Cut A Load of Oak

David Martin

David Martin

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With snow in our forecast for Saturday, I went out and cut a load of oak. I picked this Emory tree with a dead limb on it's east side to fell. Here I'm cutting the henge. We had a WNW wind to help, coming in on my right side. This half of the tree was a 16" trunk. DM
HengeCut.jpg
 
This happened to my Council flat head ax while splitting. The haft wasn't damaged from an over strike. Just lots of hard hits on hard oak.
This will be my third haft for this ax this season. The Craftsman splitting maul saved the day by helping me finish splitting the last 10 rounds. I'm real glad I have enough tools in my arsenal to allow me to keep working and finish splitting & get the load home. Thanks to crbnsteel. DM
Councilsplits5.jpg
 
Last edited:
David Martin said:
This happened to my Council flat head ax while splitting. The haft wasn't damaged from an over strike. Just lots of hard hits on hard oak.
This will be my third haft for this ax this season. The Craftsman splitting maul saved the day by helping me finish splitting the last 12 rounds. I'm real glad I have enough tools in my arsenal to allow me to keep working and finish splitting & get the load home. Thanks to crbnsteel. DM
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Just wow.
This Emory Oak is real axe handle killer.
I just got crazy idea. It could be waste of time but maybe worth to consider; Those interconnected strings of fiber, that are so hard to split might make a good material for a new haft. In such arid environment dead standing Emory Oak won't need a lot of additional curing/drying time to be ready for shaping.
Please, chime in if anybody thinks that using already dead tree for a haft is just stupid idea.
 
crbnsteel, thanks. The original haft, as new lasted one month (December). I hung the second haft on the first week of January. It lasted
3 1/2 months. I have another spare one on hand and I'll hang it this coming week. These hafts cost me 16$ each and 1-1 1/2 hours labor
to hang. The trip to the hardware store I'll throw it in with a trip to the grocery store. So, I'm not considering that cost. Just my cost to make it through one wood cutting season is about 50$ in hafts. Plus, my time. A chain for my saw will last me 2 or more years. I have bought 2
other hafts this year but those were for a pack ax that I acquired and a splitting maul. So, 5 hafts so far this wood cutting season. Now, you see why I welded a metal handle in my Kelly True Temper double bit. No down time and cost. But I thank you gents for pushing me to
go to wooden hafts because the vibration from the other was noticeable. Still, purchasing hickory hafts sends a vibration to my wallet. ;) DM
 
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