How to Split a Log With Just a Hatchet

(Image: Screenshot from video)

Coalcracker Bushcraft is a YouTube channel by a guy who has some pretty good woodsman skills. In this video, he talks about splitting logs — even longer ones a few feet in length — with a hatchet. Not ideal, of course, but we don’t always carry a large axe everywhere we go, and knowledge is power.

First, chop some gluts — wedges made of short log sections. Then, find a log with straight grain and baton your hatchet across its face to score it.

Once you get it opened up a little, cram in a wedge. Continue working it a little at a time with wedges and the hatchet, and before you know it, the log will split. Shazam!

Pretty cool way to get it done, if you ask me.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.