Wood Splitting Technique, Kindling
Looking to geek out a bit in regards to wood splitting. I have an open traditional fireplace. When I light my fires it helps tremendously to start off by establishing a large hot bed of coals.
I do this by lighting a small pile of tinder, then by putting about an entire "logs worth of kindling on". What I mean by "logs worth of kindling" is taking a regular log and splitting it into ~7 pieces each measuring only ~.75' x .75". The much smaller pieces and mass catch and burn very well. They bridge the size gap between tinder and full sized logs.
The part I want to geek out about is how I split logs into the smaller pieces of log-kindling.
Today I use a hatchet. Instead of swingling at the log I place the hatcher where I want to make the cut. Then I use a 3 lb sledge hammer to hammer the hatchet through. Gives me a lot more control, especially when making the smaller cuts.
In general it works great except for two annoyances.
1) Over time the back flat face of my hatchet has started to deform and balloon out from the repeated impacts.
2) Most of the time the hatchet splits the log apart no problem. But sometimes it gets embedded in the log and fails to split it fully apart.
I'm thinking of switching to a "splitting hatchet" and a plastic dead blow hammer to improved the process. Curious what input others might have now that I have devoted so much thought to such a basic and simple problem. :)