I have an enormous pile (probably one cord) of very large chunks of wood that I need to split into small logs for a wood stove.
Given that I have no experience, equipment, or help, am I better off:
A) spending $100 bucks to rent a gas powered splitter and spend an entire day splitting (actually, I’m not sure how long it would even take)
B) spending $125 for a “smart splitter” device…see here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74mlHNA6i20&feature=related
or C) ******* it up and swinging an axe (a maul, actually)
Time and cash are of the essence. Oh, and I’m lazy as hell.
What is the path of least resistance?
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I split about 3 cords a year. I do mine the old fashioned way- with a maul. That said, a lot depends on the quality of your wood. If you have logs that are larger, 18 inches or larger they can be tough to split, as can wood with knots and crotches. If you have tough wood you should aim towards a gas splitter.
Forget the smart splitter! The only thing it will split good is your shins when it launches wood at them.
Try a maul on a couple chunks to see if you are able to split them. It can be hard work. Some times you may also have to use wedges and a sledge hammer.
Mark
i would go with (A. if your lazy, it will save you a lot of time. call some of your buddys tell them
you got a 30 pack and a wood splitter im shure thay will come right over, it will be done in no time.
get a gas powered splitter and find one other person the job goes a lot faster and smother with two people
I’d **** it up and use the maul, and you may find a sturdy metal splitting wedge very useful also. Don’t buy a plastic one, waste of money. I’m not very fast at splitting wood and I recently split about 1/4 cord from rounds of tree in a couple of hours on a day when I wasn’t feeling like working too hard and spent quite a bit of time gazing at the sky in between splitting and stacking. Unless your wood is extremely knotty or otherwise tough to split, I’d say that hand splitting is faster than fooling around with a gas powered splitter especially if you have to go get it and return it and make a special trip to get a can of gas and if you’re working by yourself. More peaceful too.
The smart splitter looks interesting but speaking for myself, I think I’d have very sore hands and wrists after a day of using that. Swinging a maul all day would work better for me.
you will only kill yourself once then after that you will not need any wood