Favorite set up for a Splitting Axe

[thunderstick]

 

[Square_peg]

Long bit on those rafting axes. You're in the last hole in the strap of that mask.

 

[thunderstick]

Yes and the balance is a little different. I had to get used to splitting with the twist.

 

[thunderstick]

I'm really liking the rafting axe for splitting--the balance is different from a regular axe or a maul. I split some pretty nasty pieces for which a 3.5# axe wouldn't work so well.

 

[David Martin]

What type of wood? ^ DM

 

[thunderstick]

The tough stuff has been knotty stringy, and water logged. It's in a low lying swampy area and we had a lot of rain after cutting it up. The water tends to make the axe stick unless you twist it. The straighter grain white oak pops apart pretty easily.

 

[thunderstick]

I think the tough stuff is black cherry. I'm not the best with species and this one has me a bit puzzled because cherry is supposed to be easy to split.

 

[Square_peg]

I'm really liking the rafting axe for splitting--the balance is different from a regular axe or a maul. I split some pretty nasty pieces for which a 3.5# axe wouldn't work so well.

They do make great splitters. They're wider than a normal axe but not quite as wide as a maul. They penetrate. They hit with weight. They just work.

 

[thunderstick]

Well I'm quite sure now the tougher wood is black cherry as I originally thought. The amount of moisture it's holding is very unusual--but the trees were laying for about 6 months before I cut them up. Some of this wood was so wet it juices when you hit it. The combo of high moisture, stringy intertwined grain, and knots makes it interesting. In the wet wood the rafter penetrates better than a maul but it's more apt to stick a little. This a good physical workout in rubber boots. There's no good way to get equipment into this area without a lot more cutting so I'm just splitting and loading it on a wheel barrow and pushing it on a footpath to my nearest trail on higher ground and stacking it.

 

[David Martin]

Any wood can soak up a lot of moisture. Just keep cutting and splitting and stack it under a cover... It will dry out by the end of May.
Yes, that's the advantage of a deep face splitting ax, they can power through tough wood (cut deeper). Whereas a maul works different with shallow penetration. DM

 

[Trailsawyer]

Any wood can soak up a lot of moisture. Just keep cutting and splitting and stack it under a cover... It will dry out by the end of May.

The green wood I'm splitting now, here in Washngton State, has enough water/sap in it that I hope it will be dry by the first of October!

 

[Frozen Bear Trading]

I use a old axe and a sledge

 

[David Martin]

2 full months drying time was my guess for my wood. But your right, it could takes longer. His was dead wood, still 6-7 months is a lot of
drying time. DM

 

[David Martin]

Frozen Bear, do you drive in the axe with the sledge? DM

 

[Fmont]

I use a old axe and a sledge

See so many old axes that would have been treasure except they were used that way. You gotta do what you gotta do, though. Hopefully it's a plastic handle jobbie

 

[crbnSteeladdict]

See so many old axes that would have been treasure except they were used that way. You gotta do what you gotta do, though. Hopefully it's a plastic handle jobbie

I believe my first thrift store haul was used that way. Paper label 4.5 lbs Plumb was abused badly. What is interesting, the eye has not been deformed. Small axe would not withstand similar trial. Plumb's monosteel axe head construction probably helped, too.

 

[Square_peg]

The green wood I'm splitting now, here in Washngton State, has enough water/sap in it that I hope it will be dry by the first of October!

If I split it small, cross stack it, and get it in the woodshed by June first then it's generally pretty good by December.

 

[David Martin]

So, you have to allow your wood 6 mos. to cure.
When I lived in E. TX. we would fell the tree at the first of May and cut it up. (usually a post oak) Then split it and haul it home in Oct..
It was ready to burn by mid Nov., which is when we usually got our first cold snap. DM

 

[Square_peg]

They say a year or more is best around here. But we have dry summers and if you stack it for max air it dries faster.

 

[muleman77]

Several months here too, for green wood. A year is better. .And its bone dry all summer.