Log splitter

[shooterdon]

I hand split until my last 50"s...about 10 years ago. My splitter is only 15 tons but it has never let me down. I wish it was faster and I wish the wedge was fixed so the ram could push the splits off the table. I mostly split oak, birch, maple, ash, with a bit of beech. popple, and basswood. Nothing difficult to split. It has split rounds up to 24" in diameter and those came from a tree in had to remove as it was dying and close to the house. Most of my wood is 16" or less.

I use either a boom crane or tractor to lift the large rounds into place over the splitter. No point trading one injury for another.

Like others, I wish I had invested in a good splitter long ago. Beating yourself up is not worth it and there will come a time when hand splitting becomes extremely difficult....the old saying pay me now or pay me later.

Good luck with your new splitter.

 

[ning]

I recently picked up an old splitter ("27 ton" with an allegedly 6hp Briggs engine, I have my doubts about both numbers).
It's not really fast, but a lot of my wood doesn't split easily (scrub oak has a lot of twists and turns to the grain) and this makes it possible.

I really came to appreciate this splitter's ability to go vertical when it came time to split up an old oak tree which I had to take out overhanging the house; at the base the rounds were ovals about 24x30". The splitter wouldn't go through the rounds in half at once, I took chunks off the sides here and there. But with the vertical orientation, I slid rounds down the hill (on an old metal round sled) to where I had the splitter set up, and scooched them around till I had them on the base - no major lifts.

For most of my splitting the horizontal orientation is great, but for the really big stuff, I'm glad to have a vertical option.

 

[Diggin It]

I really came to appreciate this splitter's ability to go vertical when it came time to split up an old oak tree which I had to take out overhanging the house; at the base the rounds were ovals about 24x30". The splitter wouldn't go through the rounds in half at once, I took chunks off the sides here and there. But with the vertical orientation, I slid rounds down the hill (on an old metal round sled) to where I had the splitter set up, and scooched them around till I had them on the base - no major lifts.

Some of that size round WILL crack all the way across with mine. Others I have to section like you mentioned.

 

[turnkey4099]

Yes - for God's sake Bunyip - you may be an old and mythical animal - but be careful. I had a 28 ton hydraulic splitter - and learned in a real big hurry - watch out for the big old tough knotty chunks. When encountering a big old tough knotty chunk - my spitter "shifted down" to a slower but much more powerful mode. It was away possible that the chunk would split most violently and I could easily be hit by a half split. The half chunks would come off the splitter with extreme momentum, speed and force.

And right at the family jewels - ask me how I know. Last week I even had one that went over my right shoulder.

I love to split wood manually and only use the splitter when I was getting too far behind on the 'to be split pile'. Then this year my main customer upped his order from 3 cord to 6 which really ate into my 'ready to sell' stuff. Been out 3-4 hours a day up to the weather got too miserable a few days ago on the splitter. What I don't like about using it is the huge pile of splits it spits out that then have to be stacked. Manually I stack as i go. Stacking is one thing I don't really enjoy in the 'wooding' process.

 

[turnkey4099]

I bought one of those $300 electric splitters and the Wife loves it. Quiet and no engine stink. She thoroughly enjoys splitting wood.

I've seen them in operation and am amazed at how well they work!

 

[fruitcakesa]

I hand split 6 cords a year til about 60 years old and finally got a splitter, an electric splitter.
20 ton, 120/220 volt motor, always run in 220, horizontal/vertical, towable, quiet and odor/pollution free.
I yard my firewood logs behind the workshop so 220 V is readily available.
Splits most anything I can move to it barring big crotches and suchlike
I must admit though, that the factory build was undersized and I consequently have rebuilt the entire rig over the years as one piece or another broke.
Still worth the quiet and green running

 

[Doofy]

And right at the family jewels - ask me how I know. Last week I even had one that went over my right shoulder.

I love to split wood manually and only use the splitter when I was getting too far behind on the 'to be split pile'. Then this year my main customer upped his order from 3 cord to 6 which really ate into my 'ready to sell' stuff. Been out 3-4 hours a day up to the weather got too miserable a few days ago on the splitter. What I don't like about using it is the huge pile of splits it spits out that then have to be stacked. Manually I stack as i go. Stacking is one thing I don't really enjoy in the 'wooding' process.

No need to brag about one of the family jewels being flung over your right shoulder...:thumbsup:

 

[Doofy]

I've seen them in operation and am amazed at how well they work!

The "crack" of the wood splitting and the woodsy smell of fresh spruce is heavenly.

 

[Sysop]

I was recently shopping for a splitter. I didn't want to have to user the splitter in vertical mode for big rounds and didn't want to spend the extra $600 on a hydraulic log lift/table. I put the $600 into a thumb for my backhoe. Now I park the tractor beside a pile of logs, pick a log up and swing it to the other side of the tractor and cut off rounds. Once the pile of logs is a pile of rounds I put the splitter where the logs were and use the hoe to pick up the rounds and place them on the splitter. Thumb is useful for lots more than that, so I felt it was the better buy...

 

[Diggin It]

^^ I could have lifted these into place with the bucket. I could have built a table to catch the split off pieces. But the ground was a whole lot more convenient.