Splitting

 Splitting logs.

Wood for burning needs to be dry, this means 20% or less moisture content. Felled trees can be over 60% water. As the bark of a tree is designed to keep moisture in the tree logs dry very slowly and mainly via the cut surfaces.  Logs that have been split can dry much faster. It is easiest to split logs while they are green and recently felled. This is particularly true for Eucalypts. Splitting logs is the most physically demanding and time consuming of all the stages in log production. At least for those of us without expensive automated log splitters.

Logs that have been cut to length dry faster than longer lengths, but they require more handling and are more difficult to store and stack. The compromise I employ is to cut felled trunks  into lengths of 4-5 feet which can fit in the car and then split them. This size is known as cord wood. A cord of wood was the standard measure of fuel logs and is 128 cubic feet, derived from the size of the stacks in which it was initially stacked for drying and selling. A cord being 4' high 4'wide and 8' long.

I start a split using a hatchet placing it where I want the split and hitting it with a lump hammer. Driving the axe head until most of it is in the log. This is not a recommended method as it involves hitting a metal head with a metal hammer. It does require ear defenders and a face protector.

Once the log split opens up Metal wedges are driven into the split. The split should run down the log and release the axe. when the thick end of the wedge is is nearly in the log a second wedge is knocked into the split and the split extended as the first wedge becomes loose and can be relocated further down the the log.

Once the log is split it can be stacked on a pallet at the edge of a wood. It is better to get the log out of the wood where there is more air flow. I often run a Stanley knife blade down the bark. This helps the bark peel away from the log while exposing wood to the air. As it dries under the cut there is variable shrinkage and gaps open in the wood enabling more moisture to escape.