Splitting wood

[SquirrelBoy]

I`ve been out gathering some wood to make a bow drill set and am having problems splitting it.
It wont split evenly and goes into a twist - not much fun when you want to get a hearth out of it :-?

Im using a Frosts Mora and a wood batton, could it be the blade bending?

Any ideas what im doing wrong :-(

 

[Exploriment]

What type of wood is it?

 

[the naughty boy]

its the grain m8.keep looking ,you,ll get a nice straight grained flat piece b4 too long.a split in the grain will follow the path of the fibers in the wood so your not going anything wrong
its all the woods fault

 

[SquirrelBoy]

Its pine wood, and come to think of it - the grain does look pretty twisty :roll:

Feel a bit stupid now

Would birch be any better?

 

[Ed]

I have a few fire-drill hearth boards that are twisted but aslong as they don't move around when I've got my foot on it and baring down with the drill, I don't have a problem.
For hearths I've had some successes with horse chestnut ans sycamore but the easyiest I've used is ivy. That was smoking within the minuite.... you have to be carefull though a its very soft, if you bare down too hard you will just drill right through the board. The trick is getting the pressure just right to produce a coal.


Ed

 

[SquirrelBoy]

Thanks for the tips Ed

Will go searching some more... well any excuse to go outdoors !!

 

[Jack]

Dear Squirrel.

Good point and it is one you will come across within the woodlands.

You aren't doing anything wrong, it's the wood, it has a genetic defect and this cause's the cell to grow just off centre ( visual demonstration is needed) basically, the cells grow uneven.

The whole tree/stool will be affected, we have it in the coppice and it is a real pain, but that is life!


I will show you if you drop into the woods sometime!

Best wishes.
Jack.