Log Splitting

[thumbsucker]

Today I purchase two logs, Oak and Chestnut. Total cost $360. They are both 2.1 meters long between 350 - 450mm wide - I would have preferred slightly smaller diameter however I have split Mountain Ash nearly 700mm wide, but it was short 1meter lengths. The logs was the best I could find at the mill. They are for most part filled the parameters that I have gathered from my readings:

• Avoid very close-grained oak, ash, or hickory. Such ring-porous hard woods can be weak if the annual rings are less then 3mm in thickness.
• Pith should be in the dead centre.
• If it has the end of the log has a split it should be in the centre.
• Equally spaced growing rings formed in a nice circular pattern.
• Good White oak bark should be soft, you should be able rub off with hand
• No branches, nots.
• No crotch wood.
• No humps or bulges.
• No bow, twist or spiralling in its length.

The logs have the following defects - that I can tell:

• The chestnut has a few very small branches almost twigs coming from it.
• The chestnut pith is not dead centre on one end.
• The oak growth rings are not a perfect circular pattern.
• The oak has spalting in it, but I will be using the spalted material for making my shave horse.

I hope to get the log delivered next week. Now allot of youtube vids show only very short 1 meter lengths being split. Now Jennie (John) Alexander in his book is shown splitting a log that looks over 2 meters long. However the log is very small in diameter about 300mm.

My question: are there anything that I should be aware or do when splitting a 450mm wide log. I would prefer to split the logs in there full lengths. As I do not have a x-large chainsaw, plus if I split it before I cut it into lengths. I can cut around any defects inside the log.

I have a nice maul, two steel wedges and three gluts. The method as I understand and that I have used in the past. Is find the existing cracks - draw a line with a pencil following the crack radially, place steel wedges on the far ends of the split lines, were the sapwood meets the heart. Drive in wedges until the log opens up. Then insert gluts and drive them in moving down the log as the log splits. Use a hatchet to sever any connecting fibres.

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[orraloon]

I have split a few logs for bow making but not that large and I dont claim to be an expert either. I did find the shorter the log the easier it is and less chance of the split going off course. As for docking the logs you dont need a very large chainsaw. A 16'' bar saw will do that no problem. Cut from both sides.
Good luck with the project.
Regards
John

[thumbsucker]

John - my readings agree with you that shorter lengths are easer - I did a bit of reading on the topic found a good article by The Best Oak Money Can’t Buy BY PETER FOLLANSBEE.

I managed to borrow a chainsaw able to cut 500mm logs. I am thinking that I will cross cut the logs so that I can get 1.8m boards for the shavehorse. Then the rest will be 1.0 meters for the rear legs and 0.6 meters for the front legs.

Because the logs are large they would need to be dropped off in my front yard. My neighbours will think we are nuts, I have gotten two mates to people to help out with the splitting. The plan is to cross cut and break the largest section into 1/8, but the smaller lengths will be rolled into the workshop. But it will be fun trying to roll them up into 35º inclined driveway.

Will post back progress.

[orraloon]

Sounds like you are in for some fun.
Regards
John

[thumbsucker]

The logs were delivered by Dj on Friday last week. On Saturday a mate came around to help me out we cut the two logs into assorted lengths between 500 - 1500 mm.

I have been hard at work splitting - here are some photos for the moment. The chestnut splits like a dream. I can easily convert a log into boards within a hour. The oak was another matter. It was a bastard to split. I think it was in part the 500 mm plus width and the fact the the log had some fiddle back. It took we two hours to split the big section of oak in half, it will take me a day to break it into boards. Next time smaller logs will be order of the day.

More photos by weekend.

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[orraloon]

Looks like you had a good workout. Did you manage to draw a croud of watchers.
Regards
John

[cava]

They look great. Which mill did you use?

[thumbsucker]

orraloon - I had allot of on lookers stopping in to ask what I was up and asking if I was making firewood. I then had to explain a dozen times what greenwood working was.

Cava I sourced the logs from Premier Timber Sawmill 3045 Warburton Highway Millgrove Victoria Australia - 0407 662 866.

I have had a chance to look over the oak in more detail. It is riddled with fiddleback - explaining why it was so hard to split and why it clung together needing an axe to separate the pieces. The fiddleback makes the oak useless for greenwood post and rung chairs. I have decided that I will use some of it to make my shave horse and the rest will be waxed and dried for future cabinet work. At least I will have perfectly Quarter sawn oak for a whiskey cabinet I have plans for. However because it split so poorly I will have lots of waste as the surface of the boards are mangled. I am planing to use a powered hand planer to clean up the surface before staking them to dry.

Next time I will strip of the bark to examine if there are any ripples visible on the surface to avoid purchasing the wrong log.

The chestnut on the other hand split perfectly leaving me with clean surfaces and will be ideal for the chairs. At this point the chestnut has been split into 40mm thick boards that taper to nothing. Perfect for the legs at the widest point, and the thinner parts can be used for rails.

I will take a photo of my timber stock pile and will post it back next week.

[thumbsucker]

Just a few a photos of the Chestnut split, waxed and stacked on a pallet.

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This is the pile of oak. I basically split it into 8th's and waxed the ends. I need to break it down on a big re-saw - since the fiddleback has made splitting impossible. You can see in the close up that the oak did not split cleanly, but shredded instead.


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