Best/easiest way to split logs?

Hi, the wife has just come home with three lumps of tree (each about 18″ in diameter) and I was wondering what the best/easiest way to split them would be?

I managed to kill my crappy axe a while ago (on much smaller logs) so need a new one, is there anything specific I should look for? Thanks.

Shame mcmoonter is away at the moment. He has just the contraption you need

Screw fix do a log splitter, u place it on and smash it!!!! Hey presto

I get on very well with one of these.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-splitting-maul-8lb/87268

you can see it on the pile in the pic below

But Ive had quite a bit of practice. Only another 6 tonnes to go…

Easiest is a hydraulic splitter but a log splitting maul is the cheaper keep fit option.

Edit: Beaten by Stoner again, his pic is what I’m on about.

Manual lever splitters are good but think the op needs a quick cheep fix am i right??

manual splitter maul. my friendly joiner lent me one for a fortnight to get some logs sorted – best borrow if you can..

if you have a decent sledge, then what about some wood wedges

Thanks guys, is there a technique to using a maul or can I get away with brute force and ignorance?!

would you get away with a small axe like this small draper for £6?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-62166-1-25-Pound-Steel-Shaft/dp/B0002GUQS8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350409266&sr=8-1
Start round the edge rather than attacking the middle

Maul is best by hand, brute force and ignorance the best way to propel it.
Grenades and wedges a pain, just end up with a log full of implements, the maul has a handle for removal.
If it’s tough, start on the edges, or man up 😉

Maul is best by hand, brute force and ignorance the best way to propel it.

True but they have long handles for a reason so make sure you take advantage of this leverage.

Cloudnine – that is not an axe, thats barely a hatchet ! Good for turning logs into kindling mind

I need to get my self an axe and see if any of my chainsaw gears repairable. **** mice was eating the material it in storage at my old employers. …. Ive had a fair few folk dump trees at mine now they know i have a. Wood burner.

That said im more than willing to uplift 🙂

a maul but you will need something to put the logs on whilst you split them (a bigger log) do not put the log on a concrete slab as it will break. I use a cheapo maul and works fine oh and make sure you are wearing steel toe cap boots and if one of the split logs flys off make sure it wont damage anything (yes they can fly a some speed)

If the lumps of tree are fresh, and therefore still full of sap, they will need to dry anyway before you can burn them*. As they do so they should crack, which will show you where to split them.

I like a felling axe, and a sledgehammer & wedges for the awkward ones. Mostly cuss I prefer a wooden handle, it doesn’t transmit so much shock.

*Ash will burn wet, will burn betterer dry.

kindling axe for kindling (!) – found it’s better as it’s not ‘sharp’ and so doesn’t dig in, just forces the wood apart.

.. and (maybe not so bad with big bits but probably wise) try and wear eye protection, pain in the arse but better that than jabbed in the eye with a skelf of wood … my mum tells me an uncle of hers (or possibly her dad) was chopping wood and got blinded in one eye. ooya.

— above post – once they dry out they tend to bind together, it’s bizarrely better to split when green – hard work but they do split and that way, as well, the wood seasons a good deal quicker..

but yes, if it’s too hard to split then let it weather a bit and try again.

I’ve got one of these. Makes life so much easier.

Find a poor person and pay them? 😆

Find a poor person and pay them?

If I could do that I wouldn’t be fannying about splitting logs my wife pikied (sp?) on her way home from work!!

The above maul is also at b&q for 22

Wood will split better wet because the sap (which is basically water) can’t compress, so all the axe forces go into splitting forces. Logs that split dry would’ve been easier wet. Echoing other posts start round the edge and try and hit the log on the side nearest you. A word of warning though, if someone gave these logs away they may be complete bar stewards to split.

Screw fix do a log grenade…. Like a spiked wedge. Very effective. Couple with the maul they do that matches axe one side with 7lb sledge hammer on other.

Stoner – I find the easiest way for that amount is to send it to someone and amazingly they return it in nice easy bags with a very easy to handle size combustible particle….

Pah!!!

Black Powder is where it’s at!

Lever splitter is easy, but not fast, and frankly unsatisfying. Still it’s nice to explode a horrible knotty log that’d have been a sod to do with a maul.

Fiskars X27 Splitting Axe. About £70 but peerless IMHO

always the spending of money with you bear 🙂

+1 (or more) for a good old splitting maul. Have literally split tons of logs over the last few years. You really don’t need all these hydraulic do da’s. Unlike some advice above wood is generally better split “green”, it will season better once split.

+1 manual splitting maul (mine beinge from countrywide, I think Spear&Jackson. Hve used the electric Clarke/machine mart type but it reminds me of an electric tim opener, you may as well just get on and do it manually. One you have the ring split you are away.

Snigger

My old man’s getting one of these http://www.logmatic.co.uk for Christmas. No more wild swinging of axes or sledgehammer to wedge. Easy on the back and insanely efficient. £65 well spent I reckon

Don’t be lazy and use an axe and call it cross training.

Looks very ‘JML’.

More snigger

Chortle

😆

Stoner – but you’re selling your crop of wood for a far more manageable combustible product.

Firing up 45kw soon, once I’ve sorted the electrician and his lack of being able to read a wiring diagram……..

https://picasaweb.google.com/113038090087066024057/20110226LogSplitter

Probably overkill for your needs but I built my own hydraulic log splitter.

Before then I used an Oregon splitting maul.

My mates just bought one of these Gransfors Bruks. He’s like a kid with a new toy 😀

You need an Ian…this is about 1% of the wood we have from last winters storms, that he will have sliced and split by the end of the winter…

Cheap softwood firewood anyone in Loch Tay area anyone?

Stoner – but you’re selling your crop of wood for a far more manageable combustible product.

That wood cost me about £100/ton dry (2.5-3.0p/kWh). (£40-50/t wet) if I sold it for pellets, Id have to buy it back at £240/t (5.0p/kWh)for maybe 10% less moisture/20% higher net energy.

Anyway, that’s the last wood I need to buy. The new coppice should yield around 20,000 kWh a year for free 🙂

matt – how much does an Ian cost to run?

matt – how much does an Ian cost to run

A modest wage, a years subscription to ‘Classic Tractor’ and the occasional alcopop.