This video is about straightening the green baywood axe handle that I made a couple of months ago, which warped during seasoning. The first steaming failed, so I pulled out all the stops this time around soaking, steaming and stretching out the wood fibers to even out tensions in the wood. I've been using the axe quite a bit and it has stayed put even though it is flexed a lot during use. Long term results may not be as good, but for now, so far, so good, so I'll call that a tentative success!
Posts filed under tools
Cool Axe and Hatchet Technique for Small Diameter Wood
Okay, this is a simple technique for wood up to around 2 inches in diameter. It is very effective and reasonably efficient, especially when you consider maintenance and cost of a chainsaw. Cutting up small wood with a chainsaw can be dicey too, especially if it's crooked. It can fly all over and cause the saw to snag and kick back. This technique is probably faster than using most, if not all, hand held manual saws and it is certainly a lot funner.
One Cord, One Year, Cutting All of My Firewood With an Axe This Year.
Greetings internetians. There is just something about axes and hatchets that gets some of us all worked up. If you’re one of those types, I have an interesting project to talk to you about.
I’ve been interested in and using axes and hatchets for a long time. It’s something I enjoy thoroughly. If at any given time I think, what would I like to do if I could do anything, running out to the woods with an axe and chopping wood is right up near the top of the list! Seriously, I think that all the time. But I rarely do it. There is no time, it takes too long, I have other important things to do, blah blah blah… so when I need firewood, out comes the chainsaw.
I started out as a complete novice with only some books, like Kephart’s Camping and Woodcraft, and others in that genera. Later I met Mors Kochanski and picked up his excellent book Northern Bushcraft. I almost hurt myself many times, broke handles, replaced handles, broke them again, made my own handles and generally picked up the basics in the school of hard knocks. I’m not a rank amateur, but I’m no pro either, and by any traditional standards I’m still probably a complete and utter dorkus with an ax. Why? Because I don’t use them often enough, or consistently enough. I use hatchets a lot more for small tasks around the place, and running around in the woods doing other stuff, but axes find less day to day use. I do a lot of my limbing with an axe, but not a lot of felling or bucking. Well, I’m over that. I’m feeling better these days than I have in a while and as always making ridiculously optimistic plans, like cutting all my cordwood this year with an axe!
To some, that may sound like a nightmare, or like the least fun thing ever, but to me it sounds like just about the FUNNEST thing ever! I’ve already started. Best idea ever. Now, I will be forced to dial in my gear, clean up, profile, make handles for, haft and sharpen all those axe heads that have been languishing coated in rust for years. I’ll also develop even more personal, contextual opinions about handles, profiles and blade shapes than I already have, and chop my way through enough wood to be entitled to opinions about any of it. Yep, fun galore, and not probably as hard as it may sound.
Most people that have swung an axe have not exactly had a great experience. There are a lot of factors that go into efficient and effective axe use and few of them are typically in play in the average scenario. Sure, if we start with a dull axe, that has a fat bit and a thick handle, and if we have no practice, don’t understand the necessary strategy, strike at the wrong angle, can’t hit what we’re aiming at and start out expecting to make progress if we just give it a huge effort, it’s going to suck and we are mostly going to end up tired and discouraged with very little work done, if not injured or with a broken axe handle. Honestly, even starting with a sharp axe will not help that much if everything else is not dialed in pretty well. A good sharp axe in effective hands, if used to make careful, measured cuts, is effective and fun to use. Watch a lumberjack competition sometime.
