Chopping wood

[jim]

Nowadays I use a bowsaw and axe, not a chainsaw. But I DO remember the safety advice about chainsaws I was given when on short term work with the forestry commission. "Keep hold of the slow end."

Love and Peace
Jim

[Annpan]

The chainsaw we bought recently (Black and Decker Plug in model, not very powerful but does the job on our logs)it is designed in such a way that even if you tried would be hard to get near your person... J wears ear defenders and gloves over normal outside working clothes.

We use a big wedge and a sledge hammer to split logs.... no extra protective gear.

[The Honk]

I only use my chanisaw on the ground and take my time cutting. I wear steel toecaps and eye protection. For splitting I have a log maul which is like an axe but wider and splits them effortlessly. Again, I take my time and never rush the job

[Fred Hoggin]

My Mrs holds the wood in a cradle while i cut with the chain saw.

We both wear full headgear with mask and gloves.

We don't cut if we have been moaning at each other

I wondered what it was called but we have a maul too, it's great and you can whack the top with a heavy hammer if it's stuck

[Endie]

At the risk of sounding daft.....which is emmenently usual what is a smart splitter?

Let me google that for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=smart+splitter

It's a device that basically lets you use its axe as a kind of pile-driver: it's not something I'd want to use for any length of time, and it's definitely not as fast as a good-sized axe if you can use one, but not everyone can.

Of course, if I had to split as many logs as I used to (parents had a wood-fired boiler, and splitting the logs was my chore) I'd use one of these: http://www.logsplitter.com/ But then, that wouldn't have helped me with rugby as much as four years splitting just over a ton of logs a month

[Green Aura]

I have no idea how fast an axe can be but you won't catch me swinging one!

Which means OH would have to do it all. With the Smart Splitter, which I think is brilliant, we can share the task and we chop the wood as we need it (every couple of days) rather than all at once. It works like a grenade splitter - a fat wedge being knocked into the log with a weight. And making kindling is really easy too.


Don't dismiss it without having tried one - there's nothing big or clever about chopping your leg off

[KathyLauren]

I just wanted to thank everyone for this thread. It motivated me to go out and buy some kevlar chainsaw chaps. I have always worn goggles, gloves and steel-toed boots for chainsaw work.

Depending on what I'm doing and which saw I'm using I might also wear ear protection. The electric chainsaw is pretty quiet, so I often don't bother with ear protection when I use it, unless I'm planning on cutting for a long time. I do wear ear protection with the big gas-powered chainsaw. It'll make your ears ring after just a couple of cuts.

[Stonehead]

What do you wear when you're sawing/chopping?

When I started today, I was wearing thermal underwear (top and bottom), trousers, cotton shirt, sweater, overtrousers, scarf, heavy jacket, woollen stocking cap, heavy leather gauntlets, three pairs of socks, and heavy boots. (It was -10C at the time.)

By the time I finished, I was down to underwear, trousers, boots and gauntlets.

But I do use a crosscut saw, a brush saw, a felling axe, a limbing axe, steel wedges and a sledgehammer. An hour's work sees me far more toasty than the equivalent time spent in front of a blazing fire.

I start with an eight-feet long, 10-14 inch diameter log, felled with axe and saw, then limbed, and cut into lengths with the crosscut saw. They're eight-feet long as that's the length of 14-inch log I can carry on my shoulder.

When the logs have seasoned—a year or two—I take one and drive a wedge into one end. As the split opens I drive in more wedges along the log until it splits in two. Each half is split again.

The split logs are cut down to size with the brush saw, which is faster and easier to use on this diameter than the crosscut saw.

I much prefer working like this to using a chain saw. I find you use less firewood when it takes so much effort to produce it.

Also, the sound and smell of hand cutting logs is much better than that of a chainsaw, and I get a real feeling of "I did it", instead of "the chainsaw did it".

But then I am nuts.

[Stonehead]

Oh, and another effect of working my way? I can eat whatever I want without worrying about my waistline!!!!

[dave45]

All you guys are embarrassing me, I wear nothing special, and have even chainsawed in sandals, and often do it alone and out of sight. That said, I've not had a single scratch or injury and the saw is now worn out from use (cheap one!).

However when it comes to splitting (maul) I have had several painful injuries from flying logs bashing my shins. Not always the twisted/knotted/crappy wood either. Shin pads sound a good idea.