I was faced with an unusual situation at the honey hole yesterday. This log had a metal bracket. I marked and bucked my 16" rounds from it and was left with a double length, bracket attached. Do i risk trying to cut partway through and split out what i could? Or should i just leave it and move on to the next log. I sixthed the rounds i had cut and loaded PU. I lifted on end, sat on it like a FHC bar stool while taking a break and thought "why not sledge and wedge" it? The 16"ers were splitting fairly easy with the log blaster maul even though they were a knottier (is that a new FHC term)? I did have a wedge with me. Havent been keeping firewood tools on PU as I need room for work. Can't say i ever split a 32" long log before or at least one that large in diameter. A few whacks, wedge went thru and a couple with maul and BAM, in half. Kinda felt like Abe Lincoln when he split rails. A few more just with the maul and i freed up the metal bracket then used the 290 to buck the long splits. So, whats the longest round you FHC folks ever split! This may be mine! There was a restaurant in my home town that closed a few years ago, torn down and now is a tire place. It had a big double sided fireplace. Wood was stacked crib style outside the main entrance. The amazing thing was the logs were maybe 3' long! I miss eating there in the cold weather. Id wait for a table by the fire. Id even bring a few logs in and ask for a discount...never worked, although they did let me put one on the fire! Whats the longest log a hydro can split? double length log with bracket Wood was so wet it was like wringing out a sponge where i hammered the wedge in! It was weird splitting a log that long with the maul. Didnt think to try the Fiskars. split that i may display on my wall of "shame"! After all I did hit it with saw in early May! The last long split i bucked appears to have been a target. Looks like buckshot embedded in the wood!
I like your story about bringing in wood to the restaurant. That’s awesome and too bad you didn’t get that discount! Reminds of this place we like to go on Maine for hiking. The place we stay has a big stone fireplace and firewood on the hearth. I like to pick a time when not many people are looking and check the wood out. It’s usually large pieces of wood that are bone dry. I’d love to give the people who work there the “well played” nod, but it would probably be a teenage or early 20’s kid who be like “0k”.
it was called the "Rustic Oak" and was there for over 40 years. I could sit in the foyer and practically fall asleep waiting. It was my "dessert" too. Think i only went there once in the hot weather and fire wasnt burning of course. Popular Valentines date for me. I often wondered how much wood they burned and how long a cord would last as it was a big fireplace and long logs.
Odd projectiles. Fully mushroomed but very little penetration. Appear to be flat based. I would guess a pellet rifle. Most homeowner style splitters are good for about 24”.
I applaud your effort, however ones like that are just not worth it for me. To Answer your question though the longest length I've split is 24in.
actually it was that bad GrJfer . Split rather easily for what it was. If it was gnarly/knotty then yes let it sit.
Started off with an owb here, and hand split the first year. I learned pretty quickly that I could really pack the boiler splitting at 35" or so, so that's what I most often cut. Learned all about wedges, and even burned a couple out of the log once or twice. Oops. Switched to hydraulics the following year, and went from cutting and splitting all day Sunday (and sometimes Saturday night right in front of the boiler) to put up the week's wood to having the full year put up before winter set in hard. Always cut to 24" since that's the throw on my splitter. Been getting ahead since, and switched to an indoor stove this year, which has put me a couple years ahead and gotten me back into a little hand splitting. 16-20" is somewhat easier than 30" +.
'bout 8-9'... Maybe...let's see if we can use it in a sentence (again)...hmmm...oh, ok here we go...if Mrs Brenn was feeling knottier, I wouldn't be on FHC right now!
dang, thats one h@#l of a splitter! Used for redwoods? Is knottier in the Jeff Foxworthy redneck dictionary?