When I first was thinking about doing this project, I found the idea daunting. Now I don’t. One of the things that encouraged me was reading that a good hand in the old days could put up two cords of wood a day with an axe. Two cords is a well stacked pile 8 x 4 x 8 feet. YEAH RIGHT!? Here is a quote from a random account I was reading the other day out of the 19th century. It is an instructive letter to the editor about not using too heavy an axe. Full text below:
“When night came we piled up our wood and measured it. Joe's pile measured one and a half cords, mine only three-quarters of a cord….. The next morning I felt lame and stayed at home. Joe put in his cord and a half, as usual.” The farm implement news, volume 7 1885
Now, it doesn’t say what length the wood was cut to in those things, and that could make a very big difference. Cutting 24 inch fireplace logs, 4 foot logs for transport, or arm-span lengths for a furnace of some kind is a good bit different than cutting the 16 inch logs I need for my wood stove. 200 feet cut into 24 inch lengths is roughly 100 cuts, while at 16 inches it’s 150 cuts. That is very significant. The other woodstove on the property takes logs about 12 inches and down. I’m not cutting for that one :)
Another encouraging thing was hearing Mors Kochanski saying in this video that he could drop a 12 inch 50 foot tree, limb it and cut it into arm span lengths in guess how long? 10 to 15 minutes, maybe less! skip to 11:00 min for that part. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aijEY9njOw
You just don’t get that good, or any good at all, whackin’ at a few trees or logs on the weekend. Nope, as I’ve said about other things, if you want to get good at something and really understand it contextually, put yourself in a position where you do it as a lifestyle thing. I need to cut wood this year. If I decide that this year it’s axes only for felling, limbing, chopping and splitting a certain amount of wood, I’m going to learn a lot very fast! Immersion! that’s what it’s all about!
Axes have become very popular. That is really cool. It is heartening to see the upsurge in interest in interacting with natural environments and using basic tools and materials. Because of that, there is an increasing amount of information out there, but very few people that can actually use an axe effectively. Of those of us who are not complete novices, fewer yet are anything like experts. And it’s no wonder. How many people chop enough wood with an axe to even get good, let alone very good? Not very many. That is an inevitable consequence of our modern way of life.
Well, one Person’s work is another’s play I guess. As long as I have the energy to do it joyfully, effectively and relatively safely, chopping wood is fun as hell. Using an axe, or splitting wood, or doing anything that requires skill and focus is very similar to a challenging sport. And boy does using an axe require focus!
Axes and hatchets are extremely dangerous. An axe is nothing to play with and chopping anything with an axe is a time for humility and sharp focus. At first it is clumsy and tiring and seems futile, but as you gain skill, it becomes increasingly an extension of you and you can get into a groove, or zone as they say in sports. The danger inherent in using an axe has a good and bad side. On the one hand, danger makes us focus and adds an element of immediacy, much like a competition sport or a hunt does. But, then it is also just dangerous and there is no way around that. It can be more or less dangerous, but it is still dangerous to everyone, all the time, not matter how much experience they have. And it’s especially dangerous when we’re learning.
I was planning to do a cordwood challenge where I challenged people to cut a chosen amount of wood with an axe. I decided to put that off. Putting yourself on a deadline with only two months to go (done by june first is my goal, so there is time for drying) is not safe when doing something dangerous and unfamiliar. My personal goal this year is just a cord, which is 4 x 4 x 8 feet stacked neatly. I’d kind of like to do more honestly, but I actually don’t even need to cut a cord to get through next winter. Honestly, I have a lot of wood now and may not need to cut any at all. I might make charcoal out of some of my left over wood just to make room! I probably don’t usually burn much more than a cord most years and often less. I thought it could be a one cord challenge, but that is unreasonable for a lot of people and it seems better to just challenge people to pick an amount, even if it’s small, like a quarter of a cord (One quarter of a cord equals 4x4x2 feet stacked).
A person, could end up with an expensive hospital bill using an axe, or worse be maimed for life. You could cut yourself where there is no one around and bleed to death. We face these kinds of possibilities every time we pick one of these things up. If you lack experience with an ax entirely, or with using similar long handled tools, a year of gaining familiarity might be in order. That is a challenge in itself, so no hurry. I’m just suggesting that this could be an edifying experience for some people. There are many ancillary skills required too that one might not pick up if not pressed a little to do so in order to accomplish a goal. An axe needs be sharp to be safe and effective. It also needs a good handle. Novices often break them. I've broken many. We all do. Or you may have an axe with an old, weathered or warped handle that needs a new one. Every axe user should be able to replace an axe handle, and it’s ideal to be able to make one.
As far as resources for learning go, I’m not sure I’m up to the task of teaching you how to use an axe, though I will certainly be sharing stuff and talking about the things that I learn or improve at. I’ll try to spend some time on YouTube collecting some stuff worth watching. Maybe I’ll make a playlist of them all, we’ll see what I come up with, but honestly, most of it is either not very useful, if not actually dangerous. Book wise, Mor’s Kochanski’s Northern Bushcraft is a great read and probably the best thing going when it comes to axe safety. I’ve also read the axe book by D. Cook this year and like it very much. Both authors are thorough and thoughtful. most importantly, their knowledge is something they own out of experience.
