A better wedge

[Kees Heiden]

Here's another video to watch.

[Mike Holbrook]

Good one Kees! Looked like one of the gluts split. Interesting that the two starting wedges were both in the end of the log in the starting notch. I imagine that helps keep the split on course halving the log.

[David Ragan]

Totally awesome!

Love the sound effects w the wood splitting.

Dogwood gluts?

[Mike Holbrook]

Glutwork today. I could not decide how much to taper a glut or how dull/sharp to make the tip. I made three as test cases from the worst wood 1) small with narrow taper 2) medium with medium taper 3) large with major taper:

Glutwork.jpeg

First I had to build a brake for working with axes in the shop. I just happened to have a split white oak log handy.

Thanks for mentioning about the splitting noise David I thought it was my neck cracking!

[David Ragan]

Glutwork today. I could not decide how much to taper a glut or how dull/sharp to make the tip. I made three as test cases from the worst wood 1) small with narrow taper 2) medium with medium taper 3) large with major taper:

Glutwork.jpeg

First I had to build a brake for working with axes in the shop. I just happened to have a split white oak log handy.

Thanks for mentioning about the splitting noise David I thought it was my neck cracking!

That is some pretty dogwood. I like far right.

[Mike Holbrook]

I talked to Drew Langsner yesterday. He worked with LN on the design for the froe they sell. He says they are interested in making a wedge like the one that started this post, longer, wider, gradual taper. Although they may not have started production there may be a better wedge on the horizon. As a temporary solution I bought a couple axe heads on an auction site that I believe will help with the work for now. Axe heads with nice big heavy heads and slow gradual taper, suitable for striking and using as starting wedges. As I suspected Drew suggested against striking the Svante & Karrlson axes, even with a wood mallet/club. Now I am working on making axe handles.

[Mike Holbrook]

I thought I would update this post with the results of my search for the "perfect" wedge. The direction of this thread, as often happens, expanded the range of the topic. In reaction to the thread direction I am including axes that I intend to use for splitting, that is axes that by design or because I have just designated them as such, will also be used for splitting logs or parts of logs.

After considerable effort and many hours on auction site(s) I was never able to locate the specific type wedge that popular greenwood workers, specifically Drew Langsner, Peter Galbert and Curtis Buchanan all mention as the wedge to start splits with. The "starting" wedge would be a wider wedge with a very gradual taper, frequently being longer as well. The difference between the "starting" wedge and the typical wedge is mostly a matter of size (width) and refinement of design. From here on I am going to indulge in some personal opinion as well as strict accuracy so that I can make known what I "think" I have discovered.

The starting wedge is typically started in a man made kerf/notch along a line bisecting the center of the end of a log. The wedge is typically driven off center along the bisecting notch, more toward the top side of the log. The idea is to start a crack that becomes exposed on the top of the log. The crack along the top of the log is then expanded, guided, chased (by leapfrogging cruder wedges in the developing crack). Most of the wedges being made today are more designed to be used for making firewood, which means they are much less concerned with the precision and accuracy of the split and much more interested in how fast the work gets done. Although I have seen it implied that splitting is an inexact science that the green woodworker has little control over, I find evidence that slowing the splitting process down, thinking, tapping vs slamming and yes the use of more refined splitting tools, can often guide the splitting process with much more accurate results. I think many people would agree with this statement if they saw, first hand, how many blanks experienced buys like Langsner and Galbert can get from a log. I know that choosing the best tree/log/piece to start with has a major effect on end results, still I think there is more precision to splitting than many people may realize at first blush. The other major factor is the workers individual ability to read/predict the grain direction in trees/logs/individual pieces. This learned ability to read grain and figure out how to work with instead of against it is the most fascinating part of green woodworking for me. For me it is worth getting a little compulsively excessive about. Not that anyone on this forum knows anyone with any sort of excessive compulsive disorder!

The top picture is the wedges I now have in my arsenal. The thin twisted, very sharp, wedges are Gransfors Burks wedges and admittedly a little pricey. I bought two years ago, right after I dropped a tree on my dog training buildings roof, figuring at that point, that it might be the cheaper alternative for dropping trees growing on a very steep hill next to a business building. Anyone who has paid an arborist to bring a tree down a piece at a time knows what I am talking about. As it turned out the GB wedge, for me, is a good substitute for an "old school starting wedge".

The second group of "axe/hatchets" is a collection of old tools, axe heads, that I put together for various splitting scenarios and as a further substitute for an old school starting splitting tool. I talked to Drew Langsner and took a class from him and these are what I find appropriate and cheap for the required work. George and several others mentioned specific other brands, like Plumb, but I was not able to find the more popular tools at what I considered a reasonable price. Drew's suggestion was to go with whatever was reasonably cheap but serviceable as these tools will be beat mercilessly.

