Chopping firewood for first time

[Not]

I think your first step should be to find out what kind of wood it is. While hardwoods are generally good, soft woods, like pine are not much good. They burn quickly and explosively, and will gum up your chimney.

Assuming you have good wood, measure the length of the "rounds" and your fireplace or stove. You don't want to end up with 22 inch wood and a 20 inch capacity fireplace.

Next, consider your capabilities. We are a lot more sedentary now than we used to be, and I would guess that far fewer of us have the strength and talent to split wood with an axe (I looked at the picture of your axe and it has been around for many years with many names, and almost certainly you will have instances where you will get it jammed in the wood, so have something ready to get it out). It would be quicker and easier to just rent a splitter.

I started swinging a sledge at age 12, making gravel out of a concrete driveway with a 12 pound sledge. I hated it, but eventually I developed some skill and strength, so when hockey season came around, all of a sudden I had a great wrist shot. I should have thanked my father for that experience. After that, I split a lot of wood with the sledge and wedges. Sometimes I tried an axe, but always went back to the sledge and wedges. Today, having put on a few years, I would rent a splitter. My point would be that people, when I was young, had a lot of experience doing that type of work before they were even adults; I doubt that's true today.

I usually put the "round" > This is the very first time I am cutting rounds (cylindrical sections of

[tenplay]

I took into consideration all of your suggestions and just finished splitting 6 rounds with my Chopper1. I don't burn a lot of wood since we have central heating. It's more to get the ol' lady in the mood on especially cold nights. So I pretty much burn whatever I can get my hands on. Instead of wearing sandals this time, I wore heavy boots and shades. The logs cut ok. Some of the larger rounds were tougher than others. I figure I will be ok if I cut only a few whenever the mood hits me during the summer. That way I won't overtax myself. Thanks.

[Harry K]

But the way you get experience is by doing it. You have good points about be sedentary but what is the cure for that? Yep, doing things. In his case, splitting wood.

I have the 'sedentary' problem to the max. I am retired, don't do much of anything except mow the grass. Winter time it is "sit on my fundament". I usually have a very good belly going by spring time. My "wooding", from cutting to final burning is about all the exercise I get and I think it is about the best excercise you can get. It puts all your muscles to work over prolonged periods. Beats the fool out of paying to be totally bored at a fitness club.

At 71 I still split almost all my wood by sledge/maul/wedge although I have a hydraulic splitter sitting right there. I will admit that I broke down today and put the splitter back in operation at 10 when the temp got up near 80. I am hoping I have the intestinal fortitude to go back to the manual method tomorrow. I have about 3/4 cord on the PU to be split and stacked. Manually it will take me 4 or 5 days. While the exercise is good, I figure there is no need to be a masochisst about it. :)

Harry K

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Moderation. I think most any doctor will tell you that splitting wood is going to be good for you if done with moderation. No rush to get it done, build up slowly. IMO, it is very good exercise.

[Bob]

My recent (educational) experience was splitting 1 cord or so of pine with my 85 YO father. The next few days, it hurt to laugh. My arms and chest were very sore. My father said he had no such problem.

Bob

[Harry K]

It's all in what you're used to. Every spring after sitting on my fundament all winter it takes about a month to get back to where I can one hand the 10 pound sledge to start wedges again. Rather shocking to shift over and find my left hand can't come close to doing it. Just checked, have about 6 cord in the stacks from this year's cutting. Will be out there again finishing up 1/2 load on the PU in a couple hours. It does take me some intestinal fortitude to split it manually as I have a hydraulic splitter sitting right there. I use that for any tough to split stuff (knots and stringy stuff).

Harry K