A better wedge

[Mike Holbrook]

I harvested a Dogwood today. The big end is 5+ inches in diameter. I am wondering if I can make a heavy mallet with it. The small end is down around 2 1/2", so I think there is good wood for gluts. I don't know where one would find a dogwood with large enough roots to make a froe club from. If I found one I thought might be big enough and just happened to have an excavator handy I'm still not sure how I could get that root out of the ground in one piece. I thought I was doing good to find a dogwood with a 5+ inch trunk.

David, Drew has a 12+ picture series in his book showing how to split a log. It looks like he is splitting a 6-8' red or white oak log that is above his knees, 20+ inches in diameter. 1) He extends a pencil line out from a pre-existing crack in one end of the log. The crack in the log in his book is conveniently located in the center of the log, so his pencil line halves the log. 2) Drew's second step is to take a regular chisel, not the splitting chisel, a regular one that has a steeper duller end. He taps his chisel all along the pencil line scoring an indentation, which he says "will influence the way the split develops". 3) "Using a flat, narrow-angle starting wedge to start the split. The handle of the 8-pound sledge hammer has been cut down to 24". He drives the wedge into the scored area in the end of the log, about half way between the center of the log & the top. He only drives the starting wedge a few inches into the log, probably because he got a good split with just that much of the wedge. 4) In this step he starts driving a regular wedge into the developing crack on the bark side of the log, just past his starting wedge. He says that the starting wedge could have been driven in further. It looks like he had 6 inches of his starting wedge still available above the surface. 5) Next he leapfrogs wedges into the developing crack. He always leaves at least 1" of his wedge above the bark 6) He uses gluts to widen the crack. He cautions against putting hands/fingers in the crack. He continues with the same methods to quarter the halves.

Drew saws pieces from the above splitting procedures for riving the various pieces needed to make chairs. He uses wood mallets & froe clubs with a froe for the smaller pieces and sometimes an axe for the larger pieces the finals are cut from.

[David Ragan]

I harvested a Dogwood today. The big end is 5+ inches in diameter. I am wondering if I can make a heavy mallet with it. The small end is down around 2 1/2", so I think there is good wood for gluts. I don't know where one would find a dogwood with large enough roots to make a froe club from. If I found one I thought might be big enough and just happened to have an excavator handy I'm still not sure how I could get that root out of the ground in one piece. I thought I was doing good to find a dogwood with a 5+ inch trunk.

David, Drew has a 12+ picture series in his book showing how to split a log. It looks like he is splitting a 6-8' red or white oak log that is above his knees, 20+ inches in diameter. 1) He extends a pencil line out from a pre-existing crack in one end of the log. The crack in the log in his book is conveniently located in the center of the log, so his pencil line halves the log. 2) Drew's second step is to take a regular chisel, not the splitting chisel, a regular one that has a steeper duller end. He taps his chisel all along the pencil line scoring an indentation, which he says "will influence the way the split develops". 3) "Using a flat, narrow-angle starting wedge to start the split. The handle of the 8-pound sledge hammer has been cut down to 24". He drives the wedge into the scored area in the end of the log, about half way between the center of the log & the top. He only drives the starting wedge a few inches into the log, probably because he got a good split with just that much of the wedge. 4) In this step he starts driving a regular wedge into the developing crack on the bark side of the log, just past his starting wedge. He says that the starting wedge could have been driven in further. It looks like he had 6 inches of his starting wedge still available above the surface. 5) Next he leapfrogs wedges into the developing crack. He always leaves at least 1" of his wedge above the bark 6) He uses gluts to widen the crack. He cautions against putting hands/fingers in the crack. He continues with the same methods to quarter the halves.

Drew saws pieces from the above splitting procedures for riving the various pieces needed to make chairs. He uses wood mallets & froe clubs with a froe for the smaller pieces and sometimes an axe for the larger pieces the finals are cut from.

What a fine piece of research that is! That is exactly how I would treat that video. The accummulation of all the little things is what makes a real professional instead of a hack job, which is probably all I'll ever by in this realm.

Great job, Mike!

I look forward to getting together with you in a couple of weeks

Anybody try the Oschenkopf wedge? A 45* twist, aluminum?

[John W Johnson]

Mike, one thing Drew mentioned about the glut was that we would ruin it if we snagged its point on any strands in the split. He also said they should only be struck with his long handled wooden mauls. He said he'd had the one we were using for over twenty years. We used his to further open the splits in the log. As soon as they opened up enough we finished removing the remaining fibers with axes.

Also, the person above who mentioned you'd ruin an axe by using it as a wedge is absolutely correct, if you drove it with a metal hammer. We used the wooden headed mauls and mallets to drive the axe head. The only time we used metal on metal was driving the steel wedges with his short handled sledge.

[Mike Holbrook]

David, even we blind squirrels find a nut on occasion. Hope we get a little more done next time. I'm working on a few things.

