This video reinforced 5 years of self-learning on splitting wood. I wish I had seen this video 5 years ago when we moved to Maine. That first year was a learning experience. Trust me, the video is an easier way to learn. Thanks for a great video!
+Lou Eckert Thanks Lou. Just about everyone has had to learn splitting for themselves. ("It's just swinging an ax. How hard can that be?") I think it's wonderful that RU-vid provides an opportunity for so many things to be learned more quickly than by trial and error or by picking up on difficult-to-notice details.
This is quite possibly the most well put together youtube video I've seen. Very informitive, great use of technical language, and good editing. Thank you for taking the time to teach me about wood splitting. I had no idea how complex a task it could be or how to make the job easier on myself. Cheers
You prolly dont give a shit but if you are stoned like me atm then you can watch pretty much all of the new movies on InstaFlixxer. Have been binge watching with my brother during the lockdown =)
I have watched several tutorials about wood splitting, but this one is one tutorial that points out almost everything you need to know about it. Congratulations mr. Hale for making such a good video, with practical informations and experiences! Greetings from Europe!
You certainly can handle that Maul. When I was young I did hear that there were competitions in the use of an axe and a good man can spit a sixpence ( England) every time, Well, this is the first time I have seen such procedure and the fact that you are continuously talking and describing what you are doing and at the same time splitting that wood, the accuracy at which you are doing it shows that you could split a sixpence every time, You keep saying that you are not optimistic , but if this was a competition I would put my money on you. You have a very powerful drive , with all your weight behind it and so accurate on your target, I have never seen this before . Well done, a good man makes it looks so easy.
Superb instructional video. Looks like a perfect demonstration of technique and experience vs brute force and ignorance! I have just moved from London to the English countryside. Today I've had two very large Ash on our property heavily pruned (due to dieback) and now have a very large pile of wood for the burner. I was dreading the task of chopping it all up, but now I'm actually looking forward to it. Maul and wedges (and headphones, eye protectors and steel-toecap boots) are ready for the weekend! Thank you.
This is a great video terry. Not many people concentrate on showing you how to split the really tricky stuff like the crotch. I for one found it very helpful. Thanks
This is one of the best videos on wood splitting I've ever seen. Actually, it's one of the most informative and well spoken videos I've ever even seen on RU-vid, period. Well done and thank you.
I don't usually comment on youtube videos unless I am compelled to. That being said, this video clearly showed me how to overcome various wood splitting problems and intern helped me clear out the dead tree in my yard. Thank you!!
This old boy has got some ump in his swing! Complimented with a smooth peaceful delivery. Explaining the thought process through individual characteristics for a more effective result is something I have not seen elsewhere. I just discovered Mr. Hale, through the Morgan Family, and great fully say thank you!
In answer to your last remark:"Yes sir, your video is very helpfull and informative." I enjoyed it quite a bit. Also the way you speak and give us your tutorial is very nice to listen to. Thank you so much!! I myself use a Fiskars X27 for all my woodsplitting. An excellent axe, which can do the job like no other. I can fully recommend it to all you logsplitters out there! Groeten uit Holland
@@terryhale9006 Thank you for your response. Good to see you're still around with us. I hope you 'll continue to enjoy your fire ànd collecting and preparing your wood! Groeten uit Holland;-))
I've been splitting wood for 20 plus years , what great tips ! you covered a lot of area's most people miss with what if's so glad u put together a great video.
Terry this was just the video I needed. Splitting nice straight dry cracked wood is fun and a piece of cake. My diseased maple that was just cut down outside my house is horribly hard, knots all over! Your video gave me solid knowledge and the confidence to tackle a huge job. Living in a neighborhood with little yard, I need to get this wood moved to my garage. Thanks again its helping so much!
You're certainly welcome Tom. You've definitely got a challenge ahead of you with all of the contorted grain that open-grown maple has to offer! Best of luck to you!
