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Railsplitter professional split
gets a little twisted
[September 02, 2026]
On Sunday afternoon, the 55th
annual National Railsplitting Festival came to an end with the
Professional Rail Split competition. Bryce Muir of Lexington, Jon
Norin of LeRoy, Cody Friedlein of Downs, Casey Ballinger of Atlanta,
Tony Swanson, Evan Coombs, Heyden Pichard, Zach Darnall, Mike
Eberton all of Bloomington, and Jason Nunn of Munfordville Kentucky
were the contestants in the final event of the day.
The art of splitting logs into rails in a competitive setting
derives from an arduous task performed by many a landowner in the
1800’s and prior in order to establish land borders and deterrents
for livestock. It involved cutting down a tree with an ax, leveling
the ends with a crosscut saw and then breaking the log into pieces
or rails that were then carefully stacked to create a fence.
Abraham Lincoln was reported to be an accomplished rail splitter and
once even used true cutting as an analogy for always being well
prepared for the task at hand “Give me six hours to chop down a tree
and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
There are specific rules attached
to the rail splitting competition. The log is to be 10 feet long,
with saw marks on each end. Competitors are expected to split the
log into eight pieces, typically wedge shaped, with saw marks
showing on each end of the pieces.
When split, they are expected to be
certain that there are no threads attaching two rails, and that all
the tools used to split the rails are thrown clear of the completed
rails. With those two tasked achieved the competitor calls time. One
of the judges watching the competition inspects the rails, making
sure that all the rules have been followed.
On Sunday afternoon, the
competitors were in for a big twist in the competition. The logs
that had been secured had one bad characteristic in common, the
grain of most of the logs was twisted, some so severely that they
set to mind crepe paper streamers turning half and almost full
rotations.
The 10 logs for the competition were laid out and numbered.
Contestants registered for the competition and drew a number from a
bowl, giving them a random log assignment.
Everyone had time to lay out their
tools, and those tools were inspected by the judges to assure they
were in good repair and safe for the splitter and the spectators
nearby. Bob Rankin who announces for the competition explained that
a poor ax handle, loose ax head, or a spurred wedge had the
potential to fly apart and hit an audience members or competitor,
thus all were inspected carefully.
Some of the competitors spent a few minutes stretching, then
straddled their logs and waited for the timed competition to begin
on Rankin’s signal.
[to top of second column] |
When the competitors started
attempting to split the large logs into two halves, it became clear
almost immediately that this was going to be a challenging year. As
spectators watched the cracks in the logs appear it was soon obvious
that very few of those cracks were running straight the full length
of the log. The initial curves in the first split was a definite
sign that this was going to be one twisted competition.
The heat added to the stress of the day and Rankin reminded
competitors to grab a shot of water as they worked.
Rankin also noticed and commented
on some of the different strategies for splitting the logs into
rails. He said that when a log is quite difficult, it can be helpful
to work on multiple slips at once.
Another trick of the trade is to split out the heart of the log as
one rail. This is a legal move if there are saw marks visible on
both ends. It can make the rest of the splits easier.
This year the quick time for making eight clean rails 9:51. That may
seem fast to someone who hasn’t done this task before, but in
comparison the 2025 winner split eight rails in slightly more than
three minutes. However, it could have been worse. In 2023 it rained
on the logs on Saturday night with a chilly morning and heavy due on
Sunday morning. The winning time that year was eleven and a half
minutes.
The winning time of 9:51 was achieved by Jon Norin of LeRoy. Bryce
Muir of Lexington came in second with a time of 19:32 with Casey
Ballinger of Atlanta running a tight third at 19:52. Jason Nunn came
in fourth at 23:42, and fifth place was claimed by last years winner
Evan Coombs with a time of 25:31. Though not recognized officially,
Mike Emberton had the sixth place time with 32:32 and shortly after
that Rankin called the end of the competition with the other three
competitors not officially finishing.
Left to right: Evan Coombs (fifth place), Jason Nunn (fourth
place) Jon Norin (first place) Abraham Lincoln, Bryce Muir (second
place), and Casey Ballinger (third place).
The top five finishers were recognized with certificates and cash
awards provided by the family of the late Darius Knauer who was one
of the original founders of the local Railsplitting Festival.
Railsplitter Festival professional rail split photo slideshow part 1
Railsplitter Festival professional rail split photo slideshow part 2
Railsplitter Festival professional rail split photo slideshow part 3
Railsplitter Festival professional rail split video playlist
[Nila Smith]
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