John, I took a 5 day class, making a Rustic Windsor/Welsh Stick chair (short version). The only splitting we did was small pieces for short chair spindles, which we used small quartered logs for. Drew mentions that glut, and a club too, in his book. Apparently he found a big dogwood somewhere and got it out of the ground with the roots. He apparently made that glut from a part of that Dogwoods roots.

[David Ragan]

Mike, one thing Drew mentioned about the glut was that we would ruin it if we snagged its point on any strands in the split. He also said they should only be struck with his long handled wooden mauls. He said he'd had the one we were using for over twenty years. We used his to further open the splits in the log. As soon as they opened up enough we finished removing the remaining fibers with axes.

Also, the person above who mentioned you'd ruin an axe by using it as a wedge is absolutely correct, if you drove it with a metal hammer. We used the wooden headed mauls and mallets to drive the axe head. The only time we used metal on metal was driving the steel wedges with his short handled sledge.

I was cruising the YouTube and saw a guy using a huge wooden maul musta been a foot in diameter. It just looked easier than the full size sledge hammer that I was using last wkd.

How would one go about making something like that, or what is the best way to do that? Stick a stiff branch in a small stump?

[John W Johnson]

I was cruising the YouTube and saw a guy using a huge wooden maul musta been a foot in diameter. It just looked easier than the full size sledge hammer that I was using last wkd.

How would one go about making something like that, or what is the best way to do that? Stick a stiff branch in a small stump?

David, I don't know, but I'm dealing with that question right now. I started another thread about this huge dogwood my brother found in a roadside rubbish pile. We have two four foot plus straight, fairly clear logs. One tapers from about a foot to 9" while the other is roughly eight inches end to end. We also have a two foot log with a couple of softball sized blisters on the sides, and the limb section that has three live limbs and one dead one.

We initially had the idea of making long handled mauls, froe clubs, and gluts, but I think we should start with a couple of big momma mallets like you saw in the video. I just don't want to screw it up. We've literally been looking for good trees to make these tools for months, and just had this amazing tree fall in our laps. It is almost too big for what we need.

[Mike Holbrook]

David, I believe it depends on the wood/logs you have. Although it is a good deal of work an entire large mallet can be made from a single log/piece, if it is long enough and wide enough. I think many people end up making the mallet head separately and then add a handle, hickory or ash make good handles.

Drew Langsner addresses: Glut, froe and maul construction in his book. He suggests removing the greater part of the wood for the handle in one of two ways 1) start out with an axe and go to a drawknife 2) saw kerfs around the handle area and split off the waste wood. He suggests making the transition area between the head and the handle a smooth transition instead of an abrupt angle which concentrates forces on the transition area. After the club has had time to dry he suggests cutting off the checkering on both ends, which is why he starts with a longer blank than he plans to end up with.

Drew lists the steps for making a froe club "a) select a sapling 3-4" in diameter, about 30" long. Knots at one end help prevent splitting during use b) shape handle, smooth the head area, and coat ends to minimize checking during drying c) after drying, saw off checked ends-finished length is about 20 inches"

Drew prefers to make mauls the same way as froe clubs. Drew's favorite Dogwood root maul is about 30 inches long with a dry weight of around 10 pounds.

[David Ragan]

David, I believe it depends on the wood/logs you have. Although it is a good deal of work an entire large mallet can be made from a single log/piece, if it is long enough and wide enough. I think many people end up making the mallet head separately and then add a handle, hickory or ash make good handles.

Drew Langsner addresses: Glut, froe and maul construction in his book. He suggests removing the greater part of the wood for the handle in one of two ways 1) start out with an axe and go to a drawknife 2) saw kerfs around the handle area and split off the waste wood. He suggests making the transition area between the head and the handle a smooth transition instead of an abrupt angle which concentrates forces on the transition area. After the club has had time to dry he suggests cutting off the checkering on both ends, which is why he starts with a longer blank than he plans to end up with.

Drew lists the steps for making a froe club "a) select a sapling 3-4" in diameter, about 30" long. Knots at one end help prevent splitting during use b) shape handle, smooth the head area, and coat ends to minimize checking during drying c) after drying, saw off checked ends-finished length is about 20 inches"

Drew prefers to make mauls the same way as froe clubs. Drew's favorite Dogwood root maul is about 30 inches long with a dry weight of around 10 pounds.

Man, did I ever run across the right guy to get with on the green woodworking!

It had occurred to me that making a maul out of a piece in which a natural branch could serve as a handle might be best?

[paul cottingham]

That is great, Mike. We going to use the Dogwood root, right? If we can get one big enough. If now, I can ask my people about it. Come to think about it-I am not excited about digging up a Dogwood root, ha ha.




