Chopping kindling on hard standing - axe protector?

A short bit of plank. I used to use a scrap of scaffolding board...

I just use a hand axe for making kindling and hit it more or less with the right strength to go just through in one or with one tap of wood on the ground. I accept the odd ground strike onto concrete since it happens so rarely. I only use kindling for starting the fire since once it is going I stuff the biggest pieces that will fit in as infrequently as possible.

Any old offcut of 1+" thick wood or plastic would do at a pinch if you are worried about blunting your axe. I have a lump that I could use but normally I don't bother.

You don't want 2 inches of rubber, that will deform and reduce the effectiveness of your strike. A length of trunk is definitely the best thing for serious axe work, ideally you want it about 2 feet high. I bought one direct from my supplier by going to his site in the woods, he didn't know what to charge so I offered him a tenner and literally had to force that on him, because he said it was too much. For splitting kindling with a "chopper" almost anything will do. I'd probably use a bit of 18mm shuttering ply, maybe two layers for durability.

I just use the hard standing and a bomb

vertical thinking...

-&-

Wasn't there some machine thing from Aldi that split logs?

If you?re needing kindling it may well be that your logs are too moist.

I never need kindling but do use a couple of those wood fibre wax impregnated fire lighters. (Like these.

A builder?s bag isn?t going to let air circulate around your logs and having them sitting in the ground isn?t a good idea either.

Buy yourself a chainsaw from Aldi/Lidl, ballistic trousers and other safety gear from eBay (you can get a whole kit of ?Logger clobber? in one go), and with luck you?ll never need to buy wood again or wonder how to get hold of a decent log section for chopping on. Don?t forget to watch heaps of you tube videos on chainsaw use. A proper chainsaw course would be best but you can learn enough to stay safe from the videos as long as you don?t get overly ambitious. I only saw up wood that?s been felled and abandoned or washed up on the beach.

Of course this does depend on your available territory to go foraging.

Tim

You need a couple of pieces to catch quickly and relatively small long triangular pieces in the initial burn. Sometimes I relight off the embers at this time of year. Mostly I use long dead branches for this.

I can't imagine ever buying anything as kindling (apart from newspaper). The closest I come is air dried citrus fruit peel which does go very well indeed and is plentiful in mid winter from tangerines.

The only time mine ever gives trouble is when I forget to open the overnight damper and try to light it with almost no air flow.

Mine sit outdoors on a palette to let air under them and a roof on top. The ones immediately prior to burning live in the garage and they spend a couple of days warming/drying in the hearth area before being burnt.

Ah!

I may have just the thing rotting at the bottom of the garden.

Cheers

Dave R

The wood is very dry and in big chunks.

If I stuff one or two fire lighters in there than it usually goes pretty quickly. However I am experimenting on lighting without using fire lighters.

I have noted that big solid blocks of wood are reluctant to burn straight off (applying a weed burner as a heat source) but that if there are a few small bits of kindling the whole thing takes off with a vengeance.

I am also considering as noted above that I think it may be more effective to start with some small pieces to get a good set of embers going then put the larger pieces on later.

Wood only burns at the surface, so chunky logs burn for a long time but all that wood in the middle doesn't contribute to the fire for some considerable time.

So small pieces to start are required.

I have noted that even a few small bits of wood - mere splinters - are often enough to get the larger bits of wood blazing away merrily. I assume some kind of wicking effect.

Cheers

Dave R

Yep, just proved that again.

A few slivers of wood between two large logs and the whole thing bursts into flame.

Just the two logs and an air gap and it glows but doesn't burn.

So kindling it is.

Cheers

Dave R

when cutting up trees always cut up a few smaller branches and stack them separately for this precise use

They use screw or hydraulic machines "in the trade", IIRC the Aldi and other "domestic" machines are considered slow and under-powered.

I havn't tried a bomb; provided you have slices without too many knots I find a proper splitting axe does the job. (Not a felling axe, which is what I started with before I knew any better, simply because it was the only type stocked in my local store).

You can get machines to do that. There are electric splitters. There are also manual splatters, which use a bottle jack and pump handles, to generate the force to split the wood. The bottle jack version has a "limited stroke", meaning the piston only goes about 6" max, so cannot split a 7" stick to the very end. It relies on the wood being dry and splitting along grain, so you might have to pull the pieces apart with your hand when done. If the wood had a knot in it, the manual splitter would leave the stick, half-split.

Electric

The prices are all over the place.

