Splitting wood

[boz1911]

I don't know why, but splitting wood the old fashioned way, with an axe, is very therapeudic. Being outdoors, getting exercise, and old fashioned work just feels good..

[wooddog]

You can heat the whole winter with one chunk of wood.

A) Get one chunk of firewood

Run up stairs or into house with chunk of wood

C) Open window and throw outside

D) Run back outside pick up chunk of wood and repeat until you are warm...

Do as needed whenever you are cold and need to warm up

[maineshootah]

I don't know why, but splitting wood the old fashioned way, with an axe, is very therapeudic. Being outdoors, getting exercise, and old fashioned work just feels good..

I have a feelin' that you southern boys enjoy the first few sticks just fine... try cutting 4-8 cords with an axe...

You might be singin.. er.. swearing to a different tune.

I agree, there is something to be said about the positive health effects of the activity, I just wish it was not a necessity.

(Sitting next to a warm, hand cut log fire as I type this..)

[steel1212]

Now are we talking about cutting the tree and splitting with the axe or cutting the tree with a chainsaw then splitting with a maul?

Cutting any amount worth anything with a axe then splitting said amount with a axe is freaking hard work and I commend you.

[kimel]

My dad grew up in a small cabin in the woods near Poulsbo WA without electricity, running water, etc during the depression and WWII. He and his younger brother had the job of splitting all the firewood necessary to operate the household. He always enjoys splitting wood, even to this day and still does some of his own heating with firewood.

When I moved to Palouse we heated entirely with firewood (electric forced air and $300 a month heat bills being the alternative). Mom and Dad would always come up and spend a weekend splitting wood with my wife and I. We did it the old fashioned way with mauls, sledges and wedges. None of this sissy hydraulic ram stuff. We would regularly split 4+ cord of good red fir over a weekend with Dad and I splitting and my wife and mom hauling and stacking. Good times...good times.

In 2002 we converted to wood pellets. I can stack in my 4 ton for the winter in a few hours by myself. But it sure isn't as much fun as doing the old wood splitting thing.

My splitting maul was worn smooth and shiny by the task but afraid it has some rust on it now.

Once I get my shed project finished so I can get the garden tools and other crap out of my shop I'm putting the wood stove in the shop. Won't be burning quite so much wood for that but at least I can still split some now and then.

[CJDOUBLETAP]

I don't know why, but splitting wood the old fashioned way, with an axe, is very therapeudic. Being outdoors, getting exercise, and old fashioned work just feels good..

Are you kidding, I have to split wood one day a year and it sucks. We even have one of the hydraulic splitters and it is some hard work. My back is always sore the next day...

Are you talking about cutting down the tree and getting the logs ready to split or just spliting. I guess just spliting wouldn't be that bad.

[Ledge]

I burn wood, oil, and pellets. Splitting wood is one of those tasks that makes you feel like you are really accomplishing something when you do it. I split, and the wife and kids lug it and pile it. As Maineshootah can attest to, the pyro in me is game for anything that will ultimately lead to fire!

[redmanfixit]

Benjamin Franklin pointed out that one of the great advantages to splitting the wood you would heat your home with is that "It warms you twice".

[Modoc]

Hey Boz,

I have a mizery whip around here somewhere that I could send you

Actually, I wish that my house had a wood burning stove - it would be good to have a secondary heat source for power outages

[boz1911]

Now are we talking about cutting the tree and splitting with the axe or cutting the tree with a chainsaw then splitting with a maul?

Cutting any amount worth anything with a axe then splitting said amount with a axe is freaking hard work and I commend you.

Cutting the tree with a chainsaw. I usually split about a 1/4 of a cord at a time, twice a week this time of year. I was going to buy a splitter, but the exercise and fresh air are invigorating....

[John Dunn]

Splitting can be fun or miserable depending on the chunk. When I was a kid we heated with wood. We'd spilt all the small stuff by hand, but some of the 18"+ diameter stuff could be tough, especially the twisty grained chunks or Oak crotches. We'd throw the stuff my brother and I deemed too tough to split or too big to split in a pile and once a year rent a hydraulic splitter. We'd have folks over and make a party out of it, with pizza for lunch. Good times. Today when I turn up the thermostat and feel the propane heat kick on, I appreciate it.

[DMS42]

Long time ago I used to heat the house with wood. Sometimes I'd go out and cut the trees down then cut them into 2 ft. lengths then load them into the truck. At home I'd unload and start using a maul to split the wood. Sometimes I would buy a logging truck load. When I bought the wood I'd come home from work, get the chain saw out and cut some up into stove lengths, then split it, haul it up to a place next to the house and stack it up. Also had to cut up a lot of kindling as the wife would forget to feed the stove and would start a fire with kindling, then forget to add wood to the fire so she'd again start a fire with kindling. We burned lots of kindling. And about a cord per month to heat the house. It sure did cut down on the gas heating bill thought.

