Anyone using one of these rascals? Thinking about getting one... eBay I expect that I'll prob have to do a little fab work to it, but thought on the ash rounds it would speed things up.
I have not but it me interested in one myself. However the reviews I read aren't very good though. Curious to see what others here have to say about them too
Curious here too, however watch the gnarly twisted pieces. A 4 way will not allow the split to turn as oppossed to a single wedge from what I have read, possibly creating a cylinder problem
Would probably be fine in straight grained hardwood. Pine can be pretty snarly...I'd rather split red oak over pine any day.
I have one and really like it. I have split some big twisted pieces of Hickory and Oak. I split some 24" to 28" rounds with it and no problems. I split the rounds once with the 4 way and some I split again using the 4 way. I have also used it to split the rounds once then take it off and split it smaller with the single wedge. I am very pleased over all with it, 95% of what I split is Hardwood.
Good to know. I bet they're just trying to cover their butt with that little disclaimer. It looks pretty beefy. If I had one, I doubt I'd change it out while splitting hardwood.
Easy to change Dave, it just slides over top of the regular wedge, slide it on, slide it off, 2 seconds your done....
From my experience of making my own slip on 4 way wedge I can't visualize that one being effective on various types of wood. The side wedges are short and the leading wedge would already be be seperating the split further away. Also they would act as a knife and not a wedge to pop the split. Just my .02
The one I made the side wedges make contact first. The main wedge become the secondary split. The log don't have a choice to go thru it. Hickory is the only wood I take it off. The 5" bore cylinder struggles splitting it four ways.
they work good but require some fab work. the strap that goes over the back bends easily. fastleo has one for his splitter. first outing and we had the back strap bent and had to fab a new one. we used 1" thick steel to make a new strap that hooks over the back of the wedge and extended the strap clear out to the front of the wedge so we gained an 2 inches of wedge height in the process. we used it splitting all hardwood including elm/hickory so we may have been abusing it a bit.
Yep, that is the only fault I have to mine is the strap on top, mine bent on a piece as well, and it could be a little taller. Not a perfect design, but overall useable and not bad.... JMHO.....
For the ash that he would be splitting, I agree. It would probably be fine, but I too would fab some extra support as stated above. Ash tends to pop once the wedge hits it.
