A "temporary" wood splitter

[RProv]

I've got several pieces (1 tree worth of ash) of log for firewood that's 8" to 10" in diameter. There's to much for me to split by hand and not enough to make it worth while to buy a real logsplitter. What I'm thinking about doing is to use a steel beam with a wedge and 4" cylinder on it and the tractors hydraulics to run the cylinder. This way all I'll need to buy is the hydraulic cylinder and hoses. What I have is a 6' long 4 x 8 beam left over from building a barn - the web is 3/16" and the flanges are flat so it's not an "I" beam. Does anyone know if I'm going to bend the beam while splitting wood? Do I need a heavier beam? The ash is mostly free of knots.

The tractor is 2828 psi @ 11gpm -- a 50hp diesel powered log splitter!

As others have said, ash almost splits itself. Unless you're handicapped if you can't hand split one tree of 8-10" logs perhaps you shouldn't be burning wood. No offence intended.

Renting a splitter as already mentioned is a much more viable alternative.

 

[motownbrowne]

He gave me his log splitter!

Well, that' makes it even better. So what kind of beer do your bring him?

 

[MossRoad]

Well, that' makes it even better. So what kind of beer do your bring him?

You have to understand something here.... we are not allowed to bring her parents anything. They'll insist on paying for it and try to shove money in our pockets. They're the type that if they ask you to pick up a loaf of bread on the way over, they'll give you a dollar for the loaf and try to pay you $5 for gas, even though the store is exactly on the way to their house. :laughing:

So, it goes like this.... he drinks his brand of beer. We'll call it brand 1. I drink brand 2. My wife drinks brand 3. And my brother-in-law drinks brand 4. So, he always buys each of us a case of 18 of our own brand at each holiday and keeps it in the fridge in his garage. Each of us drinks maybe 2-3 bottles that day at the most, so we know there'll be at least 15 beers left for each of us the next time we go over.

So, we goes over there.....

He asks "Do you want a beer?".

We reply "Yeah! You want one?"

He replies "Well, if you're gonna have one, I'll have one."

And we reply "Alright, I'll get you one."

So we go out to get him a beer and us a beer and open the fridge and "Where did our beer go?"

His reply? .... and he's dead serious. He really means it.....

"Every time I buy beer for you three, you never drink it all. I was afraid it would go gunky, so I drank it....."

And we drink brand 1. :laughing:

 

[GAFarmer2]

You have to understand something here.... we are not allowed to bring her parents anything. They'll insist on paying for it and try to shove money in our pockets. They're the type that if they ask you to pick up a loaf of bread on the way over, they'll give you a dollar for the loaf and try to pay you $5 for gas, even though the store is exactly on the way to their house. :laughing:

So, it goes like this.... he drinks his brand of beer. We'll call it brand 1. I drink brand 2. My wife drinks brand 3. And my brother-in-law drinks brand 4. So, he always buys each of us a case of 18 of our own brand at each holiday and keeps it in the fridge in his garage. Each of us drinks maybe 2-3 bottles that day at the most, so we know there'll be at least 15 beers left for each of us the next time we go over.

So, we goes over there.....

He asks "Do you want a beer?".

We reply "Yeah! You want one?"

He replies "Well, if you're gonna have one, I'll have one."

And we reply "Alright, I'll get you one."

So we go out to get him a beer and us a beer and open the fridge and "Where did our beer go?"

His reply? .... and he's dead serious. He really means it.....

"Every time I buy beer for you three, you never drink it all. I was afraid it would go gunky, so I drank it....."

And we drink brand 1. :laughing:

Now that's the kind of in-laws I'm talking about!

 

[MossRoad]

Now that's the kind of in-laws I'm talking about!

I love 'em! :thumbsup:

They've treated me like one of their own since their daughter was 17. I've known them longer than I knew my own folks, who've long since passed away. Father-in-law will be 90 in October. I've mentioned before here that he still mows his own lawn with a self propelled walk-behind Toro mower pretty much every other day. Yes, every other day! He doesn't like to bag, so he mulches it. He had a foot of his colon removed last fall and was greatly disappointed that he couldn't do his leaves or snow blow his drive over the winter. I'd make a sneak attack and slip in the side-door of the garage, blow his driveway and by the time he realized it, I'd take off before he could try and shove money in my pocket. :laughing: He recovered from the surgery nicely and is back to mowing his lawn this year. Although my wife told me tonight his sciatic nerve is acting up, so I may have to mow for him Sunday. He's earned a rest! Mom is 77 and just got out of the hospital with weak kidneys. She also had a liver transplant 9 years ago. So we've been doing their laundry, cooking on the weekends and such. They get meals on wheels weekdays, but if dad doesn't like the looks of it (more often than not), he heads to McDonalds for two McDoubles with ketchup! But really, he's been taking her to her Dr. appointments and takes care of the house. Her brain is still 90% sharp and his body is 90% fit, so between the two of them, they're doing O.K. and mostly independent still. :thumbsup:

Anyway, they've heated their house with wood until last winter, for over 30 years. When mom got weak with the liver, they had to stop collecting wood and she sold her pickup truck. We and my brother-in-law supplied them with wood, but he always wanted to split it himself. He didn't like hauling the log splitter out of the yard barn, so he started splitting by hand the last 8-10 years. And finally, he just asked me to take the splitter since we heat with wood, too.

