I'm in my 60s and still swing a 20 lb maul, working rounds sometimes over 4 ft across. Starting from the outer edge, I work in a circular motion, to center. If you choose to use split wedges I would recommend you have at least 3 on hand. Burying a wedge in the middle of a round without getting a split does happen. And at that point it's not coming back out. Placing another wedge between it and the edge will normally complete the split, but not always on larger rounds. Which is why I say have at least 3 on hand if you choose to go this route. I find working the edge with a maul, much easier then making center splits on larger rounds. And at any age, easier is often the better option.
Letting the wood get super dry also helps a lot with splitting the wood. I had some good size rounds originally I could hardly pick up. After 4 years sitting in a dry area it was amazing how much lighter they were and splitting them was a piece of cake. If you got the time to wait a few years before splitting it, sure makes life easier splitting your wood!
Of course. Why would he split large rounds in the middle? Go with the grain around the edges and take off 5-6" pieces. I have the same Fiskars splitting axe and would have diced up that round in half the swings with a single tool. No hammer needed.
I'm 30(only mentioned my age, becuase everyone keeps saying these young guys, so wanted to make it clear that we're not all this pathetic) and have the same Fiskars Axe, Definitely can split rounds like that with much less work and only the axe! This Video is some serious Princess work! Build your upper Body Strength and put in that work.
Man, some commenters here are either mean or condescending. Give the guy credit for taking the time to put this together. Not everyone has the best technique. There’s things to be learned here. Geesh
you are fairly new at this . i can tell . on the first log wher you put the wedge in the center you wind up fighting the entire resistance of the round. go to the crack at the edge of the heartwood and there will be a little less resistance. on the one with the knot you had so much trouble with , split the round in half 90 degrees from the knot first, then split it either side of the knot. another thing you can do to on on large rounds is forget about trying to split all the way across first. instead split an edge,move a little to one side , split another spot , turn the axe 90 degrees to the splits and knock out the section between them, then work your way around the round this way until you down to the heart wood then split across the heart wood it will be much easier.
I split mostly Red and Water Oak, because that is what I have. I also use your technique. A 4 or 6 lb splitting maul is al I need. I rarely use a maul and wedges anymore. Split from the sides to the center - the easiest way to do it. I can even split 3 foot and bigger diameter logs that way and I am 68 years old, fat, and out of shape.
Son,I'm a 64 year old man. I split with a maul. I start around the outside edge and work circles around the block. I can split two rounds in the swings you took to split one in half. Keep on swinging.
This has long been my favorite splitting trick.. it's a total mind breaker to realize there's no rule your splits have to be down the middle. .. just take 3 inches off all the way around until done. and you don't have to reset it because the big chunk usually stays on the block if you hit it right.
Use a man's axe/maul, fiskars work great for small stuff but are a waste of time on bigger stuff. And what you are splitting is a walk in the park compared to curly maple.
Funny I saw this today. My father in law had a house in the Adirondacks that he heated with a wood burning furnace. I've fallen trees, bucked to length, split, lugged to the truck, stacked. Wet wood if frozen splits like balsa. I've used a monster maul since 1982. He got tired of me cracking wooden handles. Maybe I'm wrong, but if you start from the outside, maybe 6-8 growth rings from the end and cleave a piece that are kinda half moon in description and move around the piece in the same way and then you use the wedges if you need to. The name of the game is the fewest swings as possible. When you're older, it's that AND having to bend over as few number of times as possible, wedges don't promote that.
Yesterday I cut 42" Leylandii rounds approx 10-15" long , approx 50yrs old , knotted all over. We felled them in late January, cleaned them off in July and will split it in the evenings next week. Thankfully we have a decent tractor mounted splitter , single ram one blade vertical split. They just had to be taken down as they were dangerous but man the saws don't like them, and cleaning off all those palm branches is time consuming, but we won't complain when we are warm in winter. Back in the day me and my Dad split with axes , wedges , mauls , sledgehammer . One time he made bad contact with a wedge and it flew straight through the side window of the Van . Never parked so close again , and only then did I understand his instructions to stand behind him when he was raining down blows with that 12lb Sledgehammer. Kinda random comment, but I miss those days . Stay safe everyone 🙏
Lad I am 82 & split wood 74+Years! so here is some hairy advice! DONT EVER use a sledge hammer on wedges or axe heads! it mushrooms the heads -- use a MAUL & your wedges will pass on to your grandkids in mint condition . Its also so much easier than patting away with a hand hammer! Saftey wise it also avoids the danger of hammer flakes (steel on steel eventually flakes) which can whizz off like bullets or mini shrapnel , blinded a guy I knew. . A worn-out chopping axe automatically becomes a SPLITTING axe as it becomes less thin as the cutting edge is filed away,Oh & weld a guard on the head to stop wear on the place where the handle enters the head , that thang you are using is too thin at the "splitting" edge, also the straight handle is ergonomically wrong (yeah big word but try a straight handle vs "cranked" one & you will work it out! ) you need 3 wedges small medium & serious. BUT really really mate you need to share a splitter machine ---help a guy who has one & he will split yours! put your time into a GARDEN! Either way get yer gear off to get vitamin D level up (to "40") & you will be 15 times less likely to get covid. ---works in garden too!
You can likely do what the old guys say, but use the Fiskars to go around the outside, then split the middle. The head speed on the light Fiskars can do some serious damage. I don't use a maul at all anymore.
I LOVE MY FISKARS x25! I have my 8lb maul and wedges by me IF needed. I am just like everyone else going from the outer edges to the center. The only difference between the x25 and x27 is 8in. At 5'10" the x25 is perfect like a baseball bat.
Same here. A spliting maul is all I need. I rarely use a maul and wedges. It I have to split something too challenging, I put it on the burn pile. After enough hurricanes, I don't need any more fire wood. LOL!
Uhhhhh no! A good splitting maul and 2-4 whacks and it split down the middle. Then a single whack per piece. Just did two maple trees like this. One was this size and one much bigger.
Two tips: Place your wedge in the outer 1/3 of the round -- easier split away from hard heartwood. Place round on hard gravel, block wall or concrete for more efficient split hit energy instead of dissipating energy into soft earth.
