Image courtesy flickr.com/photos/shedboy

I don’t come from a rural background, but strange as it may seem, I find swinging an ax enjoyable, and I could spend an hour a day at it and not get sick of it. In fact, I did just that one summer. And having done so, I now realize there are some simple problem solving skills and lessons one can learn from splitting wood.

You may not use an ax as a part of your daily chores. Perhaps the closest you come is watching the Stihl Timbersports Professional Series, a pseudo-sporting event sponsored by the chainsaw manufacturer that I used to watch as a teenager back when I wasn’t the one paying for cable. Some of the events of course feature chainsaws, both of the manufacturer’s stock variety and some that are basically a small motorcycle engine attached to a six foot long blade. But the events that were the most interesting to me were always those that required more manual skill. The underhand chop, in which two men each stand on a ~3 foot long, 12-14” diameter log, chopping between their feet – a sharp ax and clean cuts matter in this event. World record is 12.11 seconds (2003) – look it up.

I have, of course, no intention of competing in that event. However, while in college I had some friends that had recently moved into a new home that had several trees cut down in their backyard. The log pile was probably 20 feet wide and 10 feet high, and each day after work I would drive over and split logs for an hour or so before helping them out with some home fix-it project, moving in, unpacking boxes, or just having dinner together. It is one of my fondest memories of that time.

A chore or an meditative task?

If you have ever split logs, you may understand why it is considered a chore – it’s repetitive labor, takes some physical exertion to lift and swing a heavy axe and come down with enough force to break a log apart. It always seems random whether this swing will be easy or hard, is your aim good enough to hit the log again where you just made an unimpressive dent?

What is interesting to me is how much the mind can make this an enjoyable, easy task. No Jedi mind tricks here, just a bit of logic. There are 3 main lessons I took from splitting logs and they are applicable to any kind of problem solving.

1. Find the right tool

Maybe an ax is the tool you have – maybe it’s not the right tool. Maybe it’s a hatchet, a smaller tool more suited to close handwork with small logs or branches, good for making kindling. Maybe for larger logs, a maul or a sledge hammer and wedge are what is needed. A traditional axe has a narrow blade, which, depending on the logs you are working with, may not have the required width of angle to split the log, but would just bite into the wood repeatedly.

Do you have the right tool to solve your problem? If the tools you have been trying aren’t working, do you have something else you can try? Perhaps the grudge match you are in with a co-worker isn’t being solved by you trying to explain in great logical detail all the ways in which their actions have been incorrect. Maybe a simpler approach is needed. Try a different tactic.

Do you have the right tool?

2. Sharpen the tool.

Once you have the right tool, it will work better if it is sharp. If it’s dull or blunt, you run a greater risk or injury, as the ax will have a tendency to bounce off the surface of the log, imparting more vibration into the handle and you as it does so. The ax might be more likely to break at a weak point in the handle. The effort required to get a blunt tool into the wood is greater, and the process is more dangerous.

Sharpening is a force multiplier – you can decrease the surface area over which the force is applied to the wood by sharpening the edge. The edge area gets thinner, the force is increased just on that basis – you don’t have to swing any harder. It is the difference between poking a dull pencil into your palm and poking a needle into it. The needle takes much less force before it will start to do some damage and cause you some pain.

Do your business’ marketing efforts never seem to get anywhere? Do you prepare proposal after proposal and yet you never seem to win a commission? Perhaps your approach is too blunt, too dull, not targeted enough. If you are pursuing work in an area where you aren’t an expert, where you can really shine, much of that effort is evidently wasted. Sharpen your focus.

Are your tools sharp enough?

3. Examine the problem

Before just hacking away at it, make sure you understand the problem correctly. When you put the section of wood up on the stump to be split, do you look it over first? If you spend any time splitting logs, you will appreciate that any areas of knots in the log will prove difficult, as the wood grows around the knot, making it stronger at that point. Are you looking at the problem correctly?

There is wisdom in how you chose where to attack the log – find some place it’s already starting to crack. Have you seen the small slivers of a crack already begun by the drying out of the log that you might use to your advantage? Sometimes you have to turn the log over, look for those weaker areas that you can exploit. It takes a good understanding of the problem, sometimes you have to turn it over, get a look at it from another angle, before you can see the right way to approach a solution.

Even if you have the right tool, and the tool is sharp, the effort is always served well by approaching it with wisdom.

It is often possible to push through a situation without the right tool, with only dull tools, and without the benefit of a correct analysis of the best method or approach;  We may succeed with enough effort and time, but think of the waste.  You can perhaps get through, but not profitably, not efficiently.  If you just push your way through with brute force and ignorance, you might make it, but the road is hard, and you may endanger yourself, and others.

Far better to take a lesson from the woodcutter, and take a moment to assess the appropriateness of your tools, to evaluate the keenness of their edge, and confirm you have the best approach to the problem.

Now, go make some kindling of your difficulties.

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