SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
Flatbedford said:
Electric motor, ipod and a nice view isn't so bad especially when you are in an urban setting anyway. At camp, I split it all with a maul for the experience.
Hands or Hydraulics?
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Electric motor, ipod and a nice view isn't so bad especially when you are in an urban setting anyway. At camp, I split it all with a maul for the experience.
Kenster
Minister of Fire
I guess there might be sometime in my future where I can no longer hand split. It can be a bit of an effort now but I do enjoy it, especially in cool/cold weather. Doing it on a hot day in our high humidity is not much fun.
Another consideration.... I scrounge my own wood. Have never paid for it and can see no reason to every have to buy it. I like the idea of heating our home for free. Spending a couple thousand dollars on a splitter goes against that. I guess if I had a ton of money a splitter would make a good toy but I just don't need it for my approximately 1.5 cords a year burning.
I am not being critical of those of split with hydraulic assistance. I'm just speaking of my own needs.
Another consideration.... I scrounge my own wood. Have never paid for it and can see no reason to every have to buy it. I like the idea of heating our home for free. Spending a couple thousand dollars on a splitter goes against that. I guess if I had a ton of money a splitter would make a good toy but I just don't need it for my approximately 1.5 cords a year burning.
I am not being critical of those of split with hydraulic assistance. I'm just speaking of my own needs.
Grew up hand spliting and then with hydraulic. Bought my house, back to hand splitting and then 3 yrs later hydraulic.
Both are about equally unsafe but the work goes much faster with a splitter, and a lot less wear and tear on elbows and shoulders than hand splitting. There are upkeep costs on a splitter, but there is residual value if you can sell it in good condition if you find you no longer have use for it. You can/will be asked to loan your splitter to a friend or co-worker in need, or volunteeer to help out with their wood splitting efforts, all things to consider.
I would never go back to hand splitting.
I think to some, woodburning is more a hobby or retirement activity, usually they enjoy hand splitting. I enjoy burning wood and like to get through the C/S/S part of it as quickly and efficiently as possible, hydraulics does that for me. I also do all my splitting in a 3 week period in April, cut new rounds all summer to replace what I split, up until September or so, and never cut or split any other time of year, unless absolutley needed.
To each their own. All depends on how you look at it.
Both are about equally unsafe but the work goes much faster with a splitter, and a lot less wear and tear on elbows and shoulders than hand splitting. There are upkeep costs on a splitter, but there is residual value if you can sell it in good condition if you find you no longer have use for it. You can/will be asked to loan your splitter to a friend or co-worker in need, or volunteeer to help out with their wood splitting efforts, all things to consider.
I would never go back to hand splitting.
I think to some, woodburning is more a hobby or retirement activity, usually they enjoy hand splitting. I enjoy burning wood and like to get through the C/S/S part of it as quickly and efficiently as possible, hydraulics does that for me. I also do all my splitting in a 3 week period in April, cut new rounds all summer to replace what I split, up until September or so, and never cut or split any other time of year, unless absolutley needed.
To each their own. All depends on how you look at it.
Thanks to all who've replied so far. I'm enjoying splitting by hand, but would eventually like to go the hydro route. I've eyed up the Huskee 22 Ton as a potential purchase down the road. Until now, I'll continue to swing the maul and await the arrival of my X27 next week.
I forgot to mention my electric splitter. Unless you're splitting a pile of 12" diameters and under, this thing is pretty much useless. If you start with a round larger than that and have created quarters, you might as well just keep swinging with your hand tool instead of plugging the thing in. Just seems weird going from manual to machine. Kinda backwards.
I guess I was one of those "wishful thinking" electric log splitter guys (ignorning the advertisements/manuals) thinking the Powerhouse would take on a 2 ft. ash round. Boy was I wrong. It simply made a 1" dent and returned to its original position. The manual then tells you to let the machine to rest, for a minute or two.