Certainly no expert, but I weirdly enjoy splitting logs. I do have a maul, a wedge and club hammer, but I'm a stubborn old fart, and do pretty much everything with my Husqvarna 2800 splitting axe!
round round split around i split a round none of the guys go steady cos it wouldnt be right to leave your best girl standing on a Saturday night i split around.
Last week I split 3 cords. I went to the feed store and rented a 27 ton splitter for 45 dollars. Took 4 hours. At 65 manually splitting this must wood would take me days.
When you saw the pieces from the tree cut a horizontal groove into the bark deep enough to get into the wood. This breaks the tension of barkwhich is acting as a large rubber band holding the round together. If you do two line on opposite sides it works better. Drying time will also result in the bark popping off.
I can attest to the method, it works. I have an 8 lb hammer, 2 wedges and a maul. Just one point when the wedge is anchored if you stand perpendicular to the split it prevents the wedge from flying out at you.
Sorry, but a better title for this would be "How NOT to use an axe to split wood". Just cut & gather up all your rounds, rent a splitter - and be done with it. If a neighbor has a splitter, offer them a portion of your wood as a barter for using their splitter. WAY too much work by hand unless you are doing a very small amount.
Toughest wood I ever split was green pitch pine, what a nightmare, twisted up cherry with knots is one thing, and understandable but this pine was straight as an arrow, large but so what. It just absorbed blow after blow with an 8lb maul. I don't recommend the Axe method because I ruined my Favorite colins axe doing it that way, It blew the epoxy right out the top because this wood would not give up and the metal-on-metal vibration took its toll. Also, I've come to really appreciate that Fiskars x25 splitting axe, it's one hell of a splitter for what it appears, in fact, it's the best I've ever used and its actually annoying because it is nothing to look at and not even really ergonomic, but you can't argue with the results.
Yeeters gunna yeet. If you're doing that method just use multiple wedges in a line or in star formation around the edge or the wood. Two wedges placed on opposite sides will cut the time down drastically.
If you got more time and a full woodshed and get freezing weather in winter, I would suggest you wait for a good cold snap. When the wood freezes through, it is already under pressure (frozen water expands) and FAR less effort is required when one follows your ideas shown here. Or just save the tough ones for winter, your call.
Good idea, but personally I hate working in the freezing weather. Now that I’m older and developed diabetes the cold is worse then ever on my body. Which sucks! Guess I will pass up on the freezing cold weather idea and have to do it the hard way unfortunately
What did I just watch???? Take your Spider-Man gloves off and rip it apart with your hands when you get it that far lol. No need to be swinging that axe that much. Just wasted energy bud 🫣
Try splitting close to the log edge and it will work like a charm. Also when you hit it with the splitting axe just right on the edge (also hitting the bark), it should be much easier. Definitely hitting natural crack helps a lot.
Another bit of advise Always STRIKE the Splitting wedge at 90 degrees to the face ( Widest part ) that way IF the wedge jumps out by a Mis Strike , the wedge Will NOT fly Towards You , but at 90 degrees AWAY from You !
I'm 65, I drop em, chop em and split em eith a maul. We have a rocket stove so I don't like anything over 2" thick. I rented a wood splitter one time in the last ten years, because I was dealing with an oak that was three feet thick and it was just too much. I burn about two cords a year and all of it hand split with a maul. Wedges are for when nothing else will work.
Good tip with the wedge, but thinking once it is halved that you could finish splitting it with a good maul. You need a bigger splitting maul, that one is just too little.
You are not meant to use the poll of an axe to hammer on or with. The poll is really only there for balance. When the poll spreads out from striking, the axe becomes useless. You can take a grinder to it, but then you don't have a poll anymore, and the balance is gone. Everybody does it, I know, but it is not something you should be demonstrating as good practice. Like using your screwdriver to dig the crap out of your lawn mower, it works really good until it doesn't function anymore for the purpose for which it was made. Then you are all of a sudden not so smart.
Furthermore, especially with the fiskar axes because they don't have an eye and it's bonded around the entire head, the shock can break or lossen that joint because you are hitting hardened steel on hardened steel. You can hear the pitch it makes as opposed to hitting the sledge on the wedge, because the wedge isn't hardened metal.
Boaaah. So schlecht. Ich glaube, ich mache jetzt eigene Videos! 3:51 zeigt: falscher Winkel. Hammer muss gerade auf Keil treffen! (In Deutschland verboten: Hammer auf Metall Keil). 05:13 nimm doch den großen Hammer! Hier verboten, würde ich aber dennoch nehmen. Hier 8:21 wird gezeigt , wie man die Fiskars kaputt bekommt! Schlag doch daneben weiter. Das Holz ist doch schon gebrochen… Hier kann man lernen, wie es nicht geht. Dauert auch viel zu lange. Habe gerade 50 RM Eiche (Oktober) und 50 RM Lerche (November) fertig gemacht…😊
I am 73 years old, and split wood for my home only, usually around 2 cords every spring for use the second winter, so I keep 2 dry cords and 2 cords drying. I used to do it your way, but to save my back I converted to a HF 10 ton manual splitter to break the big rounds into halves and sometimes quarters, then I can easily pick them up to split on my HF 5 ton electric. Since I only have to do 2 cords, I am not in a hurry. I have been feeding my wood heater in my basement for the past 30 years, but only in the last 10 did I change over to my present method. Sure saves my back! When you get older, you cannot brute force so much, so I call it working smarter, not harder! HA HA I also try and miniumise the amount of lifting. When sawing logs into rounds, I use a saw buck for stuff 6" diameter and smaller, I place a wheel barrow under one end of the logs and a garden cart under the other. That way as I cut the rounds fall into a container that I can wheel around, rather than pick up later. The rounds are wheeled to my electric splitter, and as I start splitting, I stack the splits on a table on the opposite side of my splitter from where I am working, then when the carrier is half full of rounds, I start tossing the new splits back in the carrier, once finished I toss the stacked splits in, and move it to where I am stacking the wood. My electric splitter is on a stand on my back porch which is covered, so when it is raining, I can go outside and split some rounds and enjoy listening to the rain! Very relaxing!
