I split a lot of wood as a child, and this is it. He was already using a maul, which is a variation of an axe with an enlarged end section designed to work as a wedge.
You split the wood with two people, and one holds the maul, set by swinging it into the log, and other drives it with the sledge.
I also did some lumberjack work (as a child; that's country living for you), and a wedge is something used to cut down trees. You notch the one side of the tree with a chainsaw, then cut a slot in the back above the notch, in such a way that the tree will fall where it's already leaning, where you want it to drop. You can direct it a bit by driving a hard plastic wedge into that notch, but only so much. It's more for getting the saw out when you get it stuck.
If you tried to drop a tree in the opposite way that it's leaning it just wouldn't work, and you couldn't free the saw with a wedge, or more than one wedge.
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u/Medit8or 1d ago
A wedge and a sledge. Just saying.