Stavemill professions #3 – “Split to heart”

Splitting is the crucial and decisive step in the stavewood production process. Although every stage, from the purchase of the oak, is important, the splitting is not only spectacular, it’s essential. 

The staves which make up the body of the barrels are made from stave-grade oak from the finest forests in France. They must be extremely strong in order to withstand the pressure exerted perpendicular to their thickness by the liquid contained in the barrels, and must be perfectly watertight. In this sense, the splitting respects the natural fibres of the wood, the grain, thus guaranteeing the straightness and solidity of staves during bending in the cooperage and the watertightness of future oak barrels.

After the log yard and cubing, after the logs have been cut into logs, it’s the splitter’s turn to go into action. The operation is impressive. It’s a physical task, and it is, with each log weighing around a hundred kilos. A hook, attached to the end of a gallows, lifts the log to bring it to the splitting point. Once the log has been positioned under the splitter, the operator scans the growth rings and marks the splitting points with a wedge.

Then the splitter positions the wedge* in the middle of the log. Pressing a push-button activates a hydraulic cylinder that drives the wedge a few centimetres into the wood. Slowly but surely. The wood cracks and splits in the direction of the grain. The log is divided into two halves, the half-logs, which are then split into quarters.

Each splitter feeds two sawyers whose job it is to saw the quarters, again in the direction of the grain, into planks that will then be edged. We’ll be taking a closer look at these steps in the next articles in this series devoted to the trades and skills involved in stave milling.

The wedge is a metal tool specially designed to split wood along the grain. In stave milling, it is used to divide logs into quarters.

Pictures © Christophe Deschanel