NewWedges.jpg

Other Splitting.jpg

[David Ragan]

NewWedges.jpg

Other Splitting.jpg

Man, now that is a real break down of the art and science of splitting a log!

I also think that probably if one takes their time and goes a little slower, there is a greater chance that the split will develop along natural grain lines.

But, I must ask, that was not you who abuse the butt end of that little hatchet?

And, those dogwood wedges on the left and right-is the long axis slightly off center? (Ha Ha--excellent work from what I can see)

[Mike Holbrook]

"Break down of the art and science of splitting a log!", David you wouldn't resort to puns to make a point would you?

No David, I am not the one who slammed the smallest axe in the picture with something metal and spread the end. I was the one who ground off a fair amount of the bent metal though. Once I get a dogwood club or two made, I hope to never strike a splitting device with a metal hammer/sledge/maul again. The two Gransfors Bruks wedges surprised me in terms of the twist in their blades actually seeming to help with splitting, so when I made the dogwood wedges I tried not to get bent out of shape over how much twist there might be in their opposing faces.

The smaller axe on the far right is the Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe that I have owned for many years and limbed many a tree with. It's smaller thinner head will serve more to separate connecting fibers than split. The largest axe, with the long handle, is a Gransfors Bruks vintage head, rafting pattern, no longer made. The GB rafting pattern is over 4 lbs and was bought more as a felling axe and for chopping stuck chain saws and wedges out of the sides of trees. Not that I personally would have such an issue, but one never knows what situation his neighbor may wind up in. I bought the head at auction and hafted it with a store bought handle, at least until I make something better.

[Mike Siemsen]

I have metal splitting wedges but i usually just saw out wooden ones and toss them when they are done. Start with the froe, then drive the wedges (gluts) in the crack to widen it. Use several wedges in a row and tap on them so they work together. A 2 pound hammer is plenty. Take your hatchet and chop through the bark along the crack, makes a big difference. If you pound on or with an axe head you will deform the eye and ruin it, especially if it is metal on metal. Don't drive metal wedges with your axe.

[Steve Voigt]

Most of the wedges being made today are more designed to be used for making firewood, which means they are much less concerned with the precision and accuracy of the split and much more interested in how fast the work gets done. Although I have seen it implied that splitting is an inexact science that the green woodworker has little control over, I find evidence that slowing the splitting process down, thinking, tapping vs slamming and yes the use of more refined splitting tools, can often guide the splitting process with much more accurate results. I think many people would agree with this statement if they saw, first hand, how many blanks experienced buys like Langsner and Galbert can get from a log. I know that choosing the best tree/log/piece to start with has a major effect on end results, still I think there is more precision to splitting than many people may realize at first blush.

You can believe this if you want, but it's not true (at least the part about more refined tools), and I would hate for any newbies reading this to think that they have to go through hours of analysis and fruitless ebay searches for rarer-than-unicorn tools to do something as dirt simple as splitting a log. Guys like Galbert and Buchanan aren't better at this because they have magic tools: they're better because they've done it a thousand times. Watch Curtis's videos: I'm certain he's using plain old wedges.

Steel wedges can easily be bought for $5 at yard sales all day long. And gluts can be made out of anything. I usually make them from discarded cutoffs from the bottom of whatever tree I'm splitting, but I've also used 2x construction lumber in a pinch. I don't think I've ever spent more than about 90 seconds making a glut on the bandsaw. I've succesfully split plenty of red and white oak, beech, and maple this way. To the extent I've had problems, it was always a matter of wood selection, not tool quality.

The difference between hand tools and power tools is that with power tools, if you spend enough money you can get tools that will virtually do the work for you, or at least obviate the need for highly developed skills. But if you want to use hand tools you have to develop the skills. Premium tools can make it easier but they'll never substitute for repetition, practice, skill-building.

[Jim Koepke]

But if you want to use hand tools you have to develop the skills. Premium tools can make it easier but they'll never substitute for repetition, practice, skill-building.

This reminds me of the writings of someone who was excited to go watch a cooper at his trade.

He was hoping to discover the "magic" tools used by the experienced cooper so he could get some of the same to improve his own quest to learn the art.

What he discovered was it wasn't the "magic" in the tools. It was the experience in the hands, mind and heart of the artist doing the work.

jtk

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I have never tried to split wood for a chair. When I was a kid I did split a fair amount of locust logs for fence posts. The logs we used for that would be 10"-18" in diameter, and about six feet long. I used to use just the regular firewood splitting wedges, a sledgehammer, and an axe. 95% of the work was done with the wedges and sledgehammer. The axe was just for trimming things up basically, kind of the way the fellow in the video uses the hatchet.

The best advice I can offer is to be patient. I've spent plenty of time beating on a wedge fifteen or twenty times thinking I was not getting anywhere only to have blow number 25 or whatever get results for no apparent reason. Twisting grain and knots will definitely cause problems. I see the fellow in the video above doing most everything from one end. I used to get a wedge started in the end, and then once the split was started I would transition a wedge to the side and then leapfrog as somebody mentioned above.

