Splitting Firewood

[Newboomer]

I've been working my woodpile for the last few days. I split what I could with a maul but had to rent a splitter for the rest. Too many knots and tough grain. When running the splitter today I got to remembering my first encounter with one.
The old guy down the road asked me if I would help him with his woodpile. He'd pay me $1.00 for the day and feed me lunch. "Sure." That was big money for a 12 year old kid in the early 50s. Plus his wife was a great cook.
"Be here tomorrow at 8:00."
"Should I bring my gear?"
"Nope. Won't need it."
I showed up bright and early next day. Curious as to how we could work wood without axes, sledges and wedges. I soon found out. There stood the wickedest looking home grown contraption I had ever seen. He had cobbled together what he called a woodsplitter.
We commenced to split wood with that rig and damned if it didn't work just fine. Much easier than with hand tools. He had me taking away in the morning and after lunch, "OK, Boy, give it a whirl." Now, mind your dick skinners. This rig will show you NO mercy".
"Mind my what?"
"Fingers, Son, fingers."
Well, after seeing what that thing could do, I was exceedingly cautious of any and all bodily appendages. The afternoon flew by and I was hooked. Never worked that much wood so fast and easy before.
I think about that day every time I run a splitter and get a chuckle out of it. Yup, mind your dick skinners, Very good advice.

 

[CJW]

I can vouch for minding your dick skinners. I was splitting wood one day and got a piece stuck. It was a piece of maple that had a knot at the end and because the ram doesn't go all the way to the wedge, it got pinched onto the wedge at the knot. I pulled on it a bit and only managed to sort of tip it up. No big deal, I'll grab another piece and push it off. Well because it was tipped up with the end angled down, the piece I was attempting to dislodge it with got pushed down to the beam. Unfortunately my index finger was too far underneath and also got wedged. I twisted the skin back into place, said goodbye to my fingernail, kept my hand under cold water for 20 minutes and tried not to throw up. Then the next two weeks really sucked.

Yup, mind your dick skinners.

 

[Sue Tidwell]

I've been working my woodpile for the last few days. I split what I could with a maul but had to rent a splitter for the rest. Too many knots and tough grain. When running the splitter today I got to remembering my first encounter with one.
The old guy down the road asked me if I would help him with his woodpile. He'd pay me $1.00 for the day and feed me lunch. "Sure." That was big money for a 12 year old kid in the early 50s. Plus his wife was a great cook.
"Be here tomorrow at 8:00."
"Should I bring my gear?"
"Nope. Won't need it."
I showed up bright and early next day. Curious as to how we could work wood without axes, sledges and wedges. I soon found out. There stood the wickedest looking home grown contraption I had ever seen. He had cobbled together what he called a woodsplitter.
We commenced to split wood with that rig and damned if it didn't work just fine. Much easier than with hand tools. He had me taking away in the morning and after lunch, "OK, Boy, give it a whirl." Now, mind your dick skinners. This rig will show you NO mercy".
"Mind my what?"
"Fingers, Son, fingers."
Well, after seeing what that thing could do, I was exceedingly cautious of any and all bodily appendages. The afternoon flew by and I was hooked. Never worked that much wood so fast and easy before.
I think about that day every time I run a splitter and get a chuckle out of it. Yup, mind your dick skinners, Very good advice.

Great story. Thanks for sharing. Gave me a good chuckle.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Yes mind the dick skinners. This was in a log splitter as a matter of fact. It was the last stick of wood for the day. I got tripped up and couldn’t get off the lever.

 

[Inline6]

Yes mind the dick skinners. This was in a log splitter as a matter of fact. It was the last stick of wood for the day. I got tripped up and couldn’t get off the lever.View attachment 529679

Does your better half get mad about not putting a ring on it? I'm betting @TOBY458 can write a song about that!

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I don’t have a better half yet, when I do I have a good excuse for not wearing a ring.

 

[PARA45]

When I was station at Shaw AFB, SC, my neighbor (Bill) asked me if I wanted wood for the fireplace. I said sure. All I had to do was help him with the splitting, and he had a home-built wood splitter. He did say to keep the finger out of the way. He was a retired Air Force MSgt and had connection all over town and would get truckloads of wood. He was a great neighbor to have.

 

[part time builder]

years ago i was working as a welder building large refrigeration coils, one of the tool they used was called the air-mo and it would grab the 5/8 inch stainless steel tube and hydraulically press a mandrel in the tube to expand it for precise fit up. one day the guy using it i guess wondered what it would feel like to put his finger in it. unfortunately there was no releasing it once the cycle started so it clamped down on his finger and when the fire fighters and EMTs couldn't get it off they had to give him a stick to bight down on and run the cycle while it circumcised his finger leaving a scrawny bloody bone sticking out where there used to be skin, flesh, and fingernail.

 

[Wolfe375]

Once we got a wood splitter I was more willing to drive around after storms to collect firewood.
We used to heat with wood when I was younger but once I lived with my grandma we only had fires for enjoyment, cooking, boiling skulls and once I attempted to smoke a deer hide for a quiver. I will never forget spending all summer and fall splitting wood as a chore for the winters.