How To Split Firewood Smarter... A Better Idea For The Hydraulic Splitter 

One extra tip. I notice many folks toss their freshly split wood onto the ground and later have to pick it up (backbreaking) to take to the wood pile or indoors. Have a trailer or wheelbarrow right there and toss the split wood directly into that for moving. It seems a very small step but adds up when you're doing a lot of wood as we do in our 70's.

Thank you for not making this a 15 minute video like a lot of creators would.

I cut wood flat like that for years AFTER I bought my log splitter. The flat cut makes for better kindling, too. I would suggest that everyone to buy a 22 to 28 ton log splitter. I burned 6 to 10 cord of wood per year when I lived in Alaska for 50 years all hand split. Now my shoulders are ruined and I need shoulder surgery on both shoulders ... for pain reduction as they are too worn out to fix. This is what happens when you think you are stronger and tougher than you actually are. (And I was plenty tough). Save your body for times when you have to slit by hand (like no gasoline availability).

My co-worker and I run a wood yard alongside our tree cutting service, and we’ve been doing it like this for years now, simply because it’s easier for the customer to stack the wood… and they love it!

I love it. The thinner the cross section, the faster it dries. That and easy to stack is a winner. Thanks.

Great vid, I’m 19 and I’ve been splitting wood and bucking it for a good 4 years now, and I have to say, this will help me for so many years to come!

One concern with splitting flat is drying while stacked. The airflow between logs helps dry it for burning. As long as you don't stack too tight, flat is nice.

When I had a wood burning fireplace, I split it into slabs just like you. I found that they burned better in the fireplace. I could stand two up parallel and get a fire going in-between them faster, since they were reflecting the heat back on each other. It was a vast improvement.

I like your idea. I've been cutting/splitting wood by hand for 45 years. Of course, with an ax or maul, its easier to split quarters because the half-piece presents an easier target. Seems to me it would be more difficult to split halves in half manually. But, in a hydraulic splitter, your method make much more sense.

Bark on every piece with conventional splits slows drying because the under side of the bark is almost always trapping moisture, especially if your piles are not always covered. Your flat method still has bark on the pieces but the pieces with the most bark are thinner than conventional triangle pieces. As long as you have access to a powerful hydraulic splitter, your method seems pretty solid.

Good for you. Seen this just before I bought my 25 ton splitter. Done all the larger rounds that way. I like it

Now at 70 years and arthritic wrists from wielding an axe for sixty of them, I decided to build myself a system that would enable me to go down into the woods, pull out a tree, cut it with a small Stihl electric saw and split with a box wedge splitter into one ton crates, stacked loose in an open front shed to dry for a year. Bring the box up to my house and the first time I do any lifting myself is when I take a log out of the box and five steps to the stove. The box wedge splits into four pieces, adjustable but in my case 4"x4"x16". There is a bit of debris which we use to start the fire. Covid lockdowns gave me the time to find all the scrap metal I had around the farm yard and develop a system arong our old Telescopic handler which has now done 12,000 hours. It cost $7000 dollars ten years ago and I could not do arb work without it. It also has an old muck grab which is good for logs as well as collecting brash. It has a 2.7 ton lift with the pallet forks. Also a 2 cubic metre grain bucket. These are early videos and I have done a few more modifications since., mainly with the log lift to replace the crowd and tip idea which would work well with your straight lengths of pine but we have mainly Ash and Sycamore which are never straight! Boxwedge splitter at work, bits and pieces fall through the tines now into a small bag for kindling ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u04z8B0Domc.html Lockdown splitter ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jccwWiVY4C4.html

For simplicity, I call them pancake style. I can stack them in my wood stove. I’m in NM and it only takes one summer to dry. I found out pancake stack in the stove ( with low air) can almost last all night. We have a lack of hardwood here, so I use Mulberry. ( very hard wood with good BTU’s.). Flat is where it’s at. I used my splitter till I was 72. Got difficult to carry around those pieces. Also did them vertical. Much easier to sit and split, then grabbing another round to slide over and split. Good to see this. ( thought I was the only one!) lol!

Been doing that for years. Works well!

I been doing this for years, it dries by inches from the surface, this is the best way to split wood.

If you put a platform on side of the splitter , you can stage logs and put the unsplit sections on it while working each log. Saves the back. Less repicking up of partial splits. Also having a bin or barrow to catch the splits. I made a bunch of little sheds out of used pallets that I can move with my tractor. The pallet shed is set down at an angle on the operator side. The table feeds log form the opposite side.

Great Idea! I have done the same for years. My fire place can handle 21” wood (3.4cu ft) and when layered with “handy wood” you can really fill it with ease. I believe it dries better and when it comes to splitting kindling it’s quick and easy. 👍. Good job on the video!