They also make a device, which has a sharper angle than the previous style of gadget, and you hit the wood with a sledge and force the wood past a splitting blade. The principle is bizarre and the mechanical advantage limited. You're trying to reproduce the 6 ton or 10 ton force of the other gadgets, with a sledge. This is also featured, screwed to a stump for support. I especially appreciate the picture of a chick with a small hammer in hand, doing her Mighty Thor routine. Ridiculous. You will work up a sweat with a gadget like this (not that sweating is bad, but you're sweating over a relatively poor tool).

Various woods at our dump, are more or less appreciated.

They *hate* actual stumps, like the root part, and charge

Logs up to a certain diameter, are sent through the chipper, so you are unlikely to snag one of those for free. However, once the wood dropped off by people gets past that diameter, you might have an item you can use.

Give the dump a call, describe diameter and length desired, and see if they know of a "cache" of materials. At our dump, the "tipping" place and the "storage" place are separated by a good distance for safety. The storage area is a bit dangerous because of the uneven surface made from debris. The tipping place is clean enough to eat off.

Our dump now has a specification for steel toe boots, so you need a green stamp shoe while on the premises. Although the enforcement squad don't give a rats ass about this. It's just the signage on the premises states this. This is a liability trick (so you can't/won't sue).

Another place to get wood, is the Tree Trimmer companies. They keep a property in the woods, and store cut down wood which is too large for their chipper. Now, here at the moment, we have a problem with an invasive species of insect, so there are limitations on wood transport. Where you are might be OK. Their wood cuts might be quite long, and they won't be cutting them in short lengths like I did when felling a tree. I cut short lengths, so I could lift them.

One Tree Trimmer service, they actually brought a logging truck to their work site (a city park) and cut logging company length pieces and loaded up the truck. These were mature trees, that had grown with plenty of space around them, but needed to be taken down for safety. Would make a beautiful stump for working. Nice straight pieces that would stand upright and not lean at an angle.

Paul

aka as 'maul'. I've still got the scars from using one near someone's washing line. It caught the line recoiled, and missed my eye by half an inch...

The bomb doesn't need so much space to swing. I use it with a club hammer

In all cases with gnarly knotty grain forget splitting and use the chainsaw

My open fires will take unsplit logs so that's where THAT lot ends up

I only split for the wood burning stove, or when I don't have enough kindling

Yebut.

I already have a stock of very dry split logs.

I also have a bomb, wedges, club hammer, maul, felling axe, chainsaw, log stand.....

I am not asking about splitting full rounds. That has already been done.

I'm just preparing to split one or two stove sized logs (quarter round) down into kindling. All that I am missing at the moment is a base so that when I hit the splitting axe (hatchet) with the hammer when it is on top of the piece of wood, if it splits too easily (or I miss-cue) then I wont damage the axe blade on the block paving.

So for the many posters who have provided enormous details about buying things I already have, and about going to a lot of effort and expense to provide a stock of split and seasoned wood which I also already have, can I respectfully refer you all back to the topic heading:

"Chopping kindling on hard standing - axe protector?"

Cheers

Dave R

Respectfully, all the trees that I have cut up in the past, and all the offcuts, have already gone through the stove.

I don't have access to free wood at the moment nor the inclination to go and cut, split, and season wood for 2 years.

For the first time in a long while I've just bought a load of split and dried wood from a reputable local supplier. Lovely stuff it is too.

It is burning quite happily.

I am trying to light the fire without using a fire lighter, and the experimenting suggests that a small amount of kindling would make the fire light a lot more easily.

I also intend to see what happens if I start the fire with a lot of kindling and get the chimney up to temperature before adding the big logs.

I therefore refer you to the thread title: "Chopping kindling on hard standing - axe protector?" which states exactly what I am looking for.

Cheers

Dave R

Yes, I have both a bomb and a maul, as well as a couple of wedges.

I quite like the bomb for splitting logs which are reasonably symmetrical and the wedges are good for the less symmetrical or after the bomb has done the first split.

Neither is really suitable for cutting small kindling. Which is why I use a small axe/hatchet and a club hammer for finer splits. However one needs to protect the axe blade to avoid damaging it on the hard standing.

"Chopping kindling on hard standing - axe protector?"

On a side note, IIRC you are supposed to split logs when still fairly green as they split more easily and also season more quickly when cut/ split. I have had some difficult bits of wood to split when I've left the wood for too long and it has gone very hard.

Cheers

Dave R

Probably overkill, but I use a electric / hydraulic log splitter, and just do a barrow full of kindling from time to time.