Discussion
I have an absolute load of wood to split and chop up. All oak and chestnut from my parents' house.
This looks like hard work, but at least my wood stoves will be fuelled for winter when civilisation ends after this pandemic. Worth hiring someone with the right equipment? And what is that? This does not look like a chainsaw job, and as I am a novice, I don't fancy that anyway. I like my limbs attached.
Pic below. Note shoe for scale. The shed behind is full as well, mercifully of smaller logs already cut to 400mm lengths. Oh, and this is one of five similar piles.
20200617_154857 by baconrashers, on Flickr
This looks like hard work, but at least my wood stoves will be fuelled for winter when civilisation ends after this pandemic. Worth hiring someone with the right equipment? And what is that? This does not look like a chainsaw job, and as I am a novice, I don't fancy that anyway. I like my limbs attached.
Pic below. Note shoe for scale. The shed behind is full as well, mercifully of smaller logs already cut to 400mm lengths. Oh, and this is one of five similar piles.
20200617_154857 by baconrashers, on FlickrHave bought myself two mauls - a Fiskars 8lb Isocore for the really big rounds, and a Fiskars X25 for splitting down the smaller stuff. Not cheap, but were in a 30% off sale, so...well, man-maths.
Bought a set of log jaws for my old workmate bench so that I can manually shorten split logs with an old bowsaw I have, or my reciprocating saw if I am feeling lazy.
I am staying well away from chainsaws. An experienced friend came over to show me the ropes and it showed me that I lack the training to really be safe. I know a maul can be dangerous but frankly with controlled overhead swings (and my old and trusty armoured rigger boots) it feels fine and I like the learning of a new skill re accuray etc. My Dad's old Stihl has gone back into the garage until I can get some training - even then it is not the rigt tool for this particular job.
But as many of you have said, I am actually enjoying the exercise, and splitting wood is incredibly cathartic - I have a high-pressure job that does not involve physical labour. Physical labour where you really need to concentrate on the job at hand (unlike, say, going for a run where your mind has time to freewheel) is an absolute tonic after a day of crises, difficult clients and leading a bunch of people remotely.
The advice on this thread to buy an axe was spot-on. In typical PH style, I went a bit nuts on kit. Even have a wood grenade and new hammer to drive it. I just need to set up a proper chopping block at my place in London. Parents' house has an excellent oak stump still in the ground for this.
IMG_20200711_180758 by baconrashers, on Flickr
Bought a set of log jaws for my old workmate bench so that I can manually shorten split logs with an old bowsaw I have, or my reciprocating saw if I am feeling lazy.
I am staying well away from chainsaws. An experienced friend came over to show me the ropes and it showed me that I lack the training to really be safe. I know a maul can be dangerous but frankly with controlled overhead swings (and my old and trusty armoured rigger boots) it feels fine and I like the learning of a new skill re accuray etc. My Dad's old Stihl has gone back into the garage until I can get some training - even then it is not the rigt tool for this particular job.
But as many of you have said, I am actually enjoying the exercise, and splitting wood is incredibly cathartic - I have a high-pressure job that does not involve physical labour. Physical labour where you really need to concentrate on the job at hand (unlike, say, going for a run where your mind has time to freewheel) is an absolute tonic after a day of crises, difficult clients and leading a bunch of people remotely.
The advice on this thread to buy an axe was spot-on. In typical PH style, I went a bit nuts on kit. Even have a wood grenade and new hammer to drive it. I just need to set up a proper chopping block at my place in London. Parents' house has an excellent oak stump still in the ground for this.
IMG_20200711_180758 by baconrashers, on FlickrEdited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 11th July 20:10
jagnet said:
The Fiskars X25 or X27 alone will deal with those but team the splitting axe with the Fiskars 8lb Builder's Axe to quarter larger, more stubborn rounds first and you'll get through them even faster. You can then get the correct splitting axe for your arm length and strength rather than go straight for the X27 because it's bigger than the others.
How to choose the right sized Fiskars axe video.
The Builder's Axe is all about brute force and isolates shock incredibly well. The splitting axe is more about precision. You could do the whole job with either but with both to hand it's a much more satisfying task.
I followed this advice precisely, in fact!How to choose the right sized Fiskars axe video.
The Builder's Axe is all about brute force and isolates shock incredibly well. The splitting axe is more about precision. You could do the whole job with either but with both to hand it's a much more satisfying task.
This may be the most addictive physical exercise I have ever found (and I used to box, which I thought was pretty habit-forming). The combination of:
- requirement for concentration, meaning that your mind doesn't have time to wander
- the need to constantly adapt to changing circumstances
- the need for kit (man motivation)
- the breaking of stuff
makes this very good fun. Today I filled my car (not that exciting - it's a Mercedes CLS estate, so hardly proper sized) with several hours of work. The splitting took surprisingly little time (a couple of hours, and I suspect I will get faster) - carting it to and stacking the car and unloading at the other end took a while too.
The chopping block - perfect height. The knackered tyre (from a 21 inch wheeled SUV) meant that I could destroy whole oak rounds without bits going everywhere.
IMG_20200802_124810 by baconrashers, on Flickr
IMG_20200802_141112 by baconrashers, on Flickr
The 8lb maul. This thing is absolutely amazing, dealing with even weirdly twisted grain.
IMG_20200802_125325 by baconrashers, on Flickr
IMG_20200802_150011 by baconrashers, on Flickr
This pile of wood (one of several) looked exactly the same after filling the car and all the footwells with logs. Lots of fun left to have!
