For those of you who split wood by hand

[madddawg]

The other day I was splitting and I got tierd of bending over and picking up the wood after splitting it. Sometimes it would fly off in different directions. After taking a beer break and thinking about it I came up with this


I took the biggest log I had and and first just tried screwing the 2x4 s to it but they wouldn't stay on. and there just wasn't enough room. And after another beer break I came up with that. Screwed the 2x4s to some pieces of 6x6s and then strapped them to the jog. That worked OK. But the pieces would sometimes fly between the 2x4s. Hmmm... Beer break. Then I came up with the plywood Idea.Not only did it stop the pieces from fling everywhere it helped hold the 2x4s in place. One thing I am going to add to it is another upright. I was out of 2x4s. I was able to get a lot of wood split that day. About 4hours worth! slept good that night.

[taboule]

Very creative. I'm sure the beer breaks must have helped.

[Worth1]

Do you use a splitting maul or an axe?
I always used the maul to snatch the wood and pull it back upright for the next split.
Are you sure that with all of that beer you aren't seeing more wood than there really is.

Worth

[madddawg]

I use to use an ax but A 8 lb Maul makes quick work of it. I still use an ax to spit it into smaller pieces when necessary. My pieces of wood are usually pretty big and an ax just wouldn't "cut" it.
A picture of my wood shed. 8'wide 5'deep with 3 courses of wood in it


Gotta "split now" See ya later...

[Ken4230]

I have set the wood pieces inside an old four wheeler tire and then split it.
12-12x24 riding mower tires work really well for most pieces of wood.

Ken

[henry]

For those of you who think best after a few beers :]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGH4XKNULU

[rxkeith]

i have split wood using an eight and six pound maul. talk about warming you twice.
now i use a wood splitter i bought for $200.00 my neighbors brother died, recently, and her son called, and asked if i wanted his uncles wood splitter. i thought it over for maybe 2 seconds, and said sure do!!

keith

[Tom A To]

All I can say is you have a lot more energy than I have. After felling the limbs and trees and then cutting them up and hauling them up to the shed, I have to unload them into a nice pile. Later I have to split them with my gas-powered jobbie and move them into the wood shed and stack them again. When I need to use them, they get loaded again into a cart and brought to the back deck. I'm thankful that Eli Whitney invented the log splitter.

They say that firewood heats twice. Not always so. For me it heats half a dozen times. It is one reason that I can keep my weight down to 220lbs.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by henry

For those of you who think best after a few beers :]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGH4XKNULU

I never could understand why people split it up so small it burns up to fast.
Mind you guys I was raised in the Mo Ozarks and south eastern Oklahoma where it gets cold.
We had a huge wood furnace in Mo.

Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tom A To

All I can say is you have a lot more energy than I have. After felling the limbs and trees and then cutting them up and hauling them up to the shed, I have to unload them into a nice pile. Later I have to split them with my gas-powered jobbie and move them into the wood shed and stack them again. When I need to use them, they get loaded again into a cart and brought to the back deck. I'm thankful that Eli Whitney invented the log splitter.

They say that firewood heats twice. Not always so. For me it heats half a dozen times. It is one reason that I can keep my weight down to 220lbs.

I like to do stuff by hand as much as I can as long as I will be able to do it.
It helps keep me in shape.

But I am so happy I bought a dump trailer for may lawn tractor.
Hauling dirt in a bucket was getting ridiculous.

Worth

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by henry

For those of you who think best after a few beers :]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGH4XKNULU

I want to see him split some wood that's actually hard to split and not just some soft maple with it.


Some good oak for instance. I've tried splitting some some popular and willow that you couldn't split with a wood splitter. I ended up chain sawing it into pieces.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Doug9345

I want to see him split some wood that's actually hard to split and not jus tsome soft maple with it.


Some good oak for instance. I've tried splitting some some popular and willow that you couldn't split with a wood splitter. I ended up chain sawing it into pieces.

I agree, that wood was stupid easy.
Turn him loose on some live oak.


Worth

[madddawg]

I could quote each of you but I will just reply..
Ken Yeah a tire is the same principle. and you can awing all the way around with out worrying about your handle.. nice tip!

Henry, yeah that would never work with oak and hickory. but kinda neat!

Keith... Wow! you got a hell of a deal with that. hope you at least sent flowers to the the funeral...

Tom.. firewood heats you a lot more then twice, you cut, you load, you unload, you split, you pickup and stack, you carry to fire, then it keeps you warm. and nice wood shed, good thing mine ain't that big. I would get carried away with cutting wood. A full shed is A happy shed..

Worth, I just have a little wood stove in garage that's why I split mine up. I got it off my Grandpas farm before the place was sold. As far as anyone can remember it is over 60 years old. Never had any work done to to


But yeah some people do split it up to small. 3 of my brothers have the outside furnaces and heat water. they only split it down far enough to where it fits in the door.

Doug...Been there done that with some elm.. aint no splitting that!

[tjg911]

you need different size pieces depending upon the temperature, whether it's sunny or cloudy or night. you can't burn large over night pieces without generating a lot of heat so smaller stuff is good. i have a few different piles in the woodshed, i add to them as i dig thru the wood. small to medium stuff will be good in another 2 weeks. in the day i am letting the fire go out especially if it is sunny. if it's 20 and full sun i can let the stove go out, i have a lot of large south facing windows, practically an entire wall.

basically you need 3 sizes small, medium and large. you can make them smaller but not larger so i try not to make small stuff when splitting the really big wood, as i come across it i set it aside. initially you have a hard time doing this and just dig thru the pile but once you have space freed up it's easy to have a small and medium pile in a woodshed.

tom

[Tom A To]

Originally Posted by tjg911

you need different size pieces depending upon the temperature, whether it's sunny or cloudy or night. you can't burn large over night pieces without generating a lot of heat so smaller stuff is good. i have a few different piles in the woodshed, i add to them as i dig thru the wood. small to medium stuff will be good in another 2 weeks. in the day i am letting the fire go out especially if it is sunny. if it's 20 and full sun i can let the stove go out, i have a lot of large south facing windows, practically an entire wall.

basically you need 3 sizes small, medium and large. you can make them smaller but not larger so i try not to make small stuff when splitting the really big wood, as i come across it i set it aside. initially you have a hard time doing this and just dig thru the pile but once you have space freed up it's easy to have a small and medium pile in a woodshed.

tom

Yes. I use small pieces to heat the house up faster in the morning. Later I will add larger pieces to last thru the day. I also split to three sizes.