Splitter is over 30 years old. I treated it to a new Harbor Freight engine this year. Works great! :thumbsup:

 

[FarmWrench]

Woodsplitter building is addictive. You have been warned.

If you want something cool. Get a Leveraxe. Also people won't ask to borrow it and then sue you when the squish their thumb off with a homemade splitter.

The leveraxe is fast. Ash and a Leveraxe is limited by how fast the wood can be sawed and moved out of the way.

 

[muddstopper]

cheap home made wood splitters are always on the facebook yard sale sites and sometimes craigs list. I recently bought a 3pt hitch splitter made to run off tractor hyd for $250, sold it before I got it home for $300. When you look up the prices for new parts to build your own, its almost always cheaper to buy a new factory splitter. Its summer time and used splitters are cheap, when it becomes fall, used splitter prices will go up. The only real advantage I see to building your own is you get to build it the way you want it. Not trying to talk anybody out of buying or building, but one way or the other, if your going to burn wood as a primary heat source, then owning a splitter is just as important as having a truck to haul the wood or a saw to cut it with. I have heard all the boast about using a mual or axe and splitting more wood than a hyd splitter. And John Henry could pound more steel than the steam engine. A lot of difference in using a maul for a few minutes and using a splitter all day. I can pull that lever all day, how long can anybody swing a maul.

 

[FarmWrench]

Wasn't bragging about a Leveraxe. They are very light and spit some types of wood very easily. Other types are an exercise in futility. I specifically mentioned ASH.

Regardless of what species or how it is split, moving wood is usually a back breaking chore.

From stump> ground> round>split> stack> stove. And somewhere along that line transport from the stump to the stove location.

 

[3Ts]

I got serious about building one so I started to put a shopping list together with prices and was quite surprised! It'll cost almost a much to build one as to buy a new one. So, I'll be watching Craig's list and the local ads for awhile, if nothing shows up I'll go buy a new one.

 

[muddstopper]

Wasn't bragging about a Leveraxe. They are very light and spit some types of wood very easily. Other types are an exercise in futility. I specifically mentioned ASH.

Regardless of what species or how it is split, moving wood is usually a back breaking chore.

From stump> ground> round>split> stack> stove. And somewhere along that line transport from the stump to the stove location.

Wasnt singling you out or anybody else in particular. I will agree that IF i only had one or two trees to split, and didnt own a hyd splitter, I would drag out the old godevel and swing it until I finished or got tired. In fact, if the wood was hard to spit with a maul, a sharp chainsaw will make short work of splitting large rounds. I wouldnt build or buy a splitter for that small amount of wood. I'm 60 with bad shoulders and a metal knee, I wont attempt to keep up with some teenager trying to show out to his girl friend. Probably couldnt find a teenager willing to split wood now days anyways.

Will also agree the splitting is just a small part of burning wood. If buying wood, you can get it already split, delivered and stacked for a price. If you cant afford to buy it, it will probably cost you just as much to cut, haul and process as it would to just buy it ready to burn. Got to have a saw, got to have a truck, altho I have seen a lot hauled in a mini van. Tons of labor bucking, splitting and stacking. Lots of work burning firewood and anything to make the job easier I am all for it. I burn about 4 full cords a year, maybe not as much as someone in New York and maybe a little more than some one in Texas. To keep the work down to a minimum, I use a dump trailer to transport firewood logs home. I usually pick up my wood from new home sites, other construction sites and even from loggers at their log landings. Getting log lengths, its a must you have equipment to load on trailer, and trackhoes and knuckle booms at the job site make loading really easy. I back up to the site and they load, haul it home and hit the button on the dump trailer and dump on the ground. Use a tractor fel to organize the logs for bucking. Once bucked, use fel again to push all the rounds into a big pile. Drag out the home made splitter beside the wood pile and back the dump trailer under the 6way splitting wedge. Use the cable on the splitter mounted mechanics crane to lift the rounds on the splitter and let the splits fall onto the trailer as they are split. Get the trailer loaded, back the trailer under my wood shed and raise the dump just enough to make getting the splits off easy and stack the wood under the shed. I minimize the handleling of the wood as much as possible. Eliminate all the heavy lifting and one person can process a lot of wood in one day.