Yeah, I have some experience in these matters. Before you can do any crafting
comes the grunt work.
'Twas many - many! - years ago, somewhere in the 90s, that I had to have a giant
oak taken down in our front yard. Ours was a beautiful red oak, and "only" about
30" dbh, that had shaded the yard for decades. I had them leave an 8' section,
and by the time I was done with the initial split, I'd quadrupled my supply of
steel wedges as well as crafting a number of gluts. It was a stringy, wretched
tree. Even after I'd gotten it "split" over half way, I needed to employ a
scissors jack to pry the halves apart, all the while taking an ax to the
"strings", which were splinters a quarter inch or more thick.
I hated that tree. Did I mention that this was in the middle of a Tidewater
Maryland summer? No shade to work in any more!
Anyway, just food for thought. Especially since summer is coming to Tennessee.
-T
________________________________
From: oldtools@g... on behalf of Ed Minch
Sent: Saturday, May 8, 2021 8:19 AM
To: John M Johnston
Cc: Old Tools
Subject: Re: [oldtools] Chair from a tree
such a big log will be hard to split by hand, but once it is worked down, let
the fun begin
Ed Minch
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