UKH

I've got about 7/8 smallish trees worth of logs which are cut but need splitting. The only company I can find which hire out log splitters are Brandon Tool Hire and I'm not really getting anywhere with them. They don't seem interested in my business for some reason. So I wondered whether anyone in the great ukc hive mind knows of anybody with a log splitter, or an enthusiastic person with an axe perhaps? I'm just exploring options at this stage.

In reply to Alyson: Buy Your own axe and explore your own inner lumberjack . Well, but the axe anyway. After a couple of minutes you'll be doing ok , it's not that hard.

(Or is this a stealth ad for men With beards and checked shirts)

In reply to wbo:

Forget the axe its takes far too long. Large hammer and one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-wood-grenade-log-splitter/51334

In reply to Alyson:
Don't use an axe, it will get stuck because the wedge is too thin. Go and buy a proper mawl with a hickory handle, NOT fibreglass, and get to work on the logs. It should cost £15 to £20. A mawl (or maul) delivers a heck of a lot of energy and the wide wedge ensures it doesn't get stuck while sending the split log off at quite a good pace; be sure to do it well away from patio doors or plastic drainpipes and wear decent boots. Set the logs end on on a chopping block if you can, or somewhere the head won't be damaged if you miss.

Heft the mawl high overhead with one hand near the head then transfer that hand back to grip the end firmly allowing momentum to do the work as the mawl comes overhead. Straight-grained pieces will separate with a loud bang, quite the most satisfying garden job and the sheer destructiveness allows you to boss your family around and tell them to stand back. The chain saw is up there with the mawl but has the added antisocial element of the noise and the huge amount of sawdust it spews out. As you gain experience you will learn that even a crooked-grained piece like a branch junction can't resist a good hard blow from the mawl, which will split it in a very satisfying way. The key is to hit a facet where the grain is straight, allowing the mawl to penetrate and begin the split, which the wedge forces open.

Edit: hammer and "grenade" will make you deaf with the loud ringing noise it generates and may induce permanent tinnitus - guess how I know this?

In reply to Alyson:

There's an old saying, "Wood warms you three times; when fellinv the tree, when splitting the logs, and when burned on a fire!"

Pour yourself a large measure of MTFU/MTWU and embrace the workout!

Hand axe and hammer are my weapons of choice, but after RR's post i might look in to a mawl!

In reply to Rigid Raider:

Great advice, only thing I would add is to tidy up as you go. After a great chopping session it can be purgatory on the back picking up all the chopped logs and stacking them.

Remember to bring a few into the house, to test.

In reply to markAut:


Although you don't want to be too enthusiastic when tidying up. I find having about 100 split logs lying about is optimal - it gives me enough choice to always find a suitably shaped piece to allow me to fit well into the growing log store. To few pieces and you're forced to use bad fits, to many and you can't rapidly (almost instantly) find the next piece to stack,

In reply to Rigid Raider:

I disagree with the advice regarding mawls. Having chopped logs for thirty years my considered opinion is that the extra effort swinging and lifting the weight of the mawl more than offsets any splitting benefit.

I would also say that with all but the softest wood the lack of penetration of the mawl renders it poor at splitting too. It might be useful with softwoods but for mature hardwoods it bounces off.

In reply to Alyson:

Is this a one-off or do you use wood as a regular source of either heat (e.g. woodburners; back boilers) or pleasure (frequent open fires)?

We have 2 stoves, 1 with back-boiler (which goes to a thermal store that is also supplied by a gas boiler and PV panels), 2 further open fires ('cos they're nice) and a fire pit.

As such, investing £100 or so in a second-hand hydraulic splitter was a no brainer. Wonderful bit of kit. Spare your blisters and get one - the rental is so steep that a couple of weekends covers it. Ebay or Gumtree. They hold value too: once second hand the price stays the same for years.

That said, the scandinavian wilderness huts all have vertical splitters powed by sliding a weight up a pole and letting it drop onto a wedge. The wood is almost all birch though, which is at the easy end of the spectrum.

In reply to Alyson:

Hi, if you want to lend two grenades, axe and a sledge hammer happy to lend, live in S11 if any use.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

You've got the job. When can you start?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did kind of suspect you'd all tell me some variation of "get thysen an axe, lass". You did read the part where I said it's 7 or 8 trees, right?!

I can sort of picture leaving it all stacked up and swinging an implement about whenever I've got an hour spare, but much of it is holly so I've been advised to split it sooner rather than later because as it seasons it gets harder to work. I kind of want it done in a day! At the minute it's sitting around in heaps, and stopping me doing any gardening. Anyway, if I can't find a log splitter I guess I've not got much choice

In reply to Deadeye:

I have a log burner but this is a one off stack of wood from taking some trees out in the garden. Mostly I buy seasoned logs. I am considering buying one just for this job then selling it on again. If they do hold their value that's really good to know, thanks!

In reply to robert-hutton:

That's a really kind offer Robert. I'm going to look into buying a log splitter but if it doesn't pan out I may have to take you up on it! Thanks

In reply to Alyson:

Is it all chainsawed into 6-10" bits, or are they still as full trunks? Once it chopped up, the splitting isn't any quicker with a hydraulic splitter compared to a maul, it's just less hard work! I find if you stand a load of bits of similar length together and put an old bike tyre around them, you can split them all one after the other without them flying off everywhere.

In reply to Mowglee:

Maul is the tool, under 20 quid, good exercise

In reply to Alyson:

https://www.google.se/search?client=ms-android-samsung&biw=360&bih=...

This ours the box type in blue, belt driven. Inside is an axe blade fastened to a big rotating wheel. Hold wood in hole, every 2-3 secs blade passes through. Fast and effective, it will split logs up to around 25cm on first pass. H&S folk best look away!

