screw type splitter

[curber]

I've always wondered how well these work. Now I've got one available to me. Just wondering what others experience is with these. Seems like a good deal. Are these things extremely dangerous? I know that any splitter can be dangerous. Any info will be great. Pat

(broken link removed to http://eastidaho.craigslist.org/grd/2613556865.html)

 

[jimbom]

Very dangerous.

 

[curber]

Yeah I'm watching some youtube videos on them and the ones with the flat steel table look alot safer. I'm still not sure if I'm interested or not. Pat

 

[bluedogz]

For $269 I'd head to Home Cheapo & buy the Homelite electric that I did. Warranty plus little risk of dramatic death.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Most companies took them off the market after being sued because of injuries when using them. Sure they work and they can make it look as if it works really great but remember that you won't always be splitting the easy splitting wood. When you get to the harder splitting stuff is when you will be at more risk. So it is all up to you if you want to risk possible injury or get something better. Hydraulics are difficult to beat.

 

[wkpoor]

I know its all about cost and yrs ago I even entertained the idea of owning one of those. But ether the Super Spit or conventional hydraulic splitters or way safer and in my mind probably faster. I ended building a splitter that will do 4sec full cycle time if I want it to. The Super Split is even faster yet.

 

[boatboy63]

Confession is good for the soul...and a good laugh for online friends.
I saw an ad on Craigslist for one that hooked up to an axle on a truck. I had never heard of it, but also saw a video on youtube and was interested. I was thinking about rigging it up to use on the pto on my farm tractor. Went and looked at it and loved the concept behind it, but it rotated opposite of a standard pto. Being the type of person I am, I built one out of steel from scratch. Used bent lock washers on small end of cone and migged it all together. To be honest, I was impressed for the first minute or so, until the end of the log kicked a little while the spear was going thru it. I had a pipe welded at the bottom of the frame to lock the end of the log in place. The cone started to lose it's bite on the log and I pushed to help it grab again. When I pushed, the bottom of the log kicked out and over the pipe, allowing the log to spin. The force of the log caught my shoulder and threw me staggering about 10' into a metal building.

It was funny for all those who saw it, but it took me nearly a week before I could raise my arm over my head. Even though I was around 240#, that diesel engine turning the pto at around 250 rpm showed me who was boss real fast. This was 1 project that I didn't go around bragging about. We had surveillance cameras set up around the buildings as theft had increased dramatically in my area. My son quickly remembered them and just had to keep going back to the video and playing it over and over. My corkscrew splitter has been parked ever since and we bought a 22 ton Husky. Honestly, it's a wonder I wasn't either speared by it or spun around by the log and put in the hospital.

 

[wkpoor]

Now thats a good story worth telling. Never know you might have just saved someones life!

 

[boatboy63]

Now thats a good story worth telling. Never know you might have just saved someones life!

Trust me...I was worried about my own when it first happened. It was a job in itself to get my balance and stay on my feet when it happened. It was one of those times when you know you are about to fall and it seems like it took forever before I hit that building and finally came to a stop. The log was about 16" in diameter and 24" long.

 

[wkpoor]

I see you have a new Mag. I noticed at TSC they completely redesigned them for this year.

 

[wkpoor]

Scratch that. I went to the web site and they must have had the display marked wrong. I didn't look at the tag.

 

[711mhw]

A hammer, axe, chainsaw, tractor, ladder, lawnmower, wood stove etc. is dangerous in the hands of the person without the common sence to use it carefully. I think that they went away from popularity for these reasons, that is stupid people and lawyers. I've been think of rigging one up for my hyd. auger for the skid steer and use it to bust the big ones up to a reasonable size for finishing on the reg. hyd. splitter. Seen them on utube on the end of a mini ex. in Europe I think, pretty slick!

 

[oldspark]

I used one for years (still have it) and they do work good, how ever IMHO they are more dangerous than a hyd. one, but as 711mhw said some people can get hurt with a rock and a stick.

 

[wkpoor]

I think their biggest pitfall is there is no way to quickly stop them is something goes wrong. Hydraulics you just leave off the lever and it instantly stops or you can quickly back it up. The SS your hands are out of the way when you pull the lever. If that screw grabs you your done.

 

[LLigetfa]

Back in the previous century when I was still splitting my firewood with an axe, I had set aside a few gnarly pieces that were giving me grief. My neighbor brought over his tractor with a PTO mounted unicorn. All he managed to do with the gnarly pieces is make them look funky. The unicorn doesn't do well on stringy gnarly wood. I had to hack away at the wood with a hatchet to get it off of the unicorn.