THAT’S GREAT‼️ And you deserve a thumbs up for that idea‼️‼️

I always cut the triangular pieces with my hydraulic wood splitter. Had a friend come over and he was splitting as you showed in this video. I now do half triangular and half your way. I will split the pieces even thinner to make great kindling to start the fire. It does help getting air to the wood to dry by splitting both ways. Thanks!!

Grew u a lot like you , I learned early on a chainsaw splits the tough ones easily! But we had a pile of tough ones we called the mad pile , when we needed to work out things we went to the mad pile with a maul ! 😆😆😆

I came up with the same thing. It stacks better and fills the stove for the night much better. Also for me it seems the whole process is faster, coming and going to the stove. A win all the way around. I have shown a couple of neighbors the process and they are using it now.

Yup 👍. Been splitting that way for years. Agree like it way better than the wedge shaped log. Fits a lot better in the stove as well!

I like my wood chunks about 3x5 to 4x6 and then kindling from softwood. Took me years to think about having flat edges helping with stacking. Good video sir.

Great job! Love the more squared pieces.

So glad we got our wood splitter a few years ago, now that we're 66 yrs old, and it is a whole lot easier. Your method is definitely excellent, especially for stacking, and much more handleable for me, even loading the woodstove. I'm the one who wants to be warm in the house, so I'm the one who deals with firewood and woodstove. Handleable is what I want. This is a great help to me! Here in California, the laws have crept up from San Diego to Sacramento putting the breaks on, or limiting the use of firewood and woodstove, even outdoors in a fire pit. Our most conservative counties that are up here in the north I hope will push back this nonsense. As a matter of fact I need to write my supervisors about it. Otherwise, the possibility of outlawing firewood use, of charging us for well water per gallon, of taxing us per solar panel, and outlawing diesel fuel by 2040; if these all pass and we can't afford to pay, we're outta here! I would be already, but husband loves the mild winters. He doesn't want to work in the cold winters of the closest conservative state, Idaho, and that's as far as he'd be willing to move. He's got a point for himself, because he still works full-time mostly outdoors, but as for me, I'd like 4 seasons.

That makes sense. I am going to try it. Thanks!

I think this is great! I have small hands and now arthritis too so those easy grab pieces look really smart to me!

You and I have so much in common. I live in Los Angeles and my whole family lives in Loudonville NY and my brother has a Mechanic and tire shop in Troy. I know we don't have much use for firewood here in Los Angeles but I got in to fire wood for a hobby and burning it 15 years ago or so. I started splitting my fire wood in strips and stacking them to split again to make smaller pieces . I keep the larges flat chunks for my ends and it really works.

I'd have thought the wide flat pieces would be hard to position in a fire to get the best burn- but I haven't tried it! I split a similar but not as thin and then split the slab wood in half again. Really quick way to do it on a vertical splitter. Thanks for the video.

Great idea. Thanks for sharing

Instead of splitting wood into triangles, I go the extra step and make them all hexagons. Looks SO cool.

I often have split wood like that as an experiment, thinking that the wood will season faster because it is only 2-3 inches diameter all over. More like 2.5 inches max. Also can make nice stacks but make sure you have airflow gaps. I would also split your splits in half so that they aren't so wide, but I will test some like you have done. But, you're using a wood stove and I am using only a fireplace and firepit. Stacking tight inside your wood stove can be a good thing; in a fireplace, I like to have some gaps in there for air flow/updraft.

I agree with the flat splitting. I stack on a skid after splitting. Nice video.

I use this same method with a splitting axe. I will make a series of straight cuts in a round, then make more cuts at 90 degrees, and end up with square-ish pieces that stack neatly!

I have the exact same splitter, I also have a chunk stove (old school cook stove) that we supplement our heat with. Because the firebox is so small it is necessary to split the wood you were showing 2 to 3 more times, very time consuming. What I've found is to set the ram vertically, surround myself with logs and split them the way you did. Take 2 pieces, put them together and split again as necessary. Sitting on a milk crate while doing this saves this old man's back and knees. Doing it this way also permits me to use my feet to hold/guide the wood while keeping my hands a safer distance.

Super idea. thanks much!

Split a lot wood in my time just like that , used them on the ends of the stacked row to keep from falling over, I think the pie shape gives more air space for drying. I love wood heat, 36 yrs of heating with wood , made sure when I bought Land it had a fuel source, I have cut a few trees but most of the time I just wait for mother nature to provide & I'm the cleanup crew. Take what you get sometimes it's easy sometimes extraction is hard, up or down hill 😊🌲

That is one hell of a good idea. Thank you.

Good idea. I’m going to try it.

Thanks for the video. Now I want to see some splitting tips for us young bucks still working out way up to purchasing a splitter. Thanks for keeping the videos going as the gardening season dwindles down.

Great video and a great idea sir!

