Sounds like an awesome arrangement for you. I remember hand splitting.. then my best friend stopped by one day with his Father in laws splitter.. split more in a couple hours than I did all summer. Then asked if I wanted to go halves on a splitter.. my wife Jill said "yes" before I could. No regrets.
28 ton is what i think he meant now…it was a wedding where we had the discussion and there was alot of beer drinking goin on
Only had a couple hours today to get at his pile…it was a bit bigger than it looked in the photos..the logs were mostly red oak or pin oak…i got all the big stuff cut up and mostly split…much more productive then swinging the 8 pound maul hoping to get that done this week after work and bring the splitter home so i can clean up my yard!
I was thinking that but i had a sharp chain 20 inch bar on a husquvarna 385xp so i was quartering the big logs rather than trying to roll them up that slope
This. I’m sure I’ll love my log splitter (haven’t had a chance to use it yet - medical), but I’ll always love hand splitting too. I can’t wait to have a decent enough hoard that I can work exactly as you described here.
30 years of handsplittong, bought a speeco 10 years ago and wish i would have bought it 40 years ago.
I hand split from the time I was 10 years old. I used to sell it by the wheelbarrow full for 5 bucks to my neighbors. I continued to hand split most until my buddy bought a hydro in 2014. I borrowed his splitter a couple times when I bought my house years ago, and then finally bought one 6 years ago. Definitely worth it with most wood. My son will still split by hand when he feels spunky. I got a county line 27ton. It has not let me down.
THIS ^^ If you want the challenge, exercise, or to just vent frustration you can always pickup the axe or maul and have at it. I do it from time to time, it feels good! But if your burning regularly to heat your home, enough with the hand splitting time to get hydraulics. Your body will thank you. As mentioned get a used one, look on FB Marketplace or CL.