log splitter wedge design

[Willie B]

Wow that's 49000 lbs of hydraulic force. Mine is only 24000. I feel like that is a lot.

 

[DarrenGG]

Old thread, but,
My wedge is 24in tall with wings to make a 6way split. The whole blade is adjustable up and down. I used 3/4in plate to make a back support for the adjustable splitting wedge. I used 3/4in flat plate that I hard surfaced the cutting edge before sharpening for the wedge. I used a 2 1/2in long taper for starting the splitting action. My wings are located just behind the long taper edge. The bottom wing is just sharpened on the bottom side of the wing, and the top wing is just sharpened on the top edge. The bottom wing is angle down in the back and the top wing angled up at the back. The prevents the center splits from binding on the wedge. I do not use any kind of spreader wings on my blades, I find spreader wedges takes a lot more tonnage to do the same job as a single narrow blade, altho for easy splitting the spreader wedges will split a little faster. I use a 5in bore cylinder and 2500psi to split 30in + dia oaks and hickory and dont have any problems splitting 6 ways at a split. My biggest problem with the 6way wedge is the center splits are usually to large and need to be re-split if I am splitting large dia wood. A 24 in round will yield 2-5"x12" splits. My future plans are to add two more wedges to make it an 8way too handle those large center splits off the 6way.

Hello Muddstopper,
Newbie here, great forum with lots of information. I'm in the process of building a splitter and typically deal with rounds of fir with diameter of 16-24". I would love to see some pictures of your design.
Thanks

 

[muddstopper]

Darren Pm'ed me and asked for more pics of my wedge. These pics are posted on here somewhere, but I am going to go ahead and repost them here since thats probably easier than me searching all over for them. These pics are before i added the 6way, I will upload some pics later once i get them uploaded.

edited to add more pics, Darren, I hope this answered your questions