The Mechanics of Splitting Wood and the Design of Neolithic Woodworking Tools

Abstract

Because of the anisotropy of wood, trunks and branches can be vulnerable to splitting along the grain, especially radially. This fact was widely exploited in pre-industrial times, when wood was mostly cut and shaped by splitting it along the grain while still green, rather than by sawing. However, splitting also remains a cause of potential weakness for wooden implements. To better understand the process of splitting wood, and the design of Neolithic tools, we model the force and energy required to split coppice branches both by hand, and by inserting wedges.

Keywords

• wood working
• wood
• fibre
• methodology
• neolithic
• united kingdom