Splitting fence posts by hand - Riving Demonstartion

www.edibleacres.org
Sean shows people the basic process of taking a length of tree and being able to split it with hand tools. This technique works on a huge variety of tree types, lengths, thicknesses, and requires very basic and inexpensive tools. Great skill to develop as it is so versatile and useful!
Edible Acres is a full service permaculture nursery located in the Finger Lakes area of NY state. We grow all layers of perennial food forest systems and provide super hardy, edible, useful, medicinal, easy to propagate, perennial plants for sale locally or for shipping around the country...
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Happy growing!

[@yLeprechaun]

Wow! Always something new digging thru this channel. I've never seen this from you before. I LOVE timber work. I think that's why I love tree growers. Cut 'em down, make cool things, grow more. :) (But never, never, never clear cut! I hate clear cutters)

[@MYsequinedsky]

WELL DONE! i smiled when i saw how how satisfying this will be after first-time attempting this old-world task; which Sean demonstrated with his clear, well-spoken and comfortably-paced instruction. BIG THANKS.

[@punkyroo]

Fascinating.

[@saradraperwessels]

And thanks for the warning on shrapnel.

[@LolitasGarden]

I've had a piece of a wedge in my forearm for going on 25 years. Same thing happened. Be me, 13, bang wedge with framing hammer, clink, sizzle.

[@edibleacres]

Damn, yours must've been bad if it sizzled! :)

[@mikeguitar9769]

Are those both soft steel? So the wedge was mushroomed?

[@mikeguitar9769]

I think the steel gets "work hardened" after awhile, turning soft steel into hard steel and making it brittle. I figure it could be restored by heat-treating it. Maybe even using some blacksmith work in the process to dress it up a bit. I think I will try this. Sure it might need to be repainted afterward, but it seems easier than trying to grind down the flaking bits.

[@ronfox5519]

​@@mikeguitar9769 He said he was hammering on the back of a Hatchett, and it was a piece of that hammering end of the Hatchett that shrapnelled. I'm guessing the hammer on the Hatchett is case hardened just like a regular hammer. A wedge is probably slightly hardened at the sharp end and not hardened at all at the big end. Never hit a hammer with another hammer.

[@user-xc2wh9wm1l]

Great video. Well done.

[@edibleacres]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@famulan3479]

Thank you!!!

[@Mamaculture]

So great! There is so much wood behind my house I could be utilizing but had no idea how to besides spending g thousands of dollars hiring arborists.

[@jaymestevens9816]

Pile O bow staves lol some of my best long bows are from Locust

[@paulbissonnette3650]

interesting video/tutorial. just curious w regards to safety. ear and eye protection but it looks like rubber shoes. which are fine until you smash your toe w the a blunt steel tool

[@amberemma6136]

Have you ever seen someone cut Their toes off because they had steel toes boots on? Not nice

[@Ultrazaubererger]

To reduce the chance of metal flying off from the wedges, grind off the crowned edge. edit: I should have watched the whole video before commenting...

[@amberemma6136]

What kind of trees can you do this with? Im In Tennessee (middle ever slightly to the east in Woodbury/Manchester area) and I have several wooded areas I can go to and cut trees from. Also is there a certain time of year that is best for doing this? Did you cut the tree down with a chainsaw or something else?

[@tomfool43]

Thanks for this, I have a lot of posts to produce and this looks a great deal better all round than trying to rip them with a chainsaw which was what I saw my neighbors doing!

[@johnnypopper1071]

my dad has shrapnel from a hatchet in his foot still

[@LolitasGarden]

It's been four years already.

[@ruggedroot3846]

Curious, how old was that tree when you cut it down?

[@edibleacres]

I would guess that was about a 25-35 year old Locust, it's in a dense grove of older locusts.

[@ruggedroot3846]

Thanks! I'm trying to get a sense of how fast these grow. People say they grow "fast" for such a dense wood, but I don't have a very good frame of reference to judge by.

