North By Degrees
It’s winter. Though we’re not yet through with summer business, when I look out the window, that blanket of white is pretty convincing. Though temperatures have been pretty mild, there’s no doubt that the season is upon us.
We don’t mind winter. It slows things down. And we love the cozy-evenings-with-a-fire-in-the-woodstove part. We’ve not yet reached the coldest part of winter, where a fire is needed round the clock.
I’m largely responsible for keeping the woodbin stocked from the woodpile. And I chop most of the kindling. That’s the only part I don’t much like. Admittedly, I’m not what anyone would call graceful or coordinated. Swinging a sharp hatchet near my fingers and thumbs makes me nervous.
I’ve been eyeing those ads for a “kindling cracker,” a handy device for holding firewood whilst splitting it in a near-effortless, and finger-safe, procedure. They’re ingenious, and elegant, but not cheap. I’ve been considering it for a couple of years; it’s a woodburning accessory that I could almost convince myself is a safety necessity. As is often the case when it comes to Northern living, I thought I’d ask my sister—who’s several hundred miles north of me—and has heated with wood for her entire adult life.
My sister had never heard of it. “Kindling? Why are you cutting so much kindling?”
“To start fires, of course.”
“Well, how many fires do you need to start?” (I could tell that she wasn’t going to be much help with my rationalizing.)
“At this time of year, we start a fire every day.”
“Really?” (What? Is she just showing off?)
“Don’t you need to cut kindling for the season?”
She laughed. “Not ‘for the season.’ We start a fire in October. Then it burns until May, 24/7. And you?
“It’s not cold enough to burn round the clock. We’d roast.”
“Ah!”
And that, was that. Surely she’ll be of no help in my consumer decision. I’m not entirely sure if it was as cut and dried as all that. I could be the victim of Northern snobbery. But I’ll never know.
tworockchronicles 
😂 I’m on her side – we light our fire and it doesn’t go out til sometime in….,March? But on your side too – as we cook only with wood we have to start fires each day come summer – there aren’t enough windows in the house to open to keep me from dying of heat stroke. Even at that – we cook on an outside fire a lot in the summer. As for kindling splitting – two methods: one – throw out the hatchet, that’s an excellent way to lop off fingers. Stand up a piece of wood and use an actual axe. Less work and fingers far away. Two – some people save work by standing several pieces of wood in the middle of an old tire – and chop away, saves you from having to bend over and pick up the stick each time you split a piece off.
Aside from that – consider other ‘kindlings’. Sawdust shavings from our table saw in a paper bag work. I also save all my dry bean husks in bags – those light up in a heartbeat.
The wood splitting gadget?……hmmmm. I’m looking at it and I see something I could probably get jammed halfway into a piece of wood and have to resort to farmer language to get out. 😊
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I use a splitter for most of the firewood. Sometimes a maul, but most often a sledge and a wedge. I once had to throw the whole log/wedge thing in the fire to get my wedge back. Other kindlings? Too bad I’ve already composted the bean husks. I’ve done the beeswax over pine cone thing for gifts–but wouldn’t use such a thing with any regularity in my wood stove–might gum things up. I like the old tire–skip the bending.
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I sometimes think we should buy one of those awesome gas log splitters – but my hubby thinks those are a sign he’s getting old 🙄. Considers splitting wood ‘good exercise’ – but then he’s tall and can split anything with an axe. Me – I’m short and use a 10 lb maul and have to absolutely roundhouse the thing – all our stoves take 24” wood. Kindling is never fun – even the hubby complains about it.
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We have one. We didn’t in Northern California and split it all by hand (6 lb maul for me.) But there we only used 2 to 2 1/2 cords of wood each year. Here, we ancipated the need for a lot more wood, and bought a craigslist 27 ton splitter, right at the outset. Then we proceeded to build a small house with a lot of insulation. So far, we’re only burning a hair over three cords a season. But we are getting old, and for the most of it, the splitter makes short work of it. We still have to march up and down the hills for the cutting, and wrestle the cut-to-length logs into and out of the trailer. I think there’s plenty of exercise left in it.
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Re “Swinging a sharp hatchet near my fingers and thumbs…” the trick (I have found anyway; ) to splitting kindling safely is to not swing but instead set the hatchet’s edge lightly upon the spot you want it (with “holding” hand well off to the side) and then lift and repeat successive lift-and-tap motions with both hands allowing the weight of your hatchet to bite. After that happens, one more good tap ought to finish the manoeuvre: ). Harder to explain than actually do, sorry. But the key to using hatchets and axes, as I was taught, is to allow the head’s weight and gravity/inertia to do the work… NOT brute force as old movies would have you believe; )
And of course that’s also assuming that you’re using some lovely, dry coniferous wood too, yeah? (Oh, that and lower twigs & deadfall are my best friends; )
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Yep, I have that move down. It’s especially good with 2 X ‘drops.’ Since we seem always to be building, there’s usually a supply of cut off ends from 2 X 4s or larger. Since that is relatively soft, your method is perfect. Still–to many taps. Currently I have some great 2 X 10 and 2 X 12 drops, which give me enough room to protect my hands, so I can whack away at them, with abandon. Only when I get close to the dainty digits, do I slow down and go with the tappity, tappet regime. And, I have lots of twigs and deadfall, so I suppose I could always clean up and rake the forest for my kindling.
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Yup! Building a firebreak before you need it…
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Once I get back in the swing of it (lol) it’s a “two tap” process: “set. THUD. Toss”
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I suspect you have better coordination than me.
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lol. Practice, practice, practice! Repetitive Motion (of whatever) = Body Memory; )
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