"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
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?

Having failed to do it at the time, fer chrissake split the willow before
it dries. Its a complete ******* to split once it is.


Guess what my afternoon task is today..



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.).

Buy a splitting maul.
Or a bomb if you can find one.


I am using a hatchet and a sledge for the willow. Since the bomb broke.

At least when wedged right in you can knock it out.

Any thing more or less wedge shaped steel will work if it can be driven in
HARD.

The beech I had doesn't need the sledge. It splits (after a year), with
one mega whack from the hatchet, once sawn to 12" long pieces.

Blackthorn, hawthiorn and maple are a shade tougher, as is fruit wood.

Not done holly yet.






Now I'm intrigued. What's the difference between a maul, a bomb and a
grenade?