log splitter question.. [Archive]

Wood Borer

21st April 2009, 11:38 PM

:whs:

We burn a fair bit of firewood here as it can get a bit fresh at times. Our wood fire is our only form of heating and some days such as when it is snowing the fire is lit in the morning and burns all day and night.

I split all mine by hand. On a big day I can cut up logs and split them to get 6 6X4 overflowing trailer loads per day. It keeps you both fit and warm :doh: splitting by hand.

I currently have about 5 years of hand split wood drying out on a few heaps.

Partially ripping the bigger and tougher logs with the chainsaw can speed things up a bit too.

montiee

21st April 2009, 11:52 PM

I split all mine by hand. On a big day I can cut up logs and split them to get 6 6X4 overflowing trailer loads per day. It keeps you both fit and warm :doh: splitting by hand.

Well given that I have a full house reno happening which will take at least 6-12 months to complete I'll look for anything that saves me a bit of work :lol: That's kind of what got me started on the woodheater (and welding) as I'm restoring the rusted bits as part of the reno. It's a bit of a tangent that I didn't expect to take. The next few days will be a quick self taught lesson in welding (mig/arc) followed by replacing the rusted outershell and welding it into place. Initially I assumed the woodheater was fine. Stupid me..

First though I have to see how my supply of timber/logs goes...

Wood Borer

22nd April 2009, 12:13 AM

First though I have to see how my supply of timber/logs goes...

Time and availability of timber aren't an issue with me so read my advice with that in mind. All the same, don't rush through life too fast though.

Being out in the early morning in the forest with all the native animals, the smell of freshly split wood as you have a cuppa from your thermos sitting on a log admiring your almost full trailer of split firewood, being interrupted by kookaburras and magpies diving on their breakfast you have uncovered for them is much better than rush rush rush in a plastic office with plastic people so you can pay off your plastic card.

Think of me down below when you fly over - I'm the bloke 30,000 feet below in the high country with my middle finger pointing towards the jet remembering when I used to fly up and down to pointless meetings with idiots.

Regrets - I have none.:wink:

Barry_White

22nd April 2009, 01:14 AM

montiee

22nd April 2009, 01:31 AM

The top one is easy work for lazy people, the bottom one is for hard work.

I said I was a lazy bastard didn't I :lol:..

The top one will split anything easily. The bottom one will bounce back and hit you in the face if you try to split twisty grain 20 years dead Yellow Box.

You twisted my arm. If I need to split logs it'll be the easy way :wink
Not sure if it will be that quality of splitter though. Looks relatively expensive trailer based. I was thinking of picking one up for $200 if I do get one.

watson

22nd April 2009, 10:18 AM

Here's the missus's last week effort.
11 x M3........at one hour a day.
If I could only get her to stack it neatly :roll:

kahlua_khan

22nd April 2009, 10:35 AM

Did you mean this type of log splitter

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showpost.php?p=133512&postcount=1

or this type.

http://www.capcityequipment.com/miscinventorypics/4237-hamstone3t.jpg

The top one is easy work for lazy people, the bottom one is for hard work.

The top one will split anything easily. The bottom one will bounce back and hit you in the face if you try to split twisty grain 20 years dead Yellow Box.

Until the yellow box starts getting stuck onto the splitter head and you have to belt it off with the hand splitter anyway.

My old man was a firewood supplier and I worked for him over the summer months. While a hydraulic splitter can be easier, doing it by hand is a hell of a lot quicker. And don't forget while you dont have to be swinging a splitter at the log you still have to lift it onto the hydraulic splitter and then spin it around on the splitter if you want it split into more than halves so it's still a bit of work. Especially if you have big rounds to get up on there.

Wood Borer

22nd April 2009, 10:54 AM

Especially if you have big rounds to get up on there.

DJ's splitter has the ability to lift the rounds onto the table to save your back.

It's a nice machine manufactured just up the road from here. It's called a Superaxe.

Barry_White

22nd April 2009, 11:02 AM

Until the yellow box starts getting stuck onto the splitter head and you have to belt it off with the hand splitter anyway.

My old man was a firewood supplier and I worked for him over the summer months. While a hydraulic splitter can be easier, doing it by hand is a hell of a lot quicker. And don't forget while you dont have to be swinging a splitter at the log you still have to lift it onto the hydraulic splitter and then spin it around on the splitter if you want it split into more than halves so it's still a bit of work. Especially if you have big rounds to get up on there.

Not if you do it the way that I do it. I park the splitter along side the truck and drop the block onto the splitter.

