As some of you know, I had a pile of rounds (well, several actually) that had sat for far too long. I had agreed to clean up all my 'old' wood before getting any new to help keep the peace around here. Sort of makes sense of course, but it was harder to do than say.
At any rate, this weekend a friend of mine rented a splitter and I helped him do his pile. After we were done he let me take the splitter home - I just had to get it back to the rental place by 5pm. Thus I had several hours to use it and I managed to get all those rounds done. Not that it was a whole lot - probably about 1/2 cord once stacked (in a heap right now). It is all sorts of mixed wood - some pine, some mystery wood and then there are the oak rounds that I had set aside last year because they were all crotches and large knots.
It was rather fun to feed these to this 22ton splitter (in vertical configuration btw - I would never have wanted to lift these rounds). It clearly was working pretty hard on a few of those crotches but that's what it is for eh? This was my first experience using a power splitter - overall it was faster than I would have been with the axe/maul but I was surprised at just how long it took to get the job done. Somehow I thought it would have been even faster. As much fun as it was to get the job done in the time it was done on Saturday, I think I still would rather do it by hand for most wood - the nasty/difficult crotches I'll save for the splitter though - those were well worth it.
So my status now is basically all caught up on rounds. I have some oversized wood to cut to length and of course this pile to stack somewhere but then I'll be in serious need of some more wood to process. It does feel nice in a way to get those ugly pieces split and out of my todo list, but it's also weird to think that I'm going to have to score some more wood before I have any more to do other than carrying it in to burn. Once I get it all stacked I can measure it out and know how much wood I do have. (and take some pictures of course).
At any rate, this weekend a friend of mine rented a splitter and I helped him do his pile. After we were done he let me take the splitter home - I just had to get it back to the rental place by 5pm. Thus I had several hours to use it and I managed to get all those rounds done. Not that it was a whole lot - probably about 1/2 cord once stacked (in a heap right now). It is all sorts of mixed wood - some pine, some mystery wood and then there are the oak rounds that I had set aside last year because they were all crotches and large knots.
It was rather fun to feed these to this 22ton splitter (in vertical configuration btw - I would never have wanted to lift these rounds). It clearly was working pretty hard on a few of those crotches but that's what it is for eh? This was my first experience using a power splitter - overall it was faster than I would have been with the axe/maul but I was surprised at just how long it took to get the job done. Somehow I thought it would have been even faster. As much fun as it was to get the job done in the time it was done on Saturday, I think I still would rather do it by hand for most wood - the nasty/difficult crotches I'll save for the splitter though - those were well worth it.
So my status now is basically all caught up on rounds. I have some oversized wood to cut to length and of course this pile to stack somewhere but then I'll be in serious need of some more wood to process. It does feel nice in a way to get those ugly pieces split and out of my todo list, but it's also weird to think that I'm going to have to score some more wood before I have any more to do other than carrying it in to burn. Once I get it all stacked I can measure it out and know how much wood I do have. (and take some pictures of course).
