How to Split a Log for Amazing Lumber

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[nickreagin]

I love this guys commitment to safety. "Wear your glasses!", proceeds to drop start chain saw. I have the exact same attitude.

[samtrhfr]

5:10 "do so with caution and care" ; proceeds with the most chaotic chainsaw start ever recorded lmao

[ScottSpeedPro]

I went this route and split a bunch of shorter logs by hand. Incredibly fun and rewarding, loved the experience, and Elia does an amazing job here...but lemmee tell ya, lots of wood does not split in a friendly manner no matter how painstakingly careful you are. It's got a mind of its own, its wavey, uneven, and can create infinitely more work if you're trying to make dimensioned lumber from it and the wood has some twists or character in it. Totally encourage everyone to try it old school like this, but if I had a nice log and I was looking to get some usable boards out of it, if you wanted to go old school and stay with hand tools, go with a rip saw, Japanese pull saw, don't split it. Power to ya cause that's a lot of sawing, but you'll save a ton of usable wood and countless hours on flattening your surfaces. If you're going a little more modern, go the chainsaw mill route, and if you're focused on getting as much usable lumber out of each log as possible you can get it properly milled on something like a Woodmizer with the thinner kerf blades and more level cuts. The only reason I make a point of this is wood is expensive and nice wood is really, really expensive, I just don't want anyone trying this with a black walnut log or something they just dropped a thousand bucks on, you're gonna potentially lose half your wood and money in temperamental splits.

[Jim__K]

Good series. Elia does a great job of explaining this information. Hope to see more from him.

[OutlawCaliber]

This is the kind of guy you expect to find in an office in the city, not working lumber in a country yard in the middle of nowhere. Love it. lol

[FinnGriffin]

Very nice! Thank you for making this video!

[hjeffwallace]

I just grabbed 4 logs from a red oak dropped at my neighbor. 14” x 40”. I only had a small hatchet, a pry bar, and small sledge hammer. But I did have a 3” white oak I had cut last year. I made a dozen wedges from it with a circular saw. Just when I was about to give up, I heard a sweet crackling! Going to buy a couple of wedges…

[johnmosier]

I was just thinking about doing this, can you make a video for the rest of the process from drying to producing true lumber

[FrankTranDesign]

Seriously good video. Thanks for sharing

[Buddha-offk]

I helped my Grandpa make a truck load of that for rebuilding an old spilt rail fence. It was hard and took a while but it's still standing after all these years. You could have popped it if you double wedged it in the center.

[BobBlarneystone]

About 25 years ago, a farmer in Ohio was whacking on the teeth of his dozer blade with a hammer. A piece of the metal tooth chipped off and struck him in the neck, making what looked like a superficial cut. A few months later he was in heart failure. An X-ray revealed that the fragment had entered a vein and traveled to his heart and was caught in the pulmonary valve. After open heart surgery to remove the fragment, he made a full recovery.

[gunterbecker]

❤absolutely great work. Young man u r an ace, keep at it, absolutely love it 😊

[Thundermuffin]

Great stuff! Nice to have a decent log to show how it should go. And impressive to see just how fast he turned a log into 8ths. A bunch of chainsaw ninnies in comments here, but great video and thanks for the excellent demo!

[jardavaclavik]

Wont fly into US for your class, vut your site is great. Thanx

[ot]

Wow, hadn’t watched this channel for a few years. Time flies by.

[AndrewWade]

I would love a video on the advantages of splitting like this vs quarter sawn.

[MacAustinMusic]

I live not too far from Elia and curious can anyone tell me where this log yard is?

[Peekul]

A pry bar can open up the logs.pretty easy too.

[bobcostas]

If you grind your wedges when they mushroom you don't have to worry about spalling. Good looking out on the smaller sledge with a long handle though. F= m x a, and it saves your shoulders if you do it right. Personally I like a 6 pounder.

[viracocha]

Thank you for the tips. I'm new to woodworking and work with hand tools. I just took down a large oak at work and wanted to make some boards with it, is it best to let the log season or should I do it now? The tree was nice and straight and my logs are around 36" long and about 18" - 20" wide. Also, I don't have any wedges, is it possible to do with a froe? I have never turned a log into boards before and I appreciate any reply.