I made a few black powder splitters back in the mid-70’s. Going from memory here…I think I used 6150 steel…about an inch and a quarter in diameter, one end tapered for about an inch and a half to about a quarter inch radius … the other end square and drilled out about 5/8 x 3 inches deep. Touch hole about an inch from the end, sized for cannon fuse and a cross hole drilled through around the middle for a wire with an orange flag to help find it. They were used to split log lengths. The tapered end was driven into the end of the log an inch or so, it was charged and fused then lighted off. I was skeptical when the guy brought me the drawing, but I went up into the woods where he was working that winter to watch and it worked.
