Manual Hydraulic Wood Splitters

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Mr A

Minister of Fire
Nov 18, 2011
600
N. California
Reading about some of amounts of wood used is incredible! I live in Suburbia, on a less than a quarter acre. I don't have space to store more than cord or two, unless I used up the drive and yard space(not a bad idea)Any way I dont have space for a splitter either. I came across these manual hydraulic splitters. I like the price, wondering if anyone has experience using them. Probably a much slower operation, then a powered splitter. I'm thinking I could split enough for a day or two at a time. It could come in handy for scrounged rounds. I'm sure a lot of you guys are getting a hell of a chuckle at such a small piece of equipment, lol. http://www.harborfreight.com/10-ton-hydraulic-log-splitter-67090.html
 
I don't know about one of those, but what about a plain 8-lb. splittin' maul? Probably faster than that device.
 
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A member here has one and likes it. I split the majority of mine with a gas hydraulic power splitter but this year I popped a couple of hundred and change for a four ton electric because I injured my shoulder and can't swing a maul anymore and needed something for re-splits. The manual hydraulic would have been my second choice. Living in close quarters, or in my case just needing to make a couple of split in where it is dry, alternatives to the big guns makes sense.
 
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I split with a maul when I can. I have a few rounds that the maul just bounces off! Some old oak rounds I got on Craigslist were tough work for the 20 ton gas hydraulic I rented. Renting costs too much. I could probably make one up with some scrap iron, a 20-ton bottle jack and a portable welder. I think making stand vertical would be better. Wonder why they don't make them with bigger jacks?
 
I have one, its ten times faster to use my Fiskars, I only use it when I have stubborn, crotchety round I need to split.
 
BrotherBart brings up a good point. These little splitters would probably be beneficial to someone who cannot swing a maul and for making re-splits. To use it as a primary wood splitter, it'd be so slow you would go crazy!
 
BrotherBart brings up a good point. These little splitters would probably be beneficial to someone who cannot swing a maul and for making re-splits. To use it as a primary wood splitter, it'd be so slow you would go crazy!

The main issue with the electric splitters is hard to split wood like knots and stringy wood and forks. But they will split 90 percent of what you need easily. They are actually faster than the big splitters the one I had Taskforce was rated at 13 seconds and was actually faster as you usually only have to go about half way most times so that makes it like 6.5 seconds plus the way the splitter is set up as son as you let go of the controls a spring takes it back to automatically ready for the next split.
 
Then there's this thing- looks pretty cool
 
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..... I could probably make one up with some scrap iron, a 20-ton bottle jack and a portable welder. I think making stand vertical would be better. Wonder why they don't make them with bigger jacks?

One word: Speed.

Or more precisely, lack of speed. When I was younger, I jacked a lot of big trucks and large excavation equipment using 20 ton bottle jacks. The ram of a 20 ton bottle jack only extends something like 1/16th of an inch per full stroke of the handle, which would make for mighty slow splitting.....
 
+1 on the recomendation for small electrics as far as a powered splitter for the OP is concerned. It wouldn't take up much if any more space than the manual.

A big +1 in the comment that a Fiskars or maul would outrun a manual hydraulic any day of the week.
 
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