Wow! I was hoping you would see this but wasn't expecting you to, being the video was from 3 years ago. Thank you. Since I have about maybe 3 hours worth of experience and you have 53 years, I was wondering if you had anything to say about splitting this wood now when it is "green" as opposed to trying to dry it first. Some of it I will definitely need to split now as the pieces are too big for me to move, but if it would be any easier one way or the other it would be good to know. Thanks again
Been using your techniques since I saw your video and love your approach. It's becoming 2nd nature now to read the block in front of me and decide on the most efficient course of action.
I spent 2 years of my youth at a boarding school that was heated by students processing wood, wish they had shown your videos before most of the students swung their first maul....My great grandfather taught me with a hatchet at age 6 and still love the feel of a crisp morning chopping, the explosion of frozen wood, the pop when you hit it just right. Thanks again
They always said work smarter not harder and your video does that, Thanks for the machete lessons as well and keep up the good work, loved the bit where you almost got yourself.
your strike placement is superb. I split about 4 cord a year by hand and noticed that, for the first time in years, I was having trouble hitting where I wanted. I finally figured out that the transition from my bifocals during the swing was throwing me off. When I split without my glasses I'm all set! Nice vid.
Thanks, Lou. With diabetic neuropathy setting in, I definitely do need to keep my toes warm. Winter came before I could do the videos I was hoping to. Hurry Spring!
great video. I have been splitting wood for about 15 years learning by trial and error. I thought I had discovered some great techniques known only to me. But its all here, and more.With better accuracy. Well done
Terry, I love your videos...very impressed and thankful that you post stuff like this. Something I can share is once I split a log I dont let it fully split, but just rotate the log and keep splitting little parts. Thanks again!!!
I have been splitting wood for over 45 years... wow...I still love the challenge. t is great to see someone else has learned and is teaching what I learned by trial and error over the years. There is a real science to do it more effectively as has been pointed out in this video. I have often felt sad that I do not have someone close by that is interested in the tips and tricks I have learned. My maul of choice is a bit shy of 10 lbs, modified from somewhat rounded sides to flat sides much like the Stihl in this video. It is much less prone to stick in the wood compared to a maul with rounded sides.
I just spent the weekend splitting wood from a maple we had felled on our property. Very fulfilling work and gives me an appreciation for you skill and knowledge you shared in this video. Thanks for the tips. Keep up the good videos.
Thanks! ... and you're welcome. (Sugar maple or red maple? Red makes a pretty good fire wood, but the added density of the sugar maple puts it pretty high on my list.)
I wanted to thank you as you have saved me so much time and energy. Excellent tutorial. I actually enjoy splitting the wood now. That was years of knowledge in 15 minutes. This is why RU-vid was created.
Same here, I've split a lot of wood in my day and yet learned a lot from your video. Cutting crotch pieces even, and cutting so that the knots are at the top or the bottom are great ideas. Cheers
Thanks John. I have to confess, though, that my love is now torn between the Fiskars and the Stihl. The Teflon (?) coating on the Fiskars really helps it slip into the wood. Other times, the weight of the Stihl is more helpful.
Yep. I have one. It's good on ash but not my favorite for really large cottonwood rounds or nasty twisted stuff (for my area that is boxelder). It's fine once the large cottonwood rounds are quartered. Now fiskars has a true weight/shape splitting maul, too. I'm planning to do a shootout between mauls (fiskars, stihl, husqvarna, gransfors bruks, old american) and splitting axes (stihl, fiskars x27, husqvarna) and wedges (gransfors bruks twisted, oxenkopf/stihl aluminum twisted, easton clone Roughneck brand steeped steel wedge from northern tool, and one of those fat 'wood grenades' you see everywhere). I'm gonna wear a heart rate monitor to record time taken per comparable round, record beats per minute and estimate calorie burn with each tool! It is going to be epic! Years in the making. Maybe this winter or spring. Watch for it!
This was very well done and is extremely layered with helpful info and facts. I am impressed with the technique and ease with which the crotch wood was split, maybe I won't shy away from these pieces in the future. Thank you Terry!
