Masonry Heater wood splits…

[AKguy0524]

Hey guys, I have a new Tulikivi stove and we are supposed to use wood that is basically what a normal woodstove would use then split again, so large kindling essentially. Just curious for those of you in the same boat, what your methods are for splitting the wood to this point? So far I’ve been using the tire around the splitting log method, but tedious and I have 2 stoves to burn! Does anybody use a gas splitter? I’m curious can they even do small splits?

 

[qwee]

I would think an electric splitter would be a good tool for this. Boss makes several - 16 ton on down to 3 ton(?). Electrics are usually cheaper. But maybe you are off grid? - so gas would be better? The reason why they split the wood down is because they want to get the fire done and close the flue to retain the heat ASAP.

You are burning spruce, birch, poplar, and maybe fir, so you should be fine leaving the pieces a little bigger than if you were burning dense hardwoods. Your wood species will burn faster anyways. If not electric, a tough little gas splitter would do the job. I got one of these used for $400 + $75 for a better Honda engine. It would work well in your area. There are a bunch of these undersized units new for sale nowadays - usually less than $1000 on sale in the lower 48.
Brave/Iron & Oak, Boss, Troy-bilt, Split-fire, Supersplit, Ariens, etc.., are known for making durable log splitters. Not so sure of some of the Chinese made splitters. But the bigger you go and durability isn't as important.

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[begreen]

Yes, gas splitters do small splits as well as large. If the wood is fairly knot free then a 4-way splitting head can knock off smaller splits quickly. Boss makes a 4-way cross head that slips over the existing wedge for this purpose.