The Lockdown Firewood Splitter

Lockdown Firewood Splitter - YouTube

The challenge was to take the wood from a fallen Ash tree back to the yard and process it with no heavy lifting, picking up and stacking until the last couple of yards to the stove. This is because my wrists are arthritic which also stops me starting petrol chainsaws, hence the amazing little Stihl electric
Sacrilegious I know to mention burning wood on this site, but we have to heat our house in the Winter
Because it was lockdown in the UK I only had the scrap metal kicking about in the yard to build it with.

Sawhead

Welcome back. I guess there are a few positives from the "bug," but not many. Interesting splitter. The wood looks as though it would be too green to burn without storing for a year or two. Did I also spot an XK120 DHC lurking off to the side towards the end of the video as well?

Regards
Paul

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Sawhead

Welcome back. I guess there are a few positives from the "bug," but not many. Interesting splitter. The wood looks as though it would be too green to burn without storing for a year or two. Did I also spot an XK120 DHC lurking off to the side towards the end of the video as well?

Regards
Paul

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Eagle eyes Paul! You will be forever blackballed in Holy XK circles for not referring to it as an OTS, open top sports as opposed to the drophead. My dear uncle, who died last year aged 96, bought it new in 1952 and gave it to me in 1998 as a chassis, a rusty body (which had been taken off) and a box of bits. It was restored in time to take it to Jabbeke in Belgium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 120mph run (132 mph with the screen removed!)

As for the wood, it sits in those one ton potato boxes for well over a year in an open fronted shed, but Ash does dry quicker than most woods.

I may well put a processor saw on it driven by a hydraulic motor and I also need a hydraulic ram to clamp the logs when lifting to save me jumping out and chaining them at the top. For really large logs it may be better to fit a winch to pull them longways to the beam., which would also make it easier to move the log along for cutting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sawhead

Eagle eyes Paul! You will be forever blackballed in Holy XK circles for not referring to it as an OTS, open top sports as opposed to the drophead.

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Ooops!

Another circle where I am persona non grata :(

Regards
Paul

Ps: If you are dragging timber out of forested areas you might like to consider a logging winch on the back of your tractor. Mounted on a frame looking like the letter "A," it attaches to the 3pl. When lowered the bottom of the legs bite into the dirt and serve as an anchor for the winch, which can be mounted within the top half of the "A." Quite easily fabricated in the workshop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Ooops!

Another circle where I am persona non grata :(

Regards
Paul

Ps: If you are dragging timber out of forested areas you might like to consider a logging winch on the back of your tractor. Mounted on a frame looking like the letter "A," it attaches to the 3pl. When lowered the bottom of the legs bite into the dirt and serve as an anchor for the winch, which can be mounted within the top half of the "A." Quite easily fabricated in the workshop.

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I have a winch already on the 20 ton Caterpillar D7, "Daisy Etta" 1956 so four years younger than the XK
It has 70,000 lbs pull and does not need an anchor!
Here she is reeling in a new cable using the Matbro to tension the cable

https://dcn6x9s7fzj11.cloudfront.net...e3811397de.MP4

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sawhead

I have a winch already on the 20 ton Caterpillar D7, "Daisy Etta" 1956 so four years younger than the XK
It has 70,000 lbs pull and does not need an anchor!
Here she is reeling in a new cable using the Matbro to tension the cable

https://dcn6x9s7fzj11.cloudfront.net...e3811397de.MP4

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Sawhead

I hadn't appreciated you had other machinery. Please disregard my suggestion for an anchor.I have an old Inter TD18 (cable blade). It has just celebrated it's 20th year: Of not moving since it broke a track :( . It is a touch older than your D7 as it was born in 1950 (a very good year for some things :) ).

Regards
Paul

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Sawhead

I hadn't appreciated you had other machinery. Please disregard my suggestion for an anchor.I have an old Inter TD18 (cable blade). It has just celebrated it's 20th year: Of not moving since it broke a track :( . It is a touch older than your D7 as it was born in 1950 (a very good year for some things :) ).

Regards
Paul

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Well I think that we are both classics ourselves, me being four years your junior at 66! I am a farmer and we just have 40 acres of woodland here but just the Winter storm damage keeps me with enough wood for general repairs and flooring with the Lucas Mill and slabber, the Palax Combi processor for logs up to ten inch diameter and last but not least a true classic 1950 Little Grey Fergie which drives the Remet branch logger. Branch loggings are fantastic for starting fires and regenerating a fire that has died down
Woodchipper from REMET CNC TECHNOLOGY :) - YouTube
I run the Fergie at idle speed, it is petrol powered, so that if there is a nasty knot it stalls the tractor rather than breaks the shear bolt.
I found out the other day that the tractor is rather special. We bought it in 1960 and still have the original green log book. It turns out that the second owner was none other than HM The Queen, Sandringham Estates, and was signed by the agent one Captain Billy Fellowes, father of Robert Fellowes who married Lady Jane Spencer, Princess Diana's sister, so I always give a bow before I climb on board! It is unusual for the Queen's name to be in a log book and it is because she actually owns Sandringham herself whereas all the other royal stuff comes under the various Duchys of this and that.

So the last problem I had was how to deal with the bigger diameter logs, some of which are over 4 feet. I had a foolish idea of cementing a static axe into the ground to split them into more manageable pieces. This worked for a while, but I underestimated the power of the D7 and at the same time overestimated my ability to mix good concrete and the axe was pushed out of the complete with about a ton of cement!
Big Tree Trunk Splitter 4. Split into 4 with 1956 Cat D7C 17A - YouTube
Big Tree Trunk Splitter 5 - YouTube

The Lockdown Splitter is my latest attempt at dealing with the bigger stuff

- - - Updated - - -

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Sawhead

I hadn't appreciated you had other machinery. Please disregard my suggestion for an anchor.I have an old Inter TD18 (cable blade). It has just celebrated it's 20th year: Of not moving since it broke a track :( . It is a touch older than your D7 as it was born in 1950 (a very good year for some things :) ).

Regards
Paul

---

Well I think that we are both classics ourselves, me being four years your junior at 66! I am a farmer and we just have 40 acres of woodland here but just the Winter storm damage keeps me with enough wood for general repairs and flooring with the Lucas Mill and slabber, the Palax Combi processor for logs up to ten inch diameter and last but not least a true classic 1950 Little Grey Fergie which drives the Remet branch logger. Branch loggings are fantastic for starting fires and regenerating a fire that has died down
Woodchipper from REMET CNC TECHNOLOGY :) - YouTube
I run the Fergie at idle speed, it is petrol powered, so that if there is a nasty knot it stalls the tractor rather than breaks the shear bolt.
I found out the other day that the tractor is rather special. We bought it in 1960 and still have the original green log book. It turns out that the second owner was none other than HM The Queen, Sandringham Estates, and was signed by the agent one Captain Billy Fellowes, father of Robert Fellowes who married Lady Jane Spencer, Princess Diana's sister, so I always give a bow before I climb on board! It is unusual for the Queen's name to be in a log book and it is because she actually owns Sandringham herself whereas all the other royal stuff comes under the various Duchys of this and that.

So the last problem I had was how to deal with the bigger diameter logs, some of which are over 4 feet. I had a foolish idea of cementing a static axe into the ground to split them into more manageable pieces. This worked for a while, but I underestimated the power of the D7 and at the same time overestimated my ability to mix good concrete and the axe was pushed out of the complete with about a ton of cement!
Big Tree Trunk Splitter 4. Split into 4 with 1956 Cat D7C 17A - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHrO...&pbjreload=101

The Lockdown Splitter is my latest attempt at dealing with the bigger stuff