Split vertically for the first time today!

I'm taking the "under 8 hours" before Dennis chimes in and congratulates you for seeing the light! . You are using a red milkcrate as well?

Badfish740 said:

I finally got down to my dad's and tried out my new splitter (Duerr 20 Ton)-he picked it up on Craigslist for $400 with a bad motor. We swapped a 5 HP Briggs off a snowblower onto it, changed the fluid, and we were in business. WOW-I can't believe how much faster the work goes with a vertical. We split nearly a cord of honey locust in just under three hours!

Click to expand...

Just remember horizontal is for towing only! :vampire:


zap

Ah, one more seeing the light! Good for you Badfish. And yes, the old milk crate and a hot seat to sit on makes splitting even easier.

Badfish740 said:

WOW-I can't believe how much faster the work goes with a vertical. We split nearly a cord of honey locust in just under three hours!

Click to expand...

I can't help but notice the "We" bit. Easy going if you just sit there and have people bring it to you.

I work alone and I think I could keep up with any horizontally challenged operator working alone.

I guess I don't belong to this mutual admiration society of vertical splitters. Do you guys have a secret handshake?

LLigetfa said:

Badfish740 said:

WOW-I can't believe how much faster the work goes with a vertical. We split nearly a cord of honey locust in just under three hours!

Click to expand...

I can't help but notice the "We" bit. Easy going if you just sit there and have people bring it to you.

I work alone and I think I could keep up with any horizontally challenged operator working alone.

I guess I don't belong to this mutual admiration society of vertical splitters. Do you guys have a secret handshake?

Click to expand...

Either you split small stuff or prefer to noodle your rounds. Personally, when I'm splitting 80-100+lbs cherry/oak rounds, I'd rather roll 'em over to the splitter and split vertically....if I have a huge load of small rounds, I might set it up horizontally....to each their own.

BrotherBart said:

LLigetfa said:

Badfish740 said:

WOW-I can't believe how much faster the work goes with a vertical. We split nearly a cord of honey locust in just under three hours!

Click to expand...

I can't help but notice the "We" bit. Easy going if you just sit there and have people bring it to you.

I work alone and I think I could keep up with any horizontally challenged operator working alone.

I guess I don't belong to this mutual admiration society of vertical splitters. Do you guys have a secret handshake?

Click to expand...

Yes. And a decoder ring too.

Click to expand...

The handshake is a unisex one.

My decoder ring is prettier, too

MofoG23 said:

...if I have a huge load of small rounds, I might set it up horizontally....to each their own.

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Careful! Talk like that will get your vertical club card revoked. Those guys say horizontal is "only for transport".

Not much really big wood left in these parts so I can count on one hand how often I pulled the pin and stood her up. If I can lift it, it goes on the horizontal beam. You won't catch me sitting down on the job.

BrotherBart said:

BB - Poulan saw owning, big box store stove burning, Natty Light drinking, vertical splitting, one year oak burning, top covering, Chinese generator running wild man living life right out there on the ragged edge. :ahhh:

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You know, they have 12 step programs for most if not all of those. %-P
Admitting it is the first step.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Step_Program

BrotherBart said:

BB - Poulan saw owning, big box store stove burning, Natty Light drinking, vertical splitting, one year oak burning, top covering, Chinese generator running wild man living life right out there on the ragged edge. :ahhh:

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Now thats a quote! Priceless..

LLigetfa said:

BrotherBart said:

BB - Poulan saw owning, big box store stove burning, Natty Light drinking, vertical splitting, one year oak burning, top covering, Chinese generator running wild man living life right out there on the ragged edge. :ahhh:

Click to expand...

You know, they have 12 step programs for most if not all of those. %-P
Admitting it is the first step.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Step_Program

Click to expand...

That wasn't an admittance, it was a statement !

Advantages to splitting vertically:

Able to split HUGE rounds without lifting.
No ribbing from Dennis.

Advantages to splitting Horizontally:

MUCH easier on my back (no leaning or sitting, both of which kill my sickly back.
The work area around the splitter stays clear, just split and toss into a pile from a standing position. Vertical tends to clog the work area.
I'm not jumping up and down to feed the splitter. (UP to get wood, DOWN to split) - I work alone.

But I would never own a splitter that could not do both!

fire_man said:

Advantages to splitting Horizontally:

MUCH easier on my back (no leaning or sitting, both of which kill my sickly back.

Click to expand...

