We grew up with a Nashua wood furnace, so we got to spend many Saturday mornings cutting dead trees for firewood. We split the wood for drying, stacking and better burning, as mentioned above.

My favorite tool was a Monster Maul, much more fun than a wedge, axe, or hydraulic splitter. Well, fun unless I wasn't careful and overreached so that the handle would hit the wood instead of the head; that was a real wake-me-up for the hands...