bany
Senior Member
After years of using a maul I made in high school I bought a splitter! ? As a younger fella I enjoyed splitting, good exercise and stress reliever! And it was fun to go to a county fair and rattle that bell ever time!!
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How to split firewood
- Thread starter Throwback
- Start date
BeerThirty
Senior Member
Never had the luxury of a hydraulic splitter when I was a kid, so learned to do it all by hand with a splitting maul, exactly like this. Still do it like this to this day.
John Cooper
?Now I Got One A Them Banner Things
Good pics T. That's the way my dad taught me how to split wood when I was young. Gotta love a good mail or sledge and wedges.
But now after to many shoulder injuries it's the hydraulic splitter for me also.
But now after to many shoulder injuries it's the hydraulic splitter for me also.
I was taught how to split by dad and a very strong black fellow named Henry Ramsey. Both showed me how read a log to see where it wanted to split. Usually there would be a check visible in the head of the piece to be split. If none were visible He would stand the log top up on the ground and drop his splitting axe on the edge farthest away on the spot that looked most likely. A hollow popping sound and sometimes a check in the wood showed when the spot was found. If the piece was to be split in half, his next blow was on the edge nearest himself and this nearly always resulted in a half split piece of wood and a light blow to the center would part the halves.
Axe and maul swinging are far behind me as I now wear a piece of metal in my left shoulder that complemints some in my right wrist. And my feet hurt, and my knee hurts, and .... Well, you didn't want to hear about all that anyway.
Axe and maul swinging are far behind me as I now wear a piece of metal in my left shoulder that complemints some in my right wrist. And my feet hurt, and my knee hurts, and .... Well, you didn't want to hear about all that anyway.
crackerdave
Senior Member
It built character!
Para Bellum
Mouth For War
The best log splitter in the world is a Prentice loader with a good operator. Can have the bed of my full size pickup full in 30 minutes once the skidder drops the oak tree on the dock.
bfriendly
Bigfoot friendly
What a great thread T! I totally agree that swinging an ax an art but it is also therapeutic! I never split wood til '94 when I moved here from Florida. I quickly fell in love and did so every chance I had. I learned pretty quick how to read wood and split it the way it wanted to. Shortly after sticking my first ax, I got a maul to finish pushing it through......the hammer wasn't getting it. A Maul is the real deal and my first grab for big rounds!
I never met a sweetgum til a few years back and as ya'll know, I had one RUDE AWAKENING! I would throw that Maul as high up in the air as I could and bring it down with as much acceleration as I could muster up.............could not even get that thing to penetrate. I have one of them splitting bits now too!
I have a huge tulip poplar I hope to fall this year and I cant wait to get on that thing!!
I never met a sweetgum til a few years back and as ya'll know, I had one RUDE AWAKENING! I would throw that Maul as high up in the air as I could and bring it down with as much acceleration as I could muster up.............could not even get that thing to penetrate. I have one of them splitting bits now too!
I have a huge tulip poplar I hope to fall this year and I cant wait to get on that thing!!
doublebarrel
Senior Member
Ash is the king of firewood. BB
SC Hunter
Senior Member
I have split enough fire wood in my 30 years that when I build a house and have a fire place I will have a hydraulic log splitter. From the time I was 8 or 10 my daddy and grandaddy had me swinging an axe that daddy had cut down for me. It definitely builds character.
Throwback
Chief Big Taw
I ALWAYS wanted to hit one of those things. the ONE TIME I was at a fair and it was there it was tore up and being worked on while I was there. back then I was a little skinny guy and im sure that would have been a good one to watch.
bany
Senior Member
Once at the Cumming fair there was a group of Mexicans banging away,couldn’t any one ring that thing. I smacked the bell 3times and got my little stuffed snake and walked away. Funniest thing a few folks saw that day!
Mexican Squealer
Senior Member
Was a time when I enjoyed splitting it....now I enjoy being able to have as much as I need Seasoned, delivered and stacked where I need it.
Splitting firewood is an art, almost a lost art. I used to really enjoy splitting wood. My hands go numb and my elbow screams after about a half-hour of it nowadays, though.
I have split thousands of 7' locust fence stakes and 10' locust fence rails over the years, too. Probably part of what's wrong with my hands and elbows now.
I have split thousands of 7' locust fence stakes and 10' locust fence rails over the years, too. Probably part of what's wrong with my hands and elbows now.
Anvil Head
Senior Member
Heck, all you old firewood monkeys would have made great smiths, just need a fire and switch up to iron/steel. It's all about reading the target and hitting it where it needs to be hit. Split wood for two families when I was a pup - Big Daddy's and the Widow down the road. It was special times for me as Pop let me use the big ol' David Bradley chain saw to drop and buck first (he didn't trust either of my brothers with power tools). That widder lady made some mighty fine fried chicken and biskets on that old wood stove!
I have a gas splitter now, since I'd rather be forging blades than bustin wood. That and pushing 70 makes it a more sensible compromise.
ps - wanna lose a maul or wedge.....bust up a big sycamore, suck them into neverland.
I have a gas splitter now, since I'd rather be forging blades than bustin wood. That and pushing 70 makes it a more sensible compromise.
ps - wanna lose a maul or wedge.....bust up a big sycamore, suck them into neverland.
As the old man asked me one time when I was a little fellow, do you hit where you look, or do you look where you hit?
Anvil Head
Senior Member
"As the old man asked me one time when I was a little fellow, do you hit where you look, or do you look where you hit?" This!
Oh yeah, wanna ring the bell at the fair? Focus on that spot a foot below the pad and hit it!
Oh yeah, wanna ring the bell at the fair? Focus on that spot a foot below the pad and hit it!
j_seph
Senior Member
Daddy always told me growing up that if you grunt when ya hit it, it will split. More times than not it seemed to work LoL
OmenHonkey
I Want Fancy Words TOO !
I did not put a fireplace in my house on purpose!!! Ain't no telling how many Semi loads i cut and split in my day!!
GeorgiaBob
Senior Member
As a kid I was taught to hit the log with the back of an axe (hammer it) just once before laying a wedge (or the axe blade) in one of the cracks the hammer blow revealed. That worked on the East Texas pine that was about the only wood we burned, but clearly inferior to Throwback's very clear and effective method.
Living as far southeast as anyone can get in Georgia, warmed by the Gulf Stream all winter, and never seeing snow (seldom experiencing 32 degrees even at night), I have little need to split logs. But at least now I know how to do it right!
Living as far southeast as anyone can get in Georgia, warmed by the Gulf Stream all winter, and never seeing snow (seldom experiencing 32 degrees even at night), I have little need to split logs. But at least now I know how to do it right!
Thunder Head
Gone but not forgotten
The problem with you old guys is your trying to split the whole load at once. Your to old for that you big dummies. What? you think your 20 again when you pick up the maul. 
I cut all my wood in Jan. / Feb. I spend from then until about turkey season working on the pile a little every day. Say 15 to 20 minutes. Its a great stress reliever to me. It especially enjoyable when you have a bad day. You just put the culprits face on the stick of wood and WHAM! Right in the kisser.
I cut all my wood in Jan. / Feb. I spend from then until about turkey season working on the pile a little every day. Say 15 to 20 minutes. Its a great stress reliever to me. It especially enjoyable when you have a bad day. You just put the culprits face on the stick of wood and WHAM! Right in the kisser.
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