Cute Little MTD Log Splitter

[Dargo]

I have the same splitter and have been pleasantly surprised with it's performance. I've not had any wood stop it yet. Since I splity my wood by myself when I have time, I don't think I've ever split wood in the horizontal position. I've always put it in the vertical position and just rolled the large logs into place and then flipped them up to split; never having to lift any large logs.

My only issue has been that I now have to fiddle with the choke to get it to run right. Although I've always used Stabil, my carb must be messed up some. I have to run just a little choke to keep it running smoothly. I used to only have to use the choke to start it and keep it running until it was warmed up. Then I could completely push the choke lever in. Oh well, I suppose I can live with that "problem".

 

[cp1969]

Find the main jet on the carburetor and richen it up 1/8th of a turn. and see if that helps.

 

[turnkey4099]

ductape,

Your MTD looks like it can do the job.

Looking at Photos #044 and #042 I see the wedge on your hydraulic ram pushing through the log.

Questions:

- If the fellow in the ball cap standing by the motor was not there to handle the half log, could the half log topple onto the motor or the wheel?

- Does the motor and wheel get in the way when the fellow in the ball cap works to handle the log?

- Would a design with the hydraulic ram pushing the log into a wedge vs. pushing a wedge through the log be a better option?


Appreciate your comments and thanks for sharing.

corey

Same questions I have always had with teh 'tip-up' models. Looks like everything is in the way when used horizontally. The 'wedge on ram' (mandatory for tip-ups) is part of the problem, the wood either tends to fall on the 'works' or if it shoots, it is shooting back over the wedge/ram.

I have a homebuilt, horizontal only. Due to the 'works in the way' problem of one I borrowed, I put the engine/pump/tank/wheels/axle as far back as I could git - right on the end of the armature. Nothing is in the way but it results in a _very_ heavy tongue weight.

Harry K

 

[Ductape]

ductape,

Your MTD looks like it can do the job.

Looking at Photos #044 and #042 I see the wedge on your hydraulic ram pushing through the log.

Questions:

- If the fellow in the ball cap standing by the motor was not there to handle the half log, could the half log topple onto the motor or the wheel?

- Does the motor and wheel get in the way when the fellow in the ball cap works to handle the log?

- Would a design with the hydraulic ram pushing the log into a wedge vs. pushing a wedge through the log be a better option?


Appreciate your comments and thanks for sharing.

corey

Corey,

I usually split by myself, though its nice to have a hand with stuff as big as i was splitting that day.

I haven't had much trouble with wood falling on the motor, though it has happened a couple of times with no damage. The motor is forward a bit from where the wood would usually fall. More has landed on the wheel...... and now i know why the manufacturer used flexible plastic fenders !! They have so far bounced off, again with no damage to the plastic fenders.
Again i will say that the piece of plywood on the far side of the splitter (from the handle) catches most normal sized pieces of wood.... so i do not have to bend over and/or walk around the splitter to pick up the other half of the log. this is something i added as a trial, and will be making a similar piece out of steel next spring.

As far as which end of the splitter your wedge is on...... i think its mostly a personal preference. I have used both and personally prefer the wedge on the ram. Again.... with my shelf, it keeps the other half of the log right in front of me where i can hold it in one hand and just keep sliding it into the path of the wedge after each split (obviously keeping your hand away from the splitting area) while working the lever with the other hand. The splitters with the anvil on the ram pushing the wood into the wedge..... i find that they leave me making an extra step to hunch over and pick up any pieces that need another split. I feel they are best if the size of your firewood is pretty consistant... especially if you put a four way wedge on it. Again.... i prefer the wedge on the ram because that is what seems to be easiest to me, i'm sure there are plenty of folks who own splitters with the wedge on the end and would have it no other way.

Back to the issue of not having a four way wedge. My FIL taught me a little trick for logs that need two splits. Run the wedge into the log until it splits, but not quite split all the way through. Back up the ram till you can swap the log end for end, then turn it 90 degrees and run the wedge into it again. This time make your full stroke and the log will pop into four pieces without having to make two full strokes. Not quite as fast as a four way.... but with a little practice, you can have them in four pieces pretty quickly.

Scott

 

[daTeacha]

Ductape -- I have split quite a lot of elm by hand when I was in junior high and high school. The elm disease was in full swing in our area at the time and my dad just loved to bring home trunkfuls of the stuff as he came home from his factory job. It is tough, ornery, stringy stuff to work with. I used wedges, a sledge or two, horseshoes stakes, an axe and a hatchet. They say hard work builds character. About all it built in me is a loathing for dead elm.

My splitter is an 8 lb maul with a very nicely hollow ground head that splits about anything I hit with it. The handle is a solid piece of some phenolic plastic that was sold as being indestructible and has proven to be just that for over 30 years of splitting wood. I have a 12 lb monster maul, but I never use it. The 8 lb. works better. I also have several 6 lb heads with handles broken off that I acquired at auctions in boxes of other stuff. I've never seen need to put handles on them, and they lack the magic curve of my 8 pounder.

I've looked at hydraulic splitters, and even worked against one like Ole John Henry. My FIL and son were on the hydraulic, I was on the maul with my wife moving the split wood. The wife and I consistently beat the hydraulic splitter.