If you use a hand splitter as I used to you have to bend over and lift the block on to the splitting block. Trying to split wood whilst it is on the ground is useless because the ground absorbs too much of the blow and becomes ineffective.

Also if the blocks are already on the ground and are too heavy to lift I can put my splitter into upright mode and just slide the block onto the base plate sit on a drench drum and split away.

When I start the ram it just keeps going as nothing will stop it except turning the valve off.

With a hand splitter on the the timber I split here it may take three blows just to get it started into the block.

And as far as the splitter head getting stuck in the yellow box block on the very rare occasion all I have to do is reverse the ram as there are bars on my splitter that push any stuck blocks off the head.

There are plenty of crappy splitters around that will create all the problems you speak of but I put plenty of research in before I bought that machine.

DJ’s Timber

22nd April 2009, 11:09 AM

DJ's splitter has the ability to lift the rounds onto the table to save your back.

It's a nice machine manufactured just up the road from here. It's called a Superaxe.

And here's a pic of Rob using it :;

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=47185&d=1180524783

And a pic of what I've done with it

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=49830&d=1183383166

Barry_White

22nd April 2009, 11:12 AM

DJ's splitter has the ability to lift the rounds onto the table to save your back.

It's a nice machine manufactured just up the road from here. It's called a Superaxe.

They are beautiful machine Wood Borer. They where just out of my league at the time. I would defy anyone to split wood by hand faster than the Superaxe. I watched the guy that sells them demonstrating them at the Agquip field days and was very impressed but as I said just bit expensive for me.

My doctor told me that chopping wood by hand is one the most strenuous things you can do especially for any one with a heart condition.

kahlua_khan

22nd April 2009, 12:05 PM

Not if you do it the way that I do it. I park the splitter along side the truck and drop the block onto the splitter.

You still have to get it onto the truck.

If you use a hand splitter as I used to you have to bend over and lift the block on to the splitting block. Trying to split wood whilst it is on the ground is useless because the ground absorbs too much of the blow and becomes ineffective.

Never had any issues with splitting wood on the ground. Mind you we were always either splitting on clay bases or sand.

Also if the blocks are already on the ground and are too heavy to lift I can put my splitter into upright mode and just slide the block onto the base plate sit on a drench drum and split away.

You still have to get the blocks to the splitter or the splitter to the blocks. If you tow the splitter to the blocks then you can't tow a trailer.

With a hand splitter on the the timber I split here it may take three blows just to get it started into the block.

And as far as the splitter head getting stuck in the yellow box block on the very rare occasion all I have to do is reverse the ram as there are bars on my splitter that push any stuck blocks off the head.

I must point out that we never cut yellow box. We found timbers in south west victoria that had these curly type grains and they would cling to the head of the splitter. We had bars on the splitter to begin with but ended up cutting them off as we mounted an elevator at the side. Knocking them off with the hand splitter was quicker.

montiee

22nd April 2009, 02:24 PM

Here's the missus's last week effort.

Seems you got a faulty missus. Aren't they only meant to cook and clean j/k
That's a pretty damn good effort though for anyone..

If I could only get her to stack it neatly :roll:

Shh, if you complain too much she'll ask you to show her how it's done, then the trouble begins :lol:.

montiee

22nd April 2009, 02:26 PM

Not if you do it the way that I do it. I park the splitter along side the truck and drop the block onto the splitter.

What's the selling price for that super-axe just out of curiosity if you don't mind me asking. It looks like an amazing machine but alas I know I could never justify that level of machinery.

DJ’s Timber

22nd April 2009, 05:06 PM

Price for the Superaxe that I have is about the $5k mark, as for Barry's unit, I think you can pick up a reasonable unit on eBay for about $1.2 to 1.5k

felixpower

12th May 2009, 10:21 AM

you will find the dryer the timber the better with a log spitter i found that ithas lots off string bits after you spit it green. Dry wood just brakes right up with a full stroke off splitter even knots . Knots is where you will come out way in front with a spliter

charlsie

15th May 2009, 08:39 PM

i hire a super axe from the local hire place $150 per day, i then pay a couple of young blokes to help me split the timber that's not worth putting through the lucas. some of the rounds need to be loaded onto the bench with the bobcat ,they're so heavy. But at 5K it's alot to fork out for a machine that i only need to use 2 days a year to supply my whole years firewood. what i dont burn myself i sell to recoup the hire price. I go through about 10-12 cm3 of wood a year in the house depending on how cold the winter is , and it hasn't been too bad this year

montiee

15th May 2009, 09:06 PM

I go through about 10-12 cm3 of wood a year in the house depending on how cold the winter is , and it hasn't been too bad this year

Fair enough. I'm having a bit of trouble sourcing timber in Sydney so it's not like I've got alot to go through atm. I think for me a simple $300 splitter would be more than enough. Need to chase up with a few contractors and see how it takes me. No tall forests around where I live ;).

