From Tree to Firewood: Understanding the Techniques and Tools of Wood Splitting

The problem, of course, is getting the 10 ton logs up onto the splitter... ;-)

This one looks easy enough to copy and after all, this is a diy gourp

My favourite

Probably a silly question, but what is the shortest length of log it would handle? I guess for short logs you would have to have a second piece of wood to make up the length?

Also does anyone have any experience of this style of sawhorse and chainsaw holder?

looking for USPs for a manual splitter - that sure ain't them!

Yes, we just put another bit in.

Somebody call the medics; Nigel from Health & Safety has just fainted...

;-) Don't.

Son_in_law to be has just taken down half an ash tree for a friend and we have the bulk of the wood in our back garden (hoping to find someone to buy it off them for some extra pocket money etc).

Yesterday they hand split some of the smaller bits (up to ~ 8" diameter) quite easily and later I bought a couple of the "Wood grenades" as sold by the likes of Screwfix to have a go at some of the larger bits that seemed to shrug off a pretty large splitting maul swung by a fairly fit 22 yr old Tree Surgeon (not this less than fit

After nearly burying two of the grenades (and a 2" bolster) in one fairly large chog with a sledgehammer and with little sign of it either splitting or wanting to give my tools back, I lugged it into the 10 tonne hydraulic press and about 6 tonnes on the grenades seemed to do the trick. ;-)

Anyone know if fairly green ash is particularly hard to split and would one of the Wolf 10 tonne splitters the OP has now gone for do the trick? This chog, only 12" long and about 14" in diameter, once split in half showed a very dark 'V' up the middle? It also seemed very fibrous, not wanting to let go even when actually split in half?

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Oh, and it's way too hot to be doing that sort of thing out there today!

We've got one of the Wolf ones. It's slow, but it does manage to split stuff where a wedge/wood grenade was stuck.

T i m wrote: [snip]

I used to turn "quite a bit" of ash into firewood using a bow saw and splitting wedges. It was an easy task, it's my experience that green ash is particularly easy to split.

Good feedback, thanks.

We / they have more time than money. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Daughter (tree surgeon) had a look at the bit I was battling with just now and she suggests it might be the section of the trunk where it was about to split into two. Therefore, there were all sorts of convolute grain paths running through it that probably go a long way to explain why I had so much trouble (especially considering your experiences etc).

There are probably another 10 similarly sized chogs so it will be interesting to see if they respond similarly.

Cheers, T i m

save those impossible bits for garden seats for a few years, then they might split easier, or bonfire nights or other special outside fires?

Ash is easy to split, it sounds like your bit was from just below a crotch. The art is in crosscutting to avoid knots and forks in the middle of a log. I still have a log processor rusting away somewhere but most of my logs come from one of the tree gangs who just cross cut enough to facilitate getting it into a transit. My rule when splitting by hand is if it takes more than 3 blows I re cut it with a saw.

Despite high prices for logs we still find it best to give arisings away to people who ask, saves having to load it.

AJH