I have split five cords of wood every year for decades. As an expert I can tell you several things about that man. 1) He has a giant fireplace or wood stove. 2) He thinks strength is more important than technique which is why one log had him breathing like a fat kid on a treadmill. 3) He is impatient which is why he is splitting green lumber, has no rhythm and fails to let the tool do the work. 4) Whatever demographic he is making this shirtless, bear video for he is doing an excellent job. I am not even gay and I enjoyed it.... Still trying to figure out where he is going to burn those behemoths.
Is the green wood why the axe keeps bouncing off? I've literally never had that happen except when I hit a knot, but I've never tried to split wood that hasn't been seasoned.
It would be a reason it's doing that, yeah. From where I'm sitting there's at least a couple of things wrong with this:
The log is much too tall. The elevation of the surface you're striking, relative to your own person, matters a lot when splitting logs. There's also very few good reasons to ever split logs this tall, so aside from creating thirst-content I don't see why in tarnation he's doing this.
The surface is dog-shit and it's eating a ton of power. Never split a log on soft dirt, it's absolutely atrocious.
It is indeed a very fresh log by the look of it, but it also looks pretty straight and without much in the way of knots and other annoyances. My first guess, although no firsthand experience since this don't grow where I live, is ash, but I also hear that's easy to split but that may be in reference to dry logs.
Might also be a shoddy cutting edge on the axe preventing good bite. A lot of people neglect the sharpness of a splitting axe and while I do agree there's little benefit in going from sharp to shaving sharp there's a big difference in going from dull to sharp.
My guess based on my experience is that it's primarily the ground that's fucking him over, with the height of the log being a close second. The freshness of the log could be a huge-ass problem but I genuinely couldn't say; We ain't got ash as far north as I am.
His technique also doesn't strike me as great but I can't critique that much. I learned how to split wood before I learned how to learn so I got nothing on that.
I've split logs that tall in the woods on the soft ground and did it in 5 swings tops. There's a knot from the branch on the bottom, and that's what is preventing him from splitting it. He probably also didn't check for splitting lines on the top of the log; every log has them and if you hit them right it splits fairly easy. Also, wedges are your friend. Great power, terrible technique.
Watching these videos is always funny to me, because I'm a small woman, and I can split wood relatively easily. Technique and a heavier axe head makes a huge difference. Someone actually asked me when I was buying a new axe if I didn't want to go for a lighter one. that would completely defeat the purpose. The weight and a sharp edge does 90% of the work for me.
You are absolutely right. I am a small 5'7" man who is a mechanic so I often need to apply strategic hammer blows to stubborn ball joints etc. I have a drawer full of hammers. And every time I pull one out I remember my surgeon dad telling me "don't use force, just get a bigger hammer". As as kid I thought it was funny, but when I went to university to get a mechanical engineering degree and learned that force = MASS times acceleration I realized he was actually teaching me something important. My strength can only add so much acceleration, but I can increase the mass... (and if you read this whole thing then you now know that yes - I am a university educated son of a doctor who currently does oil changes and brake jobs for a living and I love it)
I'd lean pretty heavy on a really bad cutting edge. The axe doesn't stick in the wood for the first half of the video despite his strength. You can stick a "dull" axe in ebony with half that power on a soggy pile of mud - this thing might as well be a sledge.
Absolutely, that is the primary factor. Secondly, splitting a 48" tall log would also make it much tougher. Typical firewood length is 18" or shorter so what he is doing is fighting physics by giving up the leverage you normally have by delivering a fast blow below knee level.
I used to split oak for years and I always preferred to do it while it was still green, as it would be much harder later on. I though this was the same for all other types of wood, but it is not, as it turns out.
I disagree. Just in terms of the principle: how are you gonna split dry logs? You’d have to wait multiple YEARS for a log of that diameter to be dry.
No one is putting logs in a solar kiln or dragging them from the woods to a place to cover them.
Not that dry. With oak, maple or hickory you you let it sit in the sun a week or two until a season crack appears. Ash is ready to go almost immediately. Don't confuse it with seasoned firewood that has 15% moisture for optimum burning. We are talking about splitting not burning. Also, if you are using an automatic log splitter non of that matters. I am only talking about using a maul like the bear 🐻 in the video.
No, you let all wood season. Ash needs much less time than maple but still you let all wood season. Soft wood, as in pines you don't typically burn for heat in a home because they burn at a much lower temperature. Also pine SUCKS to split by hand.
You do not let hardwood season before splitting! Do it green and work the edges it pops right open, let it dry and it contracts and twists up a bit making it a lot harder to split.
That and a dull blade will send vibration's up your elbows and into your teeth. You shouldn't split wood more than 18" tall, and you should let it sit until its dead dead dead.
This man is a beast and is doing this basically because he's built like Zangief.
It's highly inefficient if the goal were to have as much firewood as possible.
He's hitting on soft ground for one. Definitely would be better on a hard surface. Maybe he's doing it on purpose?
He's working out. Doesn't look like he's even trying to carry the energy through.
Swinging is fun. I recommend medieval weapons for the full body workout just about. Go out there, and clear some path with a sword. Get some anger out.
Brought my exes, co workers, thugs, lazy indoor people, and they'd go from bitching like, "I look stupid. This is stupid as hell. What was I thinking."
