A good quality Log Splitter

[EddieWalker]

As usual, I'm way behind in splitting wood for the winter. We've had a few cold days below freezing and it's become obvious that I need to get busy. Log splitter is the Troy Bilt from Lowes with the Honda engine that starts so easily. We heat with a wood stove and I like my wood to be about a foot long and split fairly small. This allows us to get the fire going quickly, build up some coals and keep the house warm with a minimal amount of wood. One basket is more then enough to do this on the coldest of nights with plenty left over to start another fire in the morning to take off the chill.

If you look close you can see the plywood tables that I attached to the wood splitter. This was a new idea that I got this year that has really made a huge difference in speeding up the process and cutting down on how many times I have to pick up the other half of the round after splitting up the other half. I just cut some scrap 3/4 inch plywood to size and attached it to the existing metal brackets with some carriage bolts. Fast, cheap and simple!!!

I'm trying something new this year too. In the past, I would take down the tree, or work on one that had fallen over from a storm where it fell. I would cut off the branches and then a bunch of rounds right there, then drag the log splitter to the tree and split it there and toss each piece of firewood into the back of the Mule. I would drive it back to my house and stack it. To cut down on the number of times I'm handling the wood, and make it easier to cut the rounds, split them and get them stacked, I'm cutting the tree into 20 foot lengths, give or take a few feet, and hauling them to the side of my house with the grapple. Then I cut them into rounds there, split them and stack them all in the same place. This seems to be a lot faster way of doing things. There is more mess to clean up, but that goes really fast with a rake and flat shovel into 5 gallon buckets.

A side benefit that my wife thought up while cleaning up, was separating the small chips into buckets for kindling. This makes starting fires even easier and it doesn't take hardly any effort to do.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A side benefit that my wife thought up while cleaning up, was separating the small chips into buckets for kindling. This makes starting fires even easier and it doesn't take hardly any effort to do.

Over the years, I've had people on line, tell me that they didn't like my splitter, because it makes too much trash under the outfeed table/grate.

THEN they go on to tell me they split a lot of small stuff for fire starting! DOH! What do they think those small pieces under the grate are PERFECT for??

We do the same thing, collect them up in buckets and use them for starting fires!!

Because a lot of the wood that goes through our splitter is so "stringy", most times the small pieces going through the grate are just like "feather sticks"!!

PERFECT kindling!

SR

 

[murphy1244]

NO question Timberwolf splitters have a LOT of power, I split a lot of big wood, all being pushed through the 4-way and it really kicksazz!

Parking the splitter right next to the rounds, let me roll the big ones right onto the beam

And the splitter does the rest!

When they are this big, we take them off the outfeed table and sent them back on the wagon, to be put through the splitter again. Of course, the pieces are now light enough to be easily handled,

It doesn't take long to make a BIG pile of splits, when you have big rounds to begin with!

SR

If I ever buy another splitter it will be a timberwolf with log lift.

 

[4570Man]

If I ever buy another splitter it will be a timberwolf with log lift.

Same. Eastonmade looks like another quality product.

 

[ericm979]

I'm trying something new this year too. In the past, I would take down the tree, or work on one that had fallen over from a storm where it fell. I would cut off the branches and then a bunch of rounds right there, then drag the log splitter to the tree and split it there and toss each piece of firewood into the back of the Mule. I would drive it back to my house and stack it. To cut down on the number of times I'm handling the wood, and make it easier to cut the rounds, split them and get them stacked, I'm cutting the tree into 20 foot lengths, give or take a few feet, and hauling them to the side of my house with the grapple. Then I cut them into rounds there, split them and stack them all in the same place. This seems to be a lot faster way of doing things. There is more mess to clean up, but that goes really fast with a rake and flat shovel into 5 gallon buckets.

A side benefit that my wife thought up while cleaning up, was separating the small chips into buckets for kindling. This makes starting fires even easier and it doesn't take hardly any effort to do.

I've been doing something like that too, though I have to cut into 8' logs in order to get them to my processing and firewood storage area without hitting trees or the barn. It seems like less work than cutting them into rounds where I felled the tree and then hauling the rounds.

I've also been saving the small kindling that falls off when I'm splitting. I keep a feed bucket next to the splitter so I can just toss them in, then store it in the back of the barn to dry. It's hardly any extra work and I have kindling pre made. Some species like madrone make a lot of little slivers when split. I do the same with the noodles when I cut large rounds into pieces small enough to get onto the splitter. I just grab the big piles so it hardly takes any time. A handful of dry noodles with a bit of bar oil on them helps get the fire going.

 

[shooterdon]

I have junk from splitting wood that is two years old. Bark and little slivers etc. But frankly, I do not use it much. I often have enough embers left over in the morning to get the fire going by leaving the door on the insert open and opening the damper all the way for 20 minutes.

When I need to start a fire, I have plenty of cardboard, packaging, cartons, etc that kindling is not necessary to get a fire going. I probably should not use that stuff to start a fire but it works and saves me having to pay to dispose of it or waste time at the burn barrel.

 

[yomax4]

I built the same style table out of 3/4 black pipe. I do get a lot of small stuff below but I just rake it into the loader and either dump in the fire pit or the woods. Not a big deal really.

 

[giantkilr]

Make sure it has a side shaft motor....preferably a Honda!

 

[John_Mc]

Make sure it has a side shaft motor....preferably a Honda!

A.K.A. "Horizontal shaft"

 

[Sawyer Rob]

If I ever buy another splitter it will be a timberwolf with log lift.

We love out Timberwolf, and when I say "we", I'm talking about my wife too, she really likes running it!

SR