Splitting Wood

We live in the suburbs, but spend a lot of time at my family's farm....usually just to visit, but sometimes we do what we can to help out. We went there on Saturday to help split wood. The farm house is heated with a wood burning furnace, so cutting, loading, hauling, unloading and splitting wood are part of the routine there. The furnace actually looks like a little hut that is a ways away from the house. It heats water that is circulated into the house, where the forced air blows over the coils to warm the rooms. Ok...too much info....onto the wood splitting.

This is a picture of my handsome hubby with the gas engine wood splitter.
The logs that are too big or too heavy for the furnace are lifted up onto the splitter. Sometimes, if you are really lucky, they will have gotten rained on and frozen to the ground before you get around to splitting them. Some are big enough that it takes a couple of guys to lift them. That's where my strong nephews came in really handy! :-)
Back to the splitting. The log is placed onto the splitter, one end has an axe-like blade, the other end is flat. The flat end is pushed into the log with a hydraulic actuator, which then pushes the log into the wedged end of the splitter.

The pressure of the log being pushed into the wedge splits the log. It seems like it should be fast and scary, but it isn't. It's all controlled with a lever and moves pretty slow.

Slow and steady splits the log. Right? Huh??

Crack. Split once, then it will be split again...sometimes again....depends how big the log was to start. It's easier than using an axe....and that's all I know about that!