I like your approach to working with wood. I am at same age as you, and of the same opinion: W🪚ork smart not hard. I do the same as you, and cut firewood for my own consumption, I am always 2 seasons ahead. But working with firewood is after all a bit hard, especially when you get older, because you have to handle it many times before it ends up as good firewood in the wood stove. 😊👵
All you really need is a splitting mail. Been using one for years. They dont get stuck in the wood like an axe will. You'll wear yourself out more from pulling the axe free than you will from swinging it. As far as splitting a log with a knot, I hit the log vertically lined up with the knot. My maul splits the log and knot down the center no problem. It's when you try and split a log in the opposite direction of the knot that makes it split uneven and chunks fly off.
Rent a splitter from a rent all company, you can split more in 2 hours with that than you can in 2 weeks beaten on it. Yes 60 bucks but your body will thank you and slowly but surely is not a satisfying sound A crackling fire for 2 months after 2 hours of work vs 2 weeks is a satisfying sound 👌
You have a lot right, but a few things wrong: First, set the wedge in within a few inches from edge of the round. The distance will increase depending on the diameter of the log and where live wood meets old. The fracture could go sideways if you're not far in enough. Too far in and you risk two things: Spending too much effort to make the split, and not making it split and getting the wedge stuck. Second, don't ever hit the backside of your axe. Hardened steel can shatter. Third, I have to admit that I've pried with an axe, but it's generally a bad idea. Fourth, why use the splitter after? They usually do the hard part; not the easy. Build a splitting stand with a tire and go crazy with it.
The wedge flies back at your legs because you arent hitting the wedge square. Youre whipping the maul when you come down. Grip the handle tight and bend(loosen) your knees when it strikes.
Used to use an axe, maul, wedges and a sledge. I bought myself a 25 ton hydraulic for my 67th birthday. One extra tool I’ve found useful all along is a yard-long crow bar to pry split rounds apart. I’m in the Rockies, splitting a lot of ponderosa, and sometimes those tough fibers need some extra convincing.
No twigs is easy and still a lot of work, which my hydraulic splitter does in a second. Its great as a workout, but not if you are going to split some cubic meters manually pr day.
Superb! I was captivated by the sawmilling process displayed here. The precision and expertise in handling these huge logs are impressive. This video is exceptionally clear and well-produced. I'm looking forward to more videos from you. Keep up the excellent work!
I don't often split wood, so I'm not very accurate with my axe, but I used your technique of using the axe head as a splitter and used a 5lb sledge hammer to hit the axe head, and it worked very well. It seems much easier than aiming an axe! Thanks.
@@jamescraig8601 So should I buy a metal splitter and hit that with the sledge instead? I'm really not accurate with an axe, as I just don't practice enough.
Those are pretty big rounds but you can place one or more bungee cords around the log as you're splitting the round. It'll hold together while you finish splitting the round. Avoids exhausting bend overs chasing and resetting for the next hits.
You shouldn't use an axe as a wedge. Hitting 2 hardened tools together can cause them to splinter or chip sending small pieces of steel at you. Proper wedges are not hardened and are safer to drive with a hammer.
I'm 70yr old and split 10-12 cords every year. All I use is a splitting maul. It's the size of a sledge hammer, 5-7lbs, but one side is sharpened. Most rounds even bigger than yours will split in 1-5 hits, (although I counted 17 hits on one stubborn round). The "trick" is this. Swing the maul with all you've got in a Big round circular motion, (like a baseball swing only vertical), and here's the magic, when the maul is over your head in the swing, squat down as you pull the maul right thru the round like you are trying to bust the ground below it! It's all in the Ass. Not the arms. The increased power you get from pulling the maul from the sky to the ground with your whole body weight, that's what breaks it and yes it's a timing thing. I'm only 5-8" and weigh 185lb. No wedges needed. You are right about, finding a split at the center of the round there's almost always one there even if it's tiny and focus on that. 2ndly, yes avoid the knots, work around them.
If you are going to use a wedge,safety glasses are recommended. You also need to grind off any part of the wedge that mushrooms. Otherwise chunks of metal are going to start flying. I dont have a splitter but I know that whatever my maul cant handle, my saw will. The saw really isnt slower on knotty pieces and saves a lot of wear and tear on my arms. Best of all you get piles of really good fire starter.
As an old people still splitting my firewood the old-fashioned way, I can tell you that God has nothing to do with it. It's just hard work done with thought and patience. As they say, the wood heats you twice... once splitting it and then burning it.
Sure are wasting a lot of energy. Just get a 10 lb. Maul and hit it right in the middle, should split right open, on the 1st swing 1 of may keys is set the log where you get the most swinging action, hitting the log > Not to high nor to low 2 study the log for wood knots. Try to miss them > Qualicum Wilson is correct! Frozen logs are much easier to bust open
First step: Split easy to split wood like Fir or Pine with no knots or limbs. That is easy. If you split hardwoods, you will have a challenge, no matter what. You are working too hard. There are easier splitting methods that are much less work and much quicker. After decades of struggling with his techniques on Red and stringy Water Oak, now I only use a 4 or 6 lb. splitting maul. Instead of splitting down the middle, I split from the edges and work inward. Once the outsides of the log are split off, it relieves a lot of the holding tension and the inner parts split easier.
Hydraulic gas engine wood splitter was my favorite 27 ton.....my primary heat was wood....No RUclips available...you will eventually learn how to cut...fall.....split wood.....if you are self correcting
Nice voice-over tone. Jessie's brother from "Breaking Bad". Used my maul the other day and I know exactly where. Can't find the bloody thing now. Just as well that we've run out of wood...in a way.
Too much talking, not enough action to demonstrate correctly. Think about the audience/viewers, most are men, some females that need to take care of themselves and family. This kind of wood splitting never worked for me, that's why I was looking for a better way. You're wasting your time sir, no disrespect, just letting you know that it's not working. Sorry..
Wood is really different when it comes to splitting. I have three steel splitting wedges and a couple of plastic felling wedges and a sixteen pound sledge hammer. Even with those tools at hand there are some Maple, Ash, and twisty Birch rounds that need to be cut in half with the chain saw.
Good comment, there are types of wood I have run into that does not split by hand, I saw some comments that that is easy wood to split but I have run into pine that is terrible. Lot quicker to cut down with the saw and less effort.