Still, I find myself looking at the things since I have a set of remotes on the back of the tractor that have never been used. How do prices of tractor driven splitters compare to the self powered ones? Who makes them? All I've ever seen are the engine equipped ones.

 

[Ductape]

Ductape -- I have split quite a lot of elm by hand when I was in junior high and high school. The elm disease was in full swing in our area at the time and my dad just loved to bring home trunkfuls of the stuff as he came home from his factory job. It is tough, ornery, stringy stuff to work with. I used wedges, a sledge or two, horseshoes stakes, an axe and a hatchet. They say hard work builds character. About all it built in me is a loathing for dead elm.

My splitter is an 8 lb maul with a very nicely hollow ground head that splits about anything I hit with it. The handle is a solid piece of some phenolic plastic that was sold as being indestructible and has proven to be just that for over 30 years of splitting wood. I have a 12 lb monster maul, but I never use it. The 8 lb. works better. I also have several 6 lb heads with handles broken off that I acquired at auctions in boxes of other stuff. I've never seen need to put handles on them, and they lack the magic curve of my 8 pounder.

I've looked at hydraulic splitters, and even worked against one like Ole John Henry. My FIL and son were on the hydraulic, I was on the maul with my wife moving the split wood. The wife and I consistently beat the hydraulic splitter.

Still, I find myself looking at the things since I have a set of remotes on the back of the tractor that have never been used. How do prices of tractor driven splitters compare to the self powered ones? Who makes them? All I've ever seen are the engine equipped ones.

Rich,
I too split my share of wood back in high school, but what it taught me was to buy a hydraulic splitter when i put a woodstove in my own house ! If you are still splitting manually...... my hat is off to you ! You are a better man than i ! I have seen tractor powered splitters by American, DR, Wallenstein, and others. I've not priced new ones, but i have seen used tractor powered splitters in my area selling for 4 to 5 hundred dollars. For me, it was a matter of how many hours i was going to put on a splitter, and how (relatively) inexpensive it would be to replace a 5.5 horse small engine when it wore out, versus rebuilding the diesel engine in my compact tractor. If i had a full sized tractor with thousands and thousands of hours of run time left in the motor, perhaps i'd have gone with a tractor powered splitter. Overall, i just wanted to show that the MTD splitter i bought at the Home Depot has truely exceeded my expectations !

 

[Dargo]

Rich,
I too split my share of wood back in high school, but what it taught me was to buy a hydraulic splitter when i put a woodstove in my own house ! If you are still splitting manually...... my hat is off to you!

Yup, me too. I split wood for the wood stove in my house as well as the stove in my barn by hand until I was in my mid 40's. What made me decide to get a splitter was the last load of 24" diamater 18" long pieces of oak and hickory I got. Sure, oak and hickory splits fine, but getting some of those first splits took dozens of full swings with a 12 pound maul. Even though it's great exercise, I figured that I'd be more productive with a power splitter. I don't miss splitting by hand, and I don't regret doing it by hand for as long as I did. But, for this Baby Boomer, it's a power splitter from now on.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I don't miss splitting by hand, and I don't regret doing it by hand for as long as I did.

I regret splitting one last log by hand. Suffering from the pain of a herniated disc right now from a few swings of a 12# maul 6 weeks back. What makes it seem so bad is I have a splitter. I just wanted to bust up 3 or 4 logs that were a tad big. I grew up in a house that was heated with wood. Wood heat in my shop, 2 fireplaces in the house, one almost always burning. I split my share. But it only took one piece to stop me cold turkey. No more mauls.

 

[Youare]

Like daTeacha for 30 years I split all my fire wood by hand which averaged 8 full cords a year. I tried a hydraulic splitter but found it much slower than what I could do with the mall. When I would split it would be for at least 3 to 4 hours at a stretch.

Some will say you could not keep up with the hydraulic splitter over the course of a day, but what I found out was my back could not take bending over the low hydraulic spiltter for more than 30 minutes at a time. The Hydraulic splitter I used was maybe 18 inches off the ground and it was a real back killer.

For a couple of years I used a Stickler, the screw type splitter you bolt on to the rear axle of your car or truck, back when most cars were rear wheel drive. That worked good on long stuff but then I had more chain saw work and my wife couldn't go shopping if I was using the truck to split wood.

However, a couple of years ago I did purchase a powered wood splitter after having some elbow problems. I looked at 3PH models and several hydraulic models what I ended up with was a SuperSplit. It's fast with a 4 second cycle time, the height of the splitter and work table is wasit high making it very easy on the back. The work table catches the split pieces so there is no bending over to pick up pieces that need to be split again.

Randy

 

[Pilot]

I, too, split a lot of wood by hand, got elbow problems in my late 50's and went to a hydraulic and never looked back.

I suspect that whether a hand splitter could keep up with a hydraulic depends on what kind of wood you are splitting and whether it is wet or dry. There is no way I could keep up with a hydraulic when splitting big old limby Douglas-fir. A 28" DF with 3-4" knots takes 20-30 minutes to break down by hand using mauls and wedges, 5 minutes with the hydraulic--and the hydraulic will split thru the knots, while by hand you have to go between them.

When I got elbow problems, I rented a hydraulic and became a believer, splitting about 3 times more wood than I could have by hand. You guys that go faster than the machine must be splitting wimpy wood.