Old school .

Couldve been a thread here before I was a member which will be six years come February.

 

This year, things are Way busy ( who knew that getting older would be so much work . )
The last 2 winters , I've fell bucksplit and limbed over 4 cord total . Strictly with axes .
I'm something of a newby with few axes . Compared to some of me mates down under . Some of them report having SHEDS full of Tasmanian pattern axes . I've seen many pics of milk crates full of heads stacked up .

 

Last winter. 23/24 .
By loading my sled sidewinder, I can really wood er down.

 

Some people go to the gym. I grab an axe or 3 and go to the woods. Physical and Mental health during the long dark and cold .

 

Swinging an axe is very therapeudic. If I was only cutting wood for my own use id never own a hydro.

 

I look at a fair amount of firewood work as a workout of sorts. It is good to vary a little so not doing one exercise all the time.

I used to do my firewood with a 6 lb maul and wedges, as needed. Some wood, like straight grain Red Oak is almost easier with the maul than putting it on the splitter. About 8-10 years ago I started borrowing a friends splitter for some, mostly difficult blocks.

My next step was to buy my own Iron & Oak splitter, maybe slightly overkill. I hardly swing a maul anymore, but still have a few on standby.

With the maul one 1st has to ‘read the block’ of wood. There are various factors on the best way to attack about any that needs splitting. I think that, then an appropriately directed swing is more important than brute force.

 

Welcome to the FHC wiguy Its great to have you.

 

Welcome to the club!

 

I try to 'read' the rounds before the first swing. I like to find a nice Check as that's a good spot to get the first break. I try to run parallel to branch knots which seems to work ok. I usually only swing to bust down the heavies to quarters for the splitter to finish. If I hand split all the way down my splits look like someone was having fun with dynamite and therefore are harder to stack soundly. (my stacking game ain't that great so I need all the help I can get)

 

X2

 

Those nice axes bring the firewood nostalgia on strong.

 

I bought a gas powered splitter to handle what I cannot do by hand. It is a combo horizontal and vertical splitter and I take large pieces and split them into bite size chunks that I can split by hand. Splitting by hand is good exercise and helps to stretch out the back. Really good for the core. At this point I need every excuse I can get to keep moving.