Interesting screw splitter design

[Lumber-Jack]

Other screw splitters I've seen look dangerous, but this one looks pretty safe, and it sure looks easy to operate.
What do you think?

 

[bogydave]

Pretty cool. He need a bigger table so he don't have to bend over so much.
Looks like it works good on dry wood. Wonder if it would work on green gnarly spruce 18" long?

 

[savageactor7]

Meh.... too top heavy for real production.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well, it works at least for those easy to split pieces. I wonder about the knotty stuff or elm.

He really didn't need to build it that high either. Another case of foolishly trying to ruin his back before its time.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Ya, on easy pieces, it's easier to split them in place with a maul than to bend over and pick them up. Probably a fun building project though!

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Yeah easy pieces, that was my thought too, I'd like to see it split some tough stuff.

For me I think a high splitter like that would work well with my system. I usually cut rounds in the bush and load them in the truck then take them home and unload them on to a temp stack and hand split them later and stack them in the wood shed. If I had a splitter like that, or a standard horizontal splitter I could split them as they come off the back of the truck and stack them directly into the wood shed. Would save me some handling.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

He better watch his shirt sleeves. It could get real ugly if one got caught.

Matt

 

[JustWood]

I'll bet the 10 HP motor he has on that thing loves it's juice.

 

[LLigetfa]

I'll bet the 10 HP motor he has on that thing loves it's juice.

Ja, and way overkill, me thinks.

 

[Highbeam]

So I own a similar splitter, see my sig. The table setup is a step up in safety over the standard bar or using the ground to keep the log from spinning. The risk with the table is that if you get a smaller diamter round and then as you are feeding it the round spins then you will smash your fingers against the table. The motor didn't need to be 10HP, these screws don't take much power. Overall, not bad. You could easily make a bigger table for it or set it at a better height. The real important thing here is the screw.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Thanks for your input and the link Highbeam.
I have no experience with either type of splitters (hydraulic vs. Screw), but I'm sure they both have their dangers. It does seem though that it would be much easier to manufacture the screw type if you don't need more than 10 hp. I mean a 10 hp hydraulic splitter would be considered pretty wimpy, and with a screw type splitter you don't need any hydraulic system.
I'm sure you want to avoid getting your shirt sleeve to get caught in the screw, just like you don't want to get your fingers pinched in the hydraulic splitter. Possibly some sort of braking system would be good safety feature for the screw splitter? Also I have heard of people being injured by hydraulic fluid spraying out at high pressure from tiny holes in hydraulic lines, apparently the wounds can be quite nasty.

 

[savageactor7]

^I'd feel comfortable using Highbeam's splitter...if I ever seen one come up for sale I'm gonna grab it.

 

[Highbeam]

Actually, 10HP is a huge engine for a hydraulic splitter. Most are 5-6 HP with the bigger ones being 8HP.

The hydros are much safer since they are slower and since the only time something is moving is when you pull a lever to create the movement. I'll take a hydraulic fluid cut or even a smashed finger anyday before having my arm ripped off or worse by being sucked into a rotating shaft.

 

[jerseykat1]

I would imagine a screw type splitter can split the wood up very quick compared to a hydraulic splitter. Question to the fella that owns a similar splitter, how does it handle the big tough stuff? Does it handle it fairly well? I am considering a screw type splitter mainly because they appear to faster at splitting.

 

[RNLA]

Maybe just a bunch of crazy swedes out here! Those screws have been around a long time out here, in one form or another. I had never seen one till about five years back. A good old friend was a log trucker and we saw one on a landing one day. It had a 3-4 horse briggs on it, a real big 2-2.5ft fly wheel. We started it up and ran a few rounds through. I was surprised it worked so well. My old friend said they had them back when he was a kid. He was 73 or so last year when he passed. I will miss him. :-S

 

[Highbeam]

Almost all of my wood is the big tough stuff and it can be slow going with the screw splitter. First off, you need to lift and manhandle the huge round. Then, the stringier wood will split but not be ripped apart. See, the screw does it's screwing near one end of the log and not in the middle so even when the screw bottoms out, the other end of the log is still intact. Compare to a hydro wedge that runs all the way to the end of the log. Imagine only pushing that wedge in 4". So I always have a hatchet ready to chop those strings and finish the split. The hatchet only comes out for one in ten rounds. Still way better than the maul.

It is the exception when I can just split off clean splits and just keep on chunking splits off the round but when it happens, the screw is way faster than anything else.