I've been splitting firewood since I moved into my house about 40 years ago. Somewhere along the way, I purchased a 6-ton electric splitter for the occasional small stuff. Now that I'm 75, my days of bucking logs and splitting them down are over. I have seasoned wood delivered. It's mostly fine, but sometimes they get a little lazy with the splitting and I get wood that's really too thick. Or I'll just need some smaller wood to get the fire going in the morning.
The electric splitter has been great for that, but one annoying thing is that, like most of them, it requires two-hand operation. One hand to hold down a button to get the motor going and another to activate the piston thrust. The problem that I have with this is that with seasoned wood, the wood gets pushed up to the blade where it stops while the splitter builds up sufficient pressure to actually split it. At this point, the firewood splits with a loud bang and the two pieces fire off like mortar shells. Years ago, this mildly injured my wife who happened to be standing in the line of fire.
My solution to this was to put my left knee on that motor button, activate the piston with one hand, and keep the other hand on the log to prevent it from shooting away.
This worked fine until I broke my kneecap last year and there's simply no way that I can use this solution now. I've futzed with it a little using speed clamps to hold the button down, but that's a bit of a PIA.
It looks like the Yardmax 6.5 ton splitter might solve my problems. One-handed operation, so I'd have a hand free to steady the log.
I'm ready to do it, but if there's a way for me to avoid spending the $330, I'd love to hear it. It's possible I could open the thing up and splice in a foot pedal, but operating it requires to be on my knees, so that could be problematic. Having it up on a stand would be a lot better, but I simply don't have the room for a dedicated splitter stand.
I was wondering if sharpening the blade might help, but it's been like this since it was brand new.
The electric splitter has been great for that, but one annoying thing is that, like most of them, it requires two-hand operation. One hand to hold down a button to get the motor going and another to activate the piston thrust. The problem that I have with this is that with seasoned wood, the wood gets pushed up to the blade where it stops while the splitter builds up sufficient pressure to actually split it. At this point, the firewood splits with a loud bang and the two pieces fire off like mortar shells. Years ago, this mildly injured my wife who happened to be standing in the line of fire.
My solution to this was to put my left knee on that motor button, activate the piston with one hand, and keep the other hand on the log to prevent it from shooting away.
This worked fine until I broke my kneecap last year and there's simply no way that I can use this solution now. I've futzed with it a little using speed clamps to hold the button down, but that's a bit of a PIA.
It looks like the Yardmax 6.5 ton splitter might solve my problems. One-handed operation, so I'd have a hand free to steady the log.
I'm ready to do it, but if there's a way for me to avoid spending the $330, I'd love to hear it. It's possible I could open the thing up and splice in a foot pedal, but operating it requires to be on my knees, so that could be problematic. Having it up on a stand would be a lot better, but I simply don't have the room for a dedicated splitter stand.
I was wondering if sharpening the blade might help, but it's been like this since it was brand new.
