A day of splitting (first time with a log splitter)

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nihil

Member
Feb 12, 2008
20
Central Mass.
Had to have a large oak (??) tree taken down due to damage from the 12/08 ice storm and some internal rot. It was far too big for me to deal with (especially with 2 trunks leaning over our bedroom). Trying to recoup some of the cost by splitting it up for the fireplace insert I'm hoping to get.

It was my first time with a log splitter. Quite fun to watch that blade split the wood with little effort by me. Alas, one of the hydraulic lines burst about 2/3 of the way through the pile. 30 minute break to go back to the rental place and get another. We ran it horizontally until it was time for the biggest rounds. Honestly, I found it much more difficult to position rounds when it was vertical though that could be because those were the biggest rounds and I hadn't taken much time to make sure the area was level. All in all a good day though I'm a bit sore today (in a good way).

Now I just have to buy a chainsaw. . .

Some pics -

I'm the one on the left:

IMGP1365_edit.jpg


The eventual stacking area:

IMGP1368_edit.jpg


The final pile at the end of the day (with my son):

photo3-1.jpg
 
Nice pile of wood but where are the pics of the splitter?
 
I used to swing a maul until I had a bunch of large oaks taken down and had this huge pile of wood to split. I rented a splitter for that job and became an instant convert. Now every spring I rent the splitter to handle the wood that I've scrounged and taken down in my back yard, and I have a great feeling of satisfaction when everything is done and stacked by the end of April. I'm about 2-3 years ahead of the game now so I'm always burning well-seasoned wood. I'm lucky that I have enough space to store it. Enjoy your sore muscles and the heat you'll get from that load of wood.
 
nihil, that is a very nice stack of wood. There are many dollars worth of heat in that stack.

I do find it difficult to believe you like horizontal better than vertical. Perhaps you just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Besides, when you look at the first picture, it takes two of you to handle those things and those blocks aren't light so it is a lot of work to get them up onto the splitter.

With the splitter vertical, I simply roll the blocks onto the splitter and we've split many that were much, much larger than what you have pictured. But with those you have pictured, the way I do it is to actually sit down on an old milk crate (with a hot seat) and roll the blocks to me and I do most of that one handed. Simple, fast and very easy. The hardest part is throwing the splits out of the way! (Don't try this at home folks (unless you want to)! Sitting while splitting is frowned upon by the safety experts. I do it anyway.)

But using this method, working alone you can split very fast with a lot less effort. If you break out in a sweat, you aren't doing it right!


Hey, that little guy looks like a good wood stacker!

Happy burning to you!



EDIT: The pictures were loading while I was typing. After posting I looked further at the pictures and that just does not look like oak to me. Granted, it is difficult to really tell looking at pictures (at least it is for me), it just looks like maple to me rather than oak.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
nihil, that is a very nice stack of wood. There are many dollars worth of heat in that stack.

I do find it difficult to believe you like horizontal better than vertical. Perhaps you just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Besides, when you look at the first picture, it takes two of you to handle those things and those blocks aren't light so it is a lot of work to get them up onto the splitter.

With the splitter vertical, I simply roll the blocks onto the splitter and we've split many that were much, much larger than what you have pictured. But with those you have pictured, the way I do it is to actually sit down on an old milk crate (with a hot seat) and roll the blocks to me and I do most of that one handed. Simple, fast and very easy. The hardest part is throwing the splits out of the way! (Don't try this at home folks (unless you want to)! Sitting while splitting is frowned upon by the safety experts. I do it anyway.)

But using this method, working alone you can split very fast with a lot less effort. If you break out in a sweat, you aren't doing it right!


Hey, that little guy looks like a good wood stacker!

Happy burning to you!



EDIT: The pictures were loading while I was typing. After posting I looked further at the pictures and that just does not look like oak to me. Granted, it is difficult to really tell looking at pictures (at least it is for me), it just looks like maple to me rather than oak.
Click to expand...
id say maple as well
 
Backwoods Savage said:
But using this method, working alone you can split very fast with a lot less effort.
Click to expand...
PFFT! Rumor has it your wife does most of the work!
 
LLigetfa, please don't spread that rumor too much as it might make her head swell more! But in the meantime, I'll get as much work out of her as possible. lol
 
Backwoods Savage said:
I do find it difficult to believe you like horizontal better than vertical. Perhaps you just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Besides, when you look at the first picture, it takes two of you to handle those things and those blocks aren't light so it is a lot of work to get them up onto the splitter.
Click to expand...

You are probably right about me having not "gotten the hang of it." I bet if I spent more time leveling the area it probably would have been easier to manage in the vertical position. The medium rounds were pretty heavy so, intellectually, I get the value of not lifting rounds. Maybe the next time I rent a splitter I'll try it more vertically.
 
Coincidentally, I had a day of splitting myself. Very satisfying.

Of course, if a third of it wasn't that %^&(ing Elm, I would have gotten more done.

I figure I've got about 8 cords now, 3 of it I split last fall for this coming winter, the rest for next year.
 
Another vote for maple.

BTW, try to avoid stacking wood directly on the ground. ;)
 
Wet1 said:
Another vote for maple.

BTW, try to avoid stacking wood directly on the ground. ;)
Click to expand...

No doubt!

In the pic of my stacking area the stacks on the left are on 2x4s (w/ pre fab metal end posts - a box store thing) and the ones directly ahead are a 2x6 & 2x4 creation of my own. The previous owners of the house (we've only been on the property for 18 months or so) had several small piles of wood all over (stacked right on the ground) that are far gone to rot. Their main stacking area (in front of my 2x6 stacking bases) was on pallets but that was obviously VERY old as the pallets had all but rotted away. I try not to think of all the cut wood they let go to rot. I am endeavoring not to make the same mistake!
 
nihil said:
Wet1 said:
BTW, try to avoid stacking wood directly on the ground. ;)
Click to expand...
I try not to think of all the cut wood they let go to rot.
Click to expand...
You can always lay down the first course using garbage wood like Poplar. I used to build a platform out of 5 foot long Poplars. It helped to stabilize three rows of stacks so that the frost wouldn't topple them.
 
Splitters are great. Too bad they don't stack it for you too!
 
Good job on the splitting!

The splits seem fairly long .... how many inches long are they cut to? Make sure when you buy a stove, you have one large enough to handle the largest of your wood splits.
 
yep thats Maple

After hacking through a pile like that.... the WoodButcher likes to throw meat on the grill while holding an icy cold beer ahhh.........
Nice Work!


WB
 
stockdoct said:
Good job on the splitting!

The splits seem fairly long .... how many inches long are they cut to? Make sure when you buy a stove, you have one large enough to handle the largest of your wood splits.
Click to expand...
I was thinking some might have to be re-cut and used for N/S loading.

16 years ago my wife bought us a new home while I was working out of town on construction. I put in a RSF that takes a 20" log but didn't have any seasoned wood. A friend gave me about 3 or 4 cords of seasoned Ash but it was all bucked to 24" and had to be re-cut. I ended up with a huge pile of 4" chunks.
 
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