That piece he was trying unsuccessfully to split into kindling could have been split with a hatchet quicker than it took him to get stuck the first time.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I have a gas splitter and if I didn't have one, I'd rent one. Splitting elm can be a real bear even with the splitter.
When I turned 60 I told my wife we were getting a new furnace as I was tired of hand splitting all the wood.
She bought me a 35 ton electric start splitter--MUST be true love??!!
I turn 69 in a couple of months, and I did buy a new high efficiency propane furnace this year.
Epilog TT 35W, 2 LMI SE225CV's
CorelDraw 4 through 11
CarveWright
paper and pencils