If you have to split by hand, some of the tougher to split wood like white oak and hickory are much easier if you take small splits from the edges first to kind of square it up into a block. Then use the maul or wedge to break it into larger chunks. The outer growth rings seem to act as a band that tries to hold the piece together.

I love splitting straight grained red oak ash and cherry, especially when it can be done with just an ax.

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Elm is a bugger to split and has a twist in the grain that can turn many an axa handle into kindling. I try to avoid using elm for firewood. The axe head follows the grain and the handle does not and snaps clean half in two at the head.

I got a few mushroomed wedges I have been meaning to take and get the mushroomed edges torched off. Maybe get him to weld a bead or two around the wedge? Down here we go to a mall (maul) to shop. To split wood we use a go-devil. I have. 6 and 8 pounder. The 8 gets the tough stuff and the 6 the easy. Knots get the wedge.

If you are using a splitting wedge, be sure to wear safety glasses. A friend was using one once while his son was helping him. When he struck the wedge with the sledge hammer a shard from the wedge flew off and imbedded in his sons eye, he needed surgery to have it removed.

I hand split until last year. Here is a trick that I learned a few years back. I wish I would have known about it starting out.

Place the log in a spot that you can move around and swing your splitting maul 360 degrees. Before you start swinging, take a strap and place around the log. It needs to be snug, but not racheted. Start splitting with maul and rotate yourself around the log until you have it split to your preference. The strap prevents blow outs and tip-overs. If you never tried it, you got too!

I use this method on oak, ash, etc.. wood that I can split with a swing or two with the maul. I imagine you could use a wedge as well.

I split wood by hand with a maul and wedges for 50 years, 6 to 8 cord per year. This fall I got a splitter, best thing I ever did. Kid puts the pieces on the splitter and I run the handle.

Easier to just put the piece in a tire,hold it up and no strap to mess with!

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I split two to four cords a year by hand. I'm 61. It keeps me from getting even fatter and lazier. Suck it up Nancy girls.

Haha

just make sure their fingers are out of the way It is my opinion that the only person with a finger near it while the ram is moving is the person who's other hand is operating the lever on the spool.

I found if I put the splitter next to the tail gate and went a kid up in the truck they could keep rolling the rounds to me and I could split them with no lifting just roll off the tail gate on to the log catcher. if you can set up near the pile and toss into the wheel barrow as you take splits off the splitter then no one needs bed over and some one can stack right away. 2 wheel barrows and you toss into the one they are not taking out of then you switch when they empty the first one and no one gets smashed fingers

Get a boiler cuts down on that splitting a lot with a 20+ inch opening it takes a good round of wood.

Interesting. What I do on the larger rounds is let them dry for a week or 2, then chainsaw from the edge to the center thru the largest part with no checks. This gives the chunk room to split on the checks. For the medium size ones, 1-1/2 to 2 ft, I'll saw cut slots in a 4-6 pie wedge shape about 8" deep and they will split like a dream.

if it is big I cut rounds then noodle them into sizes that I can lift

my 2166 72cc saw with 24 inch bar is easier to lift up and set down and let the weight of the saw do the work than swinging a maul I also can't alwasy leave the rounds were they fell for a few weeks

did few maple last year that I had to cut from both sides with a 28 inch bar to drop them.

I could then lift the 4 quarters of a round one at a time probably 80-100 pounds each

they had a very curly twisted grain saved one log for milling

What I did was made a few oak wedges. I made a cut on the butt end and drove an axe in as far as I could go then used the oak wedges. I worked and they did a great job. I had ash, birch, pine, cedar and some cotton wood and seeded to do the job what I needed done.

I basically did what you did then used the oak wedges. Worked very well.

If you ever have to cut any dogwood, great wedges can be made from it.

What gryhkl said, work from the outside. Big rounds like in the video are no problem with a standard maul if you know how to work the piece down. Lop a piece off the outside edge. It should only take one stroke with most wood and will leave a protrusion that you can just lop off with another stroke. Repeat until the round is all split wood.

I burn wood daily for close to 6 months a year. I split everything by hand. I have a powered log splitter, but I get more satisfaction out of doing it the hard way. We have a lot of elm and hackberry which are notoriously hard to split. I went to a Halder maul and wedge, and have zero issues with anything I’ve faced. This includes knotty Y’s from tough old red elm. Here’s the link to their products. https://www.halderusa.com/Products/Hand-Tools/Forestry-Tools/SIMPLEX-splitting-maul