Finally got a pellet stove and that worked pretty good, except if the hopper ran out of pellets and I wasn't around the wife would let the fire die out and use the gas heat.

I still have a big pile of wood out back that I cut and split about 10 years ago. I'm not in good enough shape anymore to do much cutting and splitting.

[PINMAN44]

Boz I usually do it once a month with a Maul. It was one of my favorite motions.

It put me in a zone, I know that sounds odd but I love mauls and axes

[fiddler]

Benjamin Franklin pointed out that one of the great advantages to splitting the wood you would heat your home with is that "It warms you twice".

Twice?

Let's see:

1. Felling and Limbing

2. Skidding

3. Bucking

4. Loading

5. Unloading

6. Splitting

7. Stacking

8. Hauling some in

9. Burning

That's 9, 10 if you have to carry your chainsaw any distance to the trees.

[mdstihl]

I love cutting firewood. The "best present ever" was a Stihl 039 my wife bought me some years back. Felling, cutting, and splitting a cord a day is not hard. For the wood furnace I could get 2 cords/day if my Dad came down and drove tractor for me back and forth (the chunks can be a lot bigger and longer for the furnace). I've got 6 and 8 pound mauls, but works the best for me is a 4# splitting "axe" with wedge type things coming out the side of it.

The best way to split hickory is to let it get half rotten first.

[Jim Norman]

I don't heat with wood. I do have a fireplace and it basically sucks. The guy that built this house wasn't the best in that department. If the place was laid out differently, I'd add a pellet stove, maybe. about 35 years ago, I rented a place that had a single grate coal furnace with a grate in the second floor. That was during Arab Oil Embargo when everyone was freezing their arses off. We were sleeping with the windows open!. Sad part was the other guys couldn't seem to get the hang of banking a fire, so if I didn't get home, the fire would often be out. That was a bitch.

Now, I just like the idea of twisting the dial to the left and feeling warm.

Jim

[rr4406pak]

Heat my house with a wood burning stove too.

Harvest wood from my 50 acres, bring it up behind the barn and chop away.

We invite friends over to help with a big hot meal cooked by the wife as a reward. I love it.

Had to buy a hydraulic splitter this year. Super high energy prices made things more serious.

[zhunter]

of actual BE'ers splitting wood Edited December 30, 2008 by zhunter

[redmanfixit]

Benjamin Franklin pointed out that one of the great advantages to splitting the wood you would heat your home with is that "It warms you twice".

Twice?

Let's see:

1. Felling and Limbing

2. Skidding

3. Bucking

4. Loading

5. Unloading

6. Splitting

7. Stacking

8. Hauling some in

9. Burning

That's 9, 10 if you have to carry your chainsaw any distance to the trees.

Ol Ben Knew to keep it simple! But YA, yer right! I like chainsaws and splitters too. INDUSTRIAL!! That's for me. Better than a membership to a health club....no fungus foot...lots of fresh air!

[Toolguy]

For you guys that do a lot of wood, check out Supersplit .com on google. They even have a video of it working.

I have used one of these quite a bit and they are 5 to 6 times as fast as a hydraulic splitter. They are the best

way to split wood out there.

[mdstihl]

toolguy, that looks pretty cool. I forgot to mention though, the biggest reason I like using a maul; I can't pick all those big chunks off the ground all day. lol There have been times I got into a knotty oak log that I wanted a splitter... but usually the light mauls work great.

[HoMiE]

Last year's wood pile. I can't say I enjoy cutting and splitting, it's just one of things you have to do. I prefer SoCal in the winter.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2l9mpuf.jpg

[boz1911]

My wife's family lives about an hour north on Montreal. Her brother in law Noel is 75 years old and is one of the coolest people I have ever met. He splits and delivers approximately 20 cords of wood to four of the family members houses. That's 80 cords per year !!! When we there for Christmas in 2007 he proudly showed me his Stihl chainsaws. We even spent an afternoon going to a mountain he owns to look at a bear cave!! The man has twice the stamina I have at 75 years old!

[Trini]

Built my house in 84 and had a fireplace insert installed in living room and wood stove installed in the basement. The insert will take up to 42" cut wood. We have been heating with wood since we moved into the house. I use to cut my firewood that long for the first couple of years and decided that was way to much wood to handle. We built a 3 ft X 3 ft wood storage box to feed the wood from the garage into the house. I have a wood rack in the garage for storing the wood. The way I do it is have enough wood stacked up so I don't have to cut and split ever all the time. I try to keep several cords of wood cut and stacked for the beginning of the season and then add to the supply as winter goes on. If something happens like last winter when I had to under go PT for shoulder injury firewood in available. I split with a splitter and also have used mauls and wedges.

[J-Ho]

I feel your pain all you cold weather types. It was only in the mid 70's today.