I guess I was one of those "wishful thinking" electric log splitter guys (ignorning the advertisements/manuals) thinking the Powerhouse would take on a 2 ft. ash round. Boy was I wrong. It simply made a 1" dent and returned to its original position. The manual then tells you to let the machine to rest, for a minute or two.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Back in the late 1940's I started being introduced to splitting. Before that I had the chores of emptying ashes and bringing wood in to the back porch. Naturally that progressed to the wood splitting and the splitting was done only with an axe but the really tough stuff was reserved for sledge and wedge. Much later in life I found a woman and my heart turned from splitting wood into.....other things. Soon a family and soon wishing we could be back to burning wood. After getting back into the wood burning I simply continued with the old way of splitting until someone got me a splitting maul. Believe it or not, I had rarely seen one of these things. Fast forward a few more moons and then came an accident which ruined my old back. By that time the kids had grown and, like their father, their hearts turned towards the ladies so there was no backup for splitting wood.
I did try one year hiring a young lad to split wood but that did not last long at all. Couldn't teach him anything and he was really rough on the tools. The back did not improve and we even bought wood, which was a mistake, but we got through it. We knew we had to do something but going back to lp or oil was out of the question. One day we were at one of the Quality Farm & Fleet stores and we were looking at some models that were on sale. I might add these were all inside the store and not out in front. The manage came over and started talking. Yes, we had thought about one but I had yet to see one work. He started pointing us to a 20 ton model. I told him my fears were that we'd get one home and it would not split what we had (elm). I also feared it would be so slow that it would be more of a problem than a solution. He said he was so sure it would do the job for us that if we bought it and it did not work to our satisfaction, we could bring it back for a full refund. So I countered and offered less than the sale price and told him if he'd take that, I would buy one right then. We became proud owners that night. This was in the 1980's.
I had to assemble the splitter but that was no major problem. I had a friend who could do the heavy stuff and he did. When it came time to start the thing up to see what it could do I was simply amazed! It took me about 2 or 3 small rounds to know we made the right decision. Wow! I could split wood and not even work up a sweat!
Because of my bad back I had to experiment to see what was the easiest way to run this splitter. It did not take long to determine standing the beam vertical was the easiest way to go. Then I tried kneeling rather than bending with each split and found that easier. Naturally I then tried to sit and see how that worked. Well, not far from where I was working there sat a handy milk crate. That thing became sort of a trade mark with me. I sat on it and found it to be the perfect height that would allow me to roll a log to the splitter one handed. Even on the big stuff, I found I could half them and sit one half aside while splitting the other. It really worked great except for one little problem.
The problem I ran into was one year I split a lot and I took very little time for breaks. I was throwing the splits and the pile became very large. This caused me to try to throw them further and higher. So then I ended up with a very sore shoulder. I now do not try throwing them so much. I feared surgery but have not had it and now I don't think I'll need it.
So that, folks, is how I progressed and also how I determined the easiest way of splitting wood and also the proper use of milk crates. ;-)
I did try one year hiring a young lad to split wood but that did not last long at all. Couldn't teach him anything and he was really rough on the tools. The back did not improve and we even bought wood, which was a mistake, but we got through it. We knew we had to do something but going back to lp or oil was out of the question. One day we were at one of the Quality Farm & Fleet stores and we were looking at some models that were on sale. I might add these were all inside the store and not out in front. The manage came over and started talking. Yes, we had thought about one but I had yet to see one work. He started pointing us to a 20 ton model. I told him my fears were that we'd get one home and it would not split what we had (elm). I also feared it would be so slow that it would be more of a problem than a solution. He said he was so sure it would do the job for us that if we bought it and it did not work to our satisfaction, we could bring it back for a full refund. So I countered and offered less than the sale price and told him if he'd take that, I would buy one right then. We became proud owners that night. This was in the 1980's.
I had to assemble the splitter but that was no major problem. I had a friend who could do the heavy stuff and he did. When it came time to start the thing up to see what it could do I was simply amazed! It took me about 2 or 3 small rounds to know we made the right decision. Wow! I could split wood and not even work up a sweat!
Because of my bad back I had to experiment to see what was the easiest way to run this splitter. It did not take long to determine standing the beam vertical was the easiest way to go. Then I tried kneeling rather than bending with each split and found that easier. Naturally I then tried to sit and see how that worked. Well, not far from where I was working there sat a handy milk crate. That thing became sort of a trade mark with me. I sat on it and found it to be the perfect height that would allow me to roll a log to the splitter one handed. Even on the big stuff, I found I could half them and sit one half aside while splitting the other. It really worked great except for one little problem.
