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rmak
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 14:02
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I am looking at ways to cut smaller pieces of kindling wood. I have used the hatchet method, but if find it unwieldy and messy, not to mention somewhat dangerous as I hold a piece of firewood in one hand as I come down with the hatchet.
I am looking at getting a froe which is a blade used to make shake shingles. I'm thinking I could make a very controlled slice by laying the blade on exactly where I want to cut and then pound the blade through with a mallet.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/147901/Shingle-Froe.aspx?refcode=10INGOPB&gclid=CMOk oKGOisMCFQ4BaQodCHgAhA
Maybe there's a better way someone is using. I thought it would be worth asking.
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rmak
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 14:08
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Just found this on the internet. Expensive, but another approach. Sorry for answering myself. I'll wait for a response from others.
http://www.kindlingcracker.com/the-product.html
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 15:05
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I have always used a hatchet with a heavy leather glove on the hand that handles the wood.
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rmak
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 15:14
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Thanks, Don. I should mention that my hands and wrists are arthritic, which adds to the thrill and danger of swinging an hatchet.
I have been looking at the Fiskars X7 hatchet. It looks pretty lightweight and easy to swing. There are some other creative ways of holding the wood on youtube so I can keep all of my fingers.
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beachman
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 16:37
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I also use the hatchet or axe method and have nice scar on my left finger to prove it. Gloves are a wise decision.
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Nirky
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 17:17
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I can say from experience that a Fiskars splitting axe performs well indeed. I use mine to split for my rocket mass heater, which requires rather thin slices of wood, almost as thin as kindling. If you find a better & easier way to split thin slices from rounds, I'd very much like to know.
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skootamattaschmidty
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 17:34
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This is just a thought I'm throwing out there and I haven't tried but I wonder how well a manual or arbour press would work, fitted with a broad wedge/blade. Put your log in, press down on the handle and split the wood. Again I don't know if this would work but I know cedar splits quite easily and it would be similar to the froe without the tapping. Unfortunately I don't have one to experiment with but my dad used to have one that he used for crushing his recyclables before putting in the blue box. I guess the one issue would be length of log you could put in. But if it is kindling, it can be smaller.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 20:46
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I had seen on Dragons den a few years ago a device you could mount on a pole or corner of the camp. The log would be held on a lip while you levered a blade down near the edge of the log shaving kindling off. Let me see if i can find a link
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 20:49
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http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=71432&cat=1,41131
Kinda pricey but it works out to $18 a finger
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Nirky
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# Posted: 10 Jan 2015 22:30 - Edited by: Nirky
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fewRQrIFMtc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZFMAMNkXDg
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Malamute
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2015 02:34 - Edited by: Malamute
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Campers and bushcrafters "batton" knives through wood to split it. It amounts to laying the blade where they want and using a piece of wood to drive it through.
I do some different things when splitting small pieces. One, use a small split or stick of wood or stick to hold the piece being split, no risk that way. Another very good way to split, sink the blade deep enough to bite (doesnt take a forcefull swing), then lift the whole chunk of wood and axe or hatchet and smack it down on the chopping block or stump. A couple-3 blows or so and its usually done. One can also turn it upside down, allowing the weight of the wood to be split to drive it down onto the axe, the rear of the axe head hitting the chopping block.
The other thing, the more you do it, the more accurate you get, and less worry. Rutstrum wrote about good axe men setting strike anywhere matches in a block of wood and igniting them with their axes.
I always start my fires without paper, just splitting small stuff down to about matchstick size. I take the smallish pieces, hold the blade of the hatchet where I want it, then lift both and bring them down to split them, similar to what I said above, only cutting into the side if the really small pieces rather than the end. I do the little bitty pieces on the front edge of my stove. I have hundreds of tiny axe marks along the front edge of my Blaze King. Its just the easiest place for me to do it when making a fire. Doesnt seem like its really that hard on the hatchets I use. I'm not hitting them into the metal very hard, just getting the wood started splitting, them pull it apart.
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old243
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2015 09:47
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Another source of kindling, is birch bark if you have it in your area. find a dead tree , standing or laying . the bark can easily be stripped off . or you will sometimes see bark hanging loose on a live tree. A tip to use when cutting a birch tree for firewood. Before blocking up with your chainsaw, run the saw down the length of the log, cutting through the bark. It is easier to split then. Another tip is save any scraps of tarpaper , that you might have from construction a small piece will light easily , and get things started. Some may frown on this , but it works. old243
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TheWildMan
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2015 12:51
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when i cut firewood i pile the branches off to the side to burn later (reduce pest harborage), this past fall i threw some tarps over them so they would be dry when i had time to monitor a fire (without worry about weather). these branches are tiny, less than an inch wide, mostly pencil size. they are easily broken by hand. when i went out to gather kindling (fill 2 barrels in the fall so i'll be set for winter) i rolled off the tarps and the old dryed out twigs were easy to snap into 6 inch pieces to fill buckets and baskets. didn't bother with a saw or ax, took about 10 minutes to fill a bushel basket full of twigs for kindling.