Way to much talking ive got a wood splitter 12ton from HomeDepot it's gotta be 25 yrs old never had a problem with it i put in in the verticle poisition and split those big rounds like nothing less time just makes more sense to me but then again who am i?😂😂
Its pine. Dry is easier. Especially beech. You start on the edge...yes a natural crack is good. Sharp wedge, that tapers quickly. I dont burn pine. I only split really big stuff.
Dad's, get your son's off their gaming asses and make em take a few whackers. (Bring out their inner Tim the Tool man) My son loved the hard work and kept at it til he broke my old sledge!!! Hash tag Proud
Ya got a big one on there mate! We call them Doggers. Not sure why. When the old log doesnt want to get out of bed no matter how many times ya ring the alarm. Those ones i like to catapult. Do you have catapults? Ya make a teetertotter with a board and another log, then you drive your truck into it as fast as you can go. Not great for the drivetrain, or the window shield ,but sometimes you just have to catapult the thing.
5:13 if you would do this to my axe I would crucify you... you never do that dude. And just to save you some time... the easiest way to split something like this is not to hit the middle but sides where density of wood is not that great... My father showed me that when I was 12 and I was able to split massive logs with a simple axe ( not a wood spliter), probably twice the size you have here... If you really want to start from the middle what you should do is to use a wood splitter and hit it several times starting from the edge of the log not the center... Well from the other side... what do I know at the end of the day Im 44 and I chop my own whood by hand my entire life...
I burn 3 woodstoves all winter now I burn oak as that is predominant in my area I use a splitting maul and work much less than you. I have split much wood of different type never fir but I can't figure what you must do
There is an icon on the Fiskars that tells you not to use a hammer on the axe, but what do they know? Hardened steel whacking hardened steel never makes high velocity chips or does anything to the bonding of the axe head to the handle....swing away weekend warriors!
Dont you worry about snapping a handle ? Prying like that . I mean how many times can you do that before it eventually cracks or something. Or are they metal ?
when your wedge starts to disappear just use a smaller diameter piece of cord the same height to pound your wedge on thru. If you pound your axe opposite the handle you will be less likely to keep hitting your handle, don't lean over your handle or stand over your axe handle if you want to have children.
Or......peel it like an onion taking slivers off the outside. Works like a charm. I too took this laborious route for decades before a wise old country feller showed me the way.
They tend to split best if you put the stump side up ....work on accuracy pop ya a line the whole way across the top down the side across the bottom 75% of wood rounds will pop in 2 with that method just have to be accurate about it
Why not whack the back of the stuck maul with your sledge instead of that little guy? That's what I do. Usually takes 3 or fewer whacks with the sledge
You are splitting straight grain softwood, which a child could split. Try hardwood which had branches, you will lose your wedge without the log splitting.
You really don't know how to split wood do you. You start in a parameter to the outside edge about 2 to 3 in away from the edge. And then you split across each edge are you go around and around and around until you get it small enough to split through the middle. You just start trimming on the outside edge and keep going around we'll split all to hell
Take ten seconds and place your chainsaw in the middle of the round bar facing out and w the dog gripping the round rotate the saw downward to groove the edge of the round. Place your wedge in the groove and pound away. No more bounce out.
This is why You Tube should show thumbs up and thumbs down so you can tell what people think, hate to say it buddy but this is not a very good way to split wood, it woks but there are easier ways.
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
Reminded me of something my Dad would say, you fixed it worse,
ruclips.net/video/i1ojUmdF42U/видео.html
I'm in my 60s and still swing a 20 lb maul, working rounds sometimes over 4 ft across. Starting from the outer edge, I work in a circular motion, to center. If you choose to use split wedges I would recommend you have at least 3 on hand. Burying a wedge in the middle of a round without getting a split does happen. And at that point it's not coming back out. Placing another wedge between it and the edge will normally complete the split, but not always on larger rounds. Which is why I say have at least 3 on hand if you choose to go this route. I find working the edge with a maul, much easier then making center splits on larger rounds. And at any age, easier is often the better option.
Letting the wood get super dry also helps a lot with splitting the wood. I had some good size rounds originally I could hardly pick up. After 4 years sitting in a dry area it was amazing how much lighter they were and splitting them was a piece of cake. If you got the time to wait a few years before splitting it, sure makes life easier splitting your wood!
Of course. Why would he split large rounds in the middle? Go with the grain around the edges and take off 5-6" pieces. I have the same Fiskars splitting axe and would have diced up that round in half the swings with a single tool. No hammer needed.
@@hep303 Guy starts in the middle. So stupid.
Kids now days 🤣 there so weak! They stand there giving them a ugly look 👀hopping it would split open for them
I'm 30(only mentioned my age, becuase everyone keeps saying these young guys, so wanted to make it clear that we're not all this pathetic) and have the same Fiskars Axe, Definitely can split rounds like that with much less work and only the axe! This Video is some serious Princess work! Build your upper Body Strength and put in that work.
Man, some commenters here are either mean or condescending. Give the guy credit for taking the time to put this together. Not everyone has the best technique. There’s things to be learned here. Geesh
Yes, be kind!
Yes ur 100 correct u can learn that this definitely ain't way to split wood lol
Yes some people are true asshats
you are fairly new at this . i can tell . on the first log wher you put the wedge in the center you wind up fighting the entire resistance of the round. go to the crack at the edge of the heartwood and there will be a little less resistance. on the one with the knot you had so much trouble with , split the round in half 90 degrees from the knot first, then split it either side of the knot. another thing you can do to on on large rounds is forget about trying to split all the way across first. instead split an edge,move a little to one side , split another spot , turn the axe 90 degrees to the splits and knock out the section between them, then work your way around the round this way until you down to the heart wood then split across the heart wood it will be much easier.
I split mostly Red and Water Oak, because that is what I have. I also use your technique. A 4 or 6 lb splitting maul is al I need. I rarely use a maul and wedges anymore. Split from the sides to the center - the easiest way to do it. I can even split 3 foot and bigger diameter logs that way and I am 68 years old, fat, and out of shape.
Son,I'm a 64 year old man. I split with a maul. I start around the outside edge and work circles around the block. I can split two rounds in the swings you took to split one in half. Keep on swinging.