So, axe interested parties experienced or not, give some thought to taking on my challenge next year. If you are inexperienced, it will be a journey. You’ll need to acquire an axe which may or may not need renovation. Spend the next year learning about axes and getting your gear dialed in, practicing etc. Then when next late winter/spring rolls around, you’ll be primed to improve rapidly and succeed. There is much to be learned and skill to gain. Axes and hatchets can be very versatile tools. Using one requires a lot of energy, but it is also great exercise. Compared to using a chainsaw, an axe will greatly increase your coordination and strength. It is also a more intimate way to interact with wood. You have to pay attention. Enough said for now. I’m hoping to have my cord cut by June 1st so it has time to season. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from me about this project and various axe related things in the coming year or more.
The Axe Book by Dudley Cook: http://amzn.to/1WQYhJe
Mors Kochanski's Bushcraft, great for axe use and safety
Horace Kephart's Camping and Woodcraft, read free!
full text of Light versus Heavy Axes.
A correspondent of the Albany Cultivator describes his experience with axes, which we give in part as an item of interest to our readers who rely so much upon work with these tools:
"My first axe weighed 4-1/2 pounds, being the heaviest one I could find at the time. I was fresh from a class in natural philosophy, knew all about inertia, and had learned something of the force of gravity and the laws of falling bodies; had rightly guessed that chopping wood might be hard work, and determined that my knowledge of physics should help me out. I would have a heavy axe, a long handle—would move slowly, and take strokes that would count when they fell. My axe handle was 34 inches in length, the longest one in the store. I had hired a tough little French Canadian, weighing about 120 pounds, to help, he brought an axe—a mere toy I called it, which weighed 2-1/2 pounds, with a handle only 26 inches long. I told him I had a fair-sized job for him, and thought it would pay him to buy a full-grown axe. He smiled and said he gussed his would do. I had decided that we would work separately during the first day or two, in order that I might show what I could do. As I began to swing my axe I felt proud of its ponderous blows that rang through the woods, and rather pitied the poor fellow who was drumming away with his little axe, taking about two blows to my one. Presently I had to stop to rest, and then again, and still again; but my man, kept pecking away quietly, steadily, and easily, and seemed perfectly able to do all necessary breathing without stopping his work for the purpose. When night came we piled up our wood and measured it. Joe's pile measured one and a half cords, mine only three-quarters of a cord.
The next day I felt lame and stayed at home. Joe put in his cord and a half, as usual. When I went to the woods again we worked together. Not many days passed before I found an excuse for buying a lighter axe and a shorter handle. And every axe and handle that I have bought since, has been lighter and shorter than its predecessor. Whenever I use an axe now I select one very much like Joe's, both in weight and length of handle. I can use this without getting out of breath, and can hit twice in the same place. The result is that I can do more and better work and save a vast amount of strength.
Homestead Life Episode 2: A day on the Homestead
Just a day on the homestead running around doing stuff. It is basically spring here already this year and I had a lot going on, so I thought I'd try this experiment out. The pace is less frantic than some of my other videos, on purpose. It's still cut fairly tight with some good bits of information here and there, though that isn't really isn't why I made it.
After receiving some comments referencing reality shows, I'm kind of thinking in that direction a little bit. I'm the type of person they contact for reality or re-enactment type shows and some of my friends have been on them or contacted about it like George Michaud, Cody Lundin and Tom Oar. My ex and I were approached about being on Wifeswap a couple of times, ha! I'm not likely to be interested as those are often very skewed and the subject may have little control over how it's all done once the footage is shot and it hits the editing room. When we shot a brain tanning segment for Modern Marvels (season 13 episode 9) their whole attitude was basically "is it good TV?" accuracy was not really much of a consideration. A lot can be done in editing and even an awesome and authentic person, like Cody Lundin on Dual Survival, can be diluted by the fake drama and manipulation of directors, producers and editors. My other homie Wylie Woods has been trying to get something together for a while with various producers and keeps getting jerked around and cancelled and told he can do it how he wants, but then maybe not so much. Screw that. I have potential access to millions of people who are hungry for something authentic and I can do it any way I want. Someone commented that I could have my own reality TV show. Well I do, and here it is! I'm sure I'll get better at it, but I think the production and even some of the content is secondary to authenticity in this type of thing. So, basically I'll interject some lifestyle/day in the life stuff sprinkled in with the down to the nitty gritty how to stuff and projects and all with occasional thought viruses, the transmission of which is why I'm here as much as anything... to influence the way people think about and perceive the world and what is possible.