Perfect tutorial. Learned a few things, even after all these years. Thank you. Oh, one thing that finally dawned on me why my accuracy was sort of poor. Was looking at a general target area. Once I'd started to focus on a spot as small as a pinhead that maul would magically strike there! Seems obvious, but a revelation to me. Thanks again.
Thanks for perfect guide on firewood chopping. I've watched mainly the greenhorn axemen showing off on the screen so far! You are approaching to every knotty stump in very wise way. And this brings positive result: to achieve the goal with minimum effort. If you put an old tire on the stump within operation - less need to bow lifting the refugees...
I just purchased a wood splitter similar to your STIHL. I came onto youtube looking for tips on wood splitting, and I found the most epic video on the topic. :-)
So satisfying when you get a good split. Sadly I seldom get to split nice wood its almost always Leylandii with side limbs the same size as the trunk and I found this video super useful to reference when trying to split it.
Hello Terry, I am a hobbyist wood splitter. it was a pleasure to view your tutorial. I kept nodding in agreement with your techniques and terminology, strategies and methods. Excellent video for someone who is starting out in wood splitting! P.S. Try the 4-sided splitting wedge, about the size of your fist at the top, tapers down to a point at the bottom.
Thanks Kent. I've been curious to see how one of those "wood grenades" works, but try to avoid wedge work as much as possible. In spite of protecting my ears very carefully, my genetic predisposition to tinnitus has caught up with me anyway. It leaves me with a strong desire to avoid anything that might produce a ringing noise.
Great video. Purchased a Stihl pro splitting axe last week. Lighter than a maul for me. I decided though to buy the Mueller maul too. To have the best of both. I have a lot of wood to split in my backyard.
Thank you for the video! I can hardly wait for the next time my sons are splitting wood out at the cabin. I'm going to be a font of good advice. They'll be going, " Mom! Don't you have a pie to bake or something ?!"
The best demonstration on splitting so far, I've learned something new finally and after watching the video before was not gonna watch this one. Thankyou Sir for your educational video...
Excellent quality, very good sound and camera placement! I also like the explanation of the grains and knots plus technique. Overall fantastic knowledge.
Greetings from the Emerald Isle,🇮🇪🇮🇪, I use a large truck tyre,with the inner wall removed,place on a level concrete base,and fill with rounds,keeps all the rings compact,and you can split away until you have all your rings split,great back saver, love the video,🇮🇪🇮🇪
I've watched about 50 You Tube videos on how to split wood and they all attack nice, round pieces from small to very large. Your video is the only one that addresses the hard issue of dealing with Y shaped, branched out pieces. I have about 20 of those ranging from medium to really large sized oak. Thanks for giving me some hope of dealing with them. Will be a lot of work, but thanks to your tutorial, I now at least have an executable plan of attack.
Thanks, Chuck. I love Oak for a lot of reasons, but as you state, dealing with crotch pieces can be a lot of work. Best of luck to you! I'll hope your ax consistently lands where it needs to. Hoping to hear of your success, even if it takes more than one session.
Excellent video. I'm new to spitting and have discovered a few of your tips to be true. I look forward to trying more. Again, really good, clear, and concise.
Excellent job, Terry, thank you for this informative video. I got a new chainsaw and lots of volunteer wood around me, and am getting to the big cuts today. Don't have a good stump for a chopping block yet,but I will grab one as soon as I can. My trouble is moving the lumber from where I cut it, I find cutting to be the easy part! Thanks again, from one upstater to another, Brother!