The problem I ran into was one year I split a lot and I took very little time for breaks. I was throwing the splits and the pile became very large. This caused me to try to throw them further and higher. So then I ended up with a very sore shoulder. I now do not try throwing them so much. I feared surgery but have not had it and now I don't think I'll need it.
So that, folks, is how I progressed and also how I determined the easiest way of splitting wood and also the proper use of milk crates. ;-)
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
I don't have a hydraulic splitter, but they are high on my list of cool tools I would like to have. I've used them before and enjoyed operating them, but I also enjoy splitting wood by hand, or at least a maul, (splitting with my hand is somewhat painful). I find splitting manually therapeutic, and don't find it hard on my back at all. Unlike cutting logs on the ground with a chainsaw which I find very hard on my back, which begs me to ask this question of Dennis; How do you manage to cut so much wood with that sore back? Surely you don't also use that milk crate while you are operating your chainsaw too?
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Carbon, there is no doubt that cutting with the saw is hard on my back but I just cut in small chunks. If I get one trailer load and the back hurts too bad, I simply stop. Some days are good and some not so good. I've cut several trailer loads and felt great and there are other times when I get back and simply can't cut. Then I just throw everything back in the trailer and head for the barn. It's called doing whatever you can do. I love doing it; just can't do a lot of it. After all, when you consider that I am retired so have lots of time, yet cut only around 3 cord of wood this winter, that is not much. There won't be a whole lot more cut either until next year. I'm not even certain that I can get the stuff split and stacked....but I will no doubt work on that once the snow melts.
yooperdave
Minister of Fire
i have always split by hand. 99lbs has offered to buy a splitter, but haven't taken her up on the offer. sure does get the heart rate up there, no? (i mean the splitting by hand, not the offer)
I split by hand-3 cords per yr. I actually bought a hydraulic splitter once to resell it. Used it a few days, than sold it for a $200 profit. I'll try to do that again. I leave my tough rounds in the same area and work on them little by little over time.
Well, I've not been in this business long myself. But I've been helping my neighbors for the last 3 or 4 yrs splitting and cutting. At which time he's got a skidloader with a homemade splitter (its a monster). Its sits on the ground, so the back doesn't enjoy it. But with 3 people working the scheme, it goes pretty fast. I hand split all my wood this year that needed to be reduced in size. Which is a good excerise and stress reducer, I've found out. But after looking and reading decided that I wanted to split the majority by a hydraulic horizontal/vertical splitter. So far, after my purchase, I've been rather happy and so too has my back. I take the wood off the back of my truck and trailer, throw it on the splitter and keep rolling. I'll keep hand splitting some, but for the most part I'll let the hydraulic do the work. It all depends on your available time, your health, and wood source. Good luck.
tfdchief
Minister of Fire
Split with a monster maul, smaller mauls and wedges for over 30 years. I even bet a guy once that I could split more wood in the same amount of time than he could with a hydraulic. I won! I have a small frame, but have always been strong for my size, sometimes to strong for my frame. So at 60 I had pretty much worn out my back and shoulders, and splitting by hand was really starting to hurt. So I bought a hydraulic splitter. I am 62 now and have to say, it sure saves the old body. It's fun again! I think now I can keep doing this for a long time, which makes me very happy 
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I split by hand for quite a few years. We use only about 2.5 cords per season. Then I started getting wood for other family members to burn. At that point, we all went in on a splitter. I still like to pop a few rounds sometimes, using a lightweight ax with the wedge built in. I thought I was in heaven when I discovered that thing.
A couple of weeks ago I split about a half cord of Ash. This old body isn't done yet, but I no longer like to subject it to the shocks and strains of splitting the tough or big stuff. Smaller Ash or Red Oak aren't too hard on me.
A couple of weeks ago I split about a half cord of Ash. This old body isn't done yet, but I no longer like to subject it to the shocks and strains of splitting the tough or big stuff. Smaller Ash or Red Oak aren't too hard on me.
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