Favorite Wood Splitting Tools - what's your favorite

Obviously safety is high priority, I'm in no hurry, just want to keep ahead of the wood stove with all this wood I just dragged in, some needs to be split, but most of it is small diameter.

Ironically, this dead elm, hard and dry, not soft or sponge like ( what is the term for that when soft ?) it cuts nice, did not dull the cutters at all, took a 24" dia. tree down before sunset, saw went right through it with little effort, stump was hard too, might not be easy to split even though it's been dead 2-3 years, looks like it's tight, elm sure don't split when cut alive but sure cuts nice now.

Larry

A little black powder and fuse with one of these works great. :-)
Just don't use it after the neighbors are in bed!!

Well I saved that photo, my friend does a fair amount of wood and heats his place with it, many saturday's he'll swing by and well go to his folks place to get a load of wood, he will get a laugh over that thing for sure.

I won't be dealing with any large stuff, yet, but I may stack some up for next year, split as I need it. I agree, there is nothing like wasting a lot of energy to do nothing, best to use ones smarts, coach of our football team used to really emphasize, playing with smarts and make every push count.

Not sure a favorite could be picked - it all depends on the type of wood. Easy wood I use a regular splitting mall because it's the fastest. Tougher wood I use a heavy monster mall. If that just bounces off a real hard piece, I use a sledge and a separate wedge.

Nice straight grained white ash, soft maple, beech, etc. spit fast and easy with a monster mall.

But . . . get big some curly "near the stump" wood from a red oak, white birch, or sugar maple - your monster mall will do nothing, and a wedge and sledge hammer will often result in a stuck wedge.

I get access to a lot of 4 foot plus diameter oaks and hard maples that the power company cuts down for line clearance. I get it since many other wood-burning people pass it up since it's too hard to move and split. It has to be mostly split on-site since 4' and larger diameter wood is too much work to move when whole. I DID move some last summer by cutting into short 14" lengths and rolling it up ramps into my truck. For the most part, I use a three-point hitch splitter on the back of my diesel IH tractor and drive to the tree - split - and then load and move. I've got an American three-point HD splitter with a 4" bore cylinder and a PTO powered pump. Even with the 4" cylinder I've had a few pieces of curly hard maple it would not split without help.

Have to wonder if you do any dragging of logs, I dragged one in last night safely with my tractor that is heavily ballasted well balanced and hitched below the line of the axle, mostly on the flat but up one hill. Base was 24" dia. Not something I do often either but with the ground frozen, having a clear path knowing when enough is enough, the front end never got light, was nothing to snag on, and if you do the tires will spin on the frost, one turn I had to unhook and swing the tail end over to get by. I've been trying to find a place locally or within reasonable distance that can re-line the clutch plates for my old D7 Cat, I can get the segments but have to drill em, counter bore them, rivet/bond, there must be a place in this area or towards your neck of the woods that does frictions for cranes and the like, just have to match the thickness of the friction material when new, that would really be ideal for getting some of these blow downs out to a header and pull em up to the house in a bunch. It's been idle for a few years, though I keep turning both motors over so they don't get stuck. While it's frozen I'll probably do the same as you for now, get the truck in there and cut em up where they lay, dump em off up at the house, towing logs with the tractor all the way to the house is really not a great idea.

I can remember when I first heard face cord mentioned, it was always a cord here, 4x4x8, just another way to make a smaller amount and make more money, I read somewhere awhile ago that it's not a legal unit of measure, buyer beware, but you can't knock these guys selling fire wood it's dirty, dangerous hard work to say the least.

Your right about the splitting, no one tool is the cure all, I'll skip the hard pieces for now and keep it simple.

That red oak seems to burn great, I recently helped a friend cut up some large chunks, 3-4 feet dia., hard work is right on that stuff. I have a large oak down, across the 20 acre pond, adjacent to a diner and a steep hill on one side, water on the other. I've got to figure out how to get it across, maybe float it in chunks, well worth going after, anything hardwood, stumps included, I've washed the dirt off a few and cut em up with the saw, and I'll take a tree right down to the upper branches, it all burns !

I'll bet that is a favorite field, nice shot and you've got a helper, that darned log dwarfs him without a doubt, must be your youngest one.

Sounds like a good find, I wonder if Asplundh did the forestry job for National Grid/Niagara Mowhawk, I knew one of their crews from here, foreman's name was Benny, really nice people, much appreciated what they did over here.

Boy that is a pain when you can't leave a piece of equipment on ones property, must be kids on atv's, I won't leave anything out here either, can't afford some numbskull doing that.

