Yep that little hook on the end is just waiting to grab anything that gets near it.
And yes keep your ear away from the tip. Ear and any other opening of the body. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] This type of splitter doesn't play around. Once it starts to screw in the wood you just hope for the best. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]
One more thing I just thought of. After splitting for a while the cone gets hot. I've seen steam come off it in green wood and smoke from dry wood. Green sweetgum doesn't split good on anything but I remember having to
cut pieces of sweetgum off the cone. It would screw through it and split but wouldn't split all the way. Knotty white oak was what I stalled the tractor out with. Some I
cut around the edge of a field. You get in some of that rough wood and it makes all kinds of noises. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
Like I said in the first post. I've never seen anything that splits wood faster. I liked it in good clean wood as it was very fast.