Split Pine To Look Cool

halfaxe said:
I wish sugar maple split that easy.
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I split about a cord and a half of sugar maple this fall! It split great for me. The big rounds took a couple of swings and the maul got a little use but the stuff in the 10 to 16 inch range I split with a 3 1/2 pound double bit (A MWH. Co.) with just a 33 inch handle. Usually two or three swings would halve them, after that every swing made a piece of firewood. In ways that stuff was better splitting then the smaller knotty pine here. That guy makes it look easy because of a 6 lb axe.
 
G-pig said:
I split about a cord and a half of sugar maple this fall! It split great for me. The big rounds took a couple of swings and the maul got a little use but the stuff in the 10 to 16 inch range I split with a 3 1/2 pound double bit (A MWH. Co.) with just a 33 inch handle. Usually two or three swings would halve them, after that every swing made a piece of firewood. In ways that stuff was better splitting then the smaller knotty pine here. That guy makes it look easy because of a 6 lb axe.
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Some of it pops, but on the bigger wood over 16", the wood doesn't want to separate for me usually. The wood strings across the split too much to pull apart so I have to whack it a few times to get all the way through. Beech and Yellow birch are better splitters for me.

That looked like a big axe.
 
G-pig said:
Split Pine To Look Cool
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You will look even cooler splitting alder. Just show the round an axe and say 'boo' and it falls in quarters all by itself.

Gotta love all the "look how macho I am" videos of guys splitting straight-grained softwoods.
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That aside, he's decent with an axe. At least he hits where he's aiming and can keep up a steady pace.
 
Nothing like frozen straight grained pine to make you look like a tough guy. :p He does seem to have a good hand with an axe, but the real test would be how well he handles tough gnarly pieces. It doesn't even have to be elm or anything that sadistic. Stringy wavy-grained oak with a knot or two in it would be enough of a test.

The worst wood to split? Green poplar takes the cake for me. You can bury a maul in that stuff and it just swallows the bit like the wood is made out of clay. And it smells. :o
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The worst wood to split? Green poplar takes the cake for me. You can bury a maul in that stuff and it just swallows the bit like the wood is made out of clay. And it smells. :o
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Try some of our cottonwood poplar that grows along the rivers here. When you burn it it smells like someone peed on the fire.
 
Hahaha--I think I'll pass! At least poplar doesn't reek when it's dry, but man is it awful when it's green. :barf:
 
Square_peg said:
Try some of our cottonwood poplar that grows along the rivers here. When you burn it it smells like someone peed on the fire.
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Isn't that special! :barf: We have a lot of cottonwoods too. We also get a fair amount of black locust along rivers once you get a touch of elevation so that makes up for it. We've got tons of aspens, which aren't quite as bad on the stink as cottonwoods. Still some crummy wood, though. Takes about 5 minutes for them babies to go from living to rotted.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZPJqVBk8R8

My goodness them canucks like to drop a cuss or two now and then eh? He swore more on three blocks there than I do on a whole cord! Us Mainers are too civilised to use such language (...well, that might not be true...)

Peter Vido seemed to think poplar would work for log building. The stuff does rot like mad, but pine isnt all that much better in that regard. And good size poplars here are wicked easy to get. people cut them down and let them rot, they hate em. I could probably charge people and make a profit on building my little cabin.
 
G-pig said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZPJqVBk8R8

My goodness them canucks like to drop a cuss or two now and then eh? He swore more on three blocks there than I do on a whole cord! Us Mainers are too civilised to use such language (...well, that might not be true...)

Peter Vido seemed to think poplar would work for log building. The stuff does rot like mad, but pine isnt all that much better in that regard. And good size poplars here are wicked easy to get. people cut them down and let them rot, they hate em. I could probably charge people and make a profit on building my little cabin.
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Aspen will rot more slowly if you debark it. The bark soaks up moisture like a sponge. The cottonwood poplars nearby to me don't rot nearly as fast as the aspens.
 
Yeah poplar basically is a sponge. My dad makes boards out of it only when he can find trees that aren't already rotten all through the middle.
 
Yeah, if you get the bark off I think it would be adequate. in a log cabin you need to keep the rain off the walls as much as you can anyway, so Id just add a little extra overhang on the roof and keep those low rambling walls that I am particularly fond of. I certainly like the idea of putting it to use rather than wasting it all (not that rotting and feeding other trees is a waste, but you know what I mean).
 
G-pig said:
Yeah, if you get the bark off I think it would be adequate. in a log cabin you need to keep the rain off the walls as much as you can anyway, so Id just add a little extra overhang on the roof and keep those low rambling walls that I am particularly fond of. I certainly like the idea of putting it to use rather than wasting it all (not that rotting and feeding other trees is a waste, but you know what I mean).
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Are you going to treat it with oil or anything?
 
M3mphis said:
Are you going to treat it with oil or anything?
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My friend used linseed on all members of his timber frame. I dont remember exactly, but it came out to hundreds of dollars worth of linseed oil. I just dont have that kind of money. Unless I can get a documentary deal or something, I wont be treating it with anything (or rather, anything that costs money instead of time and effort).
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Pine tar. Lots of pine tar. :D
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I could get on board with that. although Im trying to cut corners at this point and find some things that are quick rather than idealogically aligned or long term beneficial, haha.

On the subject of splitting, with all the talk of judging the supposed weak points of billets, has anyone ever found any good resources on grain structure etc? I dont know much in terms of where the easy splits are.
 
Generally speaking, split along pre-existing cracks if possible, position knots close to the bottom of the split, and split facing the same direction as the primary offending knot. At least that's my protocol.
 
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