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Truecabin
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2015 14:58
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Quoting: TheWildMan hese branches are tiny, less than an inch wide, mostly pencil size. they are easily broken by hand.
back over the pile with your pickup then you can call it pick up sticks 
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Don_P
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2015 23:40
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Also google "stock knife" or "block knife" for something kind of similar to the Lee Valley tool. This was the rough carving tool of clog, spoon and peg makers. Their waste was sold as...kindling.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2015 07:52
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the video is horrible, but the idea isn't all that bad, if you got the right axes, as opposed to this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDL2LVjBHSY
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2015 11:15 - Edited by: turkeyhunter
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I use "FAT LIGHTER' aka "rich pine" ...the heart of a longleaf southern pine that's been dead for years....LLBean sells it as rich pine....you light it with a match and a stump of fat lighter will last 2 years starting fires....amazing stuff...google: fat lighter I need NO kindling when using this stuff.
that being said ..i am going to build one of these this week....to have at camp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fewRQrIFMtc
and mount in to a big piece of firewood ~~~~ so no getting on ya knees
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Malamute
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2015 13:38 - Edited by: Malamute
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Quoting: turkeyhunter and mount in to a big piece of firewood ~~~~ so no getting on ya knees
My chopping block outside is a piece of 12" log about 3 1/2' tall. It makes all axe work much easier. Making medium size kindling is easier, the work is at a level thats easy to see and control.
Making small pieces of kindling from straight grain milled lumber (as the video showed) is easy. I liked when I had lots of contruction scraps. A light hatchet gently started then the wood and hatchet swung down on the block is about as simple as the upside down wedge and hammer. When I find clean straight grained pieces in my slab wood, I keep a few back to make little kindling. Some is loaded with pitch (fat wood, rich wood, or whatever one chooses to call it). I keep that for the smallest stuff I use to start fires. A match touched to a small lay instanly makes thick smoke/flames and gets larger stuff going easily.
Edit: This guy sort of gets it, the method I was talking about. Instead of holding the wood way down, a small kindling split or stick used to hold the wood when making the first stroke helps. I'm also not shy about just holding the wood to set the axe when both are swung to get the first stroke in. I think his failure in that instance was his failure. He seems to make it a bit more complicated than needed,...or maybe he just talks too much to get the point across?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0JF0Bn74tg
Edit again: Same guy using a sissy stick (I think small ones are easier to use, but what the heck). Main take away, with a decent trechnique, one doesnt have to slam an axe through stuff to split kindling and small stuff. I whack logs or half logs with a full size axe into smaller pieces on the chopping block with some power, once they get smaller, raw power isnt needed. With the log slabs I use most, I never need a large axe. A hatchet is plenty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbr9CjrcpHs
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ColdFlame
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2015 15:15
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Here's a cheaper alternative to the LeeValley option. It works very well, though is still very pricey:
http://www.willowcreekforge.com/shop/mr-quicksplit/
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Don_P
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2015 21:48
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This has absolutely nothing to do with anything . The comments about lighter knot, aka fatwood, brought back a memory. we would cull fatwood from furniture cuttings when working in yellow pine and I had laid up a good stash in our cabin. We arrived one weekend and the outside pile was wet and it was cold. I built a reasonable fire with all lighter wood in our little tin stove and within moments it was obvious I had stuck the proverbial fork in the toaster. The little stove began flat footing on the floor accompanied by intermittent belching and roaring up the stack, then in one great burp it blew the door of the stove across the room, hitting the other wall. A streak o lean is plenty
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2015 22:08
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Coldflame
Actually that's the one I saw on Dragon's Den
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2015 09:08
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Quoting: Don_P The little stove began flat footing on the floor accompanied by intermittent belching and roaring up the stack, then in one great burp it blew the door of the stove across the room, hitting the other wall. A streak o lean is plenty
that fat wood will make a wood stove DANCE...lol
I know a old guy who is a" lobsta man" in Maine...had these gouge marks all over his concrete floor of his lobster trap building shop...I asked him where did these marks come from. Said the railroad discarded some small pieces of OLD cross ties....so he thought would use those when It got real cold for his shop....he loaded it down / fired it up...the wood stove started dancing ....tore the smoke pipe a loose and danced out in the middle of his shop...I would have loved to have saw it..lol ...I sure that creosote made a nice black smoke...and this was in Kennebunkport ....not far from the Bush's camp.
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ColdFlame
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2015 10:28
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Quoting: Wilbour Actually that's the one I saw on Dragon's Den
I thought it was actually. Him and his store are only about 25 minutes drive from where I live. He does some beautiful work.
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LoonWhisperer
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2015 11:17
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That is a pretty slick little device. We have a teeny woodstove in our bunkie so we are constantly chopping up small lengths. I could see where this would save us a lot of hassle.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 15 Jan 2015 13:03
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Even with $22 shipping it's still cheaper than the Swedish one. Although the Lee Valley splitter looks a little more robust, the Willow Creek version is removable.
I could attach it to the post on my fence temporarily.
Gonna add this to my birthday gift list.
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rmak
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2015 15:03 - Edited by: rmak
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Am I wrong to think that these wall mounted lever action splitters would only work with straight grained softer woods?
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ColdFlame
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2015 15:13
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Quoting: rmak Am I wrong to think that these wall mounted lever action splitters would only work with straight grained softer woods?
I would guess that it would work with any wood, provided it was straight grained. Straight grained would most certainly be a necessity from what I've seen.
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2015 16:48
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Quoting: rmak Am I wrong to think that these wall mounted lever action splitters would only work with straight grained softer woods?
I would THINK it would only work for soft woods/pine/cedar/birch etc....put a piece of sweet gum or black jack oak and tear the splitter off the post.
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rmak
Member
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# Posted: 17 Jan 2015 17:51
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I picked up a 14" Fiskars hatchet cheap off amazon. Got a sharpener too as part of the deal. I cut about four hot fires worth of kindling in 15 minutes. So that solves the problem for now for me. This really turned into an interesting thread!
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SandyR
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# Posted: 17 Jan 2015 18:06
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It seems that with the 15-18 cords of wood that we split with the splitter that we can fill at least a dozen bushels of kindling from just picking it up off the ground. My husband and boys also use the hatchet method when we run low, and I worry about their hands and fingers. Way too many trips to the ER for stitches already.
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