splitting wood by hand... wedge or grenade?

I split and stacked wood today-- it was too hot for it, but I had 5 cord in the driveway. I just use a splitting maul. I'm not sure why a little guy can't use a maul-- I'm a little woman and I do just fine... DH spends twice as long as me splitting 'cause he uses wedges and they get stuck.

Michelle

The grenade idea sounds good, and fast....but I'd want to be drinking my beer at a safe distance when the grenade goes off. LOL

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What I like best about the Wood Grenade wedges is that they are
almost self starting. Since they are pointed at the end, I can stick them
into a crack or softer end grain by hand and they will stay vertical
until I take my first swing. That said, I use large traditional wedges to
get my Wood Grenade wedge out when it gets stuck (every 6 or 7)
logs.

Never heard of a grenade. Wow, great time for this post. BF is using a splitting wedge, axe, sledgehammer (when axe gets stuck) and chain saw. We have 6 big trees that need to be cut up and 2 more that are partially cut up. Storm came through and damaged a bunch that we discovered the ants had already gotten to and it was just a matter of time before they fell. One fell on the house. They look small in the picture because there is nothing for perspective, but trust me they are big ones. I just do the picking up, wheelbarrowing, stacking, sorting and getting branches out of the way.

Here are 4, some black locust, hopefully we'll get more fence posts from them:


Here's another big one with all the branches piled up that haven't been dealt with yet. Had just get them out of the yard first. Each branch pile is taller than a person standing up.



Here are the 2 partially cut up black locust that run down the length of the driveway in various stages of chopped-up'ness. got 63 fence posts out of this one!



Just for fun, this is what one did to the house, they were all this tall and it sticks way out over the other side of the house. Getting a new roof out of it though!

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The old Sotz "Monster Maul" is my favorite wood-splitting tool. One-piece steel handle and 12lbs head, practically indestructible.

.... Went to an archeology show last weekend at Cahokia Mounds, and seen the old indian axes being put to work. Amazing, how they were able to cut logs using a basalt rock...

I like to just cut trees I don't have to split since round wood lasts longer in a fire than split. But a 8# splitting hammer and a little thinking by looking at the stick of wood and away I go. If I can hit the same spot......LOL

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