run-out when splitting

[stuckinthemud]

Afternoon everyone.
When I split a stave I run the split out from the centre to the ends  using shallow-angle wedges placed in the split. Often the split runs out of the log, usually if the stave is knotty. Is this normal? What should I be doing differently?

[Pat B]

Generally a log splits along the grain and will follow the grain from one end to the other. I normally start in the center also and have had my best luck that way.
What kind of wood is it?

[willie]

when you start in the center (lengthwise), are you also making sure that the wedge is centered side to side?

[stuckinthemud]

This one was a narrow and knotty, slightly bent, common laurel sapling, I did check the wedge was straight and running straight through the centre, it was, but this run-out happens on about a third of the staves I split, usually on the ones with bad knots, so I wondered if I should be doing something different with staves where the split starts to run-out.

[Chippintuff]

I don't have experience with that problem, but it reminds me of a tip my grandfather gave me about 60 years ago about splitting roofing shingles from blocks of wood. He said he used a fro and a mallet. If the shingle started getting thicker, he pushed the handle of the fro one way, and if it started getting thinner he pushed the handle the other way. It made sense to me. Just as a wild guess based on that tip, I wonder whether the thickness of the wedges is causing the problem.

WA

[stuckinthemud]

Didn't know you could steer the split. Anyone know how?

[PatM]

Angle your wedge so that the split drifts back to centre. Don't be afraid to use a very sharp hatchet or even get a saw in there to re-direct things. Check out a bamboo fly-rod  build along and you'll see them re-directing their split as they get their raw strips.

[DC]

When you are splitting small things you can steer the split by bending the thick half more than the thin half. I have no idea how you would do this with a log . I think the shake splitting thing uses this but that's all I know. If you watch this vid at about 1:00 he shows how the steer the split.   http s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NYGeTQVbj4

[bradsmith2010]

as suggested ,, using sharp hatchet to direct the line of the split,,

[stuckinthemud]

Saw and hatchet, d'oh, so simple! Thanks all. Might be worth investing in a decent fro though

[Swamp Thang]

Ip aq a use a stiff blade saw and start a shallow groove when if I'm happy I go to the meat the start with the wedges

[WillS]

Just run a series of shallow (1/2" deep) splits/cuts along the entire back in the line you want on both sides of the log.  Then start at one end, not the middle, and gently coax the split along that line.  You can direct a split on the craziest timber that way.

[willie]

When you are splitting small things you can steer the split by bending the thick half more than the thin half. 

some woods follow better than others though, dunno about your laurel

[DC]

Assuming you can steer the split, aren't you defeating the purpose of splitting? I like splitting so I get a good idea of the grain flow. If you can steer the split you might as well saw it. Of course if splitting is just a way of getting a log into manageable pieces then ignore this post.

[willie]

I do not think that it is one long grain strand that you are jumping across when you steer, but splitting is a series of short jumps from one cell to the next that you are trying to follow the general run of.

actually if the splitoff piece is thinner than the splitfrom piece, then the wedge itself is  bending the thinner piece out of the way more, and causing the runoff.