The price of procrastination

[SolarAndWood]

If they don't know, I don't want to discourage them. :lol:

I'm not sure I will mess with them other than for January wood. Getting 100 pounds in the stove is going to be easy with 40 pound square splits at my disposal.

 

[MasterMech]

It is definitely the shape of the wedge that is the issue, not the cylinder. They got about an inch into the wedge before it stalled and I could see the beam flex. I had the same problem with the sledge and wedge approach and had to noodle down a few inches. The beam is 8" with 3/8" flanges and seems about right for the cylinder.

I'm curious, with the I&O, if you go back 3", how wide is the wedge before and after the flare? How wide is the flare at maximum and how far back from the start of it?

A 6" cylinder and the pump, motor, frame, cord and tank would be an expensive project. I think a fraction of that money is much better spent improving this one. The 6" largely came from the desire to use something like Timberwolf's box wedge concept but on a bigger scale.

Seems to me a box wedge is awful limiting to the size of the rounds you can split.

The wedge on the I & O starts from a sharp edge and bevels to about 1" and then after about 2" (working from memory here, my splitter is in it's summer home) it begins the spread to about 3-4" or so.

Might want to back off the relief valve on the pump if it's got enough pressure to flex the beam...

Here's a pretty good look at the wedge.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/xZVIwp-F1nM[/youtube]

 

[SolarAndWood]

Box wedge would just be a slip over, most of the stuff I get would never go through it. I see the advantage of those knife like wedges but I sure like how fast mine pops the rounds apart. Trade offs to everything I guess.

 

[oldspark]

Hmm. I've never had oak get harder to split after sitting. Elm maybe, but not oak. I have some rounds that have been sitting all summer and they are popping pretty good.

I think you could make/buy a lot better wedge with some gradual flaring. Mine starts out sharp, then flares out after 3 or 4 inches and works fantastic.

For me it is the short term splitting that gets harder not sitting over the summer, It has been that way for me for over 30 years, cut green wood let it sit for a short period of time (weeks not months) and its harder to split than freash cut. I cut some elm last spring and it splits very easy now after sitting for 6 months.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Any idea why that is oldspark? It is bizarrre, I couldn't even get the maul or wedges into it without cutting a couple inch groove with the saw.

 

[fahmahbob]

For me it is the short term splitting that gets harder not sitting over the summer, It has been that way for me for over 30 years, cut green wood let it sit for a short period of time (weeks not months) and its harder to split than freash cut. I cut some elm last spring and it splits very easy now after sitting for 6 months.

I've noticed the same thing. I attributed it to the fact that once the surface dried, it got harder to get through. Then, as the dryness works its way in, the checking starts to appear and make splitting a bit easier again.

 

[oldspark]

Any idea why that is oldspark? It is bizarrre, I couldn't even get the maul or wedges into it without cutting a couple inch groove with the saw.

I assume the wood on the very end starts to cure in a week or so and makes it harder to split.

 

[oldspark]

For me it is the short term splitting that gets harder not sitting over the summer, It has been that way for me for over 30 years, cut green wood let it sit for a short period of time (weeks not months) and its harder to split than freash cut. I cut some elm last spring and it splits very easy now after sitting for 6 months.

I've noticed the same thing. I attributed it to the fact that once the surface dried, it got harder to get through. Then, as the dryness works its way in, the checking starts to appear and make splitting a bit easier again.

We are on the same page.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I buy that explanation too. Once the wedge was 4-5 inches in, it stopped wanting to bounce. Once I put the halves on the splitter, I also found that the end the wedge hit made a big difference. Once side would pop right open while the other would stall the splitter.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Methinks oldspark has it right too.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Methinks oldspark has it right too.

so does Mesplitter :lol:

 

[smokinj]

Can't put this totally on Irene, but I can't believe what a difference a few weeks makes with splitting. I had a dozen large, 36", black oak rounds that I hadn't split before Irene showed up. Few other distractions and didn't get to them until today. The splitter blew through them when they were fresh, I had to cut a groove with the saw and break out the sledge and wedges today. The tall fat wedge on the splitter is usually an asset as it usually takes less than an inch of travel to blow the split up. Today it was a liability.

Sometimes it can be just the part of the trunk your doing...Curly oak at the butt end of a trunk can be a Big Job!

 

[SolarAndWood]

I heard ya Jay and ideas like hmmm I wonder if this would split easier from the other side are a lot more work when the round is 3+ in diameter.

 

[smokinj]

I heard ya Jay and ideas like hmmm I wonder if this would split easier from the other side are a lot more work when the round is 3+ in diameter.

LOL You get one shot with those rounds....I remember missing my target once! ;-) Most say how easy oak is to split, I have some that would change there mind.

 

[Thistle]

I heard ya Jay and ideas like hmmm I wonder if this would split easier from the other side are a lot more work when the round is 3+ in diameter.

LOL You get one shot with those rounds....I remember missing my target once! ;-) Most say how easy oak is to split, I have some that would change there mind.

I'd like to show them the spiral bastards I was splitting yesterday.None over 14"-16" but even with the bark mostly off you could see how the grain was like a corkscrew.Standing snags,dropped a couple more 2 weeks ago & then last week.No knots though!! ;-P

 

[smokinj]

I heard ya Jay and ideas like hmmm I wonder if this would split easier from the other side are a lot more work when the round is 3+ in diameter.

LOL You get one shot with those rounds....I remember missing my target once! ;-) Most say how easy oak is to split, I have some that would change there mind.

I'd like to show them the spiral bastards I was splitting yesterday.None over 14"-16" but even with the bark mostly off you could see how the grain was like a corkscrew.Standing snags,dropped a couple more 2 weeks ago & then last week.No knots though!! ;-P

I had a buddy one time give me an oak round and said: "it will be a cold day in hell when you get that split" It was! :lol: Way before the splitter came in to the picture. Curly oak is tough.

 

[onetracker]

I heard ya Jay and ideas like hmmm I wonder if this would split easier from the other side are a lot more work when the round is 3+ in diameter.

LOL You get one shot with those rounds....I remember missing my target once! ;-) Most say how easy oak is to split, I have some that would change there mind.

I'd like to show them the spiral bastards I was splitting yesterday.None over 14"-16" but even with the bark mostly off you could see how the grain was like a corkscrew.Standing snags,dropped a couple more 2 weeks ago & then last week.No knots though!! ;-P

I had a buddy one time give me an oak round and said: "it will be a cold day in hell when you get that split" It was! :lol: Way before the splitter came in to the picture. Curly oak is tough.

in agreement with all -

AND

we had an ash last year that was so gnarly and knotty with so may opposing branches that the main trunk was intolarable to split by hand. i never came across ash that was that demoralizing. i ended up splitting it later with my buddy's old 24-ton kelly. so much of this depends on the individual tree.