For those of you who split wood by hand
 

The other day I was splitting and I got tierd of bending over and picking up the wood after splitting it. Sometimes it would fly off in different directions. After taking a beer break and thinking about it I came up with this
[IMG]http://tomatoville.com/picture.php?albumid=245&pictureid=1346[/IMG]

I took the biggest log I had and and first just tried screwing the 2x4 s to it but they wouldn't stay on. and there just wasn't enough room. And after another beer break I came up with that. Screwed the 2x4s to some pieces of 6x6s and then strapped them to the jog. That worked OK. But the pieces would sometimes fly between the 2x4s. Hmmm... Beer break. Then I came up with the plywood Idea.Not only did it stop the pieces from fling everywhere it helped hold the 2x4s in place. One thing I am going to add to it is another upright. I was out of 2x4s. I was able to get a lot of wood split that day. About 4hours worth! slept good that night.

Very creative. I'm sure the beer breaks must have helped.

Do you use a splitting maul or an axe?
I always used the maul to snatch the wood and pull it back upright for the next split.
Are you sure that with all of that beer you aren't seeing more wood than there really is.:)):P:P

Worth

I use to use an ax but A 8 lb Maul makes quick work of it. I still use an ax to spit it into smaller pieces when necessary. My pieces of wood are usually pretty big and an ax just wouldn't "cut" it.:lol:
A picture of my wood shed. 8'wide 5'deep with 3 courses of wood in it
[IMG]http://tomatoville.com/picture.php?albumid=245&pictureid=1347[/IMG]

Gotta "split now" See ya later...

I have set the wood pieces inside an old four wheeler tire and then split it.
12-12x24 riding mower tires work really well for most pieces of wood.

Ken

For those of you who think best after a few beers :]
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGH4XKNULU[/url]

i have split wood using an eight and six pound maul. talk about warming you twice.
now i use a wood splitter i bought for $200.00 my neighbors brother died, recently, and her son called, and asked if i wanted his uncles wood splitter. i thought it over for maybe 2 seconds, and said sure do!!

keith

All I can say is you have a lot more energy than I have. After felling the limbs and trees and then cutting them up and hauling them up to the shed, I have to unload them into a nice pile. Later I have to split them with my gas-powered jobbie and move them into the wood shed and stack them again. When I need to use them, they get loaded again into a cart and brought to the back deck. I'm thankful that Eli Whitney invented the log splitter.

They say that firewood heats twice. Not always so. For me it heats half a dozen times. It is one reason that I can keep my weight down to 220lbs. :))

[URL=http://s149.photobucket.com/user/troutsqueezer/media/DCB0000802_zpsa7172903.jpg.html][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s68/troutsqueezer/DCB0000802_zpsa7172903.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[QUOTE=henry;395107]For those of you who think best after a few beers :]
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGH4XKNULU[/URL][/QUOTE]

I never could understand why people split it up so small it burns up to fast.
Mind you guys I was raised in the Mo Ozarks and south eastern Oklahoma where it gets cold.
We had a huge wood furnace in Mo.

Worth

[QUOTE=Tom A To;395112]All I can say is you have a lot more energy than I have. After felling the limbs and trees and then cutting them up and hauling them up to the shed, I have to unload them into a nice pile. Later I have to split them with my gas-powered jobbie and move them into the wood shed and stack them again. When I need to use them, they get loaded again into a cart and brought to the back deck. I'm thankful that Eli Whitney invented the log splitter.

They say that firewood heats twice. Not always so. For me it heats half a dozen times. It is one reason that I can keep my weight down to 220lbs. :))

[URL="http://s149.photobucket.com/user/troutsqueezer/media/DCB0000802_zpsa7172903.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s68/troutsqueezer/DCB0000802_zpsa7172903.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE]

I like to do stuff by hand as much as I can as long as I will be able to do it.
It helps keep me in shape.

But I am so happy I bought a dump trailer for may lawn tractor.
Hauling dirt in a bucket was getting ridiculous. :no:

Worth

[QUOTE=henry;395107]For those of you who think best after a few beers :]
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGGH4XKNULU[/URL][/QUOTE]

I want to see him split some wood that's actually hard to split and not just some soft maple with it.


Some good oak for instance. I've tried splitting some some popular and willow that you couldn't split with a wood splitter. I ended up chain sawing it into pieces.

[QUOTE=Doug9345;395130]I want to see him split some wood that's actually hard to split and not jus tsome soft maple with it.


