Log splitter 4 point wedge

[Gordon Gould]

I think the OPs question is, for those of us where the splitting wedge is what travels on the beam, pushed by the ram. And not stationary. Is there a way to easily adapt from 2-way to 4-way?

I'd much rather have a splitter where the ram pushes a flat plate, and your wood goes through the wedge, into a sorting table. But I got what I got.

I think your right about the question being asked by the OP - warriordba.


Do you have a decent sized table on your splitter. I like the wedge on the ram. I don't have to move. Grab a round off the bucket and split it, near side is in my hand to resplit or toss on the pile or in the trailer. Far side flops over onto the table. It is right there ready to flop back into splitting position when ready. Never move - very efficient. Every one likes something a little different but this works best for me.

gg

 

[John_Mc]

I think your right about the question being asked by the OP - warriordba.


Do you have a decent sized table on your splitter. I like the wedge on the ram. I don't have to move. Grab a round off the bucket and split it, near side is in my hand to resplit or toss on the pile or in the trailer. Far side flops over onto the table. It is right there ready to flop back into splitting position when ready. Never move - very efficient. Every one likes something a little different but this works best for me.

That's one upside of a moving wedge. The flip side of that is that with a moving anvil and stationary wedge, you can have the splitter push the splits right off the end and into a trailer (handy if you are splitting in the woods and need to haul it home).

As you noted, different people have different work flows. Most of use have probably adapted our work flow to suit the equipment we have available.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

That's one upside of a moving wedge. The flip side of that is that with a moving anvil and stationary wedge, you can have the splitter push the splits right off the end and into a trailer (handy if you are splitting in the woods and need to haul it home).

As you noted, different people have different work flows. Most of use have probably adapted our work flow to suit the equipment we have available.

I sometimes let my splitter push the splits right into my, self-unloading trailer,

it really saves a lot of work NOT having to handle the wood that one more time!

SR

 

[Gordon Gould]

That's one upside of a moving wedge. The flip side of that is that with a moving anvil and stationary wedge, you can have the splitter push the splits right off the end and into a trailer (handy if you are splitting in the woods and need to haul it home).

As you noted, different people have different work flows. Most of use have probably adapted our work flow to suit the equipment we have available.

It sounds good but how far do you really get pushing the splits into the trailer. Not far I would guess unless you can load the trailer from the top. Other wise the splits will just start spilling off the table onto the ground when they meet some resistance. You won't get past the first layer before you have to start throwing it up front to make room. A waste of time. Look at SR's set up. He has the splitter jacked up high and the trailer is low to the ground but it does work. Not something easily done in the woods.

I work right at the back of the trailer and just flip the splits in and don't have to chase around the table and in the trailer separating finished splits from those needing splitting again. And those have to be carried back to resplit. To much moving around in my book.

gg

gg

 

[John_Mc]

It sounds good but how far do you really get pushing the splits into the trailer. Not far I would guess unless you can load the trailer from the top. Other wise the splits will just start spilling off the table onto the ground when they meet some resistance. You won't get past the first layer before you have to start throwing it up front to make room. A waste of time. Look at SR's set up. He has the splitter jacked up high and the trailer is low to the ground but it does work. Not something easily done in the woods.

I work right at the back of the trailer and just flip the splits in and don't have to chase around the table and in the trailer separating finished splits from those needing splitting again. And those have to be carried back to resplit. To much moving around in my book.

Actually, it works surprisingly well. I don't have high sides on my trailer, and unless I'm going to be hauling a long distance, I don't bother stacking it neatly. When it's working really well, it pushes the wood up to the front of the trailer, and things kind of "buckle up" when they hit the front wall, slowly filling the space. Setting up to split downhill helps the process a bit. If I'm not lucky, I may have to break up a jam in the trailer every once in a while. Since the splitter has an exit work table, I can reach the splits before they are pushed off and toss them on top and in the corners of the trailer if needed, but I try to set up to minimize the need for that There is a work table on the exit end of the splitter. I can reach the pieces that need to be resplit and pull them back without leaving the controls.

The best set-up I saw was a guy who had split an old plastic culvert lengthwise. He'd use his splitter to push logs up the culvert and into the back of his pickup. He did eventually line his half-culvert with a smoother plastic. Kind of a poor man's log conveyor.

I don't use the "push splits into my trailer" method much anymore. Since I got the forwarding trailer, I generally bring +/-12 foot logs home and split them right near where I'm stacking for seasoning and storage. I'll just let the logs push off the end of the work table until I have a good sized pile right near the stacks, then stop and stack for a bit.