There is another hole on the opposite side and it's splitting blade is mounted a half turn out on the wheel, so two people can work together but don't split together. It's quicker than the hydraulic ones as there is no reset waiting time, as fast as you can throw the two halves and pick up the next it's ready to go.

In reply to Alyson:

Regardless of if you buy a log splitter, get a maul. Splitting is the most satisfying, relaxing thing.

In reply to MG:

Tremendously satisfying when splitting freshly cut Ash rounds. The maul just slices through and the split logs bounce away happily. The biggest hassle is getting the damn dog to then stop taking the freshly split logs off to various spots around the garden. Children and dogs = more jobs and jobs done twice or thrice.
Monkey puzzle is the devil's own to split. Log grenade just buried itself with no impact, more wedges, more force. Hell of a lot of effort for the wood but man pride insists you must get it done. Tragic.

In reply to Alyson:

I'm not convinced by the maul, a full sized felling axe is my weapon of choice.

In reply to Alyson:

An axe works fine as long as the wood has a straight grain because the split will spread down the full length of the piece and the axe head won't get jammed. But on a branch junction where the grain is not straight an axe buries itself in the wood, which resists and traps it leading to lots of swearing and effort to get it out. With the mawl, hit even a twisty piece judiciously and the energy will blast it to pieces producing some interesting shapes.

Good point though about the picking up; that's the less enjoyable part of the job and an unwelcome effort for tired back and arms.

In reply to Alyson:

Many years ago I bought a full length 'Canadian' Log axe with a 4.5lb head. Does the job with ease.
The trick is to the split the logs 'down the grain' and when they aren't too wet, otherwise the axe
might get stuck.

Have fun.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

I'd caution against a cheap maul with a 'hickory' handle. I bought one from one of those cheap tool chains and the wood disintegrated where it fitted into the head after an hour or so. The fibreglass-handled maul I swapped it for is still going strong.

In reply to Alyson:

I recently discovered the grenade - it has the advantage that you can use it with a lump hammer rather than a sledge, and it's accurate and safe - you split the wood exactly where you want it split.

In reply to Alyson:

This probably isn't a wise time to admit having a load of felled trees to split.

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?n=660958

Do we have the culprit

In reply to Tony Jones:
That's because the you are hitting the log past the mid point, so the shaft hits the log every time it splits. Hit the half or side of the log nearest you. You can just wrap wire around the first few inches of wooden shaft, some have metal protectors on axes made for splitting, which also have wider heads to force the log apart and avoid contact with the shaft, as if the shaft is even a little wider than the head, it will meet the log each time.

In reply to summo:

Theoritically possible I guess. I'm still of the view that the issue was with the cheap Chinese maul and its balsa handle rather than my lumberjacking. (I'll have you know that I wear a genuine carhartt flannel shirt when engaged in such activities.)

In reply to Tony Jones:


That will help, even better with big thick braces.

My view being if the handle impacts the log, that is energy not driving the log apart.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

My experience

Hickory - used to go through one year
Fiberglass - bomber and works really

In reply to Alyson:
An alternative to a maul which I've found reasonably useful is to hammer an axe into a end of a log with a soft mallet. If the logs are small/light enough, once the axe gets so far in you can pick up the axe handle and hit the end of the log on the ground and it splits into pieces.

Quite good for days when you're not feeling strong or in quite the right head space for waving a splitting maul above your head. Having dodgy elbows I've found it works pretty well for the amount of effort needed.

In reply to Alyson:

I bought a mawl with a fibreglass handle and took it back the same day as the head kept slipping down the handle and no amount of bashing the end of the handle on the ground would prevent it.

Banging an axe head into wood with a big hammer and then doing the same with a grenade damaged my hearing thanks to the painfully loud ringing sound they generated. Of necessity you are only a couple of feet from the source of the ringing noise as well. At least with a mawl the noise is about 4' away from your ears and in any case it's a bang, not a ring.

In reply to Alyson:

The mere mention of fire wood on here is guaranteed to bring out a whole host of f*cking lumberjacks who'll tell you you're doing it wrong...

In reply to Alyson:

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, wear protective goggles.

I didn't and a huge wedge flew up and hit me right between the eyes. I still have the scar.

But if it had been 1" further right I probably wouldn't have an eye.......

In reply to jon:

Oi less of the disrespect; I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK!

In reply to Alyson:

If you do get an axe and I suggest you do, make sure you learn to use it safely! Here's some good advice from Ray Mears: youtube.com/watch?v=X5W6r5U7yBE&

In reply to Babika:


Good advice!

In reply to Alyson:
SOUNDS LIKE EAR DEFENDERS MIGHT BE NECESSARY TOO.

THESE £3 B&Q ONES WERE GOOD.

http://www.diy.com/departments/ear-defenders/747928_BQ.prd

SORRY FOR SHOUTING!

In reply to Alyson:

Give me a £100 and I'll come and try my best to split them for you in a day!

In reply to elsewhere:
A guy who I volunteered with helped his mate out with his carpet laying business for a while.

One day when fitting for an older lady he played a joke. 'My mate is a little bit deaf, so you'll have to shout to make yourself heard'.

Outside to his mate while getting the tools out of the van. 'The lady inside is a little bit deaf she says, you'll have to talk loudly to make yourself heard'...

'WOULD YOU LIKE A CUP OF TEA?' 'YES'

'DO YOU TAKE SUGAR?' 'YES'

'HOW MANY' 'TWO'

He was chuckling for the whole half an hour journey while they drove back from the job at the end of the day.

In reply to Andy Peak 1:

Are you serious? If so then yes please! Do you have your own chopping device or should I take robert-hutton up on his offer of lending one?