I messed up my wood splitter today

So,I spent the afternoon with my boys cleaning up the backyard. I acquired some LARGE "cottonwood " rounds back in May. One of them didn't split and stuck to the wedge. So when I reversed the hydraulic ram it missed the guards and almost broke the actuator off.

I'm glad I saw what was about to happen and ran around and hit the kill switch. If you look, close you can see the round pushing the handle into reverse.

Now the fitting that connects the ram to the actuator leaks. I pretty sure I can fix it, but for now it's OOC.

 

All because it was in the vertical position.....

 

I think “about to happen “ is an understatement.

 

We want a video of getting that off there

 

At least nobody got hurt. How did you get the round off the wedge?

 

My chainsaw

 

Too late, it's in the shed. Cut it in half, with my saw close to the wedge

 

There was no way any of us were picking that thing up, that weighed probably about 180-200lbs. It was still sopping wet.......and about 30 inches in diameter

 

Glad it's not any worse and nobody hurt

 

X2. Been there, done that.

 

Life imitates art, metalcuttr .

 

I have no words.....!

 

Noodle those bigguns in half and the splitter will have a much easier time breaking them apart, especially with a stringy tough wood like cottonwood.

 

I permanently injured a wrist trying to wrestle some similar ones. No more. If they won't bust under the maul to smaller pieces, they get sliced.

 

I start the splitting of huge Doug Fir rounds, routinely, in the vertical position. (Please don't let Backwoods Savage see this!) Once the splits are of manageable size I return the splitter to the correct position. One important thing is to have the ground or earth built up all around the backer plate of your splitter (in this case the D shaped plate on the ground). This keeps the log tight to the wedge and does not allow it to tilt out from the splitter. Having the round tight to the splitter also insures that it won't miss the dismount lugs as the ram is reversed. Hope I explained that clearly. I know T.Jeff Veal has a trick grating to accomplish this. Jeff?

 

I know exactly what you are saying , I used to run into this with my old machine.

I processed a lot of big logs , some that were probably what you might say " too big" .
Anything that big I would go noodle-ing. I found it was still easier , especially when you get older. Not making toothpicks but just quarters before the splitter.