I do this already on the bigger wood. My splitter has a small shelf on both sides so I don't have to hold it with my hip and belly like you did. You should consider adding some to yours. They are very handy as well. My neighbors both added them to their machines after seeing mine in action. 😉

Just started doing that a few years ago. Like it much better. Like the way it goes in the stove better to.

We're apparently of an age an era, and a geographic area. I grew up feeding 2 stoves in a large, poorly insulated farmhouse, and I'm sure it is a coincidence but after I moved out Dad bought a hydraulic splitter. Now in my sixties I've got one too. Coincidentally the same model as yours, though modified. I don't have enough cartilage left in my shoulders to swing a splitting ax anymore. Great to know there's still a few woodhounds left in the general area. So long from the Adirondacks.

Great tip..👍 every bit helps us old farts..😂

Love smart people!!! Keep the videos coming!!!

Using your method for a long time. But I don’t start in the middle. I split across it then turn the round. If a slab is to tall I put it yo the side and when I get three then I split them together. Then each movement of the ram makes 3 chunks of firewood. Good video. Have fun splitting

CNY here , been burning wood since the early 70's but , I was my father's wood splitter . Bought my first splitter 2 years ago , should have gotten one much sooner .

I’ve split a lot of wood and the past few years I do this more and more also. I think it may dry better as well- I think ? Great video thanks

My suggestion for those burning wood is to look for ways to use a wheelbarrow to move wood around efficiently. I take wood up steps, through my front door and dump it in the living room in front of the wood stove. A 2x6 allows me to run the wheelbarrow up steps, with a block on the end to make the transition level from the 2x6 to the walkway. I just set the 2x6 around the corner from the main entrance when it's not in use. Great for bringing groceries in from the car and other loads, too! Find ways to use that wheelbarrow.

Great idea!

Smart guy. Thanks bud.

my inlaws own a saw mill circa 1870. we burn slab wood from the mill in the wood stove. and ill be the first to say. the shape matters. Flate peices of wood leave different shapes of embers. They dont stay hott as long in the stove. I find this to be the case in many species of wood as well. When i use wood i split in the triangle shape vs the slab. the triangle give better embers.

It Is an awesome way of splitting wood. I started splitting it this way about a year ago. I started a bundle business and need it split like this to have more full bundles. But now everone knows! LOL!

Thanks I’m never to old to learn

That was actually very intelligent :-) Well thought of.

Handy Wood looks good 👍

Now why didn't someone think of that splitting method a long time ago? Definitely going to try it this fall. Just makes more sense. Thanks for sharing.

Cool stuff! I process a lot of firewood, but with a machine, so not an option for me. That makes a lot of sense when using a hand operated splitter, especially for handling and stacking it.

I like you. But at first, I didn't care for the flat idea too much. But after reading the comments, I changed my mind. I could see using slabs for kindling for sure. But also, your method of handling one round, keeping it mainly together after each split, would save me a whole lotta dropping and bending over and picking up pieces over and over. Thanks for prying my mind back open. 😀

Great Idea!!!

Great point!

Very nice man!

Sounds like a great idea. I actually have a bunch of rounds I am going to start splitting today and found your video. Handy intelligent wood I like your idea

You are absolutely right about this. I do a couple of extra things. Don't run the ram all the way down. Just crack the wood at first. Rotate it 90 degrees if you want smaller pieces. Rotating it will help separate the pieces on the final stroke. Also, I usually start from outside -in , rather than the middle first.

I’ve split a lot of wood like that … not all but a lot … i refer to them as “books”. I like the way they burn when loaded correctly. They’re great for an overnight “bunker” fire or, to maintain house heat once its up to temperature. Generally I find they burn longer … if a bit cooler.

Hi Henrick ! Yes it is easier to one hand the flat pack I split mix of shapes ! I still like the triangle shapes as they present in the stove as round against straight, it is the larger diameter wood that gets the chuncking/squaring treatment, it also takes longer for green wood to dry as it is stacks closer as the square stuff allows, still no matter the shape it is the heat We are all after it is all Good : ) isn't it nice how many times keeps us all warn many times before any of Us get anywhere near the Stove ! Cheers!!! Rick Aurora Ontario Canada

Great video 💯

I'm heating with wood this year in my new house, had a year. Cause gas was so expensive and the company was impossible to deal with...billing issues and getting straight answers. We had a stove I the house I grew up in as a kid in Washington and I split big pine and other evergreen rounds with a hammer and wedge. I live in Missouri now with oaks and hickorys and I'm leaning to this idea more myself. It's been a crash course in fire wood collection and working with the stove I got. But flat peaces dry faster and can be quickly trimmed to fit my small fire box as I bring wood in for my few day stockpile

I live in urban Seattle and I've been heating my home with wood since I bought my wood stove in 1987. My wood comes free from nearby businesses that want to get rid of scrap wood ---an example in a lumber yard a quarter mile away. I picked up 600 pounds of 2x2x 16" sticks of wood (mostly today that I don't even have to cut to length on my table saw. Then there's my free supply of water from gutter downspouts that eliminates my citiwater consumption. Water is heated on my wood stove in the winter and in two quart plastic jugs in the sun in the summer. The laundry dries on my clothesline. I live frugally, and enjoy doing so.

great idea

I agree when used that splitter I did the same thing, kind of. I would split the round in half and split the remaining half into handy wood. Stacks nice, drys faster and it's lighter.

