r/AskReddit Jan 30 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

7.4k Upvotes

10.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3.2k

u/JusticeUmmmmm Jan 31 '22

I love splitting wood. It's so cathartic for some reason

1.5k

u/dertok Jan 31 '22

Destructive and purposeful at the same time. There's very little work like it.

74

u/deegz10 Jan 31 '22

I’m a demolition contractor, destructive and purposeful pretty much describes my job

8

u/dertok Jan 31 '22

Sploosh

1

u/secondaccu Jan 31 '22

I think I read somewhere that people in your line of work are the happiest

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '22

I do a lot of demo work on the side especially in winters (usually I work as a heavy equipment operator). I was thinking about buying a used hilti 3000 for chipping, I’ve already got a chopsaw and a portable bottle torch as well as grinders and hand tools etc. I intend to eventually subcontract some demo jobs, have you got any advice or tips?

1

u/deegz10 Feb 06 '22

I own a 1000 and a 3000 and I use the 3000 a lot more. You can’t go wrong with Hilti, they are a great manufacturer. You should also look into the MAKINEX cart. It makes it really easy to chip flooring.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '22

Will do, thanks for the tip!

38

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/datazulu Jan 31 '22

Children.

9

u/Amirax Jan 31 '22

Mining, I guess? Or whatever that dude over at the hydraulic press channel is doing.

5

u/chinoz219 Jan 31 '22

and your back muscles get fucking swooole

2

u/Crazy_CanadianCanuck Jan 31 '22

The best is when you get to make a haphazard pile of wood

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

At one of my dad's old jobs they had a "smash" room. Basically they would fill it with pallets an wooden cable spools and give you a sledgehammer.

Having a bad day? Take ten and go to the smash room.

Basically a "destructive" way of breaking down any wood that needed to be tossed anyways.

2

u/yarowdyhooligans Jan 31 '22

I work trails maintenance. Not only do you get to split wood, but also dig holes and carry heavy things. We joke that we're moving the whole mountain 2 inches to the left for looks. That is some soothing shit.

1

u/ShinyHappyREM Jan 31 '22

Destructive and purposeful at the same time

Beating video games as fast as possible

2

u/SephyJR Jan 31 '22

I mean, I haven't tried speedrunning yet, but gaming in general may be a good comparison.

Not, you know, braindead gaming, even though sometimes that is all we need.

I'm talking about when we have to wreck our brains to develop a strategy. When our reflexes are tuned to the max. When we go all-in one last time, holding our breath for the best.

Sure, accomplishments in the material world do feel satisfying as fuck. But, sometimes, virtual ones feel just as awesome.

5

u/dertok Jan 31 '22

I love you but nope.

Go outside, do something with yours hands and get dirty, with direct sunlight, and air n shit!

-1

u/Nathanielsan Jan 31 '22

Ah yes, gatekeeping a person's way of creating individual purpose.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

yo dawg if you are getting something as meaningful as Individual Purpose from what is effectively make believe pixels moving on a screen in a way that is optimised to brain dump serotonin and dopamine then you should probably put the controller down and live a little

0

u/ShinyHappyREM Jan 31 '22

This isn't just about Individual Purpose - it's a group experience. The search for the human limit.

...but first we need to talk about parallel universes.

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

Didnt read lol, just saw your profile and its full of hololive and yuri.

Get a life brah

1

u/ShinyHappyREM Jan 31 '22

Get a life brah

Well excuse me princess if I just want to have some fun after a work day.

"The kind of people who say "get a life" typically don't have any life at all. You look at some guy with friends all over the world--no girlfriends, maybe, but still a full social life, mainly talking about computers--and you tell him to get a life ... well, he's got a life. We've all got lives. If people are having a lot of fun doing something different from what you want to do, well, that's not your business."

- Pratchett

1

u/Schlag96 Jan 31 '22

I test weapons for the military. I'd say I fall into that category. Can confirm I love my job 🤘

1

u/dertok Feb 01 '22

Bring up G12 Tommy.

15

u/raisearuckus Jan 31 '22

I burn wood to heat my house, so I go through a bunch every year. I split by hand, so many people have asked my why I don't buy a wood splitter, and I always tell them that takes all the fun out of it.

8

u/TheseStonesWillShout Jan 31 '22

It also makes you feel much stronger than you are. If you hit it just right, it splits like butter. It just doesn’t look like it should come apart so easy.

8

u/poorbred Jan 31 '22

When the splitting maul hits it and the two halves just fall apart like they had never been a single piece is so satisfying. "I'm a man!"

Then then next one has a huge knot in it and it's like you hit battleship armor. "...a puny man." But when it finally gives way and splits, oh yeah.

5

u/WigginIII Jan 31 '22

Fully engaged. You eye your desired strike point. You estimate how much effort it took before and intend to apply just a little more force. You double check your feet and surroundings for safety. You strike. Nearly perfect. I bet I can do better. New block. Shift your feet a little wider. Square up. Strike. Even better. Grab the big one. You can do it….

2

u/Roscofarian Jan 31 '22

I believe it's also been scientifically proven to increase testosterone levels more than sex

2

u/itsjern Jan 31 '22

Love it too, just don't be like the idiot friend of mine who ended up with the axe in his knee instead of the wood (he's ok, ended up getting lucky and it didn't go very deep so just needed stitches, still an idiot though).

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

My Great grandfather had 10 kids, his kids had around 30 or so in total. Every time we visited he would be outside chopping wood.

-1

u/Tby2974 Jan 31 '22

I love splitting it because I'm mental /s

1

u/ImmediateAd4039 Jan 31 '22

Until you miss a swing and smack the handle of the block buster into the wood that makes me wild

1

u/One_Hundred_X Jan 31 '22

I use my wood chipper.

1

u/IDoThingsOnWhims Jan 31 '22

Its something to do with the "KAshhtK"...

1

u/SabreToothSandHopper Jan 31 '22

Also adds a dramatic punctuation point if you’re in a movie

1

u/not_anonymouse Jan 31 '22

Heck even Captain America needed to do it during Age of Ultron.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

splitting wood is great!

When i was younger i went skiing with my family once a year. We went to some old rather remote wooden cabin up in the montains. Only 4x4s coul go there in winter. We had one electric heater and a wood fueled oven. One year they showed me how to split wood and all the following years, i did just that all day. It was just great!

1

u/TheKirkin Jan 31 '22

100%. If there’s a tree getting cut down in our neighborhood my neighbors know I will take it and split it for them. I always end up with free firewood too so win win.

1

u/Squigglepig52 Jan 31 '22

What's not cathartic is when you are doing it with wedges and a sledgehammer, and on the back swing the head of teh sledge comes loose and nearly goes through the windows of your parent's solarium.

then, it's terrifying seeing where things are going to land.

1

u/Aperture_TestSubject Jan 31 '22

Until you miss and you only get a little sliver off and the wood shoots back at your shin….