I do both. Hydro for thr big and knotted pieces, the easy straight grain oak I've been cutting goes way faster by hand. I regret getting rid of my old tires, used to love that trick.
I remember whacking away at funky pieces of wood (odd shaped pieces, y's ect.) and now with the hyd. splitter life is easier, one of the better investments I have made.
Not gonna lie, I'm a bit lazy now that I have a wood splitter. Obviously I bust up bigger pieces before I walk them in to be burned, but that Fiskars is getting lonely. I was having a chat with the heating oil delivery guy, and he remarked how nice my wood in the stacks was split. He said either I swung an axe better than anyone he knows, or I have a splitter hiding somewhere!
Any wood with really straight grain is going to be easy to split by hand. The toeless; er, barefoot girl was splitting wood that looked as if it would pop open just by looking at it. Also, the shorter the wood the easier it is going to be to split by hand; therefore, cut your firewood to the shortest length possible if you are going to be splitting by hand.
I use the tire method. I find that I can split faster than a hydro but I can't go as long. Doesn't bother me though. I get 3 things done at the same time. I get exercise, fuel to heat my house and I save money. WINNING
I don’t walk away from trees I have to split, I don’t go specifically looking for them. I target trees that I don’t have to split.
If it is big and or knarly/ stringy I noodle it with my chainsaw ( works great) everything else is split by hand. By various mauls, axes, to some variation of both. A maze, axul,? Splitting axe? Lol I think if I get a splitter it is going to be a split second or variation of like 94BULLITT has. But I really enjoy splitting wood by hand.
I used to split by hand with a 12lb maul with a steel handle. Then upgraded to a 8lb fiberglass and a 4lb fiberglass. I also got a fiskars X27 sometime. Then I got to doing enough to justify(to me) a splitter. I got Harbor freight dual direction splitter. The dual direction is what sold me. One reason I held out on a splitter is because in normal wood I can split faster by hand. After having the harbor freight splitter, I started doing more wood, so I wanted something faster. Now I have a Split Second Splitter. I added a conveyor this year too.