Splitting Wood by Hand, #5, Just Splitting Some Wood.
This is #5 in my wood splitting video series, but it's being released out of order. After shooting the footage for segments3 and 4 on technique and strategy, and trying to explain it all, the gears in my brain really started turning. I feel like I can do a much better job of explaining and demonstrating those things now. Having put it all into language in my head I also feel like I have a better personal understanding too and can probably further refine my technique. So the technique and strategy videos will be re-shot this year, although I'm putting a few bullet points and a teaser below. Also below are a list of other wood splitting videos worth watching.
I also have better slow motion capabilities now, which I can use to make a study of the mechanics of splitting. Some of the important stuff that I'll be talking about in the technique video is presented in this segment as subtitles. I'll make blog posts with photos explaining segments 3 and 4, but this video stands on it's own more or less, and it is intended for visual learning anyway.
I just spent a couple of hours looking for a few decent wood splitting videos to link in this one, and I can tell you, my stuff is top shelf compared to the vast majority of what's out there. Hopefully people will actually see it. I'm still ranking low in the search engines. Comments, likes and shares anywhere help me reach more people. I'm very excited to make the next two videos and get deeper into the details that matter and which could really help people increase their splitting effectiveness! The previously released videos, along with this one, are in my firewood playlist.
Some notes and bullet points.
You'll notice that I don't favor using a splitting block for the most part. Splitting on the ground requires a tool with a pretty obtuse edge for strength, but it has some benefits as follows.
*We don't have to move the wood to the block, especially important with big rounds.
*We don't have to pick up pieces and set them on (or back on) the stump.
*We don't have to set the tool down to pick up wood
*We have better mechanical advantage (more speed can be generated if target is lower)
*It is safer, since the work is closer to the ground.
*Less interruption to the work flow.
I've come to think that the equation Mass+Speed= Inertia/Momentum/Power is a core principal here. I believe that any energy transfer to the target after contact is negligable compared the energy embodied before impact. By having a low target and tightening the radius of the swing into a shorter arc at the end of the stroke, you can generate a tremendous amount of speed which equates to stored energy. I know there is more involved than just that, but I suspect that things like the shape of the head, angle of attack and any twisting or manipulation of the head is really secondary to that equation. Even if twisting, the head, at the moment of impact to open the split, you are still using mostly that stored energy, you're just sending it off in a different direction. Aim and Strategy are of course also extremely important. But, assuming you know where to strike and can hit the target, being able to embody a great deal of energy in the maul or ax head will most certainly serve you well, even if you don't need it all the time.
These video stills helped me understand my technique better and will no doubt lead to further refinement. They are evenly spaced and shot at 24 frames per second, so covering just 9/24ths of a second. Notice how much faster the maul head travels from frames 4 to 6, due to a tightening of the radius of the swing. It is hardly visible in frame 6, too fast for the camera to catch.
After frame 5, the arc revolves around my fixed wrist position. Between frames 5 and 9, my wrists move very little, but the head moves 4 feet or more. I'm not pushing the head through the wood, I'm whipping it on the end of this long handle to throw it through the wood. The force generated by this technique can be very powerful. It's about taking the mass you have to work with and accelerating it very fast using simple leverage.
Also, note that because of that tighter radius, the angle of attack is significantly toward me. If the round were up on a block, that could put the mauls edge pointing dangerously at my ankles or feet... not to mention that I would have less time and distance in which to generate speed unless I'm 7 feet tall. A low block is an option, but requires moving each round onto the block. Of course, this much momentum is often unnecessary. Splitting blocks are great sometimes, but I've come to use them less and less for the type of splitting I'm usually doing around here.
