crown.
When I split by hand, I always split in the same direction that it grew in. Meaning would place the round with the widest (slightly) bottom portion on the ground and the slightly narrower portion facing up. Then, if the piece was stubborn, I would flip it over anyway! My neighbors name for splitting wood was "Lightning"! Not because he was fast, but because he never hit the same spot twice!
Never given it much thought, actually. I have always looked for an existing / natural crack, weak spot, etc. and started there. Sent from my Z832 using Tapatalk
I find if it's tough splitting, going from the stump end works better. In fir, going from the top end ends up with more splinters or slivers.
I agree. Knotty pieces or any sort of pine always splits cleaner for me trunk-first, the exception being when the knot is right on the end of the round and was further up the tree - in that case I'll split "top down."
Interesting points. At some perspective its hard to tell which is up or down on the rounds Ive split or cut for that matter. They get uniform so its too minute of detail to tell. However if there are knotty bunches and i'll hit it, get the bounce, turn it over usually helps. Any knot too close to the face cut is just gonna wear you out. I got back out to hand splitting a bit today. Probably only got a truck bed full of split wood so I know why I got my splitter now. Even if the wood is fairly easy to split, doesn't help when you gotta cut it all first hand.
I've never given it much thought except when there's a knot or a crotch; they always seem to split easier pant legs down, which would be base to crown for most trees. Lately I have been burning quite a bit of red pine and I do always end up with lots of splintering. Perhaps I'll give that method a try.
I always remembered that if you are using an axe and chopping a limb off the tree that it always works best to chop with the grain, or from the bottom of the tree toward the top. Well, it just seems then that perhaps splitting would be the same. However, in real life I've not noticed much of a difference although if one split too hard I have always just rolled it over to split from the other end and as Allan stated, it works.
Funny how you say this but when I see one of those behemoth trees on here that seem to shade an entire parking lot, I just try and fathom what the root ball looks like.
Just playing devil's advocate here... Now, I know it's not the right way to split, but, which way do you put it if you're splitting horizontal?
I've noticed no difference splitting from the top down or vvs. I do split from the end opposite a knot with a maul (more leverage before forcing the knot apart), and from the knot end with hydraulics (forces the knot open before running out of stroke with the wedge).
