I painted the ends so as to keep them from cracking.
The objective is to make some 16th and 17th century furniture.
Today, whilst some fiberglass orders were curing, I decided to get the
ball rolling on working with these logs, which will become the legs and
panels for various projects, including a number of mortise and tenon
chests, coffers, cabinets, chairs, stools, etc.
At any rate, using two steel wedges I worked my way across the top of
the log...realizing that the best way to split this beast was to hammer the
wedges down the middle and on each side and work my way inward....at
least that worked well for me.
I used a heavy sledge hammer which Ive welded a 1 inch steel bar too
for the handle...and its worth noting that the steel handle is about 16
inches long...to give it more umph....but also to keep my hands clear of
any impact area. (the hammer doubles as a thick metal mover too, other
side...but I digress)
Once I got the hang of hammering a few times on one wedge...a few
times on the other....etc...I must confess to you all how beautiful the
sound of wood splitting is....its a sort of high pitched crackling sound atop
a very low base groaning sound, rather like the sound of trees moving in
the forest when a good wind blows.
I estimate the total time, including learning curve was about 45 mintues.
With practice...and a few more wedges Im sure I could do split the next
pieces in half that time.
With two guys....Im sure it could be done in 10 minutes or so.
The log itself was about 33 inches long.
.........so for anyone out there with a curious interest in historical riven
wood, particularly of the 16th and 17th centuries, and for a lot of colonial
furniture (which still has some late medieval elements), I would
recommend an afternoon with some wedges, a heavy hammer, a glass
of iced tea and your best friend with a camera so you can brag to your
wife about how manly you are.
.....so whats the big deal between log splitting and riving? Its basically
the same fundamental thing, except that with riving you often have to go
through longer pieces (next week Ill be riving a 30 inch x 8 foot
piece...HUGE) so I can create the rails and big insert panels) The other
difference is that you must be vary careful to study the grain of the wood
and make sure you split such that you yield enough all the way
through....gotta be really careful in other words..
Finally a pic....I found our camera. These pieces will be the legs of a chest. I may hew some down a bit to make panels also:
