Vertical Splitter

[stoveliker]

I'm 6'4", and one time I borrowed a hori/verti splitter from a colleague (forgot the brand, standard yellow one from the orange store. CHampion?).

I ran it vertically, and I liked it. The crucial point is to have a helper that brings rounds to you, so you can stay seated and efficiently run the splitter handle. Throw the splits (far enough, so you don't build yourself into a valley of split mountains) away, take the round just brought to you, and go.

This was with 20-30" dia red oak, so not light. Just have to handle them like gas cycliners, tilt and roll on the bottom circumference of the round.

 

[sirlight]

Great idea and nice work. Do you have some pictures of the back side?

 

[Crummy]

Great idea and nice work. Do you have some pictures of the back side?

 

[sirlight]

View attachment 301580

Nice build. I see the gun in the upper left of this picture. Good to have that handy in case your log splitter tries to eat you!

 

[Crummy]

Nice build. I see the gun in the upper left of this picture. Good to have that handy in case your log splitter tries to eat you!

That's a old shotgun that was my dad's. Probably not worth $100 but it means the world to me.

 

[Gearhead660]

With a cutting torch and grinder but don't know why I would want to have it horizontal.

I guess the pic is deceiving. Looks tall in the pic. I like the idea, good work!

 

[Ashful]

I meant to say worthless in vertical position when the backstop is on the ground. They are fine in horizontal position. I'll see if I can edit

The former top poster to this forum was an older gent who did all his splitting on a Speeco “Huskee” in vertical position, and he used to always lecture folks on the advantages of splitting with the thing vertical. For him, it was about not lifting rounds, as he was getting up in years, and he used to always insist we should sit on a milk crate (his had a seat pad) while splitting vertical.

I did try his suggestion of sitting down while splitting vertical, with input rounds on one side and output tossed to the other, and it does work. I still prefer standing and horizontal, it's just faster for any round you can easily lift, and I use the bucket of my tractor to lift a dozen rounds at a time to hip height for an easy swing onto the beam of the splitter.

Faster pump needs more hp then larger valves and larger line and larger tank and all that costs $$$.

Damn, you smelled my bad influence coming that far away? I'm like the kid trying to convince you to try a beer or cigarettes in middle school, so I have someone else to talk splitter mod's with.

 

[Crummy]

I guess the pic is deceiving. Looks tall in the pic. I like the idea, good work!

7'9"

 

[Crummy]

I did try his suggestion of sitting down while splitting vertical, with input rounds on one side and output tossed to the other, and it does work. I still prefer standing and horizontal.

I still think I'd be bent over too much even sitting on a milk crate to split with the backstop on the ground. I just split another 1/4 cord after dinner and I'm really liking standing up and splitting vertical. Makes very quick work of it and you can split multiple pieces at once. For example a smaller round that you are going to get six pieces out of only takes three splits. You run the wedge down twice evenly spaced then spin the round 90° and go down the center and you have six pieces. Bigger rounds can be done the same way but you split a couple flats off the side, spin them 90° and split them two or three times which gives you six or eight pieces then slide the big chunk back over and repeat.

 

[Crummy]

You smelled my bad influence coming that far away? I'm like the kid trying to convince you to try a beer or cigarettes in middle school, so I have someone else to talk splitter mod's with.

Just give me time, I cant leave anything alone. I've got a 96 powerstroke that I purchased brand new and next week it's once again getting turbo and injector upgrades. If I had just went all in 25 years ago it would have been all done but instead it's been 26 years of upgrades. That's about how it goes with everything I have so I'm sure the splitter will follow the same line. I'm thinking a Cummins R2. 8 with a hydraulic pump to match and twin cylinders with a 18" wedge will be on this thing by 2030.

 

[Ashful]

I still think I'd be bent over too much even sitting on a milk crate to split with the backstop on the ground.

Yeah, it’s definitely slower and less comfortable (for me) than standing, but maybe I’ll be singing a different tune about that in 20-30 years.

I only use vertical for big stuff, the rounds that cause the splitter to tip when attempted horizontal. Due to my equipment, I tend to be the guy in any pairing that always brings home the big stuff, so I’m damn glad my foot plate sits on the ground when it goes vertical. When splitting big diameter oak, I’ll still slab the rounds (they can weigh 1500 lb each!), just to barely walk the slabs up onto that footplate. A vertical splitter with a table at hip height would not help me, there!

 

[Crummy]

When splitting big diameter oak, I’ll still slab the rounds (they can weigh 1500 lb each!), just to barely walk the slabs up onto that footplate. A vertical splitter with a table at hip height would not help me, there!

I can only dream of big wood like that. I cut wood mainly from 4"-16" with the occasional 20"-24" round. Even a 24" round of spruce can be lifted easily with a little grunt.

 

[Ashful]

I can only dream of big wood like that. I cut wood mainly from 4"-16" with the occasional 20"-24" round. Even a 24" round of spruce can be lifted easily with a little grunt.

White oak I cut down at my church, largest solid round was 49" diameter, about 15 feet above ground:



The tree was more than 6 feet diameter at knee height, where I made the felling cuts, but hollow from ground up to near 15 feet.

Gave me some nice rounds, though. That's a 36" bar with on that saw.



Stuff that big is not uncommon here, but it rarely goes to firewood. Much more common is the literally dozens of 35" - 40" ash and red oak, that I always seem to bring home.

 

[Crummy]

That's some big rounds. I cut and split about 2/3 a cord of Birch today but they were only 4"-10". Not really any comparison.

 

[Ashful]

That's some big rounds. I cut and split about 2/3 a cord of Birch today but they were only 4"-10". Not really any comparison. View attachment 301653View attachment 301654

Believe me, you're more productive. Rounds that big make for slow stacking. My favorite are 10" to 20", I can really plow thru that fast, and stack up a cord at a rate that makes me feel good. Any larger than 20" (maybe even 16" in oak), and you're either rolling them onto the foot plate of a vertical splitter (slow) or noodling into slabs before splitting (even slower).

 

[brenndatomu]

The former top poster to this forum was an older gent who did all his splitting on a Speeco “Huskee” in vertical position, and he used to always lecture folks on the advantages of splitting with the thing vertical.

My ole buddy Denny...he's still at it...same splitter, same method, still singing the same song, split wood the way God intended, vertical. (the same way the trees grew)

 

[Crummy]

Believe me, you're more productive.

Productive 😂 Let me share the production of this 2/3 cord. The equipment used was a pickup with equipment trailer, pickup with dump trailer, tractor with grapple, ms500i and redneck engineered table top splitter. Early afternoon a buddy and I headed for another buddy's house that said he had some Birch down free for the taking. After a quick 30 minute drive with the two trucks we found the wood up on a hillside. It would have been sketchy to circle the hill and come down to the wood with the tractor so we decided to winch it out. Unloaded the tractor and dropped the trailer so we could position the pickup to a good spot to winch the wood down to a trail. Winched all the logs down in 10 to 12 ft lengths and packed them out the trail to the dump trailer with the tractor and grapple. Once all the logs were loaded up in the dump trailer we packed up and headed back home for processing. At the house we bucked to length as we pulled them out of the trailer and then split the rounds and tossed them back in the trailer so my buddy could take them home. With an hour of driving, loading/unloading tractor, 2 hours of skidding, 30 minutes of bucking, 30 minutes of splitting and many gaps in between to bullshit/warm up because it was around 0° all in all it was like a 5-hour project for 2/3 cord. The whole process was basically just for exercise and enjoyment so it doesn't matter how long it took but productive it was not 😁😂😁

 

[stoveliker]

But isn't that the beauty of wood heat. An afternoon outside, bullshitting with buddies, playing with toys, AND end up with a week or two of free fuel?

Sounds like a great afternoon to me