Prepping wood for woodbreaking

When purchasing wood for woodbreaking, be sure to pick 1" x 12" #2 Pine. You can use select pine, which generally has fewer, if any, knots. However, it is more than twice as expensive. The choice is yours.

In either case, 1" x 12" lumber actually measures approximately 3/4" x 11 1/4", so don't let that confuse you.

Once you obtain a length of wood, mark and cut it every 10" along its length. As an example, the illustration below shows a 6 foot piece of 1 x 12", which should give you 7 pieces of breaking wood (and 2" of waste). Each cut piece should look like the piece shown in the pictures foreground.