3 man Fir takedown

Like a lot of you here, I've been splitting wood since I was a kid. Hardest shit I've ever split is Beech, hands down.

Yup, Elm sucks too, with little BTU value and the need for a splitter, if you don't want to get frustrated.
 
Pecan is supposed to be formidable.

Cherry around here, you have to cut the bark if you want to split it by hand without wedges. The bark is that tough. Crazy tough.


Elm, I hear, was historically used for hubs on wagons, due to its annual changing grain-pattern, and split resistance.
 
Hickory and sweetgum are mighty stringy and near impossible to split by hand... I haven't touched a maul in this millennium... Haven't used a splitter since around '92....

Have noticed a relationship: stringy wood that's hard to split seems to have excellent holding ability
 
I split 30 cubic meters a year, mostly Beech.

I split by hand , but use a system based on the California penal code: 3 strikes and you're out.

If I hit a piece 3 times and it doesn't split, it goes in the penalty pile and ends up in my 25 tom hydraulic splitter.
 
My sawmill guy is delivering 10 cubic metres of offcuts Saturday for €250, that should see me through the winter.

I can see myself never splitting another piece of wood in anger.
 
I'll admit I'm burning bunks this year from the mill, we get oversized bunks used to deliver loads of veneer from another plant. One time use fir cores 4' long. I zip them into three pieces with my table saw. The saw will just go high enough to cut them, they're spotless, uniform, dry and stack well. I can fit them in the stove packed very tight if I want and they easily burn as long as reg cordwood. So yah I've been spoiled. Free for the taking, sometimes a forklift fellow will load my truck for me. I know I know. Soft as f-ck!
 
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