As noted in an earlier post: the work flow changes to fit the equipment available.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Actually, it works surprisingly well. I don't have high sides on my trailer, and unless I'm going to be hauling a long distance, I don't bother stacking it neatly. When it's working really well, it pushes the wood up to the front of the trailer, and things kind of "buckle up" when they hit the front wall, slowly filling the space. Setting up to split downhill helps the process a bit. If I'm not lucky, I may have to break up a jam in the trailer every once in a while. Since the splitter has an exit work table, I can reach the splits before they are pushed off and toss them on top an din the corners of the trailer, but I try to set up to minimize the need for that There is a work table on the exit end of the splitter. I can reach the pieces that need to be resplit and pull them back without leaving the controls.

This is exactly right, it works VERY good, and the splitter will pile them a lot higher than you would think.

As for my pict., the splitter wasn't jacked up as high as you think, even though the pict. made it look like it was, I was splitting very close to my normal height and I'm not a real tall guy. My table will fold up a bit and that helps too.

I also don't have to move to catch a bigger resplit, I put my hand on it and pull it over backwards, right back onto the splitters beam as it's going through the 4-way. That way there's no lifting of it.

SR

 

[Gordon Gould]

I guess I am wrong then. I would love to see a video of that if someone has one.

gg

 

[LD1]

Mine has the wedge on the beam and I let it pile up.

20 tons of pushing force and really push wood into a big pile. The splitter has more than enough power to push a pile bigger than whatever tow vehicle(anchor) you have it attached to.

But there is ONE main reason for the different splitter designs. And that quite simply is the difference between a horizontal only splitter, and a horizontal/vertical capable splitter. Cant have the wedge on the beam on a vertical splitter cause you'd be trying to push the wood into the ground.

 

[John_Mc]

But there is ONE main reason for the different splitter designs. And that quite simply is the difference between a horizontal only splitter, and a horizontal/vertical capable splitter. Cant have the wedge on the beam on a vertical splitter cause you'd be trying to push the wood into the ground.

That's a big difference, if you like the option of being able to split vertically. I had a splitter that would do horizontal or vertical. I tried the vertical splitting on larger pieces for a while, but just decided that method was not for me. I just lifted pieces up to the beam. A set of handheld log tongs really helps reduce the bending involved, and I used the loader on my tractor to stage the pieces too big to comfortably lift.

I did like the fact that splitters set up for horizontal/vertical splitting tend to sit at a nice height for me while in the horizontal position. (Some horizontal-only splitters sit too low to the ground for my taste.) So when I sold my horizontal/vertical splitter and started shopping for a horizontal-only model, I made a point of finding one that stood at a nice height for the way I like to work. I also got one with a hydraulic log lift. Mostly, I use the lift as a staging platform and just hand-pile a bunch of small-to-medium logs on it. However, the lift does come in handy on the larger logs, and I've noticed that my definition of what "larger" means has been slowly shrinking in recent years.

I've used both Timberwolf and American splitters (plus a few others). I own an American model AM-25HH High Boy with hydraulic lift, log cradle and exit table options. HAving used both the American and the Timberwolf, I will say that the Timberwolf (which I think is what Sawyer Rob has?) seems to do a better job of pushing the logs up into a larger pile in the trailer. I'm, not sure exactly what the difference is, but I suspect that at least part of it has to do with the exit table design on the Timberwolf.

 

[deezler]

But there is ONE main reason for the different splitter designs. And that quite simply is the difference between a horizontal only splitter, and a horizontal/vertical capable splitter. Cant have the wedge on the beam on a vertical splitter cause you'd be trying to push the wood into the ground.

Bezactly. My 26-ton MTD is a vertical/horizontal. But because I hate dealing with large rounds and never cut my biggest, best trees down anyway, I basically never have huge stuff to split - so I always use it horizontal. If I was a competent welder with some free time, I would think more about swapping the moving wedge for a flat plate, and the flat backstop on the beam for a 2-way/4-way setup and outflow sorting table.

My splitter doesn't have an hour-meter but I'd guess I only run it about 10-12 hours per year anyway. I get family and buddies who like to burn a little bit in their fireplaces to come help me bust out some cords with better efficiency, and get all my splitting done in a few weeks of sessions here and there.

You guys are right that everyone adapts their workflow to their equipment and locations. But even better than optimizing workflow, is adding free laborers to the equation! My 9-year old son is still a little weak and distracted for continuous hard work, but he's getting there.