Powered Wood Splitter Productivity?

[dmccarty]

Boondox is having a good conversation on wood splitters and I don't want to hijack the thread.

For those of you with wood splitters, how many cords per hour/day can you split?

Right now I split my wood with a 6 or 8 pound maul. I can do about a 1/6 of a cord in a couple of hours. My guess is that we will use 3-4 cords a hear to heat this season. We heat almost completely with wood. We have a heat pump but it seldom has been used this year. My parents will move up here soon and it looks like they will heat with wood as well so we have been looking at a splitter.

I have what looks to be 2-3 cords already cut into rounds waiting to split. I am going to cut up a few more trees and I think I'll rent a splitter to see what it will do.

How much production are people getting with these splitters?

Later,
Dan

 

[beenthere]

I've been splitting alone this winter and move the splitter near the logs that are already bucked to length (about 17" on average). I stack the split wood on a pallet as I go and each pallet has about 1/3 cord of wood (about a weeks worth on average). Takes me about an hour to split one pallet of stacked wood. So, figure around 3 hours to a cord.
Attached pic of a couple weeks ago.
Once it is on the pallet, it gets set out for drying (rubber cover to keep rain and snow off) for two years before being set in the garage for supplying the wood boiler. Had enough of this handling several times before finally burning it (got so I felt like I knew each piece personnaly /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ).

 

[dmccarty]

Beenthere,

That is REAL interesting. I stack on pallets as well and I have been figuring that one pallet is about 1/3 a cord just like you. If you can do a cord in 3 hours I think we will have to get a splitter! Or at least rent.

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have a couple issues with buying a splitter. One is the money. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif And if I get the same production as you do then in 15 hours I could have five cords which seems to be more than what we would burn in a season. Course I don't think my back could handle two straight days of splitting. I did that as a teenager and I don't want to do it again. But having to rent for four Saturdays might work depending on the rental fees.

My dad has a deal for me though. He buys the splitter and I split the wood. Seems like he would be getting the better part of that deal! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Later,
Dan

 

[JimR]

I use to split that way. It is less tiring and faster to split with a splitter. If you want something really fast get a Lickety Splitter. You and two other people would have a hard time keeping up with it.

 

[arthr31]

When I bought my splitter, time was definitely an issue. What was also more of an issue was how much time I was spending doing the manual labor. Normally, I burn about 5 cords a winter (only 1.5 so far this year tho) and it would depend how long it took to split depending on the wood, etc. Also, I'd have to be out there now in the cold at least 2 days a week getting next years wood ready. With the splitter, I save time, get the wood ready sooner, save my back and wrists for other projects, and have more time do other jobs / projects / play with my kids. So, although it is expensive, it'll pay for itself quickly. I also view heating with wood a LONG term project (like as long as I live in the northeast or cold clime) so the splitter should be working with me many years to come...

Figure out how many times to rent before you could have just bought your own. And, I'd take your dad up on his offer! Good luck -Art

 

[escavader]

HELLO DAN,
Over the years,ive got this down to a science.Spliter on the atv wood comes off the back,so i never have to throw it out of the way.All i do is pick it off the trailer,or ground,split it ,reach for another while the ram is automatically returning.The wood will push itself up into a pile,when i do move its only 2 ft and start again.
I have a 5 horse wth a 2 stage pump,the 5 hp idles,all the time with this speedy pump.My answer ,is i can split a cord an hour,with adverage size wood,a little slower on stringy stuff,like yellow birch.Remember ,its not about the motor,its about the pump,thats what makes a fast splitter
When i was younger ,i could really wack em down with my big red splitting maul.I remember helping a friend and his wife,and they couldnt stand em up fast enough.I probably was even faster than my current splitter,on good splitting stuff,and someone standing them up.I was a rugged lad,back then,having worked in the woods,with steers,and splitting 4 ft with a wedge and sledge hammer.Now im 40 ,and id just a soon run a lever /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Boondox]

Back in the early days when my wife and I were both in better shape and bending over for hours didn't result in back pain...I would head off into the woods with my chainsaw on the atv and cut up blow downs. I could fit six good sized rounds on the 4 wheeler and would drive home where the wife would split them while I went back for another load. It took forever on both ends!

I rented a splitter one weekend (an American MSR like the one I'm buying soon) and with a pile of rounds all ready to go managed to split more in a weekend than I could in a month with a maul. That cinched it for me.

I bought a little Cub Cadet splitter. 27 tons was advertised, but looking at it objectively and plugging some numbers into a formula it's probably closer to 18 tons. Big hunk of junk, too! But my biggest complaint was the low height of the bed. When shopping for splitters it seemed like a great feature -- we wouldn't have to lift the rounds so high -- but in actual use we had to spend hours slightly hunched over and there are fewe things worse on my lower back.

Art has it right. Splitters save time. We split 10-12 cords a year, and with a splitter are able to do it quickly and efficiently. Using a maul, well...let's just say bug season arrives before we finish.

Pete

 

[LarryD]

<font color="blue"> Back in the early days when my wife and I were both in better shape and bending over for hours didn't result in back pain... </font>

Ahmen to that. I've got a spliter like the one beenthere shows in the photo and have yet to use it this year. It seems the neighbor boy likes to buy parts for his atv and needs money, I need wood split and stacked in the shed. His father and I head off into the woods and cut the rounds, for $25 a cord stacked, that's the last time I have to handle it.

I even told him he could use the splitter to make things easier but he wants to use the maul as a workout for wrestling and football. I remember when I was 17, now hydraulics are my friend. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[beenthere]

Swinging the maul to hand split is the easy part. It's the bending over, and sitting them up that is the 'hard' part, IMO. Then if two strikes didn't split the chunk, it was cut part way through with the chainsaw.
But curly grain or crotchwood doesn't slow the operation down when you have a splitter to punch through those tough ones.
That splitter shown has been working for an average of about 20 cords a year since it was new Jan '85. So it's in its 21 year, and no problems except for a new starter rope last year and a spark/ignition part because the mice chewed through a wire and it didn't like damp weather. It's a two-stage pump and an 8hp B/S. For the back, I make sure I stand erect while the ram is moving forward. That keeps the back from cramping up (along with regular pushups) in the lower section.

 

[nobull1]

My employee and I split and throw on the truck a cord (128 cu feet) in a hour going at a steady pace. This breaks down to something like this. Splitter cycle time 10 seconds? = 12 pieces per minute = 720 pieces per hour. We have for years piled wood on the truck and have counted how many pieces to a cord. With the size of wood we split it averages 7-800 pieces per cord. Now we know what a cord is thrown on without piling. I have seen it take over 2 hours for one man to split and throw in a pile. It all depends on the type of wood and size.