When you find a round that doesn't want to comply, consider it a good starter chopping block. If your cutting leaves you with big rounds, it is completely reasonable to either partially or completely split the big ones where they are so they are easier to load onto your wheel barrow. Of course that's assuming your ground is level enough to use a wheelbarrow on. On site, you should be able to cut the/a stump to a good height to act as a chopping block. Stay safe and definitely wear hearing protection with your new saw. Best to you, Upstater!
thank you for this video it was very helpful because you mentioned the differences of the different species of wood and how to deal with them while splitting the wood
Thanks Terry that was good. I likes the tip on the chopping block, I'll try that one. I've got a new one down in my paddock, not sure how I'm going to move it yet but I'll shape the top. The wood I cut is Aussie Hardwood and I'm not physically strong enough to cut it that long so I cut it to the length that I can split it. I'll have a look at the Stihl Splitter for sure. I like your line at the 12 minute mark, if you can go right up the middle of the crutch you can get those things split apart! Been too long since I've done that. Good to see an Older Bloke still active an sharing his experience.
Best explanation I've seen on U-tube about what I consider my most dangerous form of exercising I do, only my father in law who taught me did as good a job. Good name slabing as it says it all! Voluntanty wood is a good name for what you collect. I pretty much do the same but in Australia you don't get that many species like what I grew up with in the northern hemisphere. Just about 700+ varieties of Gum trees sorry Eucalyptus trees. Most of which are very hard like Oak, but stringy which when dried for around two (2) years burns like to has been doused with an accelerant fuel, which if every you have seen an Australian or for that matter a California bush fire ( someone stupidly transplanted them there also), you would realise is exactly what it is(and that when it's NOT dry). The only advantage is you don't need as much as it burns as hot as hell! NSW in Oz
Terry Hale yes you never forget your first bushfire, for that matter you never forget your last bushfire either. Just ask my wife who grew up in Bundenna on the edge of the Royal National Park south of Sydney. In the mid nineties it became a moon scape after a really bad fire. When that happens the trees take about two years and can fully recover unlike any other tree type. Nice chat!
Terry its obvious you know how to read the wood. In gnarly pieces that is truly a great benefit. Straight grain just spoils a guy doesn't it. Great video sir.
Finally found help on what to do about the crotches! I've been trying to attack it from the wrong end. Thank you, but I think my main problem is not leaving it long enough (it was only felled last week and is a monster maple).
First video Ive seen that gives different tips for different wood types. It really helps to know the material youre working with. Wish I had some tips for gum and red pine... Down south trees. :)
That would be a learning experience for me. I do know that Southern Catalpa is the most difficult wood to split that I ever encountered. On my first swing, I almost got hit in the forehead when the axe bounced straight back up. About a 95% restitution factor! Something like 25 strong swings left a shallow indentation where several of the criss-crossed fibers were cut. A couple of other pieces finally yielded. Overall, it was an amazing experience.
Thank you for the useful tips. I split a lot of red and blue gum and sometimes pine and yellow amber here in Australia but all your tips make sense and I'm sure will prove helpful.
I hope they do. Having heard from a few Aussie splitters, I am now wishing I could go down under to try some different woods to split. Now THERE'S a strange tourist trip!
Couple of points: Keeping an eye on the target point thru the swing helps greatly w accuracy. (Keep your eye on the ball!) The height of your block is robbing you of momentum and gravity. A lower block would result in much greater downward force vector at contact.
That was my ONLY critique of his advice. I like a chopping block but my favorite ones over the years were only maybe 12in thick (a big twisted crotch from a sycamore or the like)
Thanks, David. If you don't already have an ax, I recommend getting a Fiskar's X27. Also, be sure to wear gloves. I am finding that frozen oak seems to split a tiny bit easier. I'll hope that your oak has a lot of straight grain.
Good video Thank you. I did notice you made no mention of splitting from the bottom up, or stump end up. I've found that in a lot of hard wood species it really makes a difference. Also when I'm cutting up a tree I try to work my cuts right next to or sometimes through a knotted section, and when splitting put the knot on the bottom so you can at least get a crack started. When cutting up tops for fire wood taking a moment to plan your cuts will more than make up for what seems to be time lost when you later find splitting the wood is easier and faster. So cut close to the knots left or right and the big narly one's right in the middle it will definitely ease the tension. If you end up with the occasional small or short piece, split it into kindle.