Yeah im with you, even when I was in my 30's I learned to work around the sides, now that I'm in my 50s I have too lol
🇨🇦 I agree with you as well and I am 67 ,, have split lots of fire wood
This has long been my favorite splitting trick.. it's a total mind breaker to realize there's no rule your splits have to be down the middle.
.. just take 3 inches off all the way around until done.
and you don't have to reset it because the big chunk usually stays on the block if you hit it right.
I split it with a hatchet on the first hit.and im79 years old hoss
.
My 78 year old paps mauls through the middle of osage oranges all day
Use a man's axe/maul, fiskars work great for small stuff but are a waste of time on bigger stuff. And what you are splitting is a walk in the park compared to curly maple.
Funny I saw this today. My father in law had a house in the Adirondacks that he heated with a wood burning furnace. I've fallen trees, bucked to length, split, lugged to the truck, stacked. Wet wood if frozen splits like balsa. I've used a monster maul since 1982. He got tired of me cracking wooden handles.
Maybe I'm wrong, but if you start from the outside, maybe 6-8 growth rings from the end and cleave a piece that are kinda half moon in description and move around the piece in the same way and then you use the wedges if you need to. The name of the game is the fewest swings as possible. When you're older, it's that AND having to bend over as few number of times as possible, wedges don't promote that.
Yesterday I cut 42" Leylandii rounds approx 10-15" long , approx 50yrs old , knotted all over.
We felled them in late January, cleaned them off in July and will split it in the evenings next week.
Thankfully we have a decent tractor mounted splitter , single ram one blade vertical split.
They just had to be taken down as they were dangerous but man the saws don't like them, and cleaning off all those palm branches is time consuming, but we won't complain when we are warm in winter.
Back in the day me and my Dad split with axes , wedges , mauls , sledgehammer . One time he made bad contact with a wedge and it flew straight through the side window of the Van . Never parked so close again , and only then did I understand his instructions to stand behind him when he was raining down blows with that 12lb Sledgehammer.
Kinda random comment, but I miss those days . Stay safe everyone 🙏
Lad I am 82 & split wood 74+Years! so here is some hairy advice! DONT EVER use a sledge hammer on wedges or axe heads! it mushrooms the heads -- use a MAUL & your wedges will pass on to your grandkids in mint condition . Its also so much easier than patting away with a hand hammer! Saftey wise it also avoids the danger of hammer flakes (steel on steel eventually flakes) which can whizz off like bullets or mini shrapnel , blinded a guy I knew. . A worn-out chopping axe automatically becomes a SPLITTING axe as it becomes less thin as the cutting edge is filed away,Oh & weld a guard on the head to stop wear on the place where the handle enters the head , that thang you are using is too thin at the "splitting" edge, also the straight handle is ergonomically wrong (yeah big word but try a straight handle vs "cranked" one & you will work it out! ) you need 3 wedges small medium & serious. BUT really really mate you need to share a splitter machine ---help a guy who has one & he will split yours! put your time into a GARDEN! Either way get yer gear off to get vitamin D level up (to "40") & you will be 15 times less likely to get covid. ---works in garden too!
It's done well at your age. Hope you have many more years to work in!😊
Concur on the no steel on steel bit.
My uncle lost his last eye drving an iron tent stake into the ground with a hammer.
You are absolutely correct sir
You can likely do what the old guys say, but use the Fiskars to go around the outside, then split the middle. The head speed on the light Fiskars can do some serious damage. I don't use a maul at all anymore.
I LOVE MY FISKARS x25! I have my 8lb maul and wedges by me IF needed. I am just like everyone else going from the outer edges to the center.
The only difference between the x25 and x27 is 8in. At 5'10" the x25 is perfect like a baseball bat.
Same here. A spliting maul is all I need. I rarely use a maul and wedges. It I have to split something too challenging, I put it on the burn pile. After enough hurricanes, I don't need any more fire wood. LOL!
Uhhhhh no! A good splitting maul and 2-4 whacks and it split down the middle. Then a single whack per piece. Just did two maple trees like this. One was this size and one much bigger.
Maple tends to split sooner because it's a really hard wood.
I scream and yell foul obscenity swearing at it .that does the job ..NO need for wedges or sledge hammers
Two tips:
Place your wedge in the outer 1/3 of the round -- easier split away from hard heartwood.
Place round on hard gravel, block wall or concrete for more efficient split hit energy instead of dissipating energy into soft earth.
Watch for shards of metal flying off that wedge. No joke you can puncture an artery striking metal on metal like that.
Certainly no expert, but I weirdly enjoy splitting logs. I do have a maul, a wedge and club hammer, but I'm a stubborn old fart, and do pretty much everything with my Husqvarna 2800 splitting axe!
round round split around i split a round none of the guys go steady cos it wouldnt be right to leave your best girl standing on a Saturday night i split around.
Last week I split 3 cords. I went to the feed store and rented a 27 ton splitter for 45 dollars. Took 4 hours. At 65 manually splitting this must wood would take me days.
When you saw the pieces from the tree cut a horizontal groove into the bark deep enough to get into the wood. This breaks the tension of barkwhich is acting as a large rubber band holding the round together. If you do two line on opposite sides it works better. Drying time will also result in the bark popping off.
I can attest to the method, it works. I have an 8 lb hammer, 2 wedges and a maul. Just one point when the wedge is anchored if you stand perpendicular to the split it prevents the wedge from flying out at you.
Applied physics equals working smarter, not harder.
Just grab it with your damn hands and pull them apart
lol
LMAO
@@carle5538 î
what a wussy
Pfft! I just let my ol' Lady give it a stern look. It splits
Sorry, but a better title for this would be "How NOT to use an axe to split wood". Just cut & gather up all your rounds, rent a splitter - and be done with it. If a neighbor has a splitter, offer them a portion of your wood as a barter for using their splitter. WAY too much work by hand unless you are doing a very small amount.
I’m faster with my axe than 2 guys working a log splitter. Especially on big rounds (20-30”) as I never have to lift or move them.
erm surely the most efficient is the splitting axe for the first hit then the big sledgehammer thereafter?
you should start on the outside of the wood and work your way in.