I'm still struggling for time trying to refurb (rebuild) my old wood heater. I keep finding a few more things to fix as I go on..

Just out of interest I assume you mean 10-12 m3 right ?

weisyboy

15th May 2009, 10:12 PM

for $300 you could get a decent axe. youll do it a lot quicker with an axe than a hydrolic splitter.

$300 wouldnt even get u a half decent hydrolic ram.

it dosent take long to split up a bunch of firewood by hand. :2tsup:

Wood Borer

15th May 2009, 11:10 PM

:whs:

Or

Splitting wood the easy way
"http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3869"

bluegum30

16th May 2009, 08:02 AM

Barry_White

16th May 2009, 10:47 AM

The old wood heap axe can be handy tool at times ,now for chopping wood it takes on the appearance of a black snake :U big thumbs up to wood splitters the hydraulic kind :2tsup::2tsup::2tsup::D Lloyd.

P S,carl the hydraulic wood splitters are ahead i think.:D:D:D

Lloyd

Don't you know that young blokes can run around with one arm tied behind their back and do three times as much as us old pharts, but using a hydraulic splitter is using brains instead of brawn that young guys haven't had enough years to develop the wisdom.

montiee

16th May 2009, 02:15 PM

Splitting wood the easy way
"http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3869"

Take that super-axe..haha.

If I manage to get a good supply of wood I'll definitely go the hydraulic splitter. I'm time poor as is and I have tried using axes before and they are not what I'd call easy work. What I hate is when the damn axe bounces off the wood assuming non-green timber or gets stuck. To me it's kind of the same principle as using an old manual tree felling saw vs a chainsaw. Both work and are options but I know I wouldn't be going the manual way given an option ;).

Wood Borer

16th May 2009, 09:01 PM

Splitting rounds by hand does not take that much energy or time if you know the timber.

Normally a series of tangential wacks with the log splitter will reduce a 2 foot diameter round into wood suitable for the fire in a few minutes - that's how I do ours and our only form of heating for the house is the Kinara.

Anything that doesn't cooperate can be beaten by ripping with the chainsaw in a few strategic places and finished off with the hand splitter. The long shavings from the ripping are great for starting the fire after they dry.

timbertalk

22nd May 2009, 10:35 PM

I've never used a hydraulic splitter, never even seen one running, but I cannot imagine how it could keep up with hand-splitting, let alone the price difference. Three of us used to fell green trees, cut into discs, split and load 13 tonnes per day, day after day after day, plus 2 hrs drive out of Canberra each way. I was the splitter, others on chainsaws. No problems. Is that achievable with a mechancan splitter? Maybe it is?

montiee

22nd May 2009, 10:47 PM

Is that achievable with a mechancan splitter? Maybe it is?

I would say so depending on the splitter. Just check out that video posted and see how quick processing firewood can actually be commercially (for convienience "http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3869"). I've split logs when I was much younger and saw my uncle do it all the time since he lived out in the country and had a wood fired stove and from what I've seen of the mechanical log splitters there is no way you would keep up, especially over a couple of hours no matter what. Granted the ones I saw were not cheap ebay ones. Cheaper ones split the log in two but you can get attachments that split it into 4+ on one pass. Of course if you are a commercial business you'd buy something like a super-axe at the minimum and it'd pay for itself in no time and would be tax deductable. Labor is the most expensive part of running any business (insurance etc).

timbertalk

23rd May 2009, 10:53 PM

Holy sh*****t, that is something to see. If it can do that with yellow box, I'm getting one! Softwoods don't really count over here. Bad news is that you have to go on your 5km run at the end of the day to keep fit!

rsser

7th June 2009, 10:05 AM

Just a word of warning though. Doing a lot of it by hand can damage the nerves in the hand and/or cause carpal tunnel problems.

Calm

7th June 2009, 10:17 AM

Just a word of warning though. Doing a lot of it by hand can damage the nerves in the hand and/or cause carpal tunnel problems.

Does that mean i can sue my mum :rolleyes:

- when i was a teenager and said "i'm bored" her answer was go and cut some wood - we had a stove, open fire (no slow combustion heater thingy) and seperate wood heater that all seemed to burn an enormous amount of wood. I thnk at least a trailer load a week from memory

I thought it never did me any harm (a bit of hard work) but maybe that is why my wrists ache when i am driving now.