IMG_20200802_150735 by baconrashers, on Flickr
IMG_20200802_150723 by baconrashers, on Flickr
IMG_20200802_182220 by baconrashers, on Flickr
I am knackered, and suspect that I will hurt all over tomorrow despite doing plenty of old man stretching and warming up/down before and afterwards.
- requirement for concentration, meaning that your mind doesn't have time to wander
- the need to constantly adapt to changing circumstances
- the need for kit (man motivation)
- the breaking of stuff
makes this very good fun. Today I filled my car (not that exciting - it's a Mercedes CLS estate, so hardly proper sized) with several hours of work. The splitting took surprisingly little time (a couple of hours, and I suspect I will get faster) - carting it to and stacking the car and unloading at the other end took a while too.
The chopping block - perfect height. The knackered tyre (from a 21 inch wheeled SUV) meant that I could destroy whole oak rounds without bits going everywhere.
IMG_20200802_124810 by baconrashers, on FlickrIMG_20200802_141112 by baconrashers, on FlickrThe 8lb maul. This thing is absolutely amazing, dealing with even weirdly twisted grain.
IMG_20200802_125325 by baconrashers, on FlickrIMG_20200802_150011 by baconrashers, on FlickrThis pile of wood (one of several) looked exactly the same after filling the car and all the footwells with logs. Lots of fun left to have!
IMG_20200802_150735 by baconrashers, on FlickrIMG_20200802_150723 by baconrashers, on FlickrIMG_20200802_182220 by baconrashers, on FlickrI am knackered, and suspect that I will hurt all over tomorrow despite doing plenty of old man stretching and warming up/down before and afterwards.
Edited by Harry Flashman on Sunday 2nd August 22:33
I have so much left to do. Have several cubic metres of split logs and the pile of rounds doesn't look any smaller.
Totally addictive exercise though, so no bad thing!
Haven't even started cutting these down, but at least they are well seasoned already. Chopped up branches, been under cover for years and are bone dry.
Totally addictive exercise though, so no bad thing!
Haven't even started cutting these down, but at least they are well seasoned already. Chopped up branches, been under cover for years and are bone dry.
S6PNJ said:
ATG said:
S6PNJ said:
IMy house heating is biomass so I need to process my wood for burning and store/season about 20m3 per year.
I'd be very interested to hear about your setup, if you don't mind? Are you using a log burner to dump heat into a thermal reservoir, then using a heat exchanger to run radiators? What kind of trees are in your woods and is extracting 20m3/pa sustainable from 4 acres over the long term?On the hydraulic splitter thing, if I had to split all of that wood in one sitting, I would go for it. I enjoy using the axes, and a few hours work gets me a couple of cubic metres of wood each time. However the longest part of the job is transporting and stacking, not splitting. It's fatigue that would get to me. Swinging an 8lb maul on oak is tiring after a while.
As for splitting green wood, never tried it - the stuff I am going at is either seasoned or rotted! Frankly, on the seasoned oak, the pieces with twisted grain take a lot of effort. The maul makes that easier - the small axe is not powerful enough.
But the properly dried, seasoned stuff in the shed, mostly birch, splits really easily. I guess a lot depends on the wood and the grain.
As for splitting green wood, never tried it - the stuff I am going at is either seasoned or rotted! Frankly, on the seasoned oak, the pieces with twisted grain take a lot of effort. The maul makes that easier - the small axe is not powerful enough.
But the properly dried, seasoned stuff in the shed, mostly birch, splits really easily. I guess a lot depends on the wood and the grain.
Do you chaps think a little electric chainsaw could be useful for shortening split logs, including seasoned ones? Something like this (picked as I use the battery system on other tools). I have a little stove that can only take 200cm pieces, as well as the larger one. Most of my timber is about 400mm long.
Don't want to use a noisy petrol saw at my place in town, and also this looks a nit less lethal. Obviously will still use protection etc.
https://www.sgs-engineering.com/ryobi-ocs1830-one-...
Don't want to use a noisy petrol saw at my place in town, and also this looks a nit less lethal. Obviously will still use protection etc.
https://www.sgs-engineering.com/ryobi-ocs1830-one-...
paralla said:
Harry Flashman said:
HarryI keep a sheet of £3 Corex folded up underneath the floor of my Golf R Estate for when I have wood. You need some protection!
Thankfully it did not come with the extremely expensive and totally impractical polished teak boot lining...
guindilias said:
Harry's garden is tiny and communal, all council flats in London are the same. Just an outhouse and a fire pit, and he has to take the lift down 12 floors to get to it. A couple of 4-way extension leads daisychained should do the trick. 
So true. Most of the time, we're just burning rubbish in oil drums. The odd log is a luxury, I tell you. Gets the spoon hot enough for a decent hit.
Chaps, any tips on seasoning?
My big stove seems to cope with wood that has been sitting in a shed, logged but unsplit until recently, well. It also burns oak that has been outside, uncovered and unsplit until recently, well.
However, the little stove simply will not burn either of these properly. It is absolutely fine with kiln dried wood that I bought.
So I think that actually, all my garden wood needs yet more seasoning, even though it has been lying around for ages and the moisture meter says it is dry enough...
My big stove seems to cope with wood that has been sitting in a shed, logged but unsplit until recently, well. It also burns oak that has been outside, uncovered and unsplit until recently, well.
However, the little stove simply will not burn either of these properly. It is absolutely fine with kiln dried wood that I bought.
So I think that actually, all my garden wood needs yet more seasoning, even though it has been lying around for ages and the moisture meter says it is dry enough...
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