Yep been doing that when the wood allows, easier end stacks. 4 inches average for gripping otherwise. Pile it outside the door near the woodstove & a halfcord woodbox to have inside. Fill it on nice days to stay inside during storms.

I like the flat slabs too. Stacks easier, dries faster. Save your back, and flip your splitter to vertical. I use knee pads and just do the splitting on the ground. Have your wheelbarrow close enough to toss in the pieces.

I always have done some that way mainly for building my ends of my wood pile

I hear ya there but me and my brother's situation was that my dad had plenty of money to buy a log splitter but he thought it was better to make his kids use a mull and a sledge hammer to drive the mull through the log and some of that was nasty elm. Well he bought a log splitter right after we moved out of the house, and so now when his log splitter breaks down, none of us will help him fix it :D We tell him to spend all that money he saved by having us manually splitting that wood in some seriously hot temperature with blistered hands, to take the log splitter to a repairman. Not being mean to him... we're just being fair about it ;o)

Boonville, NY here👍👍👍👍

The first thing I did when I got my log splitter is put a tray on each side , just big enough to catch the split wood so it didn’t fall on the ground . Saved my back a lot of pain 🙂

Yes that's the best, do your self a favor install a shelf on the splitter really helps out

You just got a new sub

Been cutting some into shingle style for a few years. Some I'll split thicker to be the all nighter logs. Work smarter.

I do the same thing it’s great

Great idea that’s what I do

Got my sub on the first video, dude. Wish you were my neighbor. Flatsplit's also handy for processing when setting a fire.

Good idea. I would add it might speed up drying time also. After 22 years my stove finally ruptured. I bought a new epa rated stove and it is very finicky about what you feed it. It uses the same amount of wood so not sure what all the new fangledness is all about. I will start splitting it this way and see if it dries faster. I know one thing it will fit in that tiny firebox better.

Good stuff

I do that also. Plus those season faster. And stack better in my wood furnace.

Probably fits better in the stove also, allowing more wood with less air gap equals more BTU’s per fill up.

When I have billets 10-12 inches in diameter I like to take a piece off about a third of the way in, then split the remaining piece in two. I really like those flat pieces for making up room in the stove, or to split them further for kindling

Liked and subscribed, what’s you set up for stacking the split wood? I like the flat pieces too. Intelligent!👍

Yes that is a good idea

that's the way I split my wood. been splitting rectangles for about 5 years now. PS I started doing firewood in the 70s. PPS I am also in central NY Canadarago lake and Ilion NY (Remington arms). your ends also stack better this way.

I find it's good to have a mixture of sizes.

Here's what we found, when we ordered a truck load of logs that was estimated to give us 7 cords of wood. When split, the first way you showed, then when the wood was stacked we got about 7 cords. When split your second way we got about 6 1/4 cords out of the same truck load estimated to produce 7 cords. This is because rectangular wood stacks smaller. So, if you're selling the firewood by the cord you need to know this. When we buy the wood by the truck load and sell it by the cord we want to maximize our income. Now, we didn't split it the way you showed, we used a firewood processor that made nice rectangular pieces, we quit using that processor. If you want to maximize the space you have to store the wood, rectangular is better.

It's a good idea, and well explained & demonstrated - Thank You. You did miss mentioning 3 key differences your method results in: 1) shorter path for the moisture in the wood to travel before it can evaporate - this means the log will dry more quickly 2) greater surface area of split surface from which moisture evaporates, which adds to 1) and further speeds drying 3) as a consequence of 1) faster total combustion when in the stove. Depending on how well you control air flow and how willing to load the stove, this may be good or bad.

I split that way at times simp,y for variety. Makes sense to split this way

Cabin no power ax and wedge working well effective

I am not an intelligent source for this matter, but, if I may say; the triangular pieces, while not efficient at stacking due to the large empty space between the logs, would promote greater air flow for further drying if that were a concern. However, if the wood is seasoned or close to it, then your method is greatly superior for more compact stacking and greater ease for handling. Superb idea! I hope others can benefit from this.

WILL DO IT ! THX !!!!!+

hi there nice splitting and more surface area and thinner should make it dry faster also john