Toughest wood I ever split was green pitch pine, what a nightmare, twisted up cherry with knots is one thing, and understandable but this pine was straight as an arrow, large but so what. It just absorbed blow after blow with an 8lb maul. I don't recommend the Axe method because I ruined my Favorite colins axe doing it that way, It blew the epoxy right out the top because this wood would not give up and the metal-on-metal vibration took its toll. Also, I've come to really appreciate that Fiskars x25 splitting axe, it's one hell of a splitter for what it appears, in fact, it's the best I've ever used and its actually annoying because it is nothing to look at and not even really ergonomic, but you can't argue with the results.
Standing wet dead Ash is no picnic either. Flung two chains plunge cutting
Yeeters gunna yeet. If you're doing that method just use multiple wedges in a line or in star formation around the edge or the wood. Two wedges placed on opposite sides will cut the time down drastically.
If you got more time and a full woodshed and get freezing weather in winter, I would suggest you wait for a good cold snap. When the wood freezes through, it is already under pressure (frozen water expands) and FAR less effort is required when one follows your ideas shown here. Or just save the tough ones for winter, your call.
Awesome idea. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Good idea, but personally I hate working in the freezing weather. Now that I’m older and developed diabetes the cold is worse then ever on my body. Which sucks! Guess I will pass up on the freezing cold weather idea and have to do it the hard way unfortunately
Or save up for a hydraulic splitter.
Wedges are made to be beaten on. Axes and mauls are NOT. Good way to ruin it.
GOOD 1 👍 Plus you get warm
What did I just watch????
Take your Spider-Man gloves off and rip it apart with your hands when you get it that far lol. No need to be swinging that axe that much. Just wasted energy bud 🫣
Try splitting close to the log edge and it will work like a charm. Also when you hit it with the splitting axe just right on the edge (also hitting the bark), it should be much easier. Definitely hitting natural crack helps a lot.
or turn around; or split a "still hangig" Part
I am a 400 year old gnome, and the way you are splitting wood is WRONG and GAY!
always wear safety googles too when splitting with a wedge, my brother ended up with a half inch metal sliver burried in his eye once
Another bit of advise Always STRIKE the Splitting wedge at 90 degrees to the face ( Widest part ) that way IF the wedge jumps out
by a Mis Strike , the wedge Will NOT fly Towards You , but at 90 degrees AWAY from You !
I was thinking the same thing when he said he was taking wedges to the shins.
I'm 65, I drop em, chop em and split em eith a maul. We have a rocket stove so I don't like anything over 2" thick. I rented a wood splitter one time in the last ten years, because I was dealing with an oak that was three feet thick and it was just too much. I burn about two cords a year and all of it hand split with a maul. Wedges are for when nothing else will work.
Good tip with the wedge, but thinking once it is halved that you could finish splitting it with a good maul. You need a bigger splitting maul, that one is just too little.
grain like that dude not much effort needed with just an ax prying sideways on your ax handle won t last long if you have any strength
You are not meant to use the poll of an axe to hammer on or with. The poll is really only there for balance. When the poll spreads out from striking, the axe becomes useless. You can take a grinder to it, but then you don't have a poll anymore, and the balance is gone. Everybody does it, I know, but it is not something you should be demonstrating as good practice. Like using your screwdriver to dig the crap out of your lawn mower, it works really good until it doesn't function anymore for the purpose for which it was made. Then you are all of a sudden not so smart.
Furthermore, especially with the fiskar axes because they don't have an eye and it's bonded around the entire head, the shock can break or lossen that joint because you are hitting hardened steel on hardened steel. You can hear the pitch it makes as opposed to hitting the sledge on the wedge, because the wedge isn't hardened metal.
Boaaah. So schlecht. Ich glaube, ich mache jetzt eigene Videos! 3:51 zeigt: falscher Winkel. Hammer muss gerade auf Keil treffen! (In Deutschland verboten: Hammer auf Metall Keil). 05:13 nimm doch den großen Hammer! Hier verboten, würde ich aber dennoch nehmen.
Hier 8:21 wird gezeigt , wie man die Fiskars kaputt bekommt!
Schlag doch daneben weiter. Das Holz ist doch schon gebrochen…
Hier kann man lernen, wie es nicht geht. Dauert auch viel zu lange. Habe gerade 50 RM Eiche (Oktober) und 50 RM Lerche (November) fertig gemacht…😊
I would fine a big round log, to set logs on to split Then karate chop them 🤪
I have a Monster Maul I bought ~1975 out of the Whole Earth Catalogue. Still have it. Works better than any other maul I’ve ever used.
I have a old one as well, I've had to grind the edge many times but they last for ever.
i used to have a beast of a maul with a short steel handle . heavy as hell and almost indestructible .
Me too. The handle now has a bit of a bow to it as do I......
I am 73 years old, and split wood for my home only, usually around 2 cords every spring for use the second winter, so I keep 2 dry cords and 2 cords drying. I used to do it your way, but to save my back I converted to a HF 10 ton manual splitter to break the big rounds into halves and sometimes quarters, then I can easily pick them up to split on my HF 5 ton electric. Since I only have to do 2 cords, I am not in a hurry. I have been feeding my wood heater in my basement for the past 30 years, but only in the last 10 did I change over to my present method. Sure saves my back! When you get older, you cannot brute force so much, so I call it working smarter, not harder! HA HA I also try and miniumise the amount of lifting. When sawing logs into rounds, I use a saw buck for stuff 6" diameter and smaller, I place a wheel barrow under one end of the logs and a garden cart under the other. That way as I cut the rounds fall into a container that I can wheel around, rather than pick up later. The rounds are wheeled to my electric splitter, and as I start splitting, I stack the splits on a table on the opposite side of my splitter from where I am working, then when the carrier is half full of rounds, I start tossing the new splits back in the carrier, once finished I toss the stacked splits in, and move it to where I am stacking the wood. My electric splitter is on a stand on my back porch which is covered, so when it is raining, I can go outside and split some rounds and enjoy listening to the rain! Very relaxing!