Some good oak for instance. I've tried splitting some some popular and willow that you couldn't split with a wood splitter. I ended up chain sawing it into pieces.[/QUOTE]

I agree, that wood was stupid easy.
Turn him loose on some live oak.


Worth

I could quote each of you but I will just reply..
Ken Yeah a tire is the same principle. and you can awing all the way around with out worrying about your handle.. nice tip!

Henry, yeah that would never work with oak and hickory. but kinda neat!

Keith... Wow! you got a hell of a deal with that. hope you at least sent flowers to the the funeral...

Tom.. firewood heats you a lot more then twice, you cut, you load, you unload, you split, you pickup and stack, you carry to fire, then it keeps you warm:lol:. and nice wood shed, good thing mine ain't that big. I would get carried away with cutting wood. A full shed is A happy shed..

Worth, I just have a little wood stove in garage that's why I split mine up. I got it off my Grandpas farm before the place was sold. As far as anyone can remember it is over 60 years old. Never had any work done to to
[IMG]http://tomatoville.com/picture.php?albumid=245&pictureid=1348[/IMG]

But yeah some people do split it up to small. 3 of my brothers have the outside furnaces and heat water. they only split it down far enough to where it fits in the door.

Doug...Been there done that with some elm.. aint no splitting that!

you need different size pieces depending upon the temperature, whether it's sunny or cloudy or night. you can't burn large over night pieces without generating a lot of heat so smaller stuff is good. i have a few different piles in the woodshed, i add to them as i dig thru the wood. small to medium stuff will be good in another 2 weeks. in the day i am letting the fire go out especially if it is sunny. if it's 20 and full sun i can let the stove go out, i have a lot of large south facing windows, practically an entire wall.

basically you need 3 sizes small, medium and large. you can make them smaller but not larger so i try not to make small stuff when splitting the really big wood, as i come across it i set it aside. initially you have a hard time doing this and just dig thru the pile but once you have space freed up it's easy to have a small and medium pile in a woodshed.

tom

[QUOTE=tjg911;395206]you need different size pieces depending upon the temperature, whether it's sunny or cloudy or night. you can't burn large over night pieces without generating a lot of heat so smaller stuff is good. i have a few different piles in the woodshed, i add to them as i dig thru the wood. small to medium stuff will be good in another 2 weeks. in the day i am letting the fire go out especially if it is sunny. if it's 20 and full sun i can let the stove go out, i have a lot of large south facing windows, practically an entire wall.

basically you need 3 sizes small, medium and large. you can make them smaller but not larger so i try not to make small stuff when splitting the really big wood, as i come across it i set it aside. initially you have a hard time doing this and just dig thru the pile but once you have space freed up it's easy to have a small and medium pile in a woodshed.

tom[/QUOTE]

Yes. I use small pieces to heat the house up faster in the morning. Later I will add larger pieces to last thru the day. I also split to three sizes.

I agree with both of you, depending on how long you are going to be up that's the size of the wood you need...Did I just say that?:goofy:

time for another beer break
[IMG]http://www.stfimages.com/images/2014/03/03/zMqWL.gif[/IMG]

There are several reasons that I've split wood on the small size besides the one mentioned. One is my hands are realitively small which means I cut a lot of wood smaller to make it easier to handle. I could also pack it tighter into the furnace. Another was if I ended up putting some wood in late. If I knew I was going to use it in 3 months then it was split finer and put nearer the furnace to that I could get it to season faster. When he have a big old piece that is simply too much work to get smaller you need to be able to put wood next to it to ge tit to burn.

Gee whiz Dennis,

Are you letting your wife off of taking care of these tasks?

You are getting soft, buddy.

Charley




[QUOTE=Tom A To;395112]All I can say is you have a lot more energy than I have. After felling the limbs and trees and then cutting them up and hauling them up to the shed, I have to unload them into a nice pile. Later I have to split them with my gas-powered jobbie and move them into the wood shed and stack them again. When I need to use them, they get loaded again into a cart and brought to the back deck. I'm thankful that Eli Whitney invented the log splitter.

They say that firewood heats twice. Not always so. For me it heats half a dozen times. It is one reason that I can keep my weight down to 220lbs. :))

[URL="http://s149.photobucket.com/user/troutsqueezer/media/DCB0000802_zpsa7172903.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s68/troutsqueezer/DCB0000802_zpsa7172903.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE]

I just know I had a friend that rented a log splitter.
Him and his buddy got carried away and split up a giant pin oak into kindling.
Not one piece was bigger than about 2 inches.:no:
Stuff burned up like hay.

Worth

[QUOTE=Salsacharley;395307]Gee whiz Dennis,

Are you letting your wife off of taking care of these tasks?

