When is the best time to split hardwood logs - when green or dry?

-- chopper (@ .), May 17, 1999

Answers

To respond to a question with a question - How soon do you need the wood for use as fuel?

If you have access to a mechanical log splitter, then split them yesterday. Split logs season MUCH more quickly than unsplit.

Generally speaking, most species are easier to split when seasoned. Oak is an exception to this rule.

Hope this helps.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), May 17, 1999.

I agree - do it as soon as you have access to gasoline and a log splitter - hint (NOW, before the rush on both starts in the fall). Let the machine do the grunt work.

Yes - dried wood splits easier - but split wood dries easier.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 17, 1999.

well when I was living in Wisconsin, I learned from experience that the best time to split wood was when the guys who were allowed to go deer hunting on your property showed up with the hydraulic logsplitter and split for you in return for hunting privileges...

always worked for me, :-)

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), May 17, 1999.

Oh, come on now guys,

I could'a figgered that high-falutin Engineer would find a way to do it easy, but a good ole maul still works just fine. I split up a large white oak in early Spring by hand, and kinda enjoyed it too! You know, set the stove-length peices on the choppin' stump and strip to the waist like in old Robert Mitchum movies, and let 'er rip. The missus had to stop what she was doin', just to stomp her little feet and squeel.

Such pleasures are seldom found nowadays!

Lon Frank

-- Lon Frank (postit@here.com), May 17, 1999.

Lon - just when did the Missus issue such sweet words of charm to get you work so hard - before or after you took your shirt off?

And once the shirt was off, why work so hard if she were already .... well, you get the picture? Isn't (wasn't) the intent of manly behaivor already accomplished without the labor?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 18, 1999.

My limited experience is that it is easier to split the logs when they are frozen

-- Joe O (ozarkjoe@yahoo.com), May 18, 1999.

I don't recommend shipping them to OZ or New Zealand to freeze this summer though. Though after you did, maybe you can con one of them upside down aussie's or kiwi's to do it for you though.....

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 18, 1999.

Robert,

You really need to meet my little red-headed wife of thirty years. The sweet words were probably somethin' like "It's gonna be a lot easier to split that wood if your arm's not broke in two places". Which of course, would have been a subtle insinuation that she was about to apply some hardwood motivation upon my person.

Being the lady she is, though, I think it's to her cridit that she refraned from taking a turn with the maul, when I explained that being shirtless was an absolute prerequisite (sp?) (Old Git would probably \ have taken me up on it, and worn nothing but her bow-tie and top hat!)

-- Lon Frank (Postit@here.com), May 18, 1999.

Dry. And use a wedge to split it in half, then you hit it just hard enough to drive the axe in, then lift the axe with the wood attached and smash it down on the chopping block. This saves you from missing it or not hitting it where you want to.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), May 18, 1999.

We usually cut our wood this time of year, store it until about August to dry, and then start splitting around October.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), May 18, 1999.

Chopper,

Personally, I use a 8 lb. Go-Devil as soon as I cut it. Primarily cut only oaks,seems to "bust" apart when it's wet. Being the physical person that I am, it's an excellant workout. Since March I've cut,split and stacked over 10 cords and still at it. I like to start around the first of March due to rising sap in the trees.Makes splitting alot easier and once stacked gives wood at least 6 months to season properly. Might add that I only paid $10.00 for it! That was for the down and dead permit obtained from the U.S. Forest Service! Fortunate to live right next to a 17,200 acre Wildlife Management Area!

But, as they say, when utilizing wood as a heat source, it warms you several times. When you cut it, when you split it, when you stack it and when you burn it! Thought about cutting some more, can you imagine what a cord of wood will sell for later on this year and next year?

-- SEMPER FI (etl@stc.net), May 18, 1999.

The most fun is when your wedge jams in a knotty oak chunk. Hint: have two wedges.

A steel chip flying off the wedge gave me a nice cut on the face one time. I wasn't wearing safety goggles. Luck was a lady that day.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), May 18, 1999.

"When is the best time to split hardwood logs.....?" When your neighbor offers his or her services. If that doesn't happen then it doesn't get done.

-- Duane (Duane24062@aol.com), May 18, 1999.