Ja, mine too. For me, you can add reaching and twisting as aggravating my back. Funny that some folk can't comprehend that lifting a huge round up onto the beam is good for my back while sitting and reaching even with my ape-like arms gimps me.

No need to get all evangelical about either method... whatever works for you.

LLigetfa said:

fire_man said:

Advantages to splitting Horizontally:

MUCH easier on my back (no leaning or sitting, both of which kill my sickly back.

Click to expand...

Ja, mine too. For me, you can add reaching and twisting as aggravating my back. Funny that some folk can't comprehend that lifting a huge round up onto the beam is good for my back while sitting and reaching even with my ape-like arms gimps me.

No need to get all evangelical about either method... whatever works for you.

Click to expand...

Ditto here. I can with no problem lift multiple huge rounds onto that horizontal beam, but I was unable to walk for the last two days because I hurt my back scraping off wall paper. The position and constant pressure did something very bad to me.

I have manually split a grapple load of fire wood with no pain ,but long car rides and using a screw driver with too much force kills me.

:lol: Just remember horizontal is for towing only! :vampire:


zap[/quote]

....don't care what you say, that there is funny

To be practical. I have a splitter that works both ways.
So to be non partisan, sometimes I split horizontal & sometimes vertical. (fence straddler)
When working off a stack of round or off the tail gate, horizontal is faster & easier. No bending to lift & the cradle beam centers the rounds & don't need held in place.
Big round on the bottom of the stack, I save them for vertical. Can't lift those heavy ones anyway.
The back don't like sitting & bending when setting on a milk crate.
I can't use the milk crate, I got some knee pads & a piece of pink styro, for vertical. Not near as good at it as (BWS) Dennis. Figured I gotta learn to crawl before I walk
Seems to be more than twice as fast when you have a helper, horiz or vert.

I have hurt my back a couple times man-handling huge (30"+) rounds into position under my splitter in vertical mode. I've since learned to noodle the monsters, quarter what I can't lift comfortably and then go horizontal to rock & roll through what's left. For those who say they'd never buy a machine that's horz only, vertical is simply an economical alternative to a log lift. It's a heck of a lot easier rolling rounds onto a lift than rolling into position, flipping them on end, and holding them against the beam for vertical machines. If I were processing more wood than I currently do, I'd be looking at a log lift equipped machine for sure.

LLigetfa said:

fire_man said:

Advantages to splitting Horizontally:

MUCH easier on my back (no leaning or sitting, both of which kill my sickly back.

Click to expand...

Ja, mine too. For me, you can add reaching and twisting as aggravating my back. Funny that some folk can't comprehend that lifting a huge round up onto the beam is good for my back while sitting and reaching even with my ape-like arms gimps me.

No need to get all evangelical about either method... whatever works for you.

Click to expand...

I'll chime in and agree once more...Horizontal is the way for me as long as I/We can lift the log. That sitting and bending over KILLS my back. even tried on my knees but that is just a pain too. Standing is the way to go for my bad back and I have the splitter table to catch all the pieces. When I have the assistance of my new splitting buddy, everything goes very quickly. Split and stack a cord in about 2 hours a few weeks back...nice sized ash went very well.

I've gotta chime in here too. Sitting down makes ho sense to me because I would have to keep getting back up to get another piece. And if its too big to lift then its too big to try and scoot onto the foot. Take 4' diameter rounds for instance(I've several 4' rounds to do). You can't move those when they are lying flat. I just noodle them down to lifting size and continue horizontal. Occassionally I will do an in between size like 2' diameter vertical but just to quarter it and then I go back horizontal. Squatting hurts my knees and back if done for too long.

I'm in the vertical camp.

I dont like to be in one position for too long though so what I typically do is move (mostly means drop and/or roll) a small piles of rounds to where I can comfortably reach them while sitting on my milk crate and on the other side is where I am piling up the splits (pull from the round pile on the left, split, toss splits to the pile on the right). Once I get through the round pile I get up, stretch out, then start over again. Occasionally I will reposition the splitter to be closer to the round pile or maybe if the split pile has grown to a point where I need to move. It aint a race for me. I enjoy splitting and am actually kind of bummed out when I finish splitting all the rounds I have on hand.

If speed weren't an issue there would never have been a thing called the SuperSplit hehehehe. I fully understand why speed isn't important to many and thats why the mfg's can make and sell so many slow splitters. Its saves them money and why would they care how long it takes you to split your wood. You've got all day right. Well not me, time is a precious factor and I need to make the most of it.