Chopping block sweet spot
Increasing the height of our firewood chopping block by several inches
really helped the process.
I guess the optimal height
might vary depending on how tall one is and what size logs are being
cut, but for me the sweet spot is easier to hit with the chopping block
as high as the middle spot between the ground and your knee.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I clearly need an FAQ page for people who ask about tire chopping blocks and scythes.
Here's what I said two weeks ago on the former:
"A few different folks have suggested the tire method to us. We haven't tried it yet because I suspect we're more efficient with the two of us working together than Mark could be with just a tire. But that does sound useful if splitting wood alone."
Hey. You might want to try a foot higher. After I split my block last winter I got a higher block ( almost waist high)..then I have a table to the left where I stack a pile and on the right I have the barrow..when I split now the left hand side stays on the block ( blocked by the wood that is going to be chopped) and the split wood on the right side falls right into the barrow. I then reach over and grab another piece of wood without bending..at the end of the table-load I do have to pick up 5-6 pieces that managed to hit the ground.
I find the waist high cuts down on the possibility of hitting your own foot as the arc stops at the waist so there is not tendency to swing towards yourself as you are prone to do when the block is lower. I don't usually post on here cause usually you guys have everything figured out but I thought I would add my 2cents today! hehe ( also in regards to wood rotting..when you cut down your first you should use the first one as a dry stacker to keep the rest dry until you want to burn..saves it sitting on the ground to rot