Got Wood?? I do :)

[Cameroo]

When I was back home at my parents farm for the easter weekend, I got a chance to pick up some wood that I chopped down late last fall.  It's kind of a bitter-sweet feeling now.  Nice to know I'll have some bow-making material, but I also have to split it yet and wait for it to season.

There's not a lot of great bow wood around here, but what I was able to score is some American Elm and Green Ash.  Hopefully they will produce some nice bows in about a year.  I've never split logs before and was wondering if anyone has any advice for me.  I've seen a video from Billy where he used a skill saw to rip a cut the length of one side to get the split started nice and straight.  Would that be a good plan of attack for the elm?  From what I've heard it can be a real pain to split because the fibers are so stringy.

Anyway, here's a picture.  Wish me luck!

[DEllis]

Good luck then Cam
The bark on that big one on the left looks like it has some wiggles in it. I'd try to split that one out with wedges so as to make certain it followed the grain. Anything that looks straight grained enough it helps to run a kerf down it with the skillsaw and split from them. Try to follow any grain trends you see in the bark. Also I have had better luck starting at the middle, when splitting anything under about 5 inches diameter, instead of one end. Seems to decrease my oops to woohoo ratio
Darcy

[gstoneberg]

Oops to woohoo ratio...you crack me up!!   True though, the small ones can drive you to drink for sure.

George

[Cameroo]

Funny you mention that Darcy, I was just reading the first chapter of TBB1 (anyone else heard of 5% Fridays? ), and learned that cutting a kerf with a saw is only a good idea if the grain appears to be straight.  Who knows what's under that twisty bark though.  Guess I'll be using wedges all the way.

I never thought of starting in the middle.  Might give it a try on the narrower green ash logs.  I have a short one a little over 3 feet long to practice on. I like to keep the oops ratio as low as possible

I'm quite surprised that despite not sealing the ends of these logs when they were dropped last year, there don't appear to be any splits starting on the ends.  But I've got tons of length to work with, so I figured it wouldn't matter anyway.  Once I get em split up I'l seal the ends, if I don't get around to it sooner.

[HatchA]

Thing I'd be worried about with regard to splitting from the middle would be making sure the edge was aligned perfect straight to begin with.