Thanks Cliff .

[Kevin the grey]

I got to use an axe this weekend . Your tips on how to approach different cuts of wood helped me out . The Ash split like a dream . Maple was pretty good , hickory as well . There was Elm in there that was tougher than me . This axe had a plasticky handle though it was proabably some kind of fibreglass . Just a little narrower in the round than I,m used to where you gripped it in your hands . Any vibration made it almost feel like it wanted to cut into your hand .

Any tips on cutting tough elm ? Also My brother In law had this neat tewchnique when splitting . Even though he made a good split all the way through his axe bounced up out of the way instead of following the split and possibly hanging up in it . The same if he needed two chops to split all the way through . The wood would partially split but the axe wouldn,t wedge into the split . It would bounce up about an inch or two .

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Axes which are too thick in cross section will bounce back out of the wood, you can notice this in felling and in spitting. You either regrind the axe or just use it to split softer woods. One of the biggest differences you can make for splitting axes is to sharpen them. Most of the hardware store ones are very blunt with thick edges.

The edge of the axe is what starts the crack, the sides of the axe just break it apart. If the edge is so thick and blunt that it has to smash the wood apart rather than cut it then this loses a lot of energy. You can often cut hardware store profiles almost in half and they are still durable enough.

There are lots of things about splitting which are just common sense type things once you do it for awhile. For example stagger the hard wood with the soft wood. If you have a hundren or so rounds to split then don't try to split ten very troubling ones in a row.

Most of what I split is pine, spruce, juniper, with some oak and birch. The only reall hard ones are the black spruce as it is dense, knotty and often twisted so I just space it out and thus prevent fatigue/frustration. You also have to be much more careful where you place the blade.

You can take a 12" piece of pine and just randomally drive a splitting maul right into the center of a round and easily crack it apart. You do the same on a piece of black spruce and the maul just sticks and two splitting wedges do nothing as well. You have to place them to neutralize how the knots hold the wood together.

The biggest teacher is experience, do a lot of it and pay attention to what happens. You can spend a summer doing it and learn nothing or you can learn a lot in a few days if you watch how the wood responds to the blade.

-Cliff

 

[SAK]

Kevin the grey,

Another thing that can help with splitting is to look for existing cracks/splits in the center of the round. Most rounds have at least one small crack in them (for the types of wood around here anyway). Align your axe in the direction of the existing crack to make the first split. Paying attention to this and to the location of the knots will make things easier.

--SAK

 

[Thomas Linton]

Any tips on cutting tough elm ?

Chain saws are good.

Seriously, elm is one tough wood to split. I have buried multiple steel wedges in relatively small rounds on several occasions and had to cut the wedges out. Plus, it is poor firewood after all that work.

 

[mewolf1]

Any tips on cutting tough elm ?

 

[smegs]

The edge of the axe is what starts the crack, the sides of the axe just break it apart. If the edge is so thick and blunt that it has to smash the wood apart rather than cut it then this loses a lot of energy. You can often cut hardware store profiles almost in half and they are still durable enough.
-Cliff

Yep. A blunt axe will just mash the fibers of the wood. You can use this fact when nailing something close to the edge to avoid splitting the lumber. Just blunt the point of the nail with the hammer. The nail will just mash the fibers instead of separating them and splitting the board.

 

[whitedoor]

Elm isn't too hard to split if you take slabs off the sides rather than trying to split across the log as you would with oak, ash, maple, etc. Stand you wood on end. Aim your maul or place your wedge about 1.5 to 2 inches from the edge and take out a slab. If you still have trouble, try for an inch. Keep doing this around the log. It seems to be easier if the wood is frozen. Elm isn't bad firewood, once it's burned there are few coals.