Other youtube videos worth watching
Wood splitting videos worth checking out. I had to sift through a load of crap to find these few gems!
*Damn, can anyone say badass? I like the splitting horizontal pieces on the ground. Been playing with that for smaller pieces. https://youtu.be/ZMTnhDr8Wa4
*And another bad ass! A serious professional. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17HnpyMPFJA
*Score one for the badass ladies. 115 pounds of hellcat! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kTIS15oa7o
*Delicate and graceful, but effective. And splitting over rocks even. Just beautiful. this is one of the Vido Daughters. I have communicated with them about scythes and other self reliance/tool stuff. Lovely people, check out their youtube channel, scytheconnection for some amazing videos, and also the scythe connection website. These people are the real deal! When they talk, people should listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fWo0P0MdJM
*This guy split professionally with a relatively light and very thin axe he designed just for splitting. Entirely different than my generally heavy handed maul approach. Here he races a hydraulic splitter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Z2UXEFUIw
*Eustace Conway, subject of the book The Last American Man. I met him when I was 19. He blanked out a piece of wood for me with his hatchet. I was trying to make a bowl out of it, but I only had a dull swiss army knife. It was the first time I saw anyone use a hatchet with any proficiency, a Eureka moment for sure. I've been in love with axes and hatchets ever since. Anyway, his technique is interesting. Poetry in motion! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHk6jn4c_FE
*I like this guy's video. His wood is easy splitting and sounds/looks frozen, which makes it even easier, but he's using a small short handled axe and he clearly knows what he's doing. He's got the speed building rotation around the wrists thing going on too. Also, very interested in his hit overhanging the far edge of the round technique. I'll definitely be playing with that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H10hVHCb-Ts
*This guy is great. he's got a big old axe and is just totally berserk, but very effective and deadly accurate! I'd love to see what he could do with that axe on some of the harder wood I split around here. It's nice to use an axe when it does the job it just sort of slides on through, unlike the fat maul bits I use most of the time, but when axes jam up, the narrow bit sinks in deep and is a lot harder to pull out. https://youtu.be/P32JDvu0b-0 Watch beginning of part 2 as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWvBi-4QhIAgain with the very straight, grained soft, easy splitting wood though.
Wood Splitting Series, Part 2: Tools
This series will be almost solely about using splitting mauls, with a nod to axes and wedges. Splitting with a hydraulic splitter v.s. hand tools is discussed in part one, the introduction. If you are out in the wilderness with an axe, then you need to use that, but the maul is a much better tool for splitting a lot of woods. An axe is designed to bite deeply and cut across the grain of wood, not to split it apart. An axe made for chopping is acceptable in some cases, and even good in others, but not purpose made for heavy splitting. There are splitting axes that are fatter, but they are kind of stuck between two jobs and I’m not sure what the advantages of a splitting axe are over a maul are. I don’t think I’ve ever used one, so I wouldn’t really know. They seem like a partial modification of an axe that hasn’t quite evolved all the way into a purpose built splitting tool. For the wood I end up splitting a lot, I’m sure a splitting axe is more likely to get stuck. That’s not to say they aren’t useful. I’m sure it is just contextual. See this link for a cool example of splitting wood using an axe by Eustace Conway, subject of the book The Last American Man. This technique would not work very well on a lot of the wood I end up splitting. Again with the context.
There are a lot of special maul designs out there, most of which I haven’t used. One that I have used and am not a fan of, is the huge heavy triangle of steel, sometimes called a monster maul. Yes, it may hit hard from all that weight, but you have to pick it back up and throw it around over and over and over again, while most of that time the extra weight is overkill. Those monster mauls also have a steel pipe for a handle, which simply sucks. They transfer more shock to your body. A tool handle should flex so that it absorbs some of the shock of the blow instead of transferring it all into your body. Lastly, they never stick. You’d think that’s a good thing, because you never have to pull them back out, which requires energy. But when a maul fails to stick and bounces off, I find it very jarring, no matter what type of maul it is, but more so if the handle is a steel pipe. Your mileage may vary, but if I owned one of those I’m sure it wouldn’t see frequent use. Maybe that type of maul could come in handy sometimes, but as an only splitting tool, it doesn't make much sense to me.
