Neither! The splitter does not have a hydraulic lift. I do not have hydraulic arms either. I simply roll a log onto the butt plate and push the lever down. No lifting. I split wood like the Lord grows the wood; vertically, which cuts out the lifting, making splitting much, much easier. I've posted a couple videos in the past to show how easy it is. I don't even have to stand to split!
The "OLE" Milk Crate that Dennis uses has been the topic of conversation on these forums for quite some time. By the way his method does make perfect sense, especially for some of us seniors.
It does exceptionally well in pretty much all hardwoods. The only wood that really gives it trouble is Elm, which is tough on any splitter. I don’t find it too fast for me to keep up. The key is to be organized and efficient. Have a bunch of rounds within grabbing distance and you’ll see some splits pile up. I can easily produce a full cord an hour by myself with the Supersplit.
I can appreciate that but I need to lose my belly, so more lifting it is! Nice. I was surprised I was able to split the few pieces of elm I found at the dump with the maul. A bit stringy in the middle but the sapwood felt nice and dry and had a nice, dense, pop to it. I could do without the smell. Do you produce a full cord into a pile first and then stack I presume? I stack as I go since I don't want to make a pile and then touch the same wood again into the cart, and then again to stack.
Typically I’ll split into a trailer then stack. I have split and just let it pile up all day as well though.
I "pizza" split a round and half the slices if too big. Sometimes ill square or rectangle split. Mix it up.
Yeah I used to do that....but I would end up with these weird in between sizes where if I half the pizza slice the pieces would be too small or too wide, and if I didn't the split was too long.....I like the orderly fashion of doing it this way now..... People think I'm anal.......but I have friends that make me look like a slob I tell you!
I think you'll get the idea with these pictures. Typically we cut in winter, split in spring and stack right after the wood has been split.
Great pics Dennis!!! I love the no nonsense, I ain’t f***in’ around, its splittin’ time look on your face. Awesome
Thank you. Did you also see the old wood stack? If my memory is right (it sometimes fails me) at one time we had something like 21 cord stacked in that area. I could hardly believe all the questions asking if I thought we had enough wood. Ha! Of course not! After all today that wood is all history.
Yes I believe I did see it. It doesn’t take long to produce a lot of splits. Just takes some time and putting your head down and working. I have close to 40 cords right now. 7 of which are logs, about 5-5.5 in rounds, and the rest split and stacked. Doing what you do at 77 is inspirational to all of us.
When i get the urge to split by hand i love using a tire. I also save special rounds for kindling that fit perfect in the tire and just go beast mode on the round.
The only time I hand split is right before taking it into the house if I want smaller splits... other than that its done by hydraulics... Thats why I got hydraulics on my tractor... Less wear and tear on my body... I get enough of that at work....
Good thread! I split by hand as I don’t own any hydraulics. I have mostly oak, ash, and maple so most of it splits pretty easily. I use a sledge and wedge for the tough pieces and a chainsaw for the really tough ones. I have a pile of wood to be split that I can work at a little at a time. I just started processing more wood as I try to work on it during the cooler months - October through March. Tough to beat splitting wood on a cool fall afternoon.
For Dennis, You are most likely one of the most recognized persons on these forums. Having been fortunate to meet you and Judy, tour your property and spend a little time with you was a pleasure. Splitting rounds by hand at one time was both fun and satisfying, but father time has taken his toll on this body and told me to slow down. The Advils help, but the shoulders still wake me at night reminding me that all those hard swings do eventually mount up. Doc says they are bone spurs and will not go away but will get worse if I choose to keep aggravating the shoulders. Orthoscopic surgery needed to fix them. Mind you, I am not complaining and I will no doubt still do some limited hand splitting. Don't have hydraulics, or a woodlot, so at some point I will be buying my firewood and see where we go from there.
Speaking of beast mode I showed a neighbor who has never split wood how I do it - exactly like the first post........and I did it at my "normal" speed and I could hear his jaw shatter on the ground while watching me. I told him "Safety first, take your time, build up your technique and the speed will come later...There's no rush in trying to do things fast just for the sake of showing off or being fast." I keep stressing to people it's more about the accuracy than about the power..........But I think I got his juices flowing. I hope he comes back and takes more wood that he splits. It's nice to share the love.
The body can be a strange thing. Among the many reasons I choose to not hand split is the repetitive motion aggravates an old shoulder injury (landed on shoulder falling off roof 22’ to the ground). Overhead pressing and benching heavy multiple days a week for the past 5.5 years doesn’t bother it, but doing something like swinging an axe all day does