Thanks, True. The video, at 14:00, does go into the desirability of cutting so that knots will be near an end, rather than in the middle. As to bottom up, I will do that when it gives me a direct attack on the knots. On most pieces, I haven't felt that it mattered. Sometimes, other than the direct-attack-on-a-knot times, I have instinctively chosen bottom up. Next time I split, I'll have to see if I can figure out the logic behind what has become instinctual.
The amount of times I've given that first swing with an identical "WOW" at how hard the wood was. 8 min mark approx. Lol. Awesome vid, going chopping in the am.
Great tips! I've found that slabbing is about the only way to remotely split big relative wet elm rounds efficiently. Since this is an older video you probably now know to wrap a steel chain around the rounds and secure with a bungie cord or rubber tarp strap when hand splitting relatively large rounds. Merry Christmas (eve)...:)
Thank you for the video, Terry. This is an outstanding educational presentation. We had a big ole cherry tree taken down in the yard and I am working on splitting it up for the wood stove. Having a heck of a time as of late and appreciate your instruction. I have my 1st, cheapish slitting maul on the way and cannot wait to use it on this grumpy wood. Where are located in this great state of upstate NY, brother? I am just outside of Rochester! Thanks, again. -Dave
Thanks Dave. Forest-grown cherry tends to be nice and straight and easy to split. Coming from your yard would be a very different matter with a lot of branching. I cringe thinking about it. We're located several miles north of Saratoga Springs.
Black locust, Red oak, White Oak, Rock Maple, Black Cherry, Beech, Hickory, very little pine, fur and hemlock, and various other oak species. Splitting with a double bit axe is not something most people do but I began working with one at 9 or 10. Most of my friends have tried this with little success. I use many of the methods you demonstrate in your video, but I place great care to strike a crack. The axe I use is very old thicker than most at the eye. The stamping is worn away so I don't even know who made it. I'm a carpenter I make all my own tool handles. Here in western Pennsylvania there were many small foundries making all manner of tools. I have many timber framing and carpentry tools that have little or no identifying Mark's. I have yet to make any videos but would like to so I'm studying the process. I have a green ash tree, a very hard leaner killed by ash borer. It's over one of my out buildings I have worked with tree removal companies as a ground man and have felled many trees this one is going to be pulled, but I will probably even be digging around and under the roots to get under the trunk and by a jacking pad I'll alternately pull lift and remove the roots till I get it at an attitude - lean in the right direction. Then ether finish pulling or fell it. I really like your video as it explains the proper hinge angle and geometry. Basically inverting the whole felling cut angle to allow the hinge to bend and hopefully not break. Thank you again.
terry have ya ever thought of bucking yer chopping block in at least half , when you contact yer wood it almort looks as ye hitting it to soon, seem you wood gather more power, speed, leverage and over all efficiency . I personally don't use a chopping block for splitting wood but I do for kindling, great wood dissection, thx for the vid
+Buckin' Billy Ray Smith You are correct. I go through a block every two or three years and that one, at 19 inches, was too tall. I was just too lazy to fix it. Its replacement is the flush cut of an oak stump and is only 11 inches tall. The root flare helps to give it a nice stability. The contorted grain ensures I will not split it or have my axe penetrate too deeply. I use a trash can lid to keep the snow and rain off of it to minimze the rate of rotting.
I was reading your comment and wondering who the hell is this guy? Then I looked down and it's Billy Ray....never mind. Be kind my friend. Love your vids.
You are right a good chopping block is a must. Pine wood in my area is the same, hardly any grain to guide the split direction and a lot of pitch.If I have a piece of wood with a lot of knots I lay it down on the chopping block and rip it with my 24" Stihl saw.
I had one of those in maple last night. I've been clearing a View West and now have three Adirondack winters of split firewood stacked in my wood shed and basement. I have six more full cords cut and begging for my ax. After I assaulted that piece of maple fifteen times, I suddenly thought, "What am I doing???" and tossed it into the woods to eventually replenish the soil.
