10 lb Sledge VS 3 lb Sledge

[Doodle]

To quote Baldy Coulthart at the Auto Parts counter in 1972, " if it is worth hitting with a hammer, use the biggest one you got".

 

[RJSakowski]

After splitting hundreds of cords of wood growing up and splitting fence rails for the pasture I assure you technique is as important as size, at least that is my story and I'm sticking with it!

I have also split many cords of firewood over sixty years. Probably several thousand if I totaled them up. My weapon was an 8 lb. splitting maul. I could split faster than a power splitter and probably easier too. Splitting 24" red oak or white oak into eight pie shaped pieces, I would work my around and after the first split, usually one blow per split. I could split as fast as someone could set up the logs and carry away the split pieces. Sadly, I can't do that now due to back issues.

IMO, Technique is everything. Follow though is important, as is the ability to hit the same spot time after time. Also, the ability to read the wood grain. I have watched others struggle to even split straight grained wood and chuckle inwardly. My wife has taken over the wood splitting, mostly because she enjoys it, but she uses a power splitter.

I have never split rails though. That requires some extra effort and usually wedges. I had an old and now deceased neighbor that used to split white oak for rail fences when he was young. While the tree was still standing, they would bore a hole to the center of the tree, insert a half a stick of dynamite, and plug the hole with mud. The fuse was lit and the resulting explosion would split the entire trunk of the tree into convenient pieces for fence rails.

 

[Randall Marx]

IMO, Technique is everything. Follow though is important, as is the ability to hit the same spot time after time. Also, the ability to read the wood grain. I have watched others struggle to even split straight grained wood and chuckle inwardly.

It is nice to see someone else who describes one of my first lessons in splitting firewood. AIM and Read the wood! I was also able to outsplit a hydraulic splitter being run by 4 people. I had nobody to set the wood for me that time and I kept it up for 4 hours. Sadly, like you, back problems have all but stopped my manual splitting of firewood.

 

[Desolus]

I'm 23 years old, I have about that many hammers... when I'm 50 I will probably have about that many hammers. There is always a hammer that can do something none of your other hammers can do quite as well, I have a 28lb sledge for adjusting buildings, works great, but you can't drive nails with it. My 4 lb "engineering hammer" is generally my go to for almost everything. For light or precision hammering I have a 9oz claw hammer on a special polyurethane handle that give it a nice bounce and makes it easy to controll. It's the only hammer I have that I can reliably move something 1 thou and 1 thou only with.