Hand splitting green wood...

[yellomalibu]

I just scored a couple pickup truck loads of freshly cut oak for free... they even dropped it off in my back yard for me.

I figured if I can get it split in the next couple weeks, stack it up in the sun, it should be acceptable to burn by February on the infield of Daytona. (not idea, but acceptable, I know)

The problem is these are HUGE pieces of oak; like three feet across and two feet tall. My 8 lb maul that looks exactly like this one below just bounces off no matter how hard I swing or how many times I hit the same spot.



Is there a better maul for sticking in green wood?

Is this kind better for my need?



... or do I just have to wait for the wood to dry and crack a bit?
I'm pretty sure the pieces are too heavy to put on a hydraulic splitter... not that I could lift them anyway.

[truckpuller]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

you need a wedge and an 8 pound sledge at least.

If you were closer i would let you borrow my splitter, it will split anything except for a hedge post crossways.

[yellomalibu]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

I've got a 16 lb sledge, and I can swing it overhead pretty well ... so once I get the maul to stick, I CAN split it... but the maul just bounces off.

Perhaps I'll try to see if I can get the wedge to stick by tapping it with the 16 pounder.

[Thumpin455]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

HA! NOOB. Take off the edges first, dont try to go right down the middle of it right away, it wont happen. Knock some corners into it and then work on those. If it werent for 30 face cords of wood every winter I would die of hypothermia. Figure out how big of a pile that is sometime...

Oh and how you swing the maul is everything, you need to get that thing moving fast and follow through as if you are trying to stick the edge into the ground, not into the wood, aim beyond the wood. Breathe through your eyelids and it will be easy.

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

first off OAK FOR FIRE WOOD!?!?! :'( at least tell me it is red oak

2nd if you must do it "by hand" 455 has some great tips gotta skin it down from the edges and power through the initial contact point

[joe_rocket45]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

around here most everybody uses oak?

anyways look into a Monster Maul (or the equivalent)

[BluLightning]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

Why not just spend $40 to rent a splitter for a day? I did 5 truckloads in one day.

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

around here most everybody uses oak?

ya ya I know, they do here too. burn anything and everything. I get looked at sideways all the time for wanting to build something useful with quality hardwood.

Not a slam on anyone.......I've always been little different I guess ;)

[joe_rocket45]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

personally i burn EVERYTHING (except ever greens) but if it's not oak people won't buy it. many woods leave a LOT of ash behind, and other create a LOT of soot and creosote (which leads to chimney fires). Oak burns almost completely up and doesn't have much creosote (the fruit trees like mulberry with a lot of sugar content are really bad about it).

Probably the best wood I have ever burned was a standing dead Dogwood tree, it was super clean b/c the bark peeled off and super dense so it burned long and hot, not to mention it left virtually no ash behind.

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

I hear ya joe. When I grew up we used wood for 70% of our heat.

It was MY job to clean the ashes and chimney. We mostly burned junk wood because my step dad was a wood worker/carpenter. we saved all cherry,hard maple,walnut,and oak that we could use and burned the rest.

Since I had to clean up the mess, it was a baaaaad thing not to burn the junk ;D


Now a days my only fires are outdoors in the fire pit, or cleaning up brush piles



Sorry for the hijack

[kyhunter89]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

we burn everything except pine and cedar. anybody ever notice there's always ricked wood in the background of my pics?

yellowbu- i think you need a even blunter mile. miles a 2" pipe with the head welded on... i've never seen another one like it, i'll try to get a pic.
start at the edges and learn to read the grain

[milner351]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

rent a splitter for a day - amazing how much you can mow through - watch your lower back.

I even burned black walnut! DWB is likely now in convulsions on the floor.


Trees for lumber are difficult - you have to have access to a sawmill - and the trunk has to be straight and not have many branches coming from it.

I tried to sell the black walnut for lumber - nobody wanted it. Sure smelled nice and burned nice!

I try to only get trees that are already dead and fallen - lots of ash around here that way thanks to the emerald ash borer that mowed down thousands of trees in this area the last several years.

I am totally committed to heating with wood - now more than ever since we have a neighbor trying to shut me down.... I have a bumper sticker that reads "real men heat with wood". ;D

[Thumpin455]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

All my heat comes from wood, and I only burn hardwoods. Pine and cedar doesnt put out enough heat and it is gone in minutes. If you are burning that stuff it isnt cold where you live, or you have alternate ways to heat and the wood is for ambiance. I have to start getting it this year, usually I start in July or August so its done in October when I have the fire going all day. Around here wood is cheaper, propane would cost me $900 a month to keep this place at 55F, the wood does it for $1000 a year and the house is usually over 75F. Nothing like wood heat on the ol knees when the fronts come through and make it hard to walk.

I like 2'x2' logs for my burner, the only time I split them now is when they are too big to fit in there, or I need some kindling to get it rolling again.

[yellomalibu]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

I helped a buddy cut down a fruitless mulberry when I was a teenager. I kept the wood, I'll burn anything and not put enough insurance on it. Well, I'm all impatient and start trying to split this junk right away because I've got fence boards to start the coal bed and once it's hot enough, you can burn just about anything. Anyway, the trunk is like 2.5-3 feet diameter and I'm trying to split it with a maul and wedges. The reason I'd stay away from the center even if you could get it to take is... I buried 3 wedges and had to borrow one from same buddy's dad before it finally split and gimme back my damn wedges. Figures... : 8)

Alright, good info.

FWIW, I started on a log that was already halved by their chainsaw and was only trying to get a 6" chunk off one edge.

I know what a cord is, I know what a face cord is. I haven't split 80 face cords in my life, but I've split enough to get the confidence and ability to swing a 16lb sledgehammer over my head at the maul... just never attacked pieces this big or this fresh. This tree was still healthy and standing tuesday morning.

I asked why anyone would cut down such a great looking, healthy, shade giving live oak... they had 6" roots in their septic tank and the drainfield was clogged with similar roots.

This is camping wood. The cooker is the bottom half of a 55 gallon drum on a stand with a grate inside and a grill that goes on top for cooking. When it's not being used as a cooker, it's the campfire. We go through about a cord of wood in 5 days on the infield of Daytona in February; it burns 24/7. A cord of oak leaves about 6" of ash in the bottom of a 55 gallon drum.

[yellomalibu]

Re: Hand splitting green wood...

Why not just spend $40 to rent a splitter for a day? I did 5 truckloads in one day.

I called the local rental place... they wanted $75 for a half day to rent their vertical log splitter... F that!

A neighbor suggested using my circular saw to cut a kerf for the maul/ wedge to start in... it worked, I'm over half way done, now... had to take a week off from working at it due to a sinus infection that kicked my butt...

Here's the score:



Here's what it looks like after splitting off a chunk using the circular saw to get the maul started:



The sledge now has a fiberglass handle like the maul... even though I didn't miss, the hickory handle broke after a bit of beating on the maul. For $15, I'll never consider using a wood replacement handle.

It really is a shame this wood is being used for firewood... that wavy grain is beautiful (I took my hand plane to a piece just to see what it would look like)