After many years of struggling setting the wood back up to split it again and again i found the perfect fix. We had grandkids😂,lol. It wont last forever,but i bribe 3 of them with snacks and a couple dollars per truckload when theyre at our house
Enjoyed the video. Will show too my wife when she comes home. Yep use steel toed shoes. Bills baseball cap. safety glasses. Carhart gloves with the same holes on the fingers, same fiskars maul but also use the fiskars x27 on smaller easier wood. saves energy and wear and tear. im sure she will get a kick out of it
I’ve never thought about using something smaller for smaller logs. I might get one just to save energy. It may not seem like much but when you split wood for 4 hours every little bit helps.
@@ook-kc8mk I’ve been splitting wood this way for 30 years and it hasn’t happened yet. Physically I’m not even sure how it would happen. But you never know.
Another cheap and useful contraption i've come across: 3ft of bungee cord with a hook attached to one end and 2ft of chain to the other one - put it around your log utilizing the chain to adjust for size and it makes quick work of any log. ✌🏼
@@ALifeofFishing Thank you for the content! It will be exciting and useful. It's very important to maintain the tools in the right way to do the job in the best possible and easiest way.
In all my years splitting wood I've never had anything come off a log and hit me anywhere but my shin and toe. I wear safety glasses when I'm using a hydraulic log splitter or a chainsaw. I guess it's personal preference.
In my case with the maul I just go nowhere - just creating groves on the top of the log. Only wedge and hammer method works for me. My logs are wet pine 17" wide, 20" long. Splitter - heavy Husky. Maybe I just not strong enough or your wood is well seasoned and dry hence easy to split?
Pine can be tough to split sometimes. I put out a second video where I use a chainsaw to create grooves for to wedges then hammer them in with the maul. Makes it easier than trying to hold the wedge and hit it.
Everyone with a hydraulic log splitter should know how to use these tips. Sure the hydraulic one will split, but it is much easier on the machine to split "smart". Split slabs off the sides first; use the cracks in the wood; split crotches from bottom up, etc.
I like the way you described it. I need to get a shorter chopping block. I did see someone use a rubber bungie cord and a piece of chain instead of a tire. Worked the same way but could work on any size log and held it together better.
@EvilMonkey8366 I have heard of that before but never tried it. I use a pickup truck tire because if it's bigger than that I don't want to pick it up anyway.
@EvilMonkey8366 Also if you get a good break on the log the maul will bounce off the tire and you won't have to put as much work into lifting it each time. Sounds trivial but if you cut wood for 4 or 5 hours that can save you a lot of time and energy.
Thank you, sir! This was a concise and informative video for guys like me who haven’t had the need to split wood before. Do you recommend splitting wood before or after it’s seasoned? I’ve started splitting fresh cut wood and noticed it’s a bit “sticky” …
Good question. I usually split it when it is fresh and it seems easier but once it starts to dry it will crack on the ends which gives you places to hit. I am about to go split some wood that was cut last spring so it has started to dry out. For me the most important factor for splitting wood is air temperature. I can split wood all day when it’s cold even if the wood is frozen.
How so? If you do it perfect the maul bounces off the tire a little bit and you won't have to lift it up. Even if you miss the log completely and hit the tire it won't bounce back and hit you
@@ALifeofFishing Google Camel Thorn trees, they are most commonly found in the Northern Cape in South Africa and are trees that grow very slowly, survive for hundreds of years and have extremely hard and tough wood.
I have a Fiskars splitting maul but I never use it because the wood around here is so dense and twisted and has so many knots, it won't do a damn thing. I use a narrow bladed axe with a 7 lb sledge. When the log is split into smaller pieces I use a Fiskars splitting axe; not a maul because it is too heavy and not worth wasting all that energy. I tried using a tire but its not worth it, mainly because the logs are too big to fit and it's a waste of energy lifting a big chunk into a tire and I can split it just fine without a tire. As far as a base is concerned I don't use any because I chainsaw and split the cut logs in the forest where they fall because I live in the Laurentiens and there is no way I can drag logs through the woods because the ground is all granite boulders and rock, and I'm not going to carry a base around because mostly there is no level ground anyway. That nice straight grain wood you have is easy... Here there is almost no straight grain wood. If you lived where I do, you would understand how none of your tips apply here. Also: I'm 76 years old and swinging that maul all day is a bit too much for me
The tire only works on smaller logs. As far as a base goes, I just chainsaw a 6 inch piece off of the trunk and use that. When I have twisted knotted wood that the maul won't split, I cut slits in the log with my chainsaw and put a wedge in there and use the hammer side of the maul. I show that technique in another video. All that being said, I've busted up some very knotty and twisted logs with that maul. I don't use the axe because I prefer taking less swings even though they are harder.
@@ALifeofFishing Each to his own. But as far as I'm concerned; my sledge hammer does a better job because it's more balanced. The Fiskars maul is so top heavy its ridiculous. You spend more energy lifting it than hitting with it. With my 7 lb sledge I can get up more speed than the maul so in my opinion it works just as good as the maul with less energy. Try using it when you're 76 years old and you'll see what I mean.
@@ALifeofFishing I wear a round hat with a mosquito net on top of it for when the bugs come out. A cap doesn't work because the bill gets in the way of lowering the netting when I need it. Up here in the Quebec Laurentiens we have black flies, horse flies and mosquitos. I carry a can of insect repellent all the time and spray around my neck and head and around my pant bottoms when they get active... They creep up my socks 6 inches and bite me if I let them. The cap's fine for you; not me.
Hardly ever. I get it sharp when I buy it then sharpen it about once a year after that. I just use a grinding wheel but I'm not sure if putting an edge on it makes much of a difference.
