/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>2795302
Your problem is, splitters arent magic. Sometimes you need more than 1 to get the job done, and how you determine that will depend on the wood, grain, knots, size, ect. Look for cracks in the wood to see where its already structurally weak, then put a line of splitters from one crack to the next in a line if its a large piece of wood or a hardwood. When you see splitters splitting big logs with just 1, thats usually because its not very knotty or a softwood. In most splitter situations where a regular axe wont do, you're gonna need more that one.

Think of hitting a knot like hitting a shield. It doesnt matter how strong you are, you are hitting something that is deflecting the majority of power. But when you use a splitter, you force the issue by creating a weakness in the shield. Each hit, slowly works its way through the shield until it fails. However, if its a really big shield, you're gonna need multiple splitters to form the full break from one end of the log to the next. Becareful with splitters, its easy to get them stuck if you try to force them to go the wrong way. Technically you can break wood from any angle if enough preassure is applied, and thats exaclty what a hydraulic press does with its 10,000 pounds of pressure. But with just raw muscle, thats a difficult job to do if you dont pay attention to your splitter placement.