Last week turned out to be very busy and, as a consequence, I felt I was suffering from a lack of fresh air and exercise.  With a huge pile of wood from a recently felled beech tree and the loan of a log splitter, it looked like I was going to get all the fresh air and exercise I might want.  A few things occurred to me…

1. The log splitter is a 10 tonne, hydraulic machine. Even with that level of power, there were several logs which it simply couldn’t get through.  The ones that it was capable of splitting were the ones that I could get through with a trusty axe.  What it could do was keep up the momentum in a way that a 63 year old was simply incapable;
2. Splitting the logs was very easy – but only if you went with the grain. Trying to cut across a knot was simply impossible and no amount of power was going to change that.  All that happened was the engine struggled and clouds of smoke came out.  If I couldn’t find the right niche, the only answer was to turn the log around and look at it from a completely different direction;
3. You need to follow the split right through to the end. Making the first incision was relatively easy, but if I failed to take the split all the way through, the sinews in the (half-split) log would join back together and we would have to start all over again; and
4. I learnt the hard way that the log being split needed to be on a really solid foundation. When, in the early stages, I tried to make a split without a solid foundation, nothing effective would happen – other than bits of wood flying off in random direction.

‍In summary:‍

1. Automation is helpful – but it is easy to underestimate the power in people;
2. Working with the grain is critical. You get nowhere if you try to fight it all the time, other than expend huge amounts of energy.  If you get stuck, look at the problem from the opposite end;
3. Carry the cut through to the very end. Stopping when it appears done but not stable was completely counter-productive. A huge waste of time and energy; and
4. Make sure the base is really solid before embarking (couldn’t resist the pun) on the exercise.

Whilst it was physically hard work, maybe the weekend was not so different to a normal days work.

‍