Ive been around hydros several times but still hand split/noodle all my firewood. Customer of mine let me store some wood at his place in return i helped him cut/split organize his hoard. Helped him with logs while splitting. Much better with two people. I pulled the lever once. First for me. A hydro virgin no more. He had a lot of gnarly rounds some sitting for a while so hydro ideal. Run mostly horizontal. Couple big rounds he tilted it vertical. I left the X27 and Isocore in the PU. Didnt want them to see!
So how did it go? I won't look back now. No more sore elbows. Body said it was time to change things up. I need to get a shelf on mine and then, I can cut processing time down.
It was okay. He had spent a good part of the afternoon fixing it. One of my aversions to getting one. He had started splitting alone while i was stacking. Most of the logs he split were gnarly...stuff i wouldnt have taken in the first place. If i did get one i would i still would scrounge easy to split wood. I would consider an electric one. Ive seen videos of them and 90% of the wood i scrounge could be split by one. Not ready to hang up the axes anytime soon.
Part of the stipulation for me to heat with wood was a hydro splitter. I watched dad split every thing by hand growing up and the back issues he had/has. The only time I hand split is when I need wood for the bbq smoker. I’ve owned mine since about ‘09-‘10 and it’s never once had one hickup. Bought used too
Dont know the history of his machine. He seems to be unorganized and commutes to NYC (1.5hrs one way) daily. Speaking of hydro's, how's your dad's finger healing up Jason?
He’s doing really well with it. No permanent debilitating affects. Couple weeks ago he borrowed my splitter for almost a month. Slowly chipped away at his hoard of rounds.
Our Didier is over 40 years old. It's only required 1 new engine in that time. $99 predator and a new coupling fixed it. That's it. There's really not much to maintain on these.
