How to increase splitting speed & efficiency?

[richg]

Gang,

I was hoping some folks could chime in with tips to increase splitting speed and efficiency. I've got perhaps 2 cords of white oak rounds, with the diameters going from 16-24 inches. Nothing overly stringy or crotchety. Despite having a 28 ton Huskee splitter, it's going painfully slowly. I'm splitting vertically and making little headway. The rounds are too dang big to continuously lift and split horizontally. What to do? quarter them vertically and then finish them horizontally?

 

[Razo]

Well this is an easy one, just get the [URL='http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/index.htm']KIRVES: Heikki Vipukirves! ......................................
[/URL]
Sorry I had to.

Well I only split by hand so the best technique I could offer to save time is the tire method but that won't help much here if you are using a hydro. Maybe you could do something like this. Place them vertically and keep rotating the round as you let the wedge come down and split. Like come down a 1/4 of the way into the round, rotate it 90 degrees, come down on it again, 90 degrees, again, and then the old the last downward split it would all come apart.

I don't know I've seen a video of someone doing it before, it would probably helpful if I found that.

 

[Whitepup]

Sounds like you need a 4-way or a 6-way wedge to speed up splitting.

https://www.google.com/search?q=6+w...GR8AHJuYDgDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1920&bih=976

 

[Applesister]

Find a helper to run the lever on the splitter and you just position the rounds. Goes way faster.
When you get fatigued you can just switch.

 

[yooperdave]

Richg-I tried to find out just where it is that you are located since if you are close enough, I can show you just how fast I can make those rounds disappear!! Happy Easter and don't get discouraged-sometimes if you try to take shortcuts or hurry up the job, accidents happen.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Gang,

I was hoping some folks could chime in with tips to increase splitting speed and efficiency. I've got perhaps 2 cords of white oak rounds, with the diameters going from 16-24 inches. Nothing overly stringy or crotchety. Despite having a 28 ton Huskee splitter, it's going painfully slowly. I'm splitting vertically and making little headway. The rounds are too dang big to continuously lift and split horizontally. What to do? quarter them vertically and then finish them horizontally?

That is a good size and I love splitting those. With that size I usually split in half first. What this means is that it will almost split apart. From this point you either turn it little by little and split or turn it 180 degrees and finish the splitting into halves. I like to split completely in half and then splitting the rest is super easy plus it is prime for making rectangular splits. Those splits make stacking super easy and make the stack stronger plus when loading the stove, you can pack them in tighter for those long cold winter night burns.

 

[richg]

I was back at it this morning and found a system that worked...quarter the rounds vertically, build up a good size pile, and then finish them horizontally. This is looking like a lot more than two cords....

 

[paul bunion]

I think you might be wasting more time than you realize re handling your splits. I would just get a milk crate or sit on the unprocessed piece of wood and keep splitting slabs out of those chunks. Do you have a pickaroon and/or pulp hooks? They make it real easy to handle wood without bending over and killing your back.

 

[BoiledOver]

The easiest and quickest might be with your Fiskars. No heavy lifting involved. Stand em or leave em lay and start at the edges. Would help if outdoor temps are below 20F.

 

[woodsmaster]

4 way wedge, or drill the holes out on the hydro a little to speed up the cycle time. I use one of those that a friend of mine owns and it is painfully slow. It has the shaft coming out of the bottom of the motor and sometimes when you pull start it it kicks back and about rips your arm off. Now they all come with a horizontal shaft motor.

 

[Driver]

I think you might be wasting more time than you realize re handling your splits. I would just get a milk crate or sit on the unprocessed piece of wood and keep splitting slabs out of those chunks

I split everything vertical, much quicker and easier to sit on a piece of wood and just roll what you are splitting around instead of picking them off the ground.

 

[BobUrban]

All about getting a system and rhythm -there really is no wrong way unless you are not enjoying it. Then it is all wrong. I try to pace myself and split some here and there until I am tired or sick of splitting - then I quit. After a week or two of evenings and the split pile is bigger than the rounds pile. Kind of how I stack too.

I like vertical for everything with the milk crate and a boat cushion - split through a tank of gas, let the machine and I cool down split another tank. Bigguns get 1/2'd and then work splits off the 1/2's - Shoot for squares and rectangles like Dennis said - they are nice in so many ways for a wood burner.

