Good luck and a speedy recovery! Is there any way you could post up a quick tutorial on making the split rails for your fence project? I can't quite grasp how you would split such a long log without heavy machinery but it has been done for hundreds of years so I'm sure there's a trick to it.
This was my first time at splitting rails and doing that kind of a fence. So definitely no expert on the subject. Like you, I didn't think that, without mechanical help, I could do it either. However I will be happy to pass along what I learned and how it worked for me.
A lot of how it will go, will depend on, the type and size of wood that you will be using. In our case I used local grown red cedar. It has a fairly straight grain and separates relatively easy. When we lived in New England we heated with wood for a number of years. I would buy logs in tree length and cut them to stove length, than split them. I had access to all kinds of splitters, I sold them where I worked and had friends that had splitters. Various types of hydraulic and mechanical. Including one I sold that was called the Stickler. Those would split almost anything. But than the length was only up to four feet. Doing rails of that length, out of hardwoods could be more of a problem.
My friend Ken told me he had all the necessary tools and would show me how to do it. Sounded like a big project, but he said not to worry, you don't have to do it all at once.
So here is what I can pass along.
What you basically need is two to three splitting wedges. Ken had two five lb steel wedges plus a four inch wide plastic tree cutting wedge. Also a homemade wooden two foot long wedge. A good sharp axe. Two long, six to eight foot, pry bars. Not a must, but they help at times. A small sledge for starting the splitters and a big sledge for driving them in. The weight of the two hammers depends on what you feel comfortable to swing.
I could have borrowed his tools to use at my place to do the splitting that would be needed to finish the job, but we live about forty miles apart and if he needed them he wouldn't have them. That usually doesn't work. I already had some of the stuff and decided to just purchase the rest. My local ACE had what I needed. They had a splitter wedge that is shaped like a small pyramid. Comes to a point and is about eight inches long. roughly five lbs also. I took one of those and a regular two inch wide five lb steel wedge. I have a small sledge but can't find my large one, so I got a eight lb and a handle bumper for it. I also have two real good six foot pry bars, and a real sharp double headed axe.
Chainsaw. I had one but it has been in storage so long that the repairs would have cost me more than it was worth. The saw owed me nothing, I cut a lot of wood with that little guy. So had to buy a new one. Not going to use it for a lot more than this project so decided not to spend big bucks. Got a 38cc 16 inch from a big box for less than $140.00. Plus it takes the same chain that the old one did. Plenty enough for this job and what tree trimming I might do. You could do the split rails without a chainsaw, but it is a lot easier, with one. For a short fence, 30 to 40 feet, if you didn't have one, the purchase might not be worth it. Ours is around 175 feet in a straight line measurement. My cost on everything to get me up to speed was under $200.00 bucks.
So how do you do it. Went to Kens place where he had some already done as well as more logs that needed to be split. It is actually very simple. Select the log that you want to split and take a good look at the grain. Check the wide end of the log and see if there are already crack marks showing you where it would like to split. Remember, we are working with cedar, which shows the grain well. You are also looking to see if that split will carry the full length of the log. You don't want it to split off half way down the log. If there are a lot of knots, from limbs, check to see if the split will continue around them. If possible start with logs that show good splits before taking on the more complicated knarly ones. Start on the wide end, not a must, but worked better for me.
At Kens I started with a regular wedge abut two inches from the end. Tap it in with the small hammer, than hit it hard with the heavy one. Once a crack opens up you can add the next wedge a foot or so further down the log. Drive one of the wider wedges in next to the first one, to hold the split open and remove the first wedge. Take that one and move further down the log and extending the split. Sound too simple? Well it is hard work swinging the hammer, but the procedure is really quite that simple. Once you have done a few you will see what I mean about reading the grain and having the split go around knots etc. Some will come out better than others, some may make firewood. If you are building a split rail fence though, and you want it to look authentic, they will probably all work. Lin will say, Oh that one has character.
I am adding five photos that I hope will show the procedure a little better.
The first photo is from Ken's place. It shows the progress as we moved the wedges down the log. The first wedge is a homemade wooden wedge to hold the splt open.
This picture is of one I needed to do at my place. Some of the ones we brought over were still quite large. This one, I could get two rails out of by splitting it again.
The wedge I am using in this photo is the one with the point. I am happy I got this one, it was real good to use as the first wedge. It would start in the log, a lot easier, with no crack, than the others would.
Just keep moving down the log.
Ain't that pretty!!
On a few of the last logs that were really full of knots and twists, I helped the splits to stay where I needed them to, by using the chainsaw to show the log where it should run. Just in the areas where the split might have ran out of the log. Also needed the chainsaw to trim off some of the bigger limb areas on some of the larger logs. We found that it worked best if we used eight to sixteen inch diameter logs, with twelve's being ideal.
Hope this was of some help, to actually show what you need and how I did it.
Here's praying that you are soon over your operation and will be fit enough to carry your dream onto total fruition. Speaking of which, what do you intend to use the barn for once it's completed?