What splitter do you have? Post pic

Plenty of dead ones!

Gary

 

Get em' quick!!

 

Just tried to go through this thread again. Can't do it. Too jealous. No splitter yet. But the place I use to rent one from closed. That creates a problem. And. Perhaps. An opportunity?

Wait. Wrong one.

There we go.

 

Hedgerow had some great points / learned lessons he has brought out in earlier threads. If I mention them here it is simply because I agree.

Lessons Learned:
- A 4" cylinder with the pressure relief set at 2500 psi using a narrow sharp wedge can split anything I want to - if I take time to read the round & load it appropriately. (Elm, hedge, mulberry, pecan, ...)
- Again using a narrow 4-way wedge I can use it to split 90% of the wood I want to.
- A tall wedge, mine is 21" with the 4-way in place, greatly decreases the number of rounds that do not split completely because of their stringy nature. It also allow me to stack several smaller pieces & split them at the same time. Vertical wedges are evenly sharpened on both sides. Horizontal wings should only be sharpened on the top side. (If you sharpen the bottom side the horizontal wings it will push the splits down into the out feed table & cause them to jam.)
- The out feed table needs to start in front of the wedge in order for the round being split to stay over it & not get pushed into the edge of it. The time & expense spent adding one to your splitter is very well spent. I will never have another splitter without one. It will really save your back by minimizing bending over to pick splits back up off the ground, increase productivity, & with gaps, (I like 1-1/2" gaps), for debris to fall through, helps to have cleaner splits.
- Log lift. If you look at Hedgerow's & Oliver's log lifts, you will notice they are fairly long in comparison to a lot of log lifts. This allows us to use the log lifts as staging tables as well. Having worked around equipment with grating work surfaces & having seen a lot of injuries from fingers getting caught in the grating by moving material, I chose to have a solid surface for my lift. This is especially important if you have a helper loading the lift while another is taking rounds off to split. You can never tell for sure how the rounds will shift. If I am splitting by myself, I will normally noodle rounds 30" or larger. The log lift will pick up a 5' round but without a helper to help control it, I won't take a chance on injury.
- 16 gpm 2 stage pump matched with a 4" cylinder gives you a cycle time of <9 sec with a 24" stroke. This allows a safe, steady pace. I feel for most folks this will provide them with the best compromise of tonnage, (15.7 tons), speed, & cost. If you go larger than a 16 gpm pump you should be using a minimum of 3/4" lines. (A 5" cylinder with a 22 gpm pump = 10 sec cycle time.)
- Determine what is a comfortable working height for you & design it to where the beam is at this height. (Nobody really likes working bent over.)
- Split towards the tongue or away. This is really a matter of work flow. Hedgerow's splitter (pictured in an earlier post), splits away & mine,"Oliver's" splits towards the tongue. (Pictured in my avatar & in the below attached files.)
------------ Hedgerow's design allows him to keep his splitter hitched up & have trucks & trailers pull up to his splitter to be loaded as they split. If he wants to load the truck he is pulling the splitter with he will either have to unhook it & move it to the out feed table end or carry the wood around the splitter to load the truck.
------------ Oliver's design enable the splits to be loaded right on the back of the truck from the out feed table. However, if I want to load another truck or trailer, I need to unhook the splitter & move the pulling vehicle out of the way.
- Oil cooler: Normally around $100 from a tractor/combine salvage yard. I have a 16 gpm pump, 9 gal reservoir & can split in 100° temperatures with the hydraulic fluid staying in the mid 120 degrees. It was cheaper for me to add an oil cooler than to have a larger oil reservoir & have to buy the additional oil needed to fill it.
- The filter should be located on the return side of the valves. This decreased the risk of damage to the pump from cavitation if the filter should become clogged or fail. This is the advice I have received from numerous hydraulic shops.

Just for fun I made a series of 4 PDF files of the creation of my splitter. ( This was easier than trying to add all the photos & comments directly to the thread in which I have been long winded enough.) At the end of the 4th phase are photos of the hydraulic jack stand Hedgerow mentioned earlier.

Now that I know what I do, if materials were on hand, I could build/paint another splitter like I have in 3-4 days.

As always, comments are welcome.

 

I have a huskee 35 ton.

 

It's done everything I've put it through. been a good one so far.

 

Hey, wait a minute...
Arky's split their wood???
That can't be...

 

Yup, we even wear shoes while doin it.

 

My old splitter has sprung a leak in the front seal ,, it isn't pouring out but I'll have a 3 or 4 inch circle on the floor by the end of the day.
Wrong time of the year to take it down for maintenance, 'cause I cut firewood all winter.
As a kid, back in the 80's, I had rebuilt cylinders at the shop I worked in but think at this point in life, I'll turn it over to the hydraulic shop this spring when FISHING starts.

 

TSC Huskee 22 ton for me with the log catcher - Love it!!!

 

Oliver - awesome summary. I have been bugging my old man for years to help me build an outfeed table. Yet to happen, and chances are I'll learn to weld while building it.

The point about where the tongue is a great one. I have heard several suggestions to just put a hitch on both ends (my splitter being like yours, splits end up towards tongue.) While not a transport receiver, it allows you to hitch up the tractor and manipulate from the other end. Too many times I have found myself in the "splitting groove" and the inevitable "stacking looks overwhelming and I'm tired" state. I still have to stack regardless, but if I had that other receiver I could back up the splitter, keep on working. Or I could simply put the splitter away instead of piled up under too many splits.

As Hedgerow said, that guy Iowa can build a splitter. I think his latest is the vertical style that has the horizontal work table. My back looks at that, in conjunction with a log lift, and is talking to me.

 

Cnice, with the "landing gear"/hydraulic jack on 2 no-flat wheel barrow tires & a trailer hitch in the back, I can hook on to my splitter with a chain or strap & pull it backwards as I split to make a windrow of splits off the end of the out feed table.

 

That's what I love about my SuperSplit,,, you can move it around by hand...

 

I WILL have one of those soon...
I love em'!!!

 

The work table on the front is really nice.. I had a SuperSplit for like over 20 years...sold it only to buy a SplitFire splitter that would do 30 inch splits for a woodboiler I had... After we moved and I got back into regular woodstoves again, I sold the SplitFire to buy another SuperSplit...I love it! Fast , light to move around, no hydraulics, and it sips fuel...makes splitting wood fast! The splitter is always waiting for you to load the next piece... As fast as you can load wood it will split... Nice thing,, I only run it at about 1/2 throttle, full if I have a tough piece, then back to 1/2 throttle again...that really stretches the fuel. Good splitter to make quick kindling splits too.

 

This is Andy trying out Sunfish's SS on some Hedge at a MO GTG..

 

Once you get use to the splitter you can move right along... It's not loud either... Once you use one you'll never look back.. After 20 minutes you look at the pile you have and that tells you just how efficient your efforts are with the Supersplit... This set up works great for me,,, from the back of my 4 wheeler to the splitter, no bending over, then straight into my wagon... I'm pretty sure I can fill two racks on one tank of fuel.. it sips fuel... My goal is to bring the splitter to my trees, split and onto a pallet,,, handle the wood once...

 

What's all that strange noise in the background?

 

Definetly makes splitting wood fast... With this machine being fast you tend to split pieces smaller that it's quick to split something again... I leave an 8 inch round split once... I use to split each half again... I only do that if I need something to season faster.