The head or business end of a splitting maul weighs on average 8 lbs.; add another couple of pounds for the handle. Precision is more important than brawn when splitting wood; the goal is to swing the maul in an arc over your shoulder, bringing it down with accuracy dead center of the log section to be split. Given the right combination of oomph and aim the log will split cleanly in two. These halves will flop sideways to be reset on their ends and again split down their (new) middles resulting in 4 pieces of firewood. This scenario will vary somewhat if the original log was a) bigger, b) smaller than what would result in 4 usable size pieces. A) Bigger necessitates further splitting so the end result from one log may be 6 or even 8 sections, b) smaller and one whack resulting in two pieces will suffice. Not to downplay the importance of brawn here; repeatedly swinging an 8 pound weight at the end of a 2 pound handle and absorbing part of the impact of connecting with a solid object is a serious workout. Physics fact here - most of the energy from the swing is transferred to the log which is why it splits. But sufficient grip on the handle must be maintained to keep hold of the maul so some of the force of impact comes back through hands, wrists, forearms - all the way down to your toes by the time youve been splitting for an hour or so. When this point is reached its known as the physics principle of thats enough for one day. Why wood is being split seems self explanatory but I should not make assumptions; I have found what we commonly accept as ordinary activity frequently has an air of mystery to some folk. We split wood for two equally important reasons. And one smart-alecky one. One good reason is to render whole trees into manageable portions conducive to being stuffed in a wood stoves firebox. As in keep the home fires burning. The other reason piggy backs on the first; the wood must season for several months before it will burn optimally. The inner core of any tree is actually dead. Called heartwood, this section acts as the supporting pillar of the tree. It maintains its integrity as long as the outer layers are intact. A tree grows in circumference around this core, adding layers of living material which will die in turn from the inside out adding to the dimensions of the heartwood as well as increasing the surround of living structure. Picture a series of nested sleeves. Simplistically, these living structures are, from the inside out, sapwood which channels water, cambium which is the most active growth layer, then the phloem or inner bark through which the tree feeds itself. All of these layers are enclosed in the outer bark which is also dead though it plays a very important role. The outer bark protects the tree from the elements by acting as a barrier to invading insects, pathogens and moisture as well as insulating against extremes of heat and cold. Breaching of this defense, as by storm damage or invasive insect infestation (thats for you Clark) will give entrance to all manner of tree-death hastening conditions. This is why a damaged tree becomes hollow; the dead heartwood rots away once air and rain or snow gain access through the protective outer layers. But the bark also acts as a retention blanket to hold a trees natural moisture in its outer layers. If trees felled for firewood were not split and stacked so the wood can dry from the inside out it would merely rot. Even dead trees, which is what were cutting for firewood by the way, will hold moisture in the recently living layers while rotting from the inside out. It takes several months for wood to dry, or season, and you cant burn wet wood. So were splitting wood now for next winters fuel. Yesterday Phil told me people actually go to gyms and beat on old tractor tires with sledge hammers seeking the same overall muscle building workout gained from splitting wood. They are paying good money to replicate what wed be more than happy to share for free right here. At first I thought he was kidding but an Internet search bears him out. Lot of man power going to waste. Youre more than welcome to come flail away; Ill even feed you dinner! Oh, the smart-alecky reason? Because the wood wont split itself!
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:10:17 +0000
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