[smackeyacky]

My grandfather was like this, and not with soft wood. We try to burn Australian hardwoods and that takes quite a bit of force to split. He could pound through it like a knife through butter. There’s a definite art to hardwood, looking where the slightest fault might be. You can’t just smash it in the middle, your block splitter (preferred) or axe just bounces off it.

[NuclearPM]

Try to burn hardwoods? What does that mean?

[_carbyau_]

As a fellow australian but now former wood chopper: "Try" should be "prefer".

IE when you get a load of firewood for the winter, you want it to be hardwood. The person you buy the wood from may mix in softwood depending on their trustworthiness...

Why prefer hardwood? Hardwood density means it will burn for ages. So you have to mess with the fire less and it'll still have at least hot coals in the morning if you put a log on before bed.

[defrost]

Jarrah, one of the hardest of the hard woods burns hot and long and (well ventilated) leaves almost no ash behind.

If you want hot coals in the morning, throw in a log or two of river gum / softer ashy woods before bedtime and the Jarrah coals will not burn out and disappear while the house sleeps but get buried in ash and stay hot but smothered.

Stir and throw in light kindling at dawn and it'll be roaring by the time you get back to the house for breakfast.

[smackeyacky]

It’s wood. You put it in your fireplace and set fire to it for heat