Log splitting is a very useful skill for campers. Even if you don't cut your own firewood you will probably need to split some pieces of commercial firewood to make kindling. Sometimes chunks of commercial firewood might be bigger than you want to use in your campfire and you can split them down to any size you like. If you do cut your own firewood, split logs dry more quickly and are easier to ignite in a campfire than whole logs. You might want to split longer logs to make split rails for functional and decorative fencing.
Use of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment is always a good idea for any activity. Log splitting is certainly no exception. There are obvious risks and physical stresses you need to guard agains. You should wear heavy leather gloves to protect your hands and goggles or safety glasses to protect your eyes against flying chips. Prescription eye glasses or sunglasses might be better than nothing but are not designed to provide the true protection you get from safety glasses or goggles. If you use a chainsaw to cut your firewood, you should also wear protective chaps and ear plugs. Note, chainsaw chaps don't shut down electric chain saws like they do gasoline powered saws. The chaps are designed to clog the chain and stop the engine. Electric motors don't stop as long as there is power and the switch is on but chainsaw chaps might provide some reduction in the movement of the chain and give you a little extra time to react before you cut off a leg!
For splitting kindling you may only need an axe or hatchet. Place one end of the piece of wood you want to split on a stable solid surface (rock, wood, concrete, hard ground), Use a small stick to hold the top end of the piece you're are splitting steady while your swing your axe or hatchet with the other hand to split it. If you should miss and cut the end off the little stick you can easily replace it, unlike replacing your fingers if you should cut one or more off while holding the wood with them! A good size for kindling is about 1" wide and 1/4" thick. Pieces a little larger or smaller are just fine.
A maul is another great tool for heavy splitting. Mauls have very heavy, fat heads. They look a lot like an axe but they are not designed for cutting but are great for splitting. The extra weight and the fat taper of the head slams into the wood and splits it apart. The only downside to using a maul for splitting is that it is very heavy and may be difficult for smaller people to use and more tiring for anyone. The blade on a maul is not always sharp like an axe. A maul will be overkill for splitting kindling but is very useful for splitting large logs.
I have seen wall-mounted kindling splitters that use leverage instead of pounding it with a big axe or hammer. That might be less effort but I haven't found a good place to mount one on any of my RVs. Might be nice for a cabin or country house!
Just came across another great way to split kindling. It is called the kindling cracker. You can buy them at Amazon, Home Depot, and many other places. Just GOOGLE "Kindling Cracker". You put the piece of wood you want to split in the top and hit it with a big hammer or back of an axe to drive it down onto the splitting wedge inside. It is safer, faster, and easier than using an axe or hatchet. It is probably too bulky to carry around when tent camping but you might find room for it in your RV. Here is what it looks like:
When using it make sure your log will fit through the top ring. If it has knots or flares out or is simply too tight it may get caught before it splits. You always want a little free space to allow the log room to split.
Another handy tool for splitting kindling is a wood splitting auger. They fit into your drill so you can use them in a cordless drill in camp. The one I saw demonstrated had a reverse thread so you had to run the drill in reverse to get it to work. A wood splitting auger and a cordless drill can make splitting kindling quick and easy. Hand held augeers aren't recommended for splitting larger logs but can be a fast and safe way to split kindling. There are larger version available for splitting large logs, some are designed to bolt onto a car or truck wheel to provide the power. Exercise caution using devices like this. Make sure the driving wheels are off the ground and the vehicle properly chocked before any use. Here is an inexpensive examples on Amazon.com.
For splitting larger logs a wedge is a useful addition to your tool set. Wedges aren't usually as sharp as axes and they usually have a fatter head and they don't have handles. The larger head both makes it easier to drive them with the back of an axe or a large hammer (sledge hammer) and also spreads the wood faster for better splitting. Some wedges are a flat tapered shape similar to an axe head. Others are conical. Flat wedges will split wood along the point of the wedge. Conical splitters are used in the center of logs to try to spit them into multiple pieces at once. However, every log WILL split along the lines of least resistance so you won't always get multiple splits with one placement nor will the pieces be of equal size. I have seen people use a large single-bladed axe as a wedge, but the taper isn't really optimal for splitting and you might damage the axe head or handle pounding on it. Sometimes you might use a maul as splitting wedge but usually it is easier to just swing the maul as it was intended to be used. Here is an example from Harbor Freight.
