This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook shares tools and techniques for quickly, safely splitting firewood. (See below for steps.)

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Outside, Roger showed Kevin some tools and methods for splitting small logs into firewood. The tools included mauls, wedges, splitting axes, and electric and gas-powered splitters.

Steps for How to Split Logs for Firewood:
1. Don't use an ax to split firewood. The narrow head will become stuck in the wood.
2. Short logs can be split into firewood using a steel wedge and sledgehammer, but it's a slow process that requires two people.
3. A maul combines a sledgehammer with a wedge in one tool. It's heavy, but does a good job of splitting logs.
4. A splitting axe is similar to a maul, but it has a narrower, lighter head that easily slices through logs.
5. Always stand the log on a short chopping block, never on the ground.
6. Keep the area around the chopping block clear and free of debris.
7. An electric log splitter provides an easy, quiet way to split logs, but it's rather slow and has limited capacity.
8. Gas-powered log splitters can be rented for splitting virtually any size log.

A variety of mauls and splitters are available at home and garden centers.

The "splitting axe" that Roger showed was manufactured by Fiskars Brands, Inc. [https://www.fiskars.com/en-us]

The 5-ton electric log splitter was supplied by DR Power Equipment [https://www.drpower.com/].

The gas-powered splitter was rented from Power Tool & Equipment Rental Co.

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How to Split Logs for Firewood | This Old House
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