Log Splitters are cool

[Cliff_Johns]

First time I ever used a log splitter was today. Well, the first time I used one that wasn't driven by muscle anyway. Found out a few things:

1. They are very easy to use.

2. The spec times given for a full throw of the wedge doesn't really matter since you usually don't plunge it all the way, nor do you pull it all the way back. In fact for most of my very well seasoned logs, I only had to move the wedge about 3 or 4 inches, then pull it back to where I started and drop in the next log.

3. The hydraulic valve was simple, pull it one way and the wedge did it's job, push it the other way and the wedge would be pulled back until you centered the valve again or until it hit the stops. Nice feature.

4. In two and a half hours you can split a lot of wood. I split a face cord (8X4) with no help. I like small firewood -- easier carry and start -- so I resplit what others would have called small enough. I tend to have small fires for just a few hours. I don't heat with wood at all.

5. As I said in another thread, pulling the rental unit home was an odd experience. You can't see the thing at all and it makes quite a racket bouncing around back there.

6. Even the 6HP unit I had seemed like it would split anything. Never seemed to bog down. It had a 5" cylinder. Cost me $60 total for 4 hours time off the lot. Wouldn't take many times at that price to make a purchase worth while, but like I said, I don't heat with firewood, I'm just splitting wood from trees felled on my property that I would have had to pay someone to haul off.

7. I experimented with interesting logs (ones with branch stubs and crotch grain) trying to get useful splits out of them. I found that if you aligh the branch stub with the wedge, the wood will usually split evenly.

All I can think of for the moment. All in all, a cool machine. I like splitting wood by hand, but that would have taken me a lot more time than I had.

Cliff

 

[GregJ]

I totally agree. It has made my life a LOT easier. I heat with wood, so I go through a few cords a year. I have a degenerating disc in my neck and it doesn't take long with a splitting maul to send me off to find the Advil. The thing that amazed me when I first started using mine was how fast they are. It doesn't seem like it would be that much faster, but they are. And the nice thing is that at the end of the day you don't feel like you've been hit by a truck.

Greg

 

[bczoom]

Cliff

Glad you enjoyed the experience.
My wood burner runs 24/7 for about 5 months so I go through several cord/year. Don't think I could do it without a splitter.

I too cut my firewood relatively small. Small enough to grab and lift from the end with 1 hand. (if too large, can't get the wife to load the stove).

There's several factors involved but the amount of wood that can be split in 2 1/2 hours varies greatly. I've found I can normally split and stack a face cord in about 1 hour.

 

[B2400]

When I was still a "He-Man" in my early 30's I cut and split a minimum of two truckloads of wood a weekend for our house. It seemed our fireplace was lit in October and never put out till March. It didn't take but a couple years to figure out I wasn't so tough!! A friend loaned me an old log splitter and off to work I went. It never ceased to amaze me how much wood I could finish out and not feel it till the following week. I finally built my own and used it continously for a couple more years until I installed a new high efficiency furnace in our old house. Our heating bills dropped by over $80 dollars a month and I wasn't cutting wood all weekend anymore either!! Still got the logsplitter, but it only sees use a couple of times a year now.

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( When I was still a "He-Man" in my early 30's I cut and split a minimum of two truckloads of wood a weekend for our house. It seemed our fireplace was lit in October and never put out till March. It didn't take but a couple years to figure out I wasn't so tough!! )</font>

My "He-Man" days are over as well... I'm going to get a new splitter in the next week or 2. My existing one works fine but it's an older horizontal unit and sits low to the ground. I'm getting backaches from being bent over all the time.

 

[Mark4510]

Cliff,
"All in all, a cool machine. I like splitting wood by hand, but that would have taken me a lot more time than I had."

This is exactly why I got one. In fact, my parents bought it for me as a Christmas gift a while back so I could have more free time to spend with my wife. Now I just have more free time to do the next thing on my "Honey Do" list. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Its a powerful machine and I sure have a healthy dose of respect for it. Perhaps not as much as the chain saw but darn close.

Use it in good health.
Mark