I'm hoping for some tips for the new guy here. I'm in a splitting marathon these days trying to get a windfall of wood CSS as quick as possible. I started with the maple with hopes it may be dry by winter but have hit a hard roadblock. These rounds just will not give. The wood is from branches that were cut during a pruning of the tree about 3 weeks ago. The leaves were very young but were maple looking but with only 3 lobes. Do you think there's a way to crack these by hand or should I resort to renting a splitter? I've been using the X27 all winter and just this week got the Fiskars maul too. The maul just bounces off the round. I'm assuming I don't have enough force/momentum for it. The other examples are to show the x27 and maul will split the other wood. This is 10 in dia and 16 in long. I have 2 others that look the same at this point. Any tips are greatly appreciated.
Im not a hand splitter. There’s some big gnarly Maple logs I brought into the forest to let the bugs eat em. Gave my hydraulics a run for the money. Not worth the time to me. Someone will have some good advice. I would suggest you move your splitting block off that pad of wood chips. Losing a lot of shock force to a cushy bottom. Maybe a driveway or concrete patio? Even the grass would be better.
that stuff made me buy a splitter, you could noodle it down some. I did before I said to heck with it and bought a splitter. The splitter paid for itself in the time it was taking with the stuff I had.
Store the rounds with one end touching the ground so it gets wet regardless of species. Notice how your round in pic three is checked a lot. Wait for after a good rain so the checking closes up. Split from the wet end. I had maple many years ago that wouldnt split easily and learned that wet end trick by accident when i flipped the round over. Any gnarly/knotty round will give you trouble and maybe worth your while to noodle those into "splits" rather than kill yourself. Couple years ago i went hydro and never looked back. If i burned just for myself id hand split but most of my wood gets sold. I do enjoy some hand splitting now and then. Let us know how you make out Bernie Hope this helps. Your second pic is mulberry which is an easy splitting wood. Last pic is red oak with the same comment.
Silver maple is a pia to hand split. Even a hydro will "cut" it's way through a fair amount of it. I use a screw splitter mostly and some silver maple rounds turn into yard art with all the twisted grain.
Sorry, not much experience splitting silver maple. I did some red this winter and it was a breeze. A buddy of mine took a huge silver a few years ago from the school near his house when they removed it. IIRC, he used the 'peeling' method of splitting, which your first pic appears to show a bit of. Basically instead of splitting into 'halves' try to work around the outside edge splitting pieces 'off' the log. Best idea I got.
I hit em once or twice and if they look stubborn off to the side they go for noodling. Made a noodle station out of a large round set on end with some dowel rods inserted in the top end. This keeps the round from jumping up or sliding back as I noodle.
If you can set aside a weekend even, think about renting a splitter. My splitter is having carb issues so I'm handsplitting right now. Silver maple is splitting easily for the most part, some need a wedge and a sledge. How much do you have to split?
Thanks for the idea. I have another bigger oak block on the ground. I'll give it a try there. This was my temp block that's right by the rack where it will be stacked.
Thanks buZZsaw BRAD . I'll try that with the bigger rounds. Hopefully the smaller logs will be better. There's a rental in my future anyway so may have to move it up sooner.
Thanks LCBug. I have plans to share a rental with a neighbor. I may have to save these for then. I had assumed maple was easy to split. There's maybe a face cord tops. All from limbs and branches pruned from the tree. About 1/2 irregular size rounds and 1/2 <= 6 in dia logs.
Thank you all for the suggestions. I knew I didn't have elm but never expected maple to be so contrary.
I haven't had trouble with silver maple like that then again I'm trying to remember the last time I mauled silver maple. I had a tree taken down in the front yard I'll see how that splits and post it.
The last silver maple I got a couple years ago was a huge open grown yard tree and near impossible to split the trunk wood by hand. Some of the branch wood was decent/straight though. If not for hydraulics I would’ve left it curbside where I found it. That being said, as mentioned above, noodling is a great option. Sometimes just halving the rounds with the saw first tames even the gnarliest pieces. Sometimes it’s a struggle to the bitter end. My policy is to never admit defeat over a piece of dead wood. The grain may be stubborn, but I’m even more so Silver maple may not be top shelf, but I think it’s worthy enough to take up a little real estate in the stacks.
I’m a hand splitter too. I don’t process enough wood to come close to justifying going hydro (yet). I’m also pretty stingy about some things, so when I rented a splitter once I: - stockpiled a ton of rounds - planned out where I wanted the new stacks, and had the materials ready (pallets, etc.) - made sure a few family members were around to help (and had gloves for everyone). It’s a great activity for little kids. Or rent a teenage neighbor. I ran that thing almost nonstop and got my money’s worth. I was sore for days but it was one of my best wood yard days ever. Definitely rent, but make sure you’re ready!