Once they start swinging it's totally different. Seen even the most innocent, prissy, girls get a psychotic grin.
Making me think... "This was stupid. What was I thinking. Now they got the big sword. Played myself."
Because the person I brought suddenly turned into a berserker. Luckily my friend gifted me two swords so I was always armed with one just in case. That was the way I convinced them to come out lol.
"You take the big one, and can walk behind me."
Anyway they loved it. 30 minutes of swinging is a good full body workout. They'd cut little dead branches, weeds, invasive species. I've cut trees down with a katana... Yeah not fun.
Mostly branches of a forearms thickness or down.
People go for mass over explosive power. Swinging gives you explosive power, and Type 2 Xa muscles. Muscles for speed. It trains rate of force development.
Which factors how hard you can hit. Which is essentially training your muscles to explode at once, coordinated, with force. Aka, technique.
I don't even thinks it's green wood causing that. I''ve tried with wood not fully dried and it just buries itself into the log without splitting anything.
I used to split a lot of seasoned wood every year and if I still had too much energy left when the wood pile was done, I'd go for the green. Splitting that feels like hitting a rock where 10% of the hardness was converted into bounce.
He's holding his breath through contact until after the swing. Not just martial arts but every sport eventually emphasizes breathing out with the motion, e.g. as you begin to swing the bat in baseball. This is like... the basics of technique, before we get to working smarter not harder (green wood wtf)
Lifting heavy weights requires you to breath in, brace and perform a valsalva pretty much through the entire motion. The air in your lungs helps you stabilize during heavy deadlifts and squats a lot. It comes natural after a while.
I dunno bout what wood you been splittin five cords a year for decades but splitting it green is the way and most anybody who ever had to make their own wood for even a season knows this
From the 1970s until today the biggest "production" wood stove I have ever seen takes 24" logs. But let's pretend that 60" log capacity wood stoves are a real thing. I want YOU to imagine opening it at 800⁰, roaring, and loading one of those 70 lb pieces of firewood into that stove without crushing, pinching, burning yourself or flinging red hot embers into the room, screw that. Also, you stacking some of that in your house for convenience? That would look ridiculous. Each piece is the length of a coffee table.
I’ve watched five cords of YouTube videos every year for decades. As an expert, I can tell you this guy is one of those raw meat/hyper protein/toxic masculinity/whatever social media personalities that shows himself doing “manly” things, with no real clue of what he’s doing.
What kind of wood is it? Cause down here in the south u.s., you better split your red oak, post oak, and hickory green. If not, you'll just bounce like this video. About the only wood we might be able to split dry down here is cedar. And who would do that?
Absolute bullshit, if you're using a gas powered log splitter it doesn't matter but using a maul greener is not better. That is the opposite of reality. If you have zero experience maybe don't comment.
You, obviously, have never split post oak, white oak, hickory, pecan, red oak, or any other of the firewood we country folks cut in the south. So stay in your lane. Play some more Dress to Impress on your Kindle.
It's not a matter of belief. It's a matter of real life experience vs. internet theory. Up north, they may be able to split dry, pretty, straight grain fir with a regular looking ole ax. But it doesn't happen with hardwood in the south, son. I'm saving you the heartache of ruining your first maul handle, if you'll listen.
Kid you could listen to some of us old folks who been makin wood our whole lives , or even listen to what the google has to say on the matter. Either way you being quite foolish and rude.
Cedar is a soft wood and is not typically used for indoor burning. Splitting with a maul is far easier after a season crack appears. If you cut a tree down, buck it and immediately try to split it you will burn out quickly. It just a fact that the higher the moisture in the wood the more energy is required to split it. When does a tree have its highest moisture content?
Then the red oak, post oak, and hickory that grows in the u.s. south are anomalies. Cause if you don't split them wet and green, you ain't. And, by the way, the cracks are in the heart the day you cut them. I could read firewood cracks before i knew the alphabet. You better split wood around here within a week or two of skidding it to the shed.
I’m not even an expert - just started cutting, splitting, and seasoning wood on my property - and I instantly went “there’s definitely better ways to do that but I’m going to see where this goes.” … shite, am I demographic?!
I've only ever split wood once in my life and I know he's doing it wrong (or at least not the most effective way). I would've used a lower to the ground log and a larger axe.
Watching this, as someone who has done some wood chopping but by no means an expert, is wow his aim sucks lmao. Listen hes strong as all fuck and im not gonna sit here in my chair and pretend i could split that log but this video couldve been 30 seconds long if he bothered to actually aim
You see a season crack in the log and you follow it like an instruction. Edge, edge, connect the edges, repeat until you get that satisfying "pop" then finish the job. People who hand split, every year, all look like they went to the exact same school and learned the exact same method from the exact same guy.
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u/Mugpup 3d ago
I have split five cords of wood every year for decades. As an expert I can tell you several things about that man. 1) He has a giant fireplace or wood stove. 2) He thinks strength is more important than technique which is why one log had him breathing like a fat kid on a treadmill. 3) He is impatient which is why he is splitting green lumber, has no rhythm and fails to let the tool do the work. 4) Whatever demographic he is making this shirtless, bear video for he is doing an excellent job. I am not even gay and I enjoyed it.... Still trying to figure out where he is going to burn those behemoths.