Any lawyers here interested:no::no:

weisyboy

9th June 2009, 06:50 PM

Just a word of warning though. Doing a lot of it by hand can damage the nerves in the hand and/or cause carpal tunnel problems.:roll:

if that is true then how did all the blokes like my father that used to spend all day falling and limbing with axes get on?

he has no problems and neitther do any of the other old blokes i know.

rsser

9th June 2009, 07:17 PM

I'm glad to hear that Carl.

But a few cases does not constitute a rule. That's why I said "can" if you care to reread the post. A mate of mine lost a good deal of feeling and had constant pins and needles in his hands in old age.

weisyboy

9th June 2009, 07:53 PM

well i gues its like most things and it depends on the preson.

weisyboy

10th June 2009, 08:02 AM

what u want is an english plumb axe.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ANTIQUE-AXE-HEAD-PLUMB-Cir-1887-1907-3-3-4lb_W0QQitemZ230347870404QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_15?hash=item35a1cd90c4&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A975%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

every axe falls diferently dont buy a cheep axe from a hardware store or you wil make choping hard work.
also dont buy an american plumb axe. :2tsup:

rsser

10th June 2009, 08:09 AM

You ever tried splitting Euc with an axe Carl?

weisyboy

10th June 2009, 08:26 AM

i split red ironbark, stringybark, talowwood, grey box, grey gum, bluegum, spotty gum and bloodwood for firewood. some logs take a bit of work but most are fine.

iv only once struck a lot that i could not split. red ironbark the axe would not even make a mark in it it just bounced off. i cut it up on the bandsaw for boxmaking and it was black. but other than thart no problems.

i also spent my childhood and up untill 3 or 4 years ago splittign fence posts with my father and his team. axe, wedged adn maul is all thats needed and maby a broad axe for the dificuly ones.

maby you havce never used a decent axe. i have 7 axes and only one is any good to use. teh otehrs are unbalanced. the ordanary bloke probly would not notice but there is a huge diference when working all day.

Vernonv

10th June 2009, 05:05 PM

what u want is an english plumb axe.For splitting firewood you're better off with a block splitter, rather than an axe. An axe is designed to chop (cut), while a block splitter it designed to split.

weisyboy

10th June 2009, 06:40 PM

if ya splitting all day its a basturd to use a block splitter. there is to mutch jaring and bounce back. the axe goes in with each hit.

Sigidi

10th June 2009, 08:23 PM

I have to admit I find some satisfaction from splitting up firewood at the end of the day, just before dusk. I tend to split about a few nights worth in one session, then the missus buggers me over by having the fire on all day and night, then I fall behind and have to split up a bit more... but I really like splitting the firewood - won't let anyone else do it, they can fill the barrow and stack the box in the house, but I split it:2tsup:

Vernonv

11th June 2009, 11:20 AM

if ya splitting all day its a basturd to use a block splitter. there is to mutch jaring and bounce back. the axe goes in with each hit.You must be splitting green'ish timber. I've never had a problem splitting dry blocks even up to 400mm in diameter (just split some big blocks yesterday morning in fact).

Barry_White

11th June 2009, 11:35 AM

Vernon

What sort of timber are you splitting. Stringy, Redgum and New England Peppermint splits easier enough but twisty grain Yellow Box is another kettle of fish. I have to agree with Weisy an axe works better than a block splitter.

I have what I call a puddin axe, it has a sharp edge but the cheeks are fatter so it goes in with the sharp edge but the cheeks help to split it.

My preferred method these days is my hydraulic log splitter it's much easier on my heart at my age.

Vernonv

11th June 2009, 12:40 PM

Hi Barry,
Mostly stringy, and sometimes tallowood.

I used to use an axe, but found I spent heaps of time and effort pulling the axe out of a half split block. Now with the block splitter I rarely have to do that.

weisyboy

11th June 2009, 09:42 PM

but u dont pull it out when it gets stuck.

you swing the axe with the block stuck and strike the back of the head of the axe on your chopping block. the block of wood dose the work.

stringy and talowood splits that easily that a block splitter probly would not cause any problems.

silentC

11th June 2009, 09:52 PM

What, you have to have more than one swing to split a block? Get a block splitter mate. One blow and it's split.

Vernonv

12th June 2009, 11:15 AM

but u dont pull it out when it gets stuck.

you swing the axe with the block stuck and strike the back of the head of the axe on your chopping block. the block of wood dose the work.Sorry, but you can't do that with a 400mm diameter block stuck on the end of the axe .... and why bother when a block splitter will do it in one go with less effort.:roll: