kindling splitter

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Dave Budd

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Jan 8, 2006
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I split a lot of kindling, between the forge and the kelly kettle. I rarely ever use an axe though, unless I'm out camping. When I'm in my workshop I stick a cutter in my anvil and drive the wood onto it with a rawhide mallet. That way is fast, safe and I don't have to spend any time chasing wood around the workshop because it is usually still in my hand. So after seeing a similar idea being sold by a smith friend of my mine, I figured I should come up with something myself.

I wanted something that wasn't going to weigh too much, but would be robust and solid enough to put up with muppets trying to split a log with it rather than just kindling. I did want to make it more compact, but I couldn't think of a simple (and thus cheap) way to make it collapsible and still as rigid and without bits to lose. There are a number of diy versions doing the youtube rounds after a schoolgirl designed a cast iron one and it won some awards a couple of years ago. Most of those have 'safety' cages/rings to stop you from driving your hand onto the wedge. I've found that unless you use the correct length wood they are more of a hindrance and obviously add to the bulk and complexity of the tool. I may add something as a bolt on extra at some stage for those who want to use it.

This is how it looks at present. The blade is 20mm thick, 85mm wide and the prototypes are 100mm and a 120mm tall; the wedge section is heat treated spring steel ground to a polished rounded edge so not sharp. The spring steel is a bit over kill for good wood, but I've had a lot of nails or hard knots in crappy wood and this will chop them if you hit them hard enough rather than ding or get a burr. The base place is 120x120mm and 10mm thick with a hole in each corner for screwing to a log (at home) or pinning to the ground with a tent peg.

I tested it sitting directly on the ground (leaf litter and dirt) outside my workshop and it was plenty stable enough. The idea is that it will be used to split a small log, branch, pallet, etc into kindling using a wooden or rawhide mallet (or another stick). I would suggest that the wood to be split is a bit more than a hand width wider than the height of the wedge, so if I were to accidentally hit too hard then I wouldn't hurt myself. In practice I find that I hold the wood in the air just balancing on the top, so when I strike it the wood goes down far enough to split and my hand automatically 'bounces' back up to make the next stroke. Granted that technique is probably something that I have learned through other activities (such as forging and carving), but isn't tricky and means that I can split shorter stuff happily. The wood doesn't need to go all the way down to break, the only reason I have these two so tall is in case the wood is knotty and you have to force the split further along the length. I might try dumpy version and see how it goes. The cutter in my anvil is only about 70mm tall, but then I rarely split kindling over about 150mm in there.

Now I'm wondering if I should leave them as black metal or go for a snazzy blue paint job? The paint will add a few quid to the price and will come of in use obviously, but it does look nice :D

splitter by buddknives, on Flickr
 
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SimonL

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Oct 13, 2010
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Farnborough, Hants
Hello Dave,
Personally, although I like the "natural metal" look, I think that a BRIGHT colour is a great idea, especially if it'll be used outside in the wild - I'd be far less likely to trip over it (and far less likely to leave it behind by mistake ) ;)
Some years ago, I hired a canal boat for a day trip down the canal, stopped at a pub for lunch (using mooring spikes to secure the boat) and when we left, we'd forgotten one of the spikes (oops!) This was pointed out to us when we returned the boat, and although the chap was very reasonable and told us not to worry about it, I ended up driving back down to the pub and kicking the grass 'til I found the spike and returned it (said gentleman was very grateful and impressed that I'd bothered to go back)
Nowadays, I prefer to have bright things if I need to remember them when I leave somewhere.
Just my thoughts - I'm sure others will disagree ;)
Sorry - rambled on a bit there
Cheers
Simon
 

Mesquite

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Mar 5, 2008
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Very handy gadgets especially if you cut lots of kindling. goodjob

Colour wise, the blue does give it a 'new & unused' look which can be important to some folks with the pennies to spend
 

Nice65

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Apr 16, 2009
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Very handy gadgets especially if you cut lots of kindling. goodjob

Colour wise, the blue does give it a 'new & unused' look which can be important to some folks with the pennies to spend

It also gives it the “don’t accidentally kneel on me” warning. As it’s essentially an upward pointing blade I reckon you should colour them Dave. Assuming you’re looking to make them for sale, nothing says professional forest tool better than a splash of orange. Win win.
 

GuestD

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Feb 10, 2019
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If you don't want wood to flying about do it this way. This guy uses cord, I use a ratchet strap.

do kindling with the wood stuffed in an old tyre.

You all know this anyway ? :)
 

GuestD

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Notice the fat cheeks on the head? That's a splitting maul, not an axe.
Does it really matter ? I was only showing another method of splitting wood so that it didn't go flying all over the place. I used a felling axe successfully for over 35 years, I've never found a splitting maul a particularly good tool, some people do, it's their choice.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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I suppose not. Tying the wood together like that is a sensible thing to do.
Wood heat is very common here but a splitting maul is a rare beast.
The rounds behind me are about 36", all of that was eventually split with a hydraulic machine.
 

GuestD

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I suppose not. Tying the wood together like that is a sensible thing to do.
Wood heat is very common here but a splitting maul is a rare beast.
The rounds behind me are about 36", all of that was eventually split with a hydraulic machine.
I cut and sold firewood for many years, mainly silver birch, ash, oak and beach, because it's what customers wanted, and it split easy. I tried various methods to find the quickest (and most cost effective) to split wood, my grandfathers old Black Prince felling axe was hard to beat. (In the right hands) ;) For difficult stuff I used the same method as in the clip, and a Jack Hammer with a sharpened tar spade, much quicker than a hydraulic splitter. Noisy though.
 
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Dave Budd

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I like the idea of the jack hammer :D

There are many ways to split logs and many ways to split kindling. The tyre/cord/bungee method works well and I've used it myself for logs, though it requires a chopping block larger than the log being split (or hard ground I guess) and some organisation. I confess that I've never split anything as easy as straight grained softwood,I've been brought up on gnarly oak/ash/beech. As for the axe versus maul argument, each to their own; but i use a maul since a drop is much less effort than a swing (and that's coming from somebody who swings heavy hammer all day for a living!). I even made a 1-handed maul (2kg hammer reforged into a maul with a hammer length handle) to split 'easy' logs of birch that I knew didn't require that much effort. For my whole life I've used an axe or a maul for firewood or filling a charcoal kiln, but I've just got hold of a screw type wood splitter for my tractor and I will be trying it out in a few days :D
 
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GuestD

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since a drop is much less effort than a swing

have you tried the "360" swing ? Instead of lifting the axe/ hammer after the down stroke, let it fall and it's own momentum will almost carry it to the top of the stroke. I used to hammer in fence posts all day, and with a bit of practice it works well, and you don't expel the same amount of energy.
 

Nice65

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Apr 16, 2009
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have you tried the "360" swing ? Instead of lifting the axe/ hammer after the down stroke, let it fall and it's own momentum will almost carry it to the top of the stroke. I used to hammer in fence posts all day, and with a bit of practice it works well, and you don't expel the same amount of energy.

Marlin spikes for marquees too. I’ve always used lift and drop to split, increasing the force of the downward stroke and dropping my body to smash big rounds, but got a part time job erecting marquees one summer and was astounded by the two blokes 360° swinging to plant the king pins. Took me a while to get it, but it’s a great technique for straight grain logs contained in a tyre. Still prefer a maul for the sheer force that can be applied though. I think the axe and maul are two different tools with two different purposes.
 

sunndog

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May 23, 2014
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derbyshire


That's impressive.

We all have our own preferences for splitting wood. Mr budd has found his and is showing it off more than asking for advice

Anvil or block mounted splitter looks good mate. It will work well enough for sure and very good for giving to just anyone to use with less chance of finger removal!
 

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