I like your approach to working with wood. I am at same age as you, and of the same opinion: W🪚ork smart not hard. I do the same as you, and cut firewood for my own consumption, I am always 2 seasons ahead. But working with firewood is after all a bit hard, especially when you get older, because you have to handle it many times before it ends up as good firewood in the wood stove. 😊👵
It would be less bouncy if you could put it on the stump that you cut it off of
All you really need is a splitting mail. Been using one for years. They dont get stuck in the wood like an axe will. You'll wear yourself out more from pulling the axe free than you will from swinging it. As far as splitting a log with a knot, I hit the log vertically lined up with the knot. My maul splits the log and knot down the center no problem. It's when you try and split a log in the opposite direction of the knot that makes it split uneven and chunks fly off.
Man, did you really work that out all by yourself? Amazing
LOL
this video feels like satire and im not sure if it is or not
@@Gringoros why?
Rent a splitter from a rent all company, you can split more in 2 hours with that than you can in 2 weeks beaten on it. Yes 60 bucks but your body will thank you and slowly but surely is not a satisfying sound
A crackling fire for 2 months after 2 hours of work vs 2 weeks is a satisfying sound 👌
I have a splitter but I do this to get the rounds ready for the splitter. Otherwise some of them are way too heavy to move by hand.
You have a lot right, but a few things wrong: First, set the wedge in within a few inches from edge of the round. The distance will increase depending on the diameter of the log and where live wood meets old. The fracture could go sideways if you're not far in enough. Too far in and you risk two things: Spending too much effort to make the split, and not making it split and getting the wedge stuck. Second, don't ever hit the backside of your axe. Hardened steel can shatter. Third, I have to admit that I've pried with an axe, but it's generally a bad idea. Fourth, why use the splitter after? They usually do the hard part; not the easy. Build a splitting stand with a tire and go crazy with it.
One more safety comment. Wear safety glasses any time you strike steel with steel.
The wedge flies back at your legs because you arent hitting the wedge square. Youre whipping the maul when you come down. Grip the handle tight and bend(loosen) your knees when it strikes.
Get a maul and throw that other crap away. Thank me later.
I have a small farm and have been splitting wood for about 50 years . Thanks for showing the basics of splitting large rounds .
Bet you didn't know this if you've only split wood for 50 years.
Used to use an axe, maul, wedges and a sledge. I bought myself a 25 ton hydraulic for my 67th birthday. One extra tool I’ve found useful all along is a yard-long crow bar to pry split rounds apart. I’m in the Rockies, splitting a lot of ponderosa, and sometimes those tough fibers need some extra convincing.
No twigs is easy and still a lot of work, which my hydraulic splitter does in a second. Its great as a workout, but not if you are going to split some cubic meters manually pr day.
Thank you. So many take knowledge ( information) to their grave and should have written a book about their gift to others
Superb! I was captivated by the sawmilling process displayed here. The precision and expertise in handling these huge logs are impressive. This video is exceptionally clear and well-produced. I'm looking forward to more videos from you. Keep up the excellent work!
I don't often split wood, so I'm not very accurate with my axe, but I used your technique of using the axe head as a splitter and used a 5lb sledge hammer to hit the axe head, and it worked very well. It seems much easier than aiming an axe! Thanks.
Problem is son you'll break your axe head in the handle eye. Then the axe is dangerous.
@@jamescraig8601 So should I buy a metal splitter and hit that with the sledge instead? I'm really not accurate with an axe, as I just don't practice enough.
Yeah if you're going to sledge hammer use a wedge.
Buy wedges
Practice! Practice! Practice! You will learn to do it right, or wear yourself out
Take some karate lessons and use your hands
WHy in the hell would you bang on a $100 fiskars axe with a sledge when you HAVE wedges??????????? That's what a sledge and wedges are for.
I like the wedge method. To keep my shins from wedge kick outs I make pockets with my saw.
The manufacturer of the ax Fiskars, forbids hitting the ax with a hammer. It also forbids cutting wood with an ax sideways.
When stuck move to another area and it will make easier split as round gets smaller
Those are pretty big rounds but you can place one or more bungee cords around the log as you're splitting the round. It'll hold together while you finish splitting the round. Avoids exhausting bend overs chasing and resetting for the next hits.
Once you get them down to quarters it’s faster and easier to continue w the ax.
You shouldn't use an axe as a wedge. Hitting 2 hardened tools together can cause them to splinter or chip sending small pieces of steel at you. Proper wedges are not hardened and are safer to drive with a hammer.
I'm 70yr old and split 10-12 cords every year. All I use is a splitting maul. It's the size of a sledge hammer, 5-7lbs, but one side is sharpened. Most rounds even bigger than yours will split in 1-5 hits, (although I counted 17 hits on one stubborn round). The "trick" is this. Swing the maul with all you've got in a Big round circular motion, (like a baseball swing only vertical), and here's the magic, when the maul is over your head in the swing, squat down as you pull the maul right thru the round like you are trying to bust the ground below it! It's all in the Ass. Not the arms. The increased power you get from pulling the maul from the sky to the ground with your whole body weight, that's what breaks it and yes it's a timing thing. I'm only 5-8" and weigh 185lb.
No wedges needed. You are right about, finding a split at the center of the round there's almost always one there even if it's tiny and focus on that. 2ndly, yes avoid the knots, work around them.
10-12 cords splitting every year by hand . Wow what are you trying to prove at 70 ? It’s called a wood splitting machine. 😢
Farting gives a little more power to the downswing
💨
If you are going to use a wedge,safety glasses are recommended. You also need to grind off any part of the wedge that mushrooms. Otherwise chunks of metal are going to start flying. I dont have a splitter but I know that whatever my maul cant handle, my saw will. The saw really isnt slower on knotty pieces and saves a lot of wear and tear on my arms. Best of all you get piles of really good fire starter.
Maybe only God knows how old people split wood before you developed this scientific method
😄
As an old people still splitting my firewood the old-fashioned way, I can tell you that God has nothing to do with it. It's just hard work done with thought and patience. As they say, the wood heats you twice... once splitting it and then burning it.
