Softwood drying times

[drinksloe]

Treat urself to a fiskars axe, not dear either but different league to the roughneck splitting maul,wot i started out with too and thought it was pretty good until i bought the fiskars.

 

A tyre is a handy trick, place a tyre on top of ur splitting block and put ur logs inside so they dont fly everywhere.

 

I'm lucky to have heaps of hardwood and very little soft wood/cypress so tend to saVE IT ALL FOR KINDLERS, i try to split the cypres in as narrow pieces as i can 1-2" with the big axe and let it dry then easyily split with the small axe after that for kindlers.

Once u get ur eye in u can split great flat slabs of it quite easily

 

My other tip would be for the store either have multiple stores or if 1 bigger 1, split/divide them into sections so u can empty 1 section completely and fill it up again with fresh stuff and start on the next section.

if 1 large store that u can only take logs from 1 side u end up with dry stuff at the back and ur fresh stuff in front

[rapalaman]

Fiskars x27 or x25 👍

[Steven P]

Likewise when it comes to kit, Firskars X27. I've tried a maul, didn't like it, and a generic 'big axe', didnt like the either.

Saw - don't knock electric, it is the future and battery power will come down in price enogh for the professionals to use them all day soon enough. For what you are doing then I'd be temed to go battery - my go to quick saw for the garden is a qualcast battery saw, and so long as you kee the blade sharpe it is as good as the Stihl for logs - petrol scores if I want to go through several tanks of fuel in an afternoon though.

Haven't tried log grenades or splitters, I get on OK with the axe - enough wood for me and in 8 years I think maybe 2 gnarly bits of log defeat me a year, the axe and the saw combined (without sawng it to death)

I'll tend to split logs in length and chop them shorter later in the year - sometimes makes it wasier to stack. Stacks... while I am here... no ned for pallets, Like I said mine get raised off the ground on a couple of bricks, with a split log on top lengthways and built from there. Doesn't tke long to learn how to make a sack of logs without needing pallet supports -I even buid them into play houses with windows for the kids, with roof, just from logs that are burnt at the end of the ear.

Wheelbarrow of logs a day.. yes, on a cooler day that will be about right - I only heat with the stove though. Always suprsing how much you can actually burn (Imagine a car... about that volume)

[Puffingbilly413]

9 hours ago, peds said:

Anyone got a recommendation for a decent wood grenade? 

 

I have a growing pile of gnarly pieces, sometimes I run the saw over them again and just burn them big, but it seems a waste of time when there's other decent timber to split. But it's also a shame to waste decent firewood.

 

Some of the chunky bits make nice ornaments, anyway. 

 

 

Lumps that won’t split I chuck in  a big circular mesh bin I made out of weldmesh. They do dry eventually in a few years and as long as they fit in the stove it’s fine. Otherwise the firepit.

[difflock]

Having been running a 5kW wood burner for a few years now, lit at 06:00 and burning through to bedtime, with the otherwise unheated garden-room never dropping below 19 deg overnight(perhaps exceptionally 17 in a howling gale) and kept between 25 and 28 during the day.

On 1 well heaped banana box full of dry softwood.

I try and leave the felled trees unprocessed until the bark starts to fall off, since they are then much lighter to manhandle. This also gives all those wonderful wood boring insects a opportunity. I like that.

P.S.

How is an electric saw safer than a petrol one? (aside from perhaps being perhaps  less powerful)

Edited January 18, 2022 by difflock

[Stere]

Found x27 is abit fisher price and  c0mpred my maul as found had to swing harder/put more effort in , to get wood to split too c0mpensate for less weight in head. Never use mine much except on certain wood that spilts easy.

 

Saying that tried using a different heavier maul at a customers house and found was was too heavy/ felt less effecinet  as head weight was more than on the maul i own.

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Stere

[Rob_the_Sparky]

As above I now use an x27 having started with the Screwfix maul and now never use the maul.  However, using the maul meant that all my crappy learning hits that missed did not damage a decent axe so by the time I got the x27 I knew how to hit a piece of wood(!) and it is working very nicely.  I prefer an x27 but others prefer an x25 (same head just a shorter handle).

 

For nasty bits of wood I use a Fiskars twisting wedge and a sledge hammer (which I already had).  However, there was a cheaper wedge that looks identical out there.  This is the cheaper one that looks the same: Roughneck ROU65510 Wood Twister Splitting Wedge 5lbs/2.3kg : Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

 

There are times I just decide to split everything, because I'm stubborn, but it isn't generally worth the effort.  Having done it for more time I have learnt ways to split around most of the awkward bits and rarely use the wedge and hammer now but there are a few pieces I use it for.  Nice to have it available as back-up should that be needed.

 

Saw wise I am very happy with my mains electric saw.  It has more power than any battery saw, is much cheaper and has no batteries to run out.  The downside is being tied to the house via a mains lead but that is not a problem I need to solve as arisings arrive at the house so no need to take the saw anywhere.  I have fitted an outside socket near where I chop the wood.

 

Rob

 

P.S. I did wonder when I bought the x27 whether I'd end up buying a maul as well but I never did as I have just not needed it.

P.P.S. splitting is easier if you use a butt end chunk as an anvil rather than splitting on the floor.  The extra height makes it better.  The butt end chunks do not split easily so make good anvils.

P.P.P.S(!) "Norwegian Wood... by Lars Mytting" is a very good book to read.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Rob_the_Sparky

[neiln]

Electric saws have lower chain speed so kick back less severe.

 

Roughneck twist wedges are decent but them gnarly unsplitables are very hard work with wedges too.  If the x27 doesn't get it I set it aside, when I have a small pile of tough bits and want a real work out, the 8lb Stihl maul comes out.  The few remaining bits get cut up these days.  I would only use wedges on really large rounds these days.

 

[Ben Pinnick]

I had a grenade, but I find they move about too much for the really gnarly stuff thats always cut squiffy anyway.  Now I run a saw over it to start a slot, and use an Erstwing star wedge, which is a straight wedge with a flared bit half way up so it goes in straight and true rather than moving around, but then prys the wood apart as it gets deeper in. Means you can really take to it with the hammer on your splitting maul.

+ 1 for the X27, and also an X10 is an excellent hatchet that cuts way bigger stuff than it should. I also use the fiskar's sharpener which is really easy and keeps them very sharp

But as rob_the_sparky says use your maul for a while until you're good with it. Don't waste a decent axe burying it into the ground!

Edited January 18, 2022 by Ben Pinnick

[difflock]

This, heats this, the projecting garden Room, and the two open-plan rooms behind as well for 24 hrs, via this.

Edited January 18, 2022 by difflock
Editing!