I’ll hand it to you, hand splitting them bigguns is a lot of work. Your neighbor better pray you don’t get ahold of him. Those little guys with napoleon syndrome don’t realize the natural strength bigger guys have. I’ve met numerous guys who were tall and looked chubby. Like 6’2”-6’4” and over 300 lbs. Boy oh boy were some of them strong as an ox.
Way too much effort put into splitting that round for me. After the second bounce the ax would be thrown in the trash. Good for you getting after it.
I have to agree with the others. I’d be splitter shopping. 13-14 whacks is a lot of effort for one round. I’m impressed with your determination though. Have you considered getting an Isocore? I bet it’d reduce those dozen plus blows to 3-4. On big rounds I often see guys nibble it from the edges with a splitting axe. Take small chunks away until it’s able to be busted down the middle.
I remember brute forcing big old red oak rounds in half when I was younger. Just like that. Challenge. Persistance. At some point I lost interest in the sport of making firewood and it just became the sport of the process(es) of making firewood. More cerebral fun than physical fun. (plus my back hurt and I couldn't do it as long any more)
Do you have the Fiskars maul? Probably work better on the big boys, then use the X27 on the smaller pieces.
As the saying goes there's quite a few ways to skin a cat. I can't swing an isocore. Too heavy and I don't like the feel of it. I much prefer the x27. What I'm doing in the video is walking the line. I'm not swinging 100% and I'm not swinging randomly all over the place. If you watch when I bring the camera closer to the split you can see I was pretty darn straight with me strokes. In that particular round once I saw the maul dig in I knew it was going to split. This round didn't have any knots (visible nor hidden) and was easy after that initial burn. Other rounds in this lot were definitely wedge and sledge and there I use my isocore sledge in combo with my 5lb warren teed wedge. It works fantastic and I do admit I typically don't swing that many strokes before reaching for the wedge and sledge....but I felt like it was going to go and it did. I did probably 5 rounds like that and 5 with the wedge. I have a champion 34 ton splitter but ain't no way I'm getting the rounds up onto it in the horizontal position. Those things weigh 200lbs or more. Even in the vertical position you have to maneuver the round up and over the end cap there and that did not interest me either. I split the rounds where they were dumped and minimized moving them doing so only to orientate the crack where I wanted it. I've done the chip method where you go around the circumference. I don't like it as much as the way I did it. Again not 100% strength until I got a crack and then there were 4 or 5 full strength strokes. If I get sore whacking away, I take a short break and then get the wedge out. There was tremendous satisfaction splitting it with the maul.
You can get a job in any stone quarry with that accuracy. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing tho
I saw/ heard one problem, the round was bouncing, then i saw the plywood under the round, so, i'm guessing when you break through you don't damage the bit of the axe. Good idea. but, it allows the round to bounce, and not get a really good blow to the wood. its like splitting wood on uneven ground the round will move all over the place. But, you got it split, that's the whole idea. On rounds like that, i like to start on the outside edge and split to the center. Split one, move around the round, split another and so on. Good job, you got it split.
Here is something we came up with. This works really good for sliding the big rounds on to the splitter. Then, we made a set of ramps for the horizontal position. I will usually split up to 28" rounds whole on the ramps. Bigger we quarter on the vertical.
I have split plenty of firewood with an axe, maul and wedges. For me bouncing an axe off a round to split it in half is a waste of energy. There is certainly nothing wrong with what you are doing. If you enjoy it go for it.
Let me tell you some of these little guys will put a hurt on you as well.The toughest guy in my group growing up was Wolfie Frazer.He was about 5'7".He would chew up big guys all day long.He was too fast and crazy strong.They never saw what hit em.They just got up off the ground wondering how they got there.Just goes to show don't mess with people because you don't know who your messing with.I say "can't we all just get along "?
For sure there are smaller framed guys you are strong as an ox. Guys like Franco Columbo, a former Mr. Olympia and Arnold’s training partner who outlifted Arnold at a much smaller size. He also competed in the first Worlds Strongest man in 1977. He was also a genetic anomaly. Not your typical “small guy”. Skill makes up for size in a lot of fights. Take two similarly skilled guys who are 6” and 80 lbs apart and you’ll see a different outcome. The little guy will get ragdolled around the ring. They have weight classes in strength and in fighting sports for a reason. So little guys don’t get murdered.
