Splitting Maple,Birch, Doug Fir or Alder

[Burnhaven]

I order my wood split and delivered but with our new, smallish, HearthStone Tribute stove the usual 16-inch split logs barely fit. I was wondering about the difficulty of splitting the wood we find up here in NW Washington ( Whatcom County ), which I think are birch ( white? ) , Maple, Douglas Fir and Alder.
This splitter is not an industrial type, but for splitting 16-inch long rounds under 8 inches diameter or re-splitting it might work -- good reviews and only $279
HarborFreightSplitter

Ordering wood cut at lengths of 14 inches would probably cost a fortune.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

I know a few people on here have them and love em for your exact situation. I've tossed around the idea of buying one similar to have by the woodstove to split that last log that just won't fit on top of the load. Just bought myself a new 27 ton vertical/horizontal hydro though, so that might have to wait till next year.

 

[begreen]

Get a good maul and you will find that wood pretty easy to split. Be sure to have a solid splitting block underneath the wood. But the little electric one will do ok as long as the rounds are not too large.

 

[Burnhaven]

I have a maul and wedge but at 66 years old I'd rather not go that route. One question that came up on a similar machine called an Earthquake was whether it would even work below 40 degrees F. Still wondering about how tough it is to split maple or birch that is dry. ( compared to other woods )

 

[begreen]

LOL, so am I and I hear you. I use the maul less these days. Now I use both a large splitter and the maul only for straight grained pieces. Birch and alder split easily. Big leaf maple depends. A couple years ago I split up a complete large maple tree. The big limbs weren't too bad but the trunk was a tough. It had several large limbs branchin out that created twisted, odd shaped splits.

 

[Burnhaven]

any experience with a hydraulic log splitter below 40 deg. F?

 

[Burnhaven]

I see they use Dexron auto tranny fluid when its colder. This one sounds better: Wen Six Ton

 

[tinman1]

any experience with a hydraulic log splitter below 40 deg. F?

I used my hydrolic splitter in 32 degrees and not a problem.

 

[Burnhaven]

I went with the manual 10-ton from Harbor Freight. Works fine on my wood. Not fast, but cheap, quiet and I get some exercise.

 

[Poindexter]

I have an electric five ton I think from Home-Depot. I borrowed one from a friend, liked it, shopped AIH (Harbor Freight type shoppe), Lowes and Home Depot. I bought the cheapest of the three, all were clearly MiC in the same factory with different paint colors.

I do seven to ten cords per year on it, not in a hurry. I start splitting in October sometime and have until mid-March or so to bet done before spring thaw. Mine chews through birch and spruce just fine, even the twisty ones.

I keep mine in the garage at 55dF ambient, drag it outdoors down to -20dF or so and it runs fine. I do take it back indoors before I stack the splits du jour. Factory hydraulic fluid. As long as you keep it running it should be fine down to -40dF or so, pressurizing the fluid over and over is going to heat the fluid up. Below -20dF I get out on my maul and take on the uglies, I got plenty of time at -20dF and warmer to deal with the easy stuff on the 'lectric splitter.

Leaving it out in the "cold" would be where the fluid gets to thick for the pump and you start having problems, happened to a co-worker of mine local overnight at +20dF. Drag it back into the garage, let it sit for a few days, should be fine.

 

[Creekside]

I've used one of those little electric splitters for Doug Fir, Alder, etc, and found it was really only an advantage on the twisted or knotty stuff that is difficult to split by hand. Most of the native trees here split fairly easy by hand. One of the best ways to use it, if you have a truck, is to put the splitter on the tailgate and split the wood directly out of the truck bed as you're unloading.

 

[NordicSplitter]

I have the exact one. Works great. Can't say enough about it. Make sure you use a 20% coupon on it..

 

[Sconnie Burner]

any experience with a hydraulic log splitter below 40 deg. F?

There are different weight hydraulic fluids for certain temperature ranges. AW-46 is good from 80+ down to 32, AW-32 is good from 70ish down to 10, anything below that requires ATF( Mercon VI) according to my splitter manual.

 

[Applesister]

A trick I learned from a boyfriend, he was a heavy equipment mechanic, is to tarp a machine and put a Reddy heater under the tarp when you are working on machinery in very cold temps.
For my splitter and tractor(old diesel) I turn the Reddy heater on in the garage and let everything heat up to a safe working range.
Its an added investment that I wouldnt be without. It helps everything to start better in cold weather. Plus my metal buildings seem to hold the cold like refrigeration units.
I also wait till I have about 2 cords or rounds to split and do the splitting on a weekend.

 

[Applesister]

The Reddy heater runs off of kerosene and is really handy to have.

 

[Burnhaven]

The harbor freight 10-ton manual is working great.

 

[SKIN052]

I have a maul and wedge but at 66 years old I'd rather not go that route. One question that came up on a similar machine called an Earthquake was whether it would even work below 40 degrees F. Still wondering about how tough it is to split maple or birch that is dry. ( compared to other woods )

Splitting Birch is best done green but is not too difficult when dry. Actually Birch wont really dry unless its split. One trick is to rip the bark with an exacto knife prior to splitting. The bark holds the rounds together amazingly tight and ripping the bark means the difference between one swing of the axe vs 2,3. Electric splitters run slow as heck at low temps.

 

[Burnhaven]

Thanks. This ten ton manual splitter I got doesn't seem to care about the bark