Recently we got a heads up from AT:Chicago writer Sarah Rae about this YouTube video showing a better way to chop firewood! Alas, we don't have a wood-burning fireplace, although we dream of having one someday. But seriously? Chopping wood looks hard. Not sure what we expected, but this nifty little trick seems to make it at least a bit easier. Watch the video below. (A word of warning: we take no responsibility for the cheesy song.)
Video via YouTube; top image via Flickr member josephpetepickle licensed under Creative Commons.
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How To Make Perfect Bacon in the Oven
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Today I thank my lucky stars for living in coastal southern California. Not chopping wood for me.
Now I can impress my mountain dwelling family!
It looks like his axe is bouncing more once he's put the bungee-and-rope thing on the wood. That is not safe! The wood splitting and separating allows you to complete the swing, and let's the axe dig down deeper - saving you from all manner of small and great axe-related injuries. It would be nice to have the split pieces of wood keep out of my way when I have a lot of chopping to do, but I'd rather kick a piece of wood out of my way and stand up the last piece again than get an axe in my face or have the rebound cause it to slip out of my hands to go flying who knows where. Maybe right into the person who's watching or helping me stack.
Sorry but this tip is a small amount of help traded for an increase in real danger.
I do not agree with you denisegk. It's not more dangerous. The only bouncing I can see in his video is at 2:22 and 2:42 and that kind of "bounce" is inevitable due to the trees structure. If you give trunk a good whack in the vicinity of a node the lignin will disperse the axes momentum/force horizontally. That means it takes more power to split the wood in the vicinity to a node.
Also, that loose bungee cord does not have nearly enough strength to hold the trunk together.
Not a bad idea. I hardly ever have had to deal with chucks that big though. My advice would be to set logs on top of that huge one and them split them instead of killing your back by leaning so far over all the time.
Torpare, I don't agree that the bounce is inevitable. You spotted the same bouncing I did. But, as far as I can tell, he's cutting the same type of wood both times, so how come there's no inevitable bounce with the first round? I went to youtube to check the video's comments, and the author comments on there himself that he's cutting a type of wood that has a very good, straight grain. I tried to do some reading around about nodes and lignin, but everything that came up was too technical for me and not really touching on what we're discussing. :)
But, I did come across a tip that I had forgotten my dad used (and always made us use as well): stand what you're cutting on top of another piece of wood, we usually used another round that was very level and stable, in order to reduce bounce. Lifehacker has people also suggesting that putting down a piece of plywood also works. Anyway, it also meant I didn't have to bend over as much while cutting, seemed to save my back a bit.
the fact that the axe bounces a few times is really not a safety issue, the real issue is if you skip off or hit the round nearest you and follow thru towards your foot...which wouldn't happen to him as he always hits the side furthest away.
And yes you should usually use a much larger round underneath the one you're splitting.
a better option in my opinion-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jDR_2Zsr40