You are getting soft, buddy.

Charley[/QUOTE]

You know, Charley... I try not to work her too hard. She has other chores that need to be done and we can't let those slide. For one thing, she has to take of our growing dog, Max. You don't think I'm gonna pick up dog poop from this guy, do ya?

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Also, since our kid moved out 15 years ago, I decided it was time for her to have a new baby. That's a little work (but not much).

[URL=http://s149.photobucket.com/user/troutsqueezer/media/DSC00304_zpsab6da883.jpg.html][IMG]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s68/troutsqueezer/DSC00304_zpsab6da883.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Oh wait, that looks like our grandchild... :oops:

Wow! you don't want that dog raising his leg on you!:yes::))
Was there alcohol involved in that? Or Did the never use one before and they were playing with a new toy? Or both?

i try to select vs split! i do split the really large stuff that would be hard to fit into the stove usually into 2 pieces.

i get a good selection of all sizes so i just start setting them into 2 or 3 different piles as we get into latter january. soon those 2 medium and small piles will be handy. i don't mind splitting wood in fact i like it but when it is 50 degrees and sunny in late march or april splitting is not as much fun as now.

tom

splitting with a maul is easy ..i use beer too to lubricate my swing muscles:)) just a thought and sorry if i might be a bit off topic but, feel this is important note.. I recommend professional chimney sweeping from my experience.. I enjoy burning wood too.. but soot cause fires this season I burned about 2 cords of seasoned oak and had to clean more because of soot ash buildup.. I highly recommend professional installation as well as flue/stove maintenance ,, by code..use a class A stainless steel (insulated double lined flu kit) and I clean my stack using the recommended wire size brush with a set of rods .. i don't like the thought of chimney fires so I sweep and vac .. cleaning everything every month during the burn season.. I even change the register cap about twice a season when i feel it is time to give the dirty one a bath and good wire brush..(i have two so when one gets too creo'd i swap them) I also cool off my stove before taking the top off and check for chimney ash (dutchwest vermont castings) and shop vac where the damper meets the bottom flu collar. But wood splitting is fun..I think of the bad people and pretend I'm chopping..oh nevermind.. i won't there:twisted:

So your telling me my homemade chimney made out of coffee cans and duct tape isn't good enough?:(

Worth

I agree about small pieces burning quickly. In Wyoming, wood was either cottonwood which burns slow and hot but man, does it make ash fast, or pine which is another name for burns up right before your eyes! We had a hydraulic splitter and only ever split the most gigantic pieces. Our stove had a 42" opening and could hold a 4 foot log. Of course, one had to lift the dang heavy stuff and get it in there! NMJ (Not Mary's Job!)

Tom...I love your mato avatar! (I think I grew that variety once...hmmmmm)

[QUOTE=brokenbar;396725]Tom...I love your mato avatar! (I think I grew that variety once...hmmmmm)[/QUOTE]

Thanks! It's a little cheerier than Jicarilla the Nez Perce guy. I don't think Native Americans grew tomatoes, did they?

It reminds me of the little tomato chap in the Tomatoville header. Does he have a name?

Hey! It's eerily similar to your avatar!

I saw a similar idea on a youtube video. They were just wrapping the bungee around the log itself. I think it looked easy in the video because they had very dry wood that was very easy to split.

I burned wood to heat my greenhouse the past two springs. I am going to try going without it this spring, and just starting a little later. It's too much work.

I had some good fires, though, this old furnace has a blower on it that makes a huge difference:
[URL]http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x252/dotheopposite/0227122016_zps32c604e5.jpg[/URL]

[QUOTE=Tom A To;396730]Thanks! It's a little cheerier than Jicarilla the Nez Perce guy. I don't think Native Americans grew tomatoes, did they?

It reminds me of the little tomato chap in the Tomatoville header. Does he have a name?

[COLOR=Red]Hey! It's eerily similar to your avatar[/COLOR]![/QUOTE]

Yeah I find this creepy.
I thought Mary was talking to herself.:?

Worth

[QUOTE=Tom A To;396730]Thanks! It's a little cheerier than Jicarilla the Nez Perce guy. I don't think Native Americans grew tomatoes, did they?

It reminds me of the little tomato chap in the Tomatoville header. Does he have a name?

Hey! It's eerily similar to your avatar![/QUOTE]
I think I read someplace that the Tribes in So Cal, AZ, TX near the Mex border did grow tomatoes...little cherry dudes that they ground up with Ahi (a kind of chili pepper) and made a spicy sauce.