The Fiskars maul I have was given to me, and I’m not crazy about it, though you will read rave reviews all over the net. The handle is too short on the small model I have, which is a total deal killer. I don’t like the balance or the feel of it all that well anyway. It is weighted heavily forward so it points down easily, but that makes it awkward to swing around, making it a poor fit for my style of splitting. It has no eye, so when the plastic handle eventually breaks it can’t be replaced, at which point it’s just a wedge. It also has a thin bit which is more fragile. I could see it working really well with a long handle and maybe on not super hard to split wood, but I wouldn't want to abuse that edge too much like I do on my regular maul.
The maul I’m using currently is medium in weight, so it’s not too hard to throw around, though it’s plenty heavy enough to do a lot of work. The head is just one I grabbed out of my metal scrap pile, where there are several more, probably none of which I paid for. I’m sure there are improvements that could be made and probably have been. Out of all the tools I’ve tried, I have still always migrated back to a basic medium weight maul, and lets just say that I’m not highly motivated to look for something better. This essential design has stood the test of time for a reason. If I had a bunch of money, sure I’d like to get a slew of different splitting mauls and test them all and figure out what works the best. Looking for a better design is not motivating though since my basic maul does the job quite adequately.
Standard American splitting maul. No doubt it could be improved a little, and that even sounds like a fun project I'd like to undertake sometime, but it works well enough that I'm not motivated to throw money out to find a better design. Aside from the handle, it was free.
I love wood handles and I have made a lot of my own. Splitting mauls is one place that I’m in favor of fiberglass handles though. Wood handles on a splitting maul are very vulnerable. The main enemy of wooden handles is hitting them on the piece of wood you're splitting. Eventually they become splintered and break. They at least need a rubber bumper or some kind of guard, or to have rawhide shrunk on at the neck. Another heavy stress on them is pulling them out of the wood when they stick. With a fiberglass handle, I don’t even have to be careful, which makes splitting much more efficient. The handles come with epoxy. If the head ever comes loose, just use any epoxy to fix it. There are lots of splitting maul heads floating around out there on which someone busted a wooden handle and never replaced it. I have a pile of them. If I lost the one I’m using now, I’d just go grab another one out of my stash and buy a fiberglass handle for it. I do prefer the feel of a wooden handle and, if anything, my fiberglass handle is a little too flexible rather than the other way around. The advantages of wood in feel, and even function, still don’t outweigh the remarkable durability of fiberglass though. If I need or want to, I can always revert to wood, but my splitting efficiency would go way down. I would have to be much, much more careful about how I use the tool, and spend more time knocking the maul out of the wood when it sticks rather than just yanking it out.
In my considerable opinion, a maul bit should not be too thin. If it is too acute, like an axe, it will be more likely to stick in the wood and require some screwing around to pull it back out. It will also be more fragile. I like to split at ground level for convenience most of the time, so my maul edge is getting slammed into the dirt and gravel of the driveway over and over. A relatively acute edge is not going to hold up to that kind of abuse and will dull more quickly. It may even chip. This is a compromise and I’m not going to pretend to know exactly what the best compromise is in terms of an angle. I rarely measure the angle of any edge when I’m sharpening. If you are sticking the maul deep into the wood frequently, and having to wriggle it out, think about using a maul with a more blunt shape. It will stick sometimes, and almost any maul will stick in very spongy, soft, wet wood, but in most cases, when the maul sticks, it should not stick too deep and it should be relatively easy to unstick most of the time. If it’s sticking deeply over and over, you are wasting a lot of energy pulling it back out and should think about a more obtuse tool. To me, there is a compromise between a tool that always bounces off and one that almost always sticks. A tool that bounces off occasionally and sticks occasionally, but does neither too often, or too extremely, is the compromise embodied in many of the standard splitting mauls I’ve used.
And lets talk about sharpness of the edge for a second. The edge of of a maul doesn’t need a fine grind. It just doesn’t make that much difference. Yes, there is a point where it is too blunt and time to dress it back up, but it’s not a cutting tool. It’s a splitting tool. It has to be sharp enough to easily start the split, but after that the edge is not even touching the wood. The wood is wedged apart by the sides of the maul once the split is started.
