Will this Pin Oak force me to buy a splitter?

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Backwoods Savage said:
dave11 said:
Two months ago, I got a bunch of free Pin Oak, huge rounds, probably two cords worth. Have been trying to split by hand, and mostly getting nowhere. Even my 8 lb Snow and Nealley maul, which destroys most other wood, just bounces off this stuff. Wedges tends to penetrate half way, then bounce out. Have split Locust, Maple, Pine, Poplar in the past few years, with no trouble, nothing like this.

I know others here have talked about the trouble splitting pin/red oak, even though, amazingly, on other websites people talk about how easy it is to split. They must be talking about some other type of wood.

So my question is: Should I throw in the towel and buy a splitter?
Haven't needed one up till now, but I've got all this Pin Oak lying around that needs to be split and stacked. Has anyone ever regretted buying their splitter?

Here is one pin oak that I have to cut this year. I love the firewood but hate all the trimming you have to do to get at the good wood. So many limbs; so many knots.

Pinoakdead.gif


Question 1: If it were me, I would definitely throw in the towel and buy the splitter.

Question 2: I highly doubt anyone has regretted buying a splitter except maybe for one that has something wrong with it and that happens with most things every now and then.

As for me, I hated to buy a splitter because I never minded splitting wood and looked forward to it. But an injury forced it. When I finally got it ready and started it up to split some wood, it took about 30-45 seconds for me to wonder why in Sam Hill I had not bought one of these things before! I consider it one of my very best purchases of all time. We've over 20 years and counting on this one and the only thing I've ever had to do with it is to change oil. Well, I did add a third wheel, like on a boat trailer so that I can move it around easier.

Also, splitting vertically is the only logical way to go. No lift. No sore back. Just sit there and split by rolling the log to the splitter rather than lifting it.

That's good advice. My situation though is that I heat my house with natural gas, and use the stove as a supplement, mainly for my workshop and garage, etc. Buying a splitter will set me back again on my "break even" point for buying/installing the stove in the first place, but oh well. There are parts of this that I really enjoy.
 
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