That is what I thought, Jim......if you're trying to get straight grain, you just let the wood split along anyline it wants. that is what I witnessed after some crude drawknife work on the oak this weekend. I just put the wedge in the middle of the log and pounded the crap out of it till it was fully in. Can you go wrong with that method?

Then, To start the wedge, I had just chopped out a small area with the hatchet and set the wedge.

Here's another question-

Under what circumstances do you start the split from the end of the log, when the log is short enough?

And, what is a good way to steady the log on the ground, to keep it from rolling when splitting. A log on each side? A wooden stake to each side? How about a Rube Goldberg special sled with adjustable width sides to secure the log? Of course, you still need something solid underneath.

Not trying to hijack

Honestly, i would always start the initial split of an intact log from the end, preferably utilizing an existing split.
A steel wedge in the end, followed by a steel wedge in the resulting crack in the end, a glut, then a wedge, hopping along the log. You will need a hatchet to cut away wood "threads" that is holding it together.

[David Ragan]

Whats up with the $99 LN splitting wedge? Mine from Ace Hdwe was $13, roughly the same size:



The only diffo I can see is the serrations.

[Mike Holbrook]

I prefer ridges on my potato chips when I'm dipping french onion dip, except neither one is paleo so I don't eat them anymore. Got me David, the Gransfors ones I bought to help fell trees were cheaper than that and they were very sharp, twisted & forged & came with leather covers.

[Bill Adamsen]

Mike:

I do exactly what Paul recommended. I keep a large number of wooden wedges typically made out of Locust, White Oak or Hickory (really, anything that's available) so that I don't lose a good steel wedge when I can't get the tree split full length. The only real trick I've found is to chamfer the top edges so the wedges last longer. In the photo you can see I got lazy and just chamfered the long sides and as a result lost some chips on the ends. They are cheap and easy to make and having a bunch handy is nice when splitting long logs. When chainsawing to separate the split halves, the chainsaw is often very grateful for the wooden wedges.

Honestly, i would always start the initial split of an intact log from the end, preferably utilizing an existing split.
A steel wedge in the end, followed by a steel wedge in the resulting crack in the end, a glut, then a wedge, hopping along the log. You will need a hatchet to cut away wood "threads" that is holding it together.

[Jim Koepke]

When chainsawing to separate the split halves, the chainsaw is often very grateful for the wooden wedges.

I don't know about the chainsaw being grateful... I know my wallet is grateful for not having to purchase a new chain.

jtk

[Mike Holbrook]

I just bought an old Keen Kutter axe head with 9" cutting surface, from that auction place. I'm not sure it will work like a wedge but after watching a large number of similar axes at auction, I can see that the people who use these axes obviously beat on their large heads with something hard enough to eventually start mushrooming them without breaking them. The design is pretty close to flat ground for the entire length of the head on both sides. I will make a handle for it and either use it to separate pieces of split logs or as a splitting tool or both. Should also serve to make the groove to start a split on the end of logs.

I also found a 9" long nicely tapered 5.5 lb wedge that looks like it might work well so I bought it too.


I will post some pictures of tools for splitting after I get a more complete collection. After David gets back over here and carves up that Dogwood I harvested ;-)

[David Ragan]

Thanks for the comments. I have split a good deal of wood for firewood. I have also used wedges a good deal for felling trees. I have used commercial wedges of several types including metal and plastic. I also have two very pricey Gransfors wedges with twisted bodies. This subject, however, is one of those that the more I have delved into it the less sure I have been concerning how much I actually know about splitting. In specific, trying to split precise 3/4- 1" pieces from a log retaining the grain of the wood for the entire length of each piece, is much different than just breaking a log into pieces to burn it or allow it to dry faster.

I took several green wood courses. We only actually split pieces to work with in one class. The pieces I split were for short 8-10" spindles, easily done with a froe and froe club. What I am discovering is splitting 24=40+" small pieces from a log is a whole different story. I have watched all Curtis' videos multiple times and I still do not feel like I am getting the whole story. Often short videos leave out large parts of the time effort and work that goes into accomplishing a task, in order to present the information in an easily digestible form. For instance Curtis starts with pieces that obviously are ideally suited for the splits being made from them without necessarily showing all the steps and decision making that went into getting the various pieces.

I took down what looked like a good white oak last week. I sawed logs 24-40" long from that tree, I was disconcerted to find out that a good deal of the wood was very poorly suited for use. Rot in the center of the tree not visible even in individual logs for instance. I am developing a greater appreciation for choosing trees, logs... I was frustrated at the time & effort it took just to split one small log once. Admittedly I am learning here and discovering that splitting green wood for chair pieces does not bare much resemblance to splitting fire wood or using wedges to fell trees.

I plan to study Galbert's new book & Langsner's on the subject and maybe contact Drew and or Pete on the subject as well. I thought I would inquire here as well and post my findings. I know at least one other SMC poster is interested in the topic.

Another Tool! Sounds like a good one, too.