Wedges. I don’t use wedges very often. In fact, if I own any, I’m not sure where they are. If I wedges to split a long log or something, I just make some out of whatever wood is handy. Or, if I'm splitting something small, I use an axe or hatchet and pound on the back with a wooden mallet. I find that with good technique and strategy, I can split most pieces of firewood without a wedge. If a piece of wood is so hard to split that I have to bust out a wedge, I’m more likely to toss it in a pile to burn in a bonfire at a party, or sometimes I toss them in a gully for erosion control. I just don’t get excited about using wedges either. It’s not as fun as splitting wood with a maul. Part of that is that I'm impatient. Using a wedge is also loud enough that you should wear earplugs, just another thing to have on hand and have to deal with. Still, wedges are really remarkably effective and are great to have around when you encounter something really tough. They’re also going to be handy until your technique develops, or if you don’t have that much wood and have to split every piece. They are also good for people who are just not strong enough or experienced enough to power through more difficult splits, especially in tall firewood rounds. You can use an old axe head, but don’t use it if it’s a nice one. The back will mushroom and the eye may eventually bend out of shape. you’ll find axes like that all the time. It’s almost uncommon to find one that is not beaten up at least a little on the poll (back). most of them are still salvageable, but eventually they will be completely ruined if that kind of abuse is kept up. So, if it’s a nice head, save it for someone to use as an axe someday. Axes are actually cool again now, reflected by ebay prices. The shape of an axe isn’t ideal for splitting firewood anyway. Typically a fatter wedge will work better, again depending on the wood.
Wood splitting is dangerous, though not nearly as dangerous as using a sharp axe for chopping. Be aware that as you beat on a metal wedge or old axe head with a metal sledge, or the back of your maul, it will begin to mushroom. Eventually, these bits of metal will bust off and go flying. Seriously, they can really zing off of there like a bullet. You should grind them off occasionally, and of course you should wear safety goggles. Personally, I choose not to wear eye protection when splitting wood, but when I’m pounding on a mushroomed axe or wedge head, I always wear goggles. The mushroomed metal should be ground off every once in a while. It is also quite possible to send chips of wood flying into your face when splitting with a maul, but not commonly enough to make me wear googles. No doubt there is a risk though. These are personal choices. A maul may be dull, but it can be used to hurt yourself with its weight and momentum, so watch where that tool is going to swing if you miss or follow all the way through the split.
So to sum up, if you use a very heavy maul which is overkill for most of the wood that you split, you will be using a lot of extra energy unnecessarily by picking it up and throwing it around over and over again. My experience splitting wood year after year has led me in the direction of a pretty standard medium weight maul as the sweet spot for general use, although that may be largely specific to my circumstances. It is heavy enough to blast through some hard splits with good technique and repeated blows, but not so heavy as to be too burdensome most of the time. Regardless of anything else, I can say from experience that the medium weight maul, used strategically and with skill is a good workhorse. If you need to or want to use a gigantic heavy maul, reserve it for really heavy splitting. If you do most, or all of your splitting with a medium weight maul, it will make you good at splitting wood, because you’ll have to be on your game when you split difficult pieces. It is also blunt enough not to get stuck very often, but not so blunt as to bounce off and shock your arms, though both will happen occasionally, which just proves my point that it’s in the middle of those two extremes.
There is no reason to adopt my opinion as yours. In fact there are plenty of reasons not to. Be open to whatever comes along that works. That’s what it’s about after all. What works for me may not work for you. I’m not conservative about this stuff at all. I like trying new tools if just out of curiosity. I think a 6 pound maul with a fiberglass handle is a good starting place, but it may even be overkill if you are splitting straight grained soft woods most of the time.
Finally, there are always these videos of new splitting maul designs and various gimmicky wood splitting techniques and devices floating around on facebook and on forums. I doubt any of them are a huge improvement over a good standard design. Any advantage is good, but they won’t make up for a total lack of skill and understanding of strategy, or do the work for you. In the next installment we’ll look at how to use the maul, and after that at the nature and composition of wood and strategies for tackling various situations.
I'd love to hear your comments about what works for you.
Antler v.s. Bone: A contest of context.
