|
| Author |
Message |
hueyjazz
Member
|
# Posted: 30 Nov 2013 07:08pm
Reply
I've been splitting wood with 60 year old steel wedges and a sledge hammer. It's losing it's luster. It takes away time from more valuable projects, takes too long and is hard on a already bad back. I've been watching craigslist for a while but there hasn't been any real bargains.
Gas ones new seem to go for $700 or better. Are the electric ones worth the space they take up? Seems like I should be able to build one. Looks like most the parts can be had at Northern.
I can rent one and trailer it in for $60 a day so if I stockpile and spend a day splitting that may be the best option.
Any suggestions?
|
|
Smawgunner
Member
|
# Posted: 30 Nov 2013 09:39pm
Reply
My friend has one that uses a bottle jack. You use your foot to pump it up and splits the log on to a steel wedge. Not sure if it's home made or not...I can't seem to find one like it. If I could weld..I could build one..it's cool!
|
|
SubArcticGuy
Member
|
# Posted: 30 Nov 2013 11:52pm
Reply
I used a cheap electric one for a year...got it on sale for maybe $150. I think some water found its way into the motor and burnt out.
If you have electricity, they work pretty good (especially a better quality one than I had). It was only a 4-tonne but it would split all the jack pine and a few poplar that I could throw at it. Much quieter than a gas power one too.
If I had lots of cash I would get a inertia based splitter like the DR Splitter. They look quite interesting. I still split about 5 or 5.5 of my 6 cords a year by hand though. I am trying to get a year ahead on my firewood and then I can leave the extra tough/green once until winter. They split so much easier at -40  .
|
|
OwenChristensen
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 08:07am
Reply
No hydraulic splitter will be as fast as hand splitting. So that's the rub for me, but they can make useable firewood out of junk I wouldn't even try to split. Electrics would be too slow for me to even watch. Paint dry, maybe.
I've been fixing them at work and the other day I repaired one that I liked. It had a real ''I'' beam and a detent valve. With the detent valve , you can let the ram return as you get another piece of wood. That will help. In the old days 1980, I had one with a detent both way valve and a push and pull splitter. That made wood fairly fast, but It's too dangerous to sell nowadays.
|
|
SE Ohio
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 08:52am
Reply
Harbor Freight sells a bottle jack splitter for about $100 on sale, and you might do even better with a coupon. It is limited to shorter logs (18" or so) and is a bit slow. It is slow/safe enough that my 7 year old can use it (with supervision).
I've not had any luck getting my wife to split the wood with a maul, but that would save me a LOT of work 
|
|
MJW
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 09:23am
Reply
We bought a small electric at Lowe's for about $175 if I remember correctly. It split OK but very slow and we had a TON of wood to split.
I wound up hiring a guy I know that had a big gas powered to come out and split with me for a couple of days. It cost me $250 for him to supply the splitter and gas. We got almost 8 cords done in 2 days which included pounding the T-posts for the racks and clearing the area to stack. A good deal I thought and I didn't have to buy a big splitter or store one.
Now the plan is to keep up with the wood as we cut it with the electric one.
|
|
cabinbiscuits
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 09:58am
Reply
I too was watching Craigslist for one, however every time that I saw one that looked half way decent the seller wanted darn near the price of a new one for a used one with no warranty. At the time I had about 8 cords of wood at home piled up to split, and I ended up renting one. We don't use a lot of wood (we use mostly coal in the actual winter time) so the wood that we split will last us probably 5 to 8 years or better the way we use it in the fall and spring and to start the coal fires.
Anyway I'm glad that I didn't end up buying one as it would have been just another large piece of equipment with a gas engine to store which in our case at least would get used infrequently. I just mentioned that to my wife again the other day. If we heated exclusively with wood it would be a different story. At our camp I split that wood by hand, at least for now.
I saw that Tractor Supply (don't know if they have them where you are) had a good sale on 27 ton units for Black Friday, I think they were $400 off.
Quoting: SubArcticGuy If I had lots of cash I would get a inertia based splitter like the DR Splitter. They look quite interesting.
I looked at the inertia units several years ago and Tractor Supply had a recall on them for some sort of problems. I don't think that I have seen them selling them anymore, so I suspect that they don't carry or don't stock them. if you watch the videos of them on the internet, I can't see them holding up very well due to the way they operate- imo. Fast absolutely, built to last, not so much.
|
|
tallpaul
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 12:47pm
Reply
I used to borrow a friends timberwolf 3 point splitter until I bough a TSC 3 point and modified it to fit my bobcat...
I get a lot of free wood and its usually bigger than my back wants to manhandle anymore and I hve little to prove any more. So now I split wood in heat or air conditioning listening to the radio
|
|
|
toyota_mdt_tech
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 12:54pm
Reply
I bought a 25 ton, 6HP MTD splitter about 10 yrs ago, works great, gets lots done with little effort, except loading it. Mine can ho horizontal or vertical, tows behind a truck. Was $1100 way back then.
|
|
OwenChristensen
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Dec 2013 04:33pm
Reply
I want the quick coupler and two way splitter that I've seen for my three point hitch. Then turn around and load the bucket, haul and dump.
|
|
groingo
Member
|
# Posted: 2 Dec 2013 12:11pm
Reply
I spent many years splitting wood then one day I tried my uncles 10 pound splitting axe, from that point on I never used a wedge or needed one.
Then I accidentally discovered that if you don't split on top of a log but at ground level, you can double your throw power and hit with twice the effect with a fraction of the effort, so now I just dig a hole once a season, put a good log in the hole and leave the top above the ground about an inch, the log in the hole gives you a solid and flat surface and now with that and the axe I can split the wood with one hand....no kidding because now you just let the axe fall rather than muscle it....been working great and way easier for the past five years now and much easier on the back too.
Now for the best news, this year I moved over to Propane heat and now just use the wood as a suppliment if needed.
I was going to remove the stove but my cat let me know that was his stove and it will stay put.
|
|
hueyjazz
Member
|
# Posted: 8 Dec 2013 04:01pm
Reply
I found a good and cheap solution. The fisker axe/maul in 36" makes the effort much less. It pretty much splits with one swing and never gets stuck. It is only four pounds and I don't feel the vibration through the handle. I split a face cord in a couple of hours and went looking for more wood. The trick to this thing is to keep a very sharp edge.
|
|
old greybeard
Member
|
# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 07:55am
Reply
We usually cut and split 2 cords a year at our cabin. If just small maple we split with a maul. Tougher wood, oak and locust, I will rent a splitter. Only about $40 for 4 hours. Can split 2 cords easy in that time. Can rent for many years and still be cheaper than buying.
|
|
TheWildMan
Member
|
# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 08:24am
Reply
I cut and split dozens of cords a year, I use about 10 myself and sell the rest (winter + spring work = a boost in cash the following fall).
I used a regular ax and a wooden mallet made from elm. drive the ax in then mallet it down to split (wood head on the mallet does not damage an ax like a metal one does). last fall I finally bought a maul and a wedge. I sort the wood to split from the small no-split ones. when I got a huge pile ready I spend a day swinging the maul with a large stump as my chopping block. eventually I would like to get a hydrolic splitter but can afford one now
|
|
|