[@stephaniewilson3955]

You do not need a grinding wheel to get rid of the spalling on those wedges. A good file is safer. Just put the tool into a vice, clamp it and patiently file off the spalls. You will not have spalls flying off which is a problem with a grinding wheel.

[@edibleacres]

Thanks for your notes here, much appreciated!

[@techedfireman4981]

The only time you will be able to peel them easily is when they are first dropped and still wet and green.

[@REVY01]

Wow that's rare finally someone actually knows what there talking about

[@techedfireman4981]

@@REVY01 Thanks, I grew up using locust a lot.

[@jb-sj9co]

Grind the mushroomed metal off your tools. It will save you from shrapnel.

[@edibleacres]

Good advice. Having a small piece of metal stuck in my belly from learning that the hard way a ways back! (hammering on a hardened steel fiskars axe with a hammer, and a piece shot off and stuck in me!) The soft metals here tend to just flake off, but probably better to be safe...

[@wepntech]

@@edibleacres oof, yeah hardened tools have there trade offs. Part of the reason I prefer the old school tools, as they are not so brittle...usually.

[@wepntech]

Grinding isn't all that hard, get a grinder or build one or something. and start doing it. also files are great to have, what you can't do with wtvr grinder you have you could probably do with files or even hand grinding with honing stones or wtvr... mostly overkill at that point though.

[@cocoamcjaegermeister5534]

Grinders (handheld) are like 30 dollars at harbor freight. You woild need a pretty good leveled up work bench to make motor windings and machine parts to make a grinder lol. If it was post apocolypse or I needed to know the skill for some reason, I would still do it though.

[@CovilleR]

I can think of some reasons, including whyever people use Alaskan chainsaw mills, but I wonder what you think: why not use a chainsaw to split the log?

[@CovilleR]

For one, beautiful process to do it via handtools and the wood's grain. Thanks for sharing it!

[@edibleacres]

Chainsaw would have to be pretty burly for one, so thats an investment in a new saw, then a proper chain to do the cutting efficiently, then standing next to a roaring 2 stroke engine for a VERY long time to get dimensional lumber which I can get approximate sizes for so cheap from the waste stream of the local mill... If I can adjust my needs/building approaches/uses to work with the split rail, I can fly through these posts with hand tools and get finished material that runs along the grain, which is even stronger and more rot resistant to boot!

[@cocoamcjaegermeister5534]

Ive milled planks in cherry wood using an $70 ebay alaskan mill and a $500 saw called husqvarna 460 rancher. It works well but unless i needed the smoother finish for some reason I would consider riving for doing many posts. I would give both a try. Milling still takes a decent bit of energy too, its not just auto-easy. Still it could be worth it depending on what you really need. I havent tried true riving yet but I can see how it could really pay off for fence building or other applicatings. If you dont have a chainsaw but need smoother planks/posts you could get a draw knife or planer and smooth out the split face of the wood too. Just some ideas for people who read comments.

[@cat4005]

1:46 Québecois ?

[@edibleacres]

The folks visiting with me, who helped to film this, were from Canada!

[@ralphy1989]

Use a wedge not a axe head.

[@edibleacres]

Yep, wedge is nice when you have them but I've got a bunch of old dead axes so thats what I use :)

[@samrobinson9467]

my grandmother could do that in a hour,

[@edibleacres]

Thats awesome that you have such a great grandma!

[@juliejay5436]

Awesome granny! 😎

[@georgecarlin2656]

I thought it's gonna be a kung-fu trick, but all I got was shitty audio.

[@edibleacres]

Shitty audio and a groovy tee shirt. Lets be fair.

[@dundeemich3804]

You talk to dam much!

[@kirsten4896]

Language is a great way to communicate. So is proper spelling. Don't be rude.

[@cocoamcjaegermeister5534]

Hello dundee mich, how is cabellas doing up there? Unless your name is not referring to Dundee Michigan. If so, please ignore. And no, I didn't use google to find you, I already knew of the existence of the place no doubt 🙂