They Just Aren't Worth It 

Howdy! As others have stated... sometimes you gotta go old school and break out the wedges and sledge hammer lol. Brings back memories from my teen years. Notice how I didn't say 'good memories' 😁 Welcome back and thanks for sharing 🤠

for big pieces like that, we do a small plunge cut in the middle, just a few inches to get a wedge nice and deep and split it by hand into more manageable sizes, then put it on the splitter.

I sometimes get heavy oak rounds, and I'll use splitting wedges (pointy and flat) and a sledge to split the rounds where they sit. I'll then be able to manage them better. I just bought a Fiskars 8 lb. maul to see how much that'll help. "Free" firewood isn't. 😅 But I find the work rewarding. And I'm retired, so I have time to work on this. Great channel, found it when you were working on the stinky HVAC problem.

I've always bucked my large diameter logs in 16" length, then you can cut in half or quarters with no special chain and go all the way through with one cut. I like Stihl full chisel chains for everything. Check your bar gauge wear the chain runs. A worn bar usually causes the cut to drift. Love your videos. God Bless and pray your mission trip was fruitful for the kingdom.

Good choice of music as you try to position the wood😆..love it...you should weatherproof the stump pieces to make outdoor seating

Fully agree. There is so much wood in them, but it’s also some of the hardest work I’ve ever done rotating those giant rounds to split. I have access to a skid steer and saw mill so my eventually plan is to mill up anything that big and turn the scraps and smaller log into firewood.

Welcome home Todd, I normally get the Oregon bar and chain combo and for me it seems to cut pretty well

Good advice from a good friend when I started heating with firewood 45 years back.................. Dont break your back, dont break the truck dont break the equipment!!! CHEERS from HERE ! where I now heat with a pellet stove a n with a heat pump! Climate is warmer here on SW.Van. ISLE!!!

My neighbor is pushing 60 and he wrestles these large pieces every year. Gets about 7 cords a year taking those big ones nobody wants. Helped him twice. He's a better man than me haha

I've found that the maple will start to get corky pretty quick if it's laying on the ground. Once it gets punky the wedge will sink into those soft and wet spots and bogg down vs. splitting the wood. Maple is good for the "shoulder" season, ie., fall and spring. I'd try to stick to the hardwoods for the really cold weather. Sometimes when they don't fit into the splitter straight enough to catch the wedge, you can shim up the outside edge with something to get it up under the wedge the way it needs to be so it gets a good enough bite. Get some skids to get that wood up off the ground.

It looks like it gets cold up there! I don't know if you would be interested, but I've seen some interesting videos where they make recycled wood bricks to burn out of cardboard and sawdust.. Just an idea...

One big campfire, campfire seats, driveway markers, make cutting boards

A logger's peavey tool might help you process big rounds. Take a couple of minutes to search.

First time I ever laughed at one of your videos! You came to the right conclusion.

Thanks for your time and thoughts. Stay safe in these times

I bought by little tractor used and it came with a 4-in1 bucket that has made that kind of work easier, but you're right...very hard on the equipment...I've had to have three of the hydraulic cylinders rebuilt.

Enjoyed watching your video,have a bless day 😮😊🇱🇷💜

They do make hydraulic attachments to hold and split a round. I've only seen them for excavators, but it seems like it's something that could easily exist for compact tractors.

There is a corkscrew (cone) stump splitter available, and an attachment 4 way splitter attachment to split 4 ways to get 4 logs each time instead of two on the market

Living up in the northern part of michigan, usually I go through 15ish cord of wood a year. I have burnt less than 6 this year. What wild weather we're seeing.

Muscling chunks like that with your tractor doesn’t help out the tractor’s hydraulic system and hoses any!

You really need to invest in a cant hook, they are a real back saver when dealing with logs.

It pains me to watch your struggle brother; if that was all the wood that you had- would be one thing. Stand those up and let them rot. My chickens enjoy them a few years or build a fire around them. I don’t like waste of wood or time but your time wins this battle. 🙏🏻

I had a relative over in Kenya recently too, wonder if y'all were in the same group? We have a wood stove and go through about 1.5 full cords per month depending on the weather.

A cant hook and pickaroon will help a lot. The cant hook will keep your chain out of the dirt too.

Time for a Wolfridge professional log splitter

Good video, I had to laugh with you. Looks like your wood yard is on a slope? It's easier to get those big rounds moved around to the splitter on flat ground.

As a small woman with some back trouble I use the lightest weight saw I can afford. I have the smallest Stihl.

Do you not have a splitting maul? Just keep knocking pieces off the outer edge until it’s manageable enough to get in the splitter

I started with Stihl and have stuck with it. On my 4th now!

i have always used oregon chains (40 years} , never used or tried anything else.

Stihl Ms310 here with 20 inch bar. The cut is not straight because of the chain.? Teeth on one side are shorter than the other side.? Also might be time to freshen up the bar.

Wow ive never seen such a c shape cut noodling like that. Your bar must be really wacked. Semi chisel is better for dirty wood like you get rolling it around with a tractor. Sharp full chisel should melt through maple like that with the right saw. You could cut it into like 4 inch cookies and skip the splitter.

You were noodling that big round not ripping it which might be why it cut that way with a ripping chain. You dont need a special chain to noodle I prefer Oregon chain fwiw. Give one of those big boys another try with a regular chain and try noodling it, it should go alot better.

Rounds with crotches are easier to split if you start along the crotch line. It's a weak spot. It's evident your splitter just isn't up to the task dealing with those rather large gnarly rounds. Start saving your nickels for a commercial grade vertical splitter (Easton Made Axis, Wolferidge VS17, etc).

I piled up all the big pieces I had from Chip Drops, and built a shooting range with the logpile as the backstop 😂 it actually worked out great. It took a lot of logs though, I had to make a 2 log wide base so it was stable at the height required.

you need a new toy with a 36" bar, quarter them up

Sawing them with the grain making long chips is the way to go. I've watched you since the suburban house. Almost all your wood cutting woes are due to dirty wood. The chunks in this video were caked with dirt. I was working with similar sized wood just yesterday. The first piece was like butter. Half way through the second the saw started to curve to one side. There was something inside the wood that dulled the chain. I had to go to wedges. I think I am going to try sawing off one edge to get a flat side so it goes on the splitter and use the tractor to get it there. I also don't have a gully to push it in. I have to deal with it.