Sure are wasting a lot of energy. Just get a 10 lb. Maul and hit it right in the middle, should split right open, on the 1st swing 1 of may keys is set the log where you get the most swinging action, hitting the log > Not to high nor to low 2 study the log for wood knots. Try to miss them > Qualicum Wilson is correct! Frozen logs are much easier to bust open
First step: Split easy to split wood like Fir or Pine with no knots or limbs. That is easy. If you split hardwoods, you will have a challenge, no matter what. You are working too hard. There are easier splitting methods that are much less work and much quicker. After decades of struggling with his techniques on Red and stringy Water Oak, now I only use a 4 or 6 lb. splitting maul. Instead of splitting down the middle, I split from the edges and work inward. Once the outsides of the log are split off, it relieves a lot of the holding tension and the inner parts split easier.
Hydraulic gas engine wood splitter was my favorite 27 ton.....my primary heat was wood....No RUclips available...you will eventually learn how to cut...fall.....split wood.....if you are self correcting
Nice voice-over tone. Jessie's brother from "Breaking Bad". Used my maul the other day and I know exactly where. Can't find the bloody thing now. Just as well that we've run out of wood...in a way.
Too much talking, not enough action to demonstrate correctly. Think about the audience/viewers, most are men, some females that need to take care of themselves and family. This kind of wood splitting never worked for me, that's why I was looking for a better way. You're wasting your time sir, no disrespect, just letting you know that it's not working. Sorry..
🎧🤪🎙️🫶 Thank you so much for sharing 🙏 I wishing you a beautiful day to you and all your viewers. Much Love Thierry ❤️˘◡˘❤️
If you find this takes less energy go for it, but there's no need. Don't split big rounds in half, work around the edges!
Wood is really different when it comes to splitting. I have three steel splitting wedges and a couple of plastic felling wedges and a sixteen pound sledge hammer. Even with those tools at hand there are some Maple, Ash, and twisty Birch rounds that need to be cut in half with the chain saw.
Good comment, there are types of wood I have run into that does not split by hand, I saw some comments that that is easy wood to split but I have run into pine that is terrible. Lot quicker to cut down with the saw and less effort.
All fun and games until you take Ur eye out.. stick with a splitting axe/maul and a little grit
i use wedges when i need to but not when they get mushroomed .
Way to much talking ive got a wood splitter 12ton from HomeDepot it's gotta be 25 yrs old never had a problem with it i put in in the verticle poisition and split those big rounds like nothing less time just makes more sense to me but then again who am i?😂😂
Its pine. Dry is easier. Especially beech. You start on the edge...yes a natural crack is good. Sharp wedge, that tapers quickly. I dont burn pine. I only split really big stuff.
Try that on some seasoned Osage Orange, the Axe and Wedge bounce off, that's when I bought a Log Splitter, I was 65 anyway, well overdue.
Dad's, get your son's off their gaming asses and make em take a few whackers. (Bring out their inner Tim the Tool man) My son loved the hard work and kept at it til he broke my old sledge!!! Hash tag Proud
Ya got a big one on there mate! We call them Doggers. Not sure why. When the old log doesnt want to get out of bed no matter how many times ya ring the alarm. Those ones i like to catapult. Do you have catapults? Ya make a teetertotter with a board and another log, then you drive your truck into it as fast as you can go. Not great for the drivetrain, or the window shield ,but sometimes you just have to catapult the thing.
Dang all these old farts in the comments should write books & make their own channels changing people's lives 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
Keep going, eventually you'll build enough strength to whack those very straight grained rounds apart in a couple of swings with a maul... smh
5:13 if you would do this to my axe I would crucify you... you never do that dude. And just to save you some time... the easiest way to split something like this is not to hit the middle but sides where density of wood is not that great... My father showed me that when I was 12 and I was able to split massive logs with a simple axe ( not a wood spliter), probably twice the size you have here... If you really want to start from the middle what you should do is to use a wood splitter and hit it several times starting from the edge of the log not the center... Well from the other side... what do I know at the end of the day Im 44 and I chop my own whood by hand my entire life...
I burn 3 woodstoves all winter now I burn oak as that is predominant in my area I use a splitting maul and work much less than you. I have split much wood of different type never fir but I can't figure what you must do
There is an icon on the Fiskars that tells you not to use a hammer on the axe, but what do they know? Hardened steel whacking hardened steel never makes high velocity chips or does anything to the bonding of the axe head to the handle....swing away weekend warriors!
Dont you worry about snapping a handle ? Prying like that . I mean how many times can you do that before it eventually cracks or something. Or are they metal ?
when your wedge starts to disappear just use a smaller diameter piece of cord the same height to pound your wedge on thru. If you pound your axe opposite the handle you will be less likely to keep hitting your handle, don't lean over your handle or stand over your axe handle if you want to have children.
Make sure you wear shin protection! I have seriously injured my legs with flying steel wedges.
Or......peel it like an onion taking slivers off the outside. Works like a charm. I too took this laborious route for decades before a wise old country feller showed me the way.
They tend to split best if you put the stump side up ....work on accuracy pop ya a line the whole way across the top down the side across the bottom 75% of wood rounds will pop in 2 with that method just have to be accurate about it
Why not whack the back of the stuck maul with your sledge instead of that little guy? That's what I do. Usually takes 3 or fewer whacks with the sledge
You are splitting straight grain softwood, which a child could split. Try hardwood which had branches, you will lose your wedge without the log splitting.
Another title--- How To Void the Fiskars Warranty or Remedial Wood Splitting
Don’t use a Fisker splitting axe! Hitting it with. A hammer or slud will void the lifetime warranty
How about that? No axe required - and uses axe. Clickbait much?
You really don't know how to split wood do you. You start in a parameter to the outside edge about 2 to 3 in away from the edge. And then you split across each edge are you go around and around and around until you get it small enough to split through the middle. You just start trimming on the outside edge and keep going around we'll split all to hell
Take ten seconds and place your chainsaw in the middle of the round bar facing out and w the dog gripping the round rotate the saw downward to groove the edge of the round. Place your wedge in the groove and pound away. No more bounce out.
When I’m splitting rounds and knots are a problem I grab my chainsaw.
I prefer a 6lb splitting maul with a fiberglass handle. Splitting axes stick to easily!
How do I get this 10 minutes of my life back?? That was painful!!
This is why You Tube should show thumbs up and thumbs down so you can tell what people think, hate to say it buddy but this is not a very good way to split wood, it woks but there are easier ways.
How about starting a crack with a chainsaw? Those rounds are heavy enough to use a chainsaw to cut almost completely through.