I haven’t done any spruce K. but I have done some gnarly other types. Sometimes you just have to saw them into a size that will fit your stove. Sometimes if you cut a kerf in the sawn side you can get them to split with steel wedges and a sledge. I never used a hydraulic splitter until I was past 70.
6 Likes
Ha, that’s true Kristijan. Spruce logs can be a pita fore sure. The rebar in concrete is a very good image.
Only advice I can give is to start right next to a knot and follow the limb’s path towards the center of the log. Crossing the limbs path can be close to impossible. Sometimes a scratch with the chainsaw is needed to fit the wedge in the first place.
You probably already tried the above and unfortunately there are no magical soulutions except dynamite 
5 Likes
Do you use an axe, or a splitting maul? I use a 9lb maul to split my wood, and gives me a handy sledgehammer head on the other side to drive wedges.
4 Likes
In most places around a crown of limbs aka knots there will be straight lines from one side to the other between the knots. Draw the line with the axe sliding it back and forth to leave a mark on the surface of the round for a visual reference. This helps me with accuracy a LOT.
Work from the off side one hit just at the edge of the roud, then to near side then a center shot and it usually pops open. Then work between the knots of each half, back into the center. You can get about an inch away from a knot and still get nice pie slice pieces, but any closer and the best splitting axe in the world will get hung up hard, I have broken many axe handles learning this technique when I would just try to power through a knot and wear myself out.
In our knew house some pieces left over including a knot are actually to big for the firebox in our wood stove, ill have to borrow my dads log splitter if i want to burn these in the house.
I have also tried the “flick” method on these and it a terrible result, end up turning the round into kindling and splinters, and sticking the axe so bad as to need a sledge hammer to knock it loose again to keep going
7 Likes
I have another problem with conifers. Worked my way up to around 8-9 m 24-27 feet working hight but there is still around 18 feet left in the sky. How do I get this save to the ground? The kids are renovating the barn , it has been a few years since a good storm, so for once start on time and chop the conifers before they fall. Any tips to do this in a safe way?
Not bad but this will go wrong some moment
And only if the complete conifer falls sometimes there is the problem you have Kristijan. My wood is cut to lenght and packed in a tire before it get smashed with an axe. Works ok and I dont stop before it is thorn apart. It will split or it is so open it will burn anyway.
4 Likes
You can get climbing gear. 
They also make pole saws that extend up 30ft, so you could stand on your platform and use a long pole saw. There is also a rope with a cutter on it, so you toss the rope over the limb, then get the cutter where you want it, and pull the rope back and forth.
I would actually thin the trees out. They looked spaced too close for timber. They are a good for a wind break, but they won’t get more girth unless they are thinned out.
3 Likes
Look up “powder wedge” on Youtube 
I built one myself, just because they are cool…
4 Likes
Hmm thats what l feared. The problem is l got good at geting the logs in to wedges but then l have to split the wedge again perpendiculatlry and thats a real pain to do. I sure gained respect to you guys dealing with this crap and gained gratitude for our local hard woods like beech. Man what a crappy wood spruce is (firewood related).
Cody, l use a spliting axe and wedge/sledgehammer combo. But l got a cca 4lbs billet of c45 steel ready to forge a mallet in one of these upcoming winter days.
Marcus, whats the flick method? Is this where you tilt the exe just as it touches the wood? I do this when l split on rocky ground to protect the axe, but other thain that, rarely. Sends wood alover the place.
Goran, l heared about these! I wonder… do you think it wuld be possible to wedge it in the end of a long log and “loosen” it whole prior to cuting?
Thanks for the help guys.
6 Likes
I’ve only tested on short, wide rounds of wood, but i’ve seen some video where they split an enormous oak log, about 4 meters long, by putting powder wedges, 4 if i remember, along a line, and firing them simultaneously (electrical), i was impressed by the result, very smooth splitting.
Ofcourse this method is only for the ones living very rural, no fun to visit your neighbor to ask if you can get your wedge back, the one that penetrated his car…
11 Likes
Yeah. You have to get very rural to avoid a visit from the Feds on this one. I think I’ll just stick with sawing cookies from stuff that can’t be split. Anybody ever used one of these? I thought about getting one that bolts to a tire wheel once but decided it would probably end up beating me to death.
4 Likes
Hi Tom, the link didn’t work for me, but i guess it’s the conical screw type? Please avoid them, i think it’s the best way to hurt yourself pretty bad, ofcourse there are types with a built-in splitting edge that makes it impossible for the wood piece to rotate. But imagine if the screw starts wind up your clothes, or skin 
, im really concerned these are’nt banned everywhere, not even in Sweden, where “big brother” does all safety thinking for you.
Best way to use them i’ve seen is mounted on a small excavator, hydraulic powered.
9 Likes
I second what Göran said, they are dangerous no matter what anyone says.
You can easily crush your hand as well if the wood lifts a little from the table.
I have one at home but I will never use it and never sell or give it to anyone as I don’t want them to hurt themselves.
8 Likes
Link works for me, not sure why it didn’t for you but that’s what it was about. I avoided them a long time ago. Looked at a lot of videos to find one that compared ripping chains to crosscut chains without spending a half hour of useless blab. This one does.
5 Likes
Doesent work for me too.
Is this what you mean?
They are still somewhat popular here and l have split my share with one of these, but each time l did l imagined it drilling in my leg… side to side they are as fast as efficient as a hidraulic spliter, we tested. But man are they brutal… l have seen some crazy stuff happen…
9 Likes
That’s what I was talking about K. Maybe this video link will work.
8 Likes
I think they were banned here for a while or the company was sued out of business. People put them on car wheels, and then the car fell off the jack holding it up… And loose clothes delimbed people or killed them much like the pto shaft without the safety covers on them.
6 Likes
Yep that is the flick. For nice straight grain its a great way to wittow down a big big round to managable size. 3-4’ rounds is where i use the flick, till its about 2’ diameter then split pie slice fron there
7 Likes
Those are the best. Even thugh we had a screw spliter and a 22t hidraulic, l preffered to axe split those kind of logs. Faster, easyer on the back not needing to move and lift those big peaces.
Ha, belive it or not. I once split an entire cord of beech in 25min. Axe only. And it was a hefty tree too, probably over 2 feet dia. Well, l dont know for sure but the fact that l had a litle chemistry help from a amonium based fertiliser and some metal powder might have slightly altered the integral structure of the log 
8 Likes
I am jeleaus. When I see those logs, I remember days when my father bought standing oak destined for falling as a source of firewood for our hut.
At the bottom, the trunk was at last 30" diameter. Cut in 40" pieces. We had to split it in the wood before we were able to move it. Had only big axe, maule and four wedges. I was around my 15. I spent two weekend hammering those logs before they were light enough to be moved by hands. Sometimes all wedges end up in the wood and no split happened.
To see this easy job makes mě really upset. 
6 Likes
That would be nice for splitting fence posts.
5 Likes