 

[lindnova]

I only split vert if too big then switch to horz for 90% of the time. With the log catcher goes pretty fast. I am 6'-4" so too much bending over. I also don't like someone else running controls. I like to keep my fingers and have control to stop fast if pinched - I haven't pinched a finger yet thankfully. If I have a helper they move logs to and from splitter and stack.

A log catcher or table makes it go much faster.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I was back at it this morning and found a system that worked...quarter the rounds vertically, build up a good size pile, and then finish them horizontally. This is looking like a lot more than two cords....

Why not just leave the splitter vertically? It saves a ton of work. You can even sit while working like I do. Look at my avatar. This is how I split all our wood.

 

[kevin85]

My buddy made me a table for my splitter...as someone else said, it saves a lot of time.

 

[stephiedoll]

In case you can't weld. Works great and very portable.

 

[bmblank]

I'll do vertical for those to big to lift, but I can't stand it. Horizontal is way faster and way easier on my back.

 

[red oak]

When I'm using a splitter at my FIL's I like to halve or quarter the rounds by hand rather than kill my back to try to lift them up. Even when splitting vertically, you still have to maneuver the round into position. If it's too heavy just whack it with the maul.

 

[smokedragon]

Find a helper to run the lever on the splitter and you just position the rounds. Goes way faster.
When you get fatigued you can just switch.

I find that this GREATLY speeds up my splitting........I know some don't want another person running the controls, but I trust my helper and it adds a great deal of speed.

I think you might be wasting more time than you realize re handling your splits.

Absolute ditto.......the number one way to speed up is to handle the wood as little as possible.

I'll do vertical for those to big to lift, but I can't stand it. Horizontal is way faster and way easier on my back.

I can't either.......I think horizontal is faster for me. But on the really big stuff, gotta find a way to wittle it down first.

 

[webie]

Get a 4 way wedge and put that on the huskey . Once you do you will kick yourself so many times over on why you have not done that before . With a good helper on the timberwolf I can split a full cord an hour ,provided they can keep up throwing the wood off the delivery table . A 4way wedge on there will speed you up 3 or more times as fast and save your back .

 

[bobdog2o02]

have a friend run the maul while you run the machine.........

Last night in about 2hrs my father in law and i made about a cord. He ran the machine with the bigger and knarlyer( spelling?) splits, and i ran the fiskars with the tire trick. I was pumpin out as much wood as he was. sometimes more. Put 2-3 smaller rounds in a tire on top of your splitting block, whack whack whack....... stack stack stack.

 

[smokedragon]

have a friend run the maul while you run the machine.........

You have better friends than me

Most friends would be much more likely to run the machine for you

But I would still go with that setup, cause free help is still free.

 

[maple1]

I don't think you can improve much on doing it vertical, and just keep rotating the round while it's in place on the foot. Should go pretty quick, actually - can't see any advantage in doing it partly vertical then going horizontal, that's just more work moving wood around. Do you have any help? They can just roll rounds to you if you do. If not, get a bunch of rounds around you on their sides before you start, when you're ready for a new one hook it with a hookaroon & pull it to you. Turn it upright right onto the foot & you're good to go. Just toss the finished splits into a pile out of the way - if your aim is good, and everything is positioned right, you can toss right onto a stack. Procurring a comfy seat should be the first order of business.

But can you reach your splitter control when seated at the wedge in vertical mode? If not, that's likely the difference maker - I can with mine.

 

[Corey]

I can't think of anything much faster than splitting vertically and throwing the splits right to the pile. I'm not much on having a 'helper'... even if you manage to double your speed, you've tied up two people, so 'man hours' are about the same. Plus if trying to go fast, it's way too easy for a miscue and someone getting a finger or hand mashed off, or clocked in the face with a piece of wood. Maybe if they could help stack, but then that is just speeding up the entire process, not necessarily the 'splitting'.

Probably the best way to increase speed is to control the stroke of your splitter. You often only need to go a few inches into the wood for the 'split', then retract the wedge just high enough to get the next round or chunk of wood in. Especially with straight oak, I'd think you probably only need to have the ram moving 6-8 inches and at that pace, you can dice up wood pretty quick.

 

[bobdog2o02]

have a friend run the maul while you run the machine.........

Last night in about 2hrs my father in law and i made about a cord. He ran the machine with the bigger and knarlyer( spelling?) splits, and i ran the fiskars with the tire trick. I was pumpin out as much wood as he was. sometimes more. Put 2-3 smaller rounds in a tire on top of your splitting block, whack whack whack....... stack stack stack.

This was the same routine today....