On 27 Jan, 17:26, "Graham Harrison"
wrote:
Having had some trees pruned I now have a pile of logs. * Cut to length but
will need splitting before I can burn them in the grate. * I have Holly and
Willow wood.

Question is do I split them now or wait until they've cured and then split
them? * I'm expecting to have to leave them about 2 years to cure unsplit,
would it speed the process if I split them now?

On a related note, I've looked at local and national hire shop web sites but
can't immediately locate a log splitter. * I don't expect to have any more
tree logs coming my way for a good few years so hiring seems to make more
sense then spending something like £200 for a splitter (I know you can do it
by hand and I also know that there are splitters for as little as £150).
I'm in "South Somerset" (between
Yeovil/Frome/Wells/Street/Glastonbury/Radstock and, at a push, Bristol,
Bath, Dorchester, Weymouth.).

The holly will be fine in a year - it's quite oily and is excellent
firewood. I normally split when I'm about to bring it into the house.
Willow isn't great as Nick has already said and will take a while to
dry. Our local machinery rep loaned me various hydraulic log splitters
for the odd weekend here and there 'til he finally got the message
that I was never going to buy one. The wood I could split in a weekend
didn't last long (wood is our sole heating and ho****er supply in a
damp draughty barn of a 4 bedroomed house) and I didn't want to spend
whole weekends splitting - oh and depending on the machine you still
have to lift the logs onto the machine. So I find it more convenient
to split as required using a proper log splitting maul - if two or
three blows don't do it then it's put aside to do with the chainsaw
later.