Been cleaning up some loose rounds in my processing area. Sass, Ash, Cherry and assorted stuff. All done I spied some White Oak quarters I had noodled last year. Now white oak is rarer than hens teeth on my property so no real experience with it. Time to try it out. Slung one of those quarters up on the splitter. 4 way wedge. Straight grain but near the base of the tree. Well the splitter hesitated quite a bit then the dang thing exploded. One piece went somersaulting through the air. Hit it again and same thing. Violent split and one piece flew off the round and planted itself onto the dump truck. I got a whole lotta white oak logs waiting. Is this normal? Just a fluke? Stuff seems dangerous. Do I need a bomb disposal suit?
Sounds like you have the auto-load option on your splitter. Just need the right angle for the truck. Any chance of a video?
Sometimes white oak can be stringy too, a rubbery won't let go attack it with a chain saw kind of stringy . No sense beating yourself all up with it, load it in a trailer and dump it all here. Maybe lose the 4 way.
Hah, had misread your post and made an entirely unrelated reply LOL. Yeah I thought of a deflection chute. Also thought of using my full face helmet. Still some sisters to that 1/4 out there. Maybe next time I’ll get it on film. Wouldn’t hurt to be standing back a little.
Just may lose that 4 way. I’ve bounced back and forth from single to four quite a bit. To be honest it’s hard to say what’s faster or if it’s really worth it.
Sometimes I wish I had a 4 way for red oak and red maple but white oak and certainly pine, probably not. Pine, especially field grown really knotty eastren white pine can really go knock-your-teeth-out flying.
White oak you are better off without the 4 way on some of those blocks. Yes, they can and will explode quite violently. That is why a 2 way is better as when they explode they will go in just 2 directions; left or right but never had one do a somersault. Have had them go sideways but not far. It is usually only the big ones that will give you the problem. Just have some fun with it!
I get that sometimes with logs that come from near the base and have root flare. You can try splitting them skinny end first or just as others have mentioned, lose the 4 way for those pieces.
Good to know. And fun it will be. I’ll put a numbered ringed target on the dump truck and another on my forehead and keep score.
Good point. I’ve recently begun putting the big end towards the wedge whereas logic would dictate otherwise. My splitter has a floating g fourway. Noticed it’s not hard to reach its upwards limits then it labors to crush the split trapped underneath. By putting the flare towards the wedge the grain counteracts that problem. But seems to create another problem. I think on white oak I’ll try skinny end first as you suggest.
Yep, skinny end & skinny wedge on White Oak. It usually pops apart a bit violently. I've used my 4 way on it, but seems faster without.
i didnt respond right away Joe as you know i hand split all my wood. After giving it more thought i recall processing white oak and splits flying off the block with a "pop" as i was hacking away. I processed maybe 3-4 cord of it since September. Mustve been quite interesting to have that happen. Surprised you have none there. Rather plentiful here.
They are around. Just not on my property. I have two that I know of of any decent size. One right next to my processing area and dead. Gonna leave it for a bit and let the dead branches fall into the woods before I drop it into the field. Less clean up I’m hoping The property was clear cut back in the 20’s and 30’s. They made charcoal out of all the wood to sell in Hartford. White oaks just didn’t seem to come back.
