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Malamute
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 01:52am
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I dont think I'm out of my lane to say they're doing it wrong if they keep ending up in the ER and getting stitches.
I think you are using "hatchet" and "method" together in a way that isnt compatible. The problem isnt the hatchet, its the method.
Some folks manage to use them trouble free for long periods of time. So far, no stitches or cuts in 25 years of heating mainly with wood.
Not trying to be a smart alek, seriously, they are doing something wrong if they keep hurting themselves.
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rmak
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 10:39am
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I think Sandy was just saying "stitches" in general. Most active kids will need stitches eventually for something.
Because I have arthritic hands, I tried the "sissy stick" yesterday. It's a stick with a nail through it to hold the wood when chopping with a hatchet. Unfortunately, the first time the wood tilted a little, the nail bent making this "method" useless.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 06:16pm - Edited by: Malamute
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Quoting: rmak I think Sandy was just saying "stitches" in general. Most active kids will need stitches eventually for something.
Yes, you may be correct in that. I read it as getting them from making kindling with an axe.
I'm not understanding what the nail does or how it bent from the wood tilting.
I've used just a piece of split kindling or small piece of firewood. All it needs to do is keep the wood from moving until you hit it with the hatchet/axe.
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neb
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 06:44pm
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Interesting stuff! I use an axe but I have a 5 inch wide cement chisel that is very sharp. I place on top of wood and then use a small maul to split the small stuff. It works very well.
Like SandyR said when I split wood I get all kind of starter wood.
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rmak
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 06:48pm
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Your sissy stick makes perfect sense, Malamute. I got the nail in the stick idea from Youtube. It doesn't work.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 06:54pm
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Most of my firewood for the past 8 years or so has been mill slabs. I pick the thickest ones when I get them. Most are about the right size to burn, I just split some down small to get fires started as needed.
I had about a cord of full rounds left over from a cabin I built to sell. I only use them when it gets below zero, and just split them in half. I still have about half of them left. I dont get to do much heavy splitting.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 06:58pm
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Quoting: rmak Your sissy stick makes perfect sense, Malamute. I got the nail in the stick idea from Youtube. It doesn't work
It made me nervous chopping kindling in the past, it just seemed easy to pick up a piece to hold the wood while chopping each piece. Cheap (like me) and easy. 
It helped me figure out a way to hold a ground rod while somebody wails on it with a sledge hammer also. I didnt like being the rod holder guy. I took a 2' piece of 2x6, drilled a 1" or so hole in it, and give it a little twist to tension it. Then the rod doesnt bounce/wave all over while being driven.
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SandyR
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 07:27pm
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I am sorry, I didn't mean stitches from chopping kindling with the hatchet. Just in general. Between three boys they have gone to the ER for stitches four times since August. So when they are making kindling I naturally think that they will catch some skin.
So far in 20 years ( husband boys and I ) since heating with wood we have never caught any skin. As Malamute says, that shouldn't really happen, but with distracted teenagers the thought that they will look away from what they are doing crosses my mind.
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Don_P
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 07:39pm - Edited by: Don_P
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Wow, I hope the doc sends a Christmas card
Quoting: Malamute Most of my firewood for the past 8 years or so has been mill slabs. I pick the thickest ones when I get them. Most are about the right size to burn, I just split some down small to get fires started as needed.
I'm similar but own the mill, not sure how to turn that into anything useable other than to say it helps if you have a friend with a mill. When we're low on kindling or when I'm stocking up I saw a little differently. Usually you make the entry cut by taking a slab off the side of the round log with the aim of creating a flat face to work with. Normally you do this in one pass, the slab can be a chunk. When I see that is going to happen or if I have a log that is just junk, I nibble my way in sawing off "boards" about 1/4" thick. These dry very quickly, I stack them up and saw them to length. If I want little kindling, a maul to a stack of those creates a bunch in a hurry. A few nicer ones of hickory, hophornbeam or cherry get saved aside as grilling planks. If the edgings are relatively clean I'll chop them as well, if they are mostly bark I usually take care of them in my cleanup bonfires. I tend to saw everything out of a tree that will go on the mill and try to find a use. When you get into curved/twisted or branchwood material the losses are very high. I use that stuff for cribbing, footing forms, temp bracing, etc and then call it dimensional firewood. One of our neighbors took me out to his shop last week and pulled out his new monster husky with a 6' bar and Alaskan mill jig. He'd been making 1 piece live edge table slabs, beautiful. Rambling again
One trick I've seen but have never tried is to stuff an old tire full of rough large splits standing on end. Then take the maul to that wood to create kindling, the tire keeps it contained and upright.
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neb
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 08:11pm
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http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=split+wood+using+a+trap+strap&qpvt=splite+wood+us ing+a+trap+strap&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=B03DD64BDC034B7AD94BB03DD64BDC034B7AD94B
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 09:38pm
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another good idea!!! NEB!!!
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neb
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2015 10:36pm
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Never tried it but I will throw one together next week when I get to the cabin. Yah it looks like it would work and would cost nothing.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2015 01:19am
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The wood around here is mostly pine and spruce. The mill I get rough cut from also cuts 3 sided cabin logs, they often end up with some nice thick slabs, 3-4" thick, sometimes a bit more, at least on the butt end. I use the thinner pieces, maybe inch to two inch thick to cut kindling from, or split the edges off larger pieces.
His incidental cuts end up as 1x rough cut.
When I was building more, when I needed any rough cut lumber, I'd top off my flatbed trailer with slabs. When the building slowed down, I'd go just to get slabs. I just have to cut them to length. They're from 12' to 16-17' long. I've used some slabs to side an outbuilding with, it looks good after chinking.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2015 12:54pm
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Quoting: SandyR I am sorry, I didn't mean stitches from chopping kindling with the hatchet. Just in general. Between three boys they have gone to the ER for stitches four times since August.
My apologies, I misunderstood.
I'm one of those people that gets stitches now and then, fortunately it hasnt been from an axe.
Well, that one time,....it wasnt from chopping, just super sharp and using it in an inappropriate manner.
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SandyR
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2015 06:15pm
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Another thing that makes me cringe is when the boys are swinging the regular ax and chopping the logs. I can't imagine the damage to the shin if that ax missed.
Knock on wood.....literally.
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Don_P
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2015 09:57pm
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The ax or maul is not, or should not be, travelling in a path that should allow hitting yourself. You are actually driving the axe or maul down through the wood rather than swinging in a circle. In driving nails and splitting wood there is a zen "aha" moment when you stop tapping on the top of the nail or stick of wood and begin driving the nail or driving the maul down through the piece. When someone is swinging in a circular arc the top edge of the maul hits the wood and the swing is played out before the tool begins to work. If they lower their end of the handle so that it is level at the point of contact and maintain that path through the cut. Focus on the goal of the swing, going through to the bottom of the log, it's finding the sweet spot.
My splitting tool of choice for the past 35 years has been an old Sotz monster maul, a very wide triangle of iron on a pipe handle. Pretty indestructable and the wide angle of the head makes if about impossible to stick it in a log. My wife has done the lions share of splitting the past 2 winters after I tore my shoulder out. I don't mess with a lady that can outswing me with a 16 lb hammer . We and one of the neighbors are going to ...split a splitter here as soon as we find a good one at a good price. I've been kind of toying with building one. I hate listening to little gas engines and have been kicking around turning the pump with a 5 horse electric motor instead of gas.
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