A lot of times by looking at the end you can see the direction the log "wants" to split. There will be an irregularity in the growth rings or a very small existing line of cracks, and in my experience you get much better results if you start your split in line with the natural weak point as opposed to arbitrarily picking a direction. It can be subtle, but makes a huge difference in how easy it is to get that first split. I always thought once you got the log split in half, the other splits were much easier.

[Mike Holbrook]

Steve,
You believe whatever you want to believe, but I don't believe much is hard and fast "true or false". Drew Langsner, Peter Galbert and Curtis Buchanan all mention and use a "splitting" wedge like I have mentioned which was the reason I started the search to find something similar. According to Drew Langsner Lie Nielsen is planing to start manufacturing a wedge specifically designed to start splits because as more people get interested in splitting wood for chairs there is a need and demand. It isn't that there is some magical tool here that I am suggesting is necessary to split logs. About the only difference in the "starting"wedge I have read about and used at Drew's is that it has a more gradual taper, is wider, longer and sharper. Certainly there are all sorts of chisels that have fairly subtle differences in design that may make them significantly better for specific work. My point is the design of a wedge can also significantly impact how well it works for the job at hand. I hope that this post helps others starting out trying to split pieces for chairs from actual logs. The best way I can think of to discourage a novice would be to have them try to split a white oak log without a few appropriate wedges. Unless I am mistaken Steve makes tools professionally and very nice ones too. I just don't think it is fair to assume that every novice is going to have the skill set to allow them to turn things they find at flea markets into tools that they can be successful with.

Jim.
Unless I am mistaken Coopers typically use a specially designed drawknife. Drew Langsner apparently got started as a Coopers apprentice in Europe. Drew offers a Coopers Hollowing Drawknife under tools on his web site and sometimes offers coopering courses. The point being people starting at a trade requiring the skill with hand tools that Coopering does certainly want to learn those skills with the appropriate tools or they may meet with a good deal of frustration. I don't know how much anyone here knows about Coopering but according to what I understand from Drew it is a very difficult job to do with hand tools. I don't think someone trying coopering wants to start out with a dull drawknife that makes it difficult to cut the required shapes.

I don't think we are talking about magic tools here at all. At the base level what I am talking about relates much more closely to using sharp vs dull tools or maybe tools that are formed such that they can by design make the appropriate cut/split vs a tool with the "wrong" shaped blade.

[Mike Holbrook]

Steve,
Curtis's log splitting video #2. The first wedge he drives into the log is exactly what I am talking about, it has a more gradual taper, wider and I think a little longer than the second wedge he chases the split with. Drew and Peter both describe and offer pictures of similar wedges in their books. It appears obvious that the first wedge Curtis is using has been used a good deal with a heavy steel maul which has mushroomed the end, probably repeatedly reground. The taper on that wedge is less than on any wedge I have seen available commercially or on fleabay. Elia Bizzari is selling split pieces for making windsor chairs with. I think Curtis & Elia are doing this together as Elia was at Curtis's picking up wood when I talked to Curtis last week. The point being these guys are splitting more logs than your average chair maker does to make a chair or two. I think Curtis uses his wedges pretty hard. Curtis and Drew are practically neighbors and apparently learn from each other and share resources. In the course I took from Peter, Peter used Curtis' Continuous Arm Windsor templates. Elia just filmed a DVD on making a Continuous Arm Windsor Rocker that should be available soon. Elia sent me to Curtis to get "his" full scale drawings and templates for making the Continuous Arm Windsor Rocker. Elia makes the older model of Peter Galbert's travisher and a reamer Peter helped develop. Several people sell or make Galbert tool designs...These guys know each other well and in my experience often share methods and techniques as well as resouces.

Drew Langsner has a Dogwood root glut that he apparently has used for decades, even in classes. Curtis suggests using dogwood for gluts. Although a glut can be made out of anything, I elected to use a dogwood I needed to remove anyway. I hope it will save me from having to make more gluts for some time. I roughed my gluts out on a bandsaw and refined them a little with a drawknife, mostly because I wanted to experiment a little with the amount of taper.

I have split more than my share of logs over the years. In the past I was all about how fast I could split a log into the pieces to make fire wood. Little pieces and hanging pieces were great for kindling. My point is splitting for chair parts is pretty much the other end of the spectrum of splitting from making fire wood. After finding that great tree, taking it down, sawing it into appropriate pieces.... it is nice to get as much in the way of workable pieces out of it as possible, especially if one plans to make multiple chairs. Drew marked split lines for our class that looked like he was planing to saw them out with a bandsaw to get those 1" Pieces vs splitting them out. He studied each log marking precise split lines and then revising them as more splits were made. I was surprised at how accurately we novices were able to make those splits with sharp tools and a little direction.