How to chop wood without messing around

[Ashley Cawley]

Just had a friend share this with me...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vThcK-idm0

[Bernie]

Wooosah! Nice and quick, but if we take the chaining time into consideration, is it still as quick? We didn't see him recover the chain from under the logs after he opened it. Pretty good axe work though - I bet he's done a few hundred of those logs at least.

[GaryBeaner]

I can see that idea saving me time/making money @ work! I'm stealing it!!!:ashamed:
Mind you I've seen pics of it done by making a giant elastic band out of a bike inner tube too.

[Fletching]

Me likey. :)

Steve

[feebullet]

oh no, another use for inner bike tube! thanks for sharing the link!

[Martin]

That's very very clever. :)

Martin

[swkieran]

thats cool ,im going to give that a go:),when i do my firewood for the winter

[Ben Casey]

I like it I will try it one day :)

[basicbushcraft]

that's mint great vid

[dave budd]

green woodworkers do a similar thing to smplit a log into blanks for making rake tines and other pegs. It's a bit smaller scale but a foes is used rather than an axe and a rubber band (inner tube ;) ) or string is used to tie the bundle together.

I have to say though that I might well try that with a log myself. good idea, dunno why I've never seen it done before :)

[bigzee]

Fast, efficient, and ergonomic (no ricked back picking up the bits). Wonder how much practise to get to that standard eh?

[JonnyP]

I have 20 tons of mainly oak to split here (ongoing job). The oak is so gnarly and knotted that often a round like that will hold itself together after chopping anyway, and I can do what he did without the chain, but then I have to tear the wedges apart.
Beech, like (what looks like) he is splitting is another story. It splits lovely when green, so the method he is using will stop the round from falling off the block every time its chopped and will certainly speed things up a bit.
Thanks for that Ashley.. I will make one up and see how I go..

[luresalive]

Bloomin heck, thats the way to do it!! great vid!

[Big T]

JonnyP, when you cut your oak will you be making any sawdust? Just curious as im making a smoker at the mo!

[JonnyP]

JonnyP, when you cut your oak will you be making any sawdust? Just curious as im making a smoker at the mo!

Loads and loads of sawdust here, but its all mixed in with the alder and ash etc that we coppiced earlier in the year.
We cut all this lot of oak into rounds in the forest it came from, so just splitting it here.

I have been trying out the above method of splitting. I first tried with a bungey, but it wasn't strong enough, so I used a cargo strap, but stopped using that after I cut it.
I have now made up a (similar to the vid) chain one with a rubber tensioner. I have not used it yet though..

[Ivan]

You can do that with a tyre, but when you have straight grained green wood its easy anyway , in saying that splitting logs is an art , there are those out there that could'nt do it as long as they have a hole in their bottom !!

[Bernie]

JonnyP, when you cut your oak will you be making any sawdust? Just curious as im making a smoker at the mo!

Does it matter how fine the dust is? I'm working on q tv cabinet in oak; planing the sawn boards down to clean planks and producing some fine chip-shavings in the process. I've done most of it now and the dusty shavings are in a bag with other wood dust and bits. I'll try remember to keep it separate next time. Also, what sort of quantity is worth your while?

[bigzee]

When I was feathering the family nest with skinflint furniture a few years ago, I made filler paste from the dust of whichever wood was being used and a tiny amount of PVA glue. This was pretty good for filling nail holes and blemishes that were too acute to iron-out. As long as you use no more glue than necessary to hold the dust together - otherwise it looks too opaque and defeats the object of "blending-in". Nothing to do with log spitting I know...sorry!