For efficient timber splitting, a set of thoroughly well-made and correctly-formed iron wedges, and a number of equally well-shaped wooden wedges or gluts, are needed.
The iron wedges should be made of the very best tough iron, tipped with gad steel, as in the form of the annexed illustration. All the edges and corners should be slightly rounded off in order to give freedom in driving; the length, from head to point, should be 10 in., the width across the wedge 2½ in., and the thickness of metal across the edge at the head 2 in. Some judgment is required in tempering wedges, as they must be hard enough at the point to prevent bending, and yet not hard enough to break. The file test is as good as any. The edge of the wedge point should never be hammered thin before tempering, but left rather thick to be reduced to the proper degree of sharpness on the grinding stone. The wooden gluts are usually considerably larger than the iron wedges; these are to be made from hard, tough, well-seasoned timber—round stout poles are convenient for making them. The proper lengths, which are mainly dependent on the size of the logs to be operated on, are sawn off. The sides or cheeks of these pieces are then chopped off with the axe in approximately true wedge form, an even surface and exact pitch is afterwards given to them with a cooper’s drawing knife or a spoke shave.
Wedges, whether of iron or wood, should never be driven with an iron hammer. A wedging beetle, of form shown in the accompanying illustration, should be always made use of. The hardest and toughest wood to be obtained should be used to form the head; the ends are usually hooped with flat iron rings, and the handle fashioned from some tough elastic wood, such as ash or hickory. Scarcely any two men use the same size beetle, but the following will be found fair average dimensions from which to make one: Length of beetle head 9in., binding hoops 1¼in. wide and ½in. thick, diameter of beetle head 5½in., length of handle 2ft. 8in. Great care should be taken in fitting in the handle, as it is essential to the efficiency of the instrument that it and the head should be exactly true with each other.
A slightly flattened handle lies in the hand more compactly, and works more freely, than a perfectly round one. Nearly all logs split best from the small or crown end towards the butt. If it is intended to divide the log into four pieces, the wedges must be inserted as shown in the annexed illustration (A), if into three they are placed as at B. When rails, &c., are to be made, the log must be divided into quarters, by first making a cross-shaped cut in the end of the log, and striking the back of the axe with the beetle until the edge enters deep enough to afford a hold for the iron wedges. Longitudinal cuts with the axe are now to be made, the whole length of the log corresponding with the cross. The wedges, gluts, and beetle do the rest when the latter implement is properly wielded.