By Steven Edholm We like to see things as black and white, good or bad, better and worse. It helps us function in daily life where we need to make fast judgements or live on cruise control without having to over analyze everything. But it is also a trap that can limit us and cause us to do really dumb stuff. It helps to look at things in context. We can pit antler against bone to see which one is better for tools and such, but the victor will be dependent on circumstance and what it is that we are trying to accomplish, rather than on more arbitrary grounds. Both Tamara and I have largely gravitated toward espousing and detailing the qualities of materials as a way to view paleotechnics. While our feeble minds may gravitate toward one or the other as superior, redwood is not oak, soapstone is not jade, antler is not bone, and none is superior to the other except in the context of specific uses. Bury an oak fencepost and it will probably fall over in 5 to 10 years, where redwood may last for 50 or much more. Make a bow out of redwood heartwood, but in spite of your best design efforts, it’s just going to be kind of lame.
Bone and antler are similar materials. The qualities of both can vary quite a bit, but they are still very different. bone can be more or less flexible depending on many factors, like what part of the animal, what species, age etc.. but antler is, by it’s nature, generally tougher and more flexible than bone. Some uses of these two materials will overlap, while for others, one is clearly superior to the other. Keep these thoughts in mind as I’m speaking in generalities here.
Bone is harder than antler as a rule but, like many hard things, it is also more brittle and less likely to survive impacts, bending and twisting. However, being harder, bone also takes a better edge. It’s not going to sharpen up and hold an edge really well, but better than antler. Bone is more liable to check and crack in drying.
Antler is softer and tougher as a rule. It can be more easily bent (though major thinning is still usually required). It will not hold an edge as well, but then it also won’t snap as easily. When used to pressure flake arrow points, the stone dents into antler easily providing a ready grip. Sometimes that’s good, and sometimes the harder material of bone is better used.
Think about it. An antler is made to clash with other antlers in violent conflicts. Bucks slamming into each other with tremendous force, and then twisting and throwing their full body weights around by the antlers on their heads. I was awakened a month ago in the middle of the night by two bucks going at it down in the woods. Believe me, they are not messing around! It’s no wonder antlers sometimes break off during these fights, but they usually don’t. Antler can almost be viewed as a very hard and tough wood, though it probably exceeds all woods in these qualities. Bone has to be tough as well, but not as tough. Green bone is much more flexible than dry bone. Bones didn’t evolve to be tough after we have died, just while we are still using them. Antlers didn’t evolve to be tough after the bucks are done with them either, but they are tougher than bone to start with and still tougher than bone when cast off.
The material from which the two are made are different. Antler contains a great deal of collagen and is more related to skin than it is to bone. Over cooking it will result in a loss of collagen. That’s great if you’re making glue, but not if you want a strong piece of antler. bone will also weaken and dissolve glue making substance into the water when cooked, but it will lose that substance more slowly. My general tendency is to think that cooking either one as little as possible is ideal, though weathered bone, which has lost much of it’s glue substance, is sometimes very flexible, so I try to keep an open mind on that one.
Antler is good for pressure flaking tools, bent items, stone working batons and handles. It is easier to carve and work with, especially when soaked in water overnight. If thinned evenly and enough, it can be dropped in boiling water to heat it through and then bent into a pretty tight radius without cracking. It usually has a spongy pith that softens on soaking and heating. Other items, like blades, can be set into the soft pith, which then hardens on drying gripping the item tightly. Antler, being soft and somewhat fibrous, can't take as good a polish as bone, and the polish is as lasting.
Bone is better for edges (though not comparable to a good edge stone like flint) and tools that need to stay sharp, like an awl, it can work well as a pressure flaker depending on the circumstance. Think arrowheads, harpoon points, hide scrapers and stuff like that. Bone sometimes has as spongy looking core which can be useful as a paintbrush for painting on skin, but it's pith doesn't have the same qualities that allow antler to hold onto things like knife blades firmly. Bone can take a very high polish.
I hope this short article leads to a better understanding of the qualities and potential uses of these two useful and beautiful materials, and that I didn't forget anything important. When we understand the qualities of the materials in our world, it leads to a wide open potential for creative, adaptive responses to our needs and desires in interacting with our environments, and that is what paleotechnics is all about.