A wooden glut is a fairly good substitute for an iron wedge. A wooden glut is a wedge-shaped piece of wood. Sometimes they are used to split rocks but can also be used to split logs that are too large o split with a hatchet or an axe alone. Start with a short piece of hardwood about 3" in diameter. Sharpen one end to make a flat, wedge-shaped point. The other end should be square and flat. Prepare the piece of wood you want to split by scoring a line all across it using your axe or hatchet. Then drive the axe or hatchet blade into the scored line at one edge of the log so it begins to spread the log along the scored line. Place the sharpened edge of the glut into the crack and drive it in as far is you can. Then remove the axe or hatchet and move it to the other side of the glut. Drive it in as far as you can and hammer the glut down again. The log should start to split. If not, keep repeating the process until it does. Sometimes it is helpful to have more than one glut so you can use them side-by-side to speed splitting large logs. Knowing this little trick might be helpful if you find yourself in a survival situation or if you simply forgot to bring your steel wedge with you on a camping trip. Or if you need a bigger wedge than the one you brought along. Try to use a harder wood for your glut than the wood you want to split. But you can use the same wood if you have to. It may just wear out faster. If it is softer than the wood you are splitting it will probably crush or break instead of splitting the target. A wooden glut is similar in size and shape to a splitting wedge made of steel.
A hydraulic log makes splitting a lot easier, especially if you are working with large logs or have a lot lots to split. Make sure the pieces you want to split will fit into the log splitter between the wedge and the head of the hydraulic jack. Sometimes, if they aren't TOO much longer than will fit you can notch the end that goes on the wedge to make room to get the log in place. The hand operated log splitters I have used have two handles. One moves the jack a small distance but increases the pressure. This is useful for starting almost any split and pretty much essential for splitting pieces that are difficult to split. The second handle doesn't apply as much force but mores the jack further with each stroke, speeding up the splitting process. I often work both together to maximize splitting force and speed once it begins to split. You will usually hear a distinct "crack" when the wood begins to split and will definitely notice a decrease of resistance on the handles. I have found I usually need to go about 10 pumps on the handles after the initial split to push the pieces far enough apart that I can fully separate them by hand when taken out of the splitter. Hand operated log splitters can be purchased for a few hundred dollars. I believe I bought mine at Harbor Freight several years ago for between $100 and $200. They are probably too big and heavy to cart along on camping trips, but very useful for preparing your fire wood at home. If you have extra room in your vehicle you could take them camping but I wouldn't unless I expected to do a LOT of splitting! Even when I haul firewood from the forest I usually wait until I get it home to split it.
A power log splitter is the ultimate tool if you are splitting lots of wood. Power log splitters are hydraulic splitters powered by gasoline engines or electric motors instead of being hand operated. Just put the log in place and press a button or pull the handle and the machine basically does the rest. I've seen some commercial grade splitters that have an X shaped wedge that splits large logs into 4 pieces at once, greatly reducing splitting time and increasing productivity, but they are very, very expensive -- like around $18,000! I've seen simpler, gasoline powered simple log splitters for home use starting around $1,000 plus or minus a hundred bucks or so at home centers. They are fairly big and heavy and usually have wheels and are designed to be towed like a trailer. You can also get less expensive electric powered log splitters. Harbor Freight has one for under $500. I wouldn't expect it to deliver the power or performance of the larger, gasoline powered models, but one would definitely make splitting a pile of firewood a lot faster and easier.
Like many other jobs, proper preparation is the key to success. The main thing to do is to make sure your logs are cut to the right length before you begin. Also trim off any branches or stubs that might interfere with their placement or movement on the splitter. I have a piece of PVC pipe I have cut to proper length for my log splitter and (usually) use it to measure my cuts so the pieces are the right length. If I forget to measure or somehow end up with some that are too long, I set them aside and trim them all at once after I've split the ones that fit. Also, sometimes you will run into logs that are really hard to split. I once watched my Dad try to split some old Madrone Pine with an axe and it just bounced off! If you else all else fails you might try boring some holes in one end and lining up the edge of the wedge with the holes to get things started. One large, center hole might be enough if you're using a conical wedge.
Some really knotty pieces of wood may be extremely difficult to split. Avoid them if you can but if that is all you have, you might have to cut it into smaller pieces, making cuts where the knots are so you can split between the knots. Sometimes a combination of strong steel wedges and fatter wooden gluts can be used in conjunction to coerce a particularly tough log to split. Having a really big hammer may also help. My dad had two "hammer"rules I really found useful: 1. If it can't be fixed with a hammer it can't be fixed and 2. Don't get mad at it, just get a bigger hammer! Lacking a large hammer in a camp you might use a big piece of firewood or even a big rock. Make sure to keep your fingers clear of where the log or rock strikes your target!
If you are going to split, split logs!
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