Must have been suprised at the 1020's ability, my friends father uses a 2020 for towing logs at his place for many years, I've spent a little time in the seat on that one, the front end comes up slow, and you can feel your way with it, but you do need to be real careful, his oldest son, a good friend of mine had it moved to his place, he's over in (east berne just east of rt 30) to move some large pines he took down, I had all I could do to watch and help, he took some really big logs up the hill and out of the way, uses a boom pole, his dads place is mostly flat, but that 2020 certainly is a darned good tractor, I've seen him walk out of some deep snow with that thing, no chains, but tires are loaded. I never really liked them only because they sure take some time to get used to sitting up so high, and when you are on a slope the @ss pucker factor sure ain't no joke, I can attest to some hair raising experiences when I was a kid in regards to slopes, yet I was probably safe, something about sitting up so high on them when on slopes makes me feel uneasy and I've never been afraid of operating any kind of equipment.

It's always a shame to see wood go to waste, especially saw logs, hopefully you can get it out, surprised no one made a deal to take it to the sawmill, technically does'nt the power company own it ? Even if it softens a little on the outside, say 1" or so, I still burn it, just make sure it's dry, not sure what people do there, it seems a shame to waste it if most of it is hard.

Asplundh sure had a nice crawler with a log grapple and other forestry equipment, boy I'd have tried to make a deal to get it down the hill, those guys certainly can cut some wood in a day when clearing, they came through and widened the right of way here not that long ago, left a nice stack for my neighbor, small stack on my side.

The power company - former Niagara Mohawk and now the British owned National Grid - did a large right-of-way on my property and on my friends (where the photos were taken). Alplundh did the road building - but some French-Canadian outfit did the tree cutting. At the same time, the power company was also doing a right-of-way on my property in the Adirondacks in Hamilton Co. Up there, Reese Tree Co. was doing it and had a John Deere 540 skidder with a boom on it. On my friend's property - he owns land and therefore the trees - they only have the right of clearance to keep the lines safe and accesible. On my land - some spots they own and some spots I own. All the trees on all the properties are ours - not there's - by ownership and/or written agreement. The problem with the big logs was - they were stacked on a steep side hill and starting to slide downhill into the woods. At the time they were cut the ground was wet - and if we dragged them out it would of done a lot of damage to road, sidehills, other standing trees, etc. So, we had to wait for a dry spell in the fall. As far as dragging the logs with the Deere 1020 - I wouldn't of tried it unless I owned the tractor. But - my friend owns it. He's a retired dairy farmer and lived with a small Deere dealership at his farm. He grew up with Deere tractors. I've got many photos of him on 530 and 620 two-cylinder Deeres - pulling logs with the front end high in the air. He knows what he's doing. He's 70 years old now - never been injured - was an excellent farmer - and his equipment seems to last forever (he takes good care of it). Ironically, he lives in Florida now with no Deeres. He kept all the woodlots and hayfields from his farm and sold the rest. He comes up every summer and camps there for a few months. His only tractor now - where he lives in Florida is a Kubota. Up here it's the 1020 (actually it's a yellow 300 industrial - same thing). I've been cutting wood on his land for 30 years. Many times the conservation dept. came in and marked it - and he actualluy got paid for me to remove the marked trees even though I kept the wood. I also own around 160 acres of forest-land here. I have enough wood fall to the ground on its own every year without cutting any healthy trees. I can't keep up with it. Getting that kind of wood takes a lot of time. So, when there's big stuff available from right-of-ways - I grab it.

If you can let the cold get to it before splitting they will pop with little effort,, dont start hitting in the middle of the log start at the edges and get a crack going and then follow it down, after the log is split in half -- they will split easier,,

I find by putting the log to be split up on another log for a base it splits easier,, you dont lose any "thump" into the ground,,

It took a long time to get a splitter here,, if the wood is to knotty,, to split , try ripping it down the center approx 1/2 way--- and then split it with the maul, that works too,

if you need practice I have a bunch of maple that is dragged down in front of the woodshed,, been sitting for a few weeks should be good and froze ,, they would pop easily,, come on down,, hahah just kidding,

What you describe, is how I recall doing it, you've got to get that crack started, theres a methodology behind it no doubt, same as breaking concrete, some basic knowledge is required or you will be chipping, hammering away and getting nowhere. I've got the old ax head I used years back, time to re-handle that, and get a few mauls, also look at what the others described. I'll most likely do something about getting a splitter, although I'm not sure how much I will use or need, by hand is good exercise, just like cutting them down, dragging em in and cutting them up, now where'd you say that maple was again ? ;).

Besides the elm, I just dragged some green maple in, good sized tree split in 3 ways, only this one fell, I'm thinking of tying the other pieces off with cable, it's in an old hedge row and helps provide some privacy, was a nice solid tree, wind not lightning believe it or not strangest one I've seen in awhile, the piece I cut up was still alive, I figured it was dead, as the split section sure looked it, but now that it's frozen good, I'll bet it splits nice.

Got to love the pinto in that photo !