Reading on this forum got me thinking about the two basic variations of hydraulic splitter design, wedge on the cylinder (wedge moves) vs wedge on the main beam (anvil moves). I have used hydraulic splitters with the wedge on the cylinder but not something with a stationary wedge. What are the benefits and liabilities of each design? I have been splitting firewood for myself using a maul or sledge and wedge or noodling the stubborn stuff but I really need to do something different. My aching left elbow says so. I have a 2 ton mini excavator with auxiliary hydraulics; I have wondered about building a splitter attachment for it. The hydraulics are not particularly fast but it could be operated with very minimal handling of wood.
Here's 2. The wedge on cylinder are "better" for vertical splitting. The wedge on beam are good for being able to push a split the entire way through the wedge, for splitting stringy and difficult to split woods.
This may not apply to your situation, since you're mounting it on a moving boom, but: Having used both, I think the biggest difference is how you handle the wood as it comes off the splitter, and if you have to re-split a lot of big rounds. The mounted wedge works well if you're loading onto a trailer or dropping onto a conveyor, especially if you have a 4-way or even 6-way wedge that can split everything you have size-wise in one pass and push it out onto the tailboard, withouot having to bring it back to re-split. Throw the round on the splitter, push it through the wedge, retract, and load another round which pushes the previous split onto the conveyor or whatever. It usually takes a bigger machine to run a multi-wedge, but it makes production fast if that is what you're after. A moving wedge works better on a smaller machine with big pieces and a single (two-way) wedge, because if you have to resplit big pieces multiple times you don't have to haul the big chunks back up to the bed of the splitter each time; they just fall to the side right where they need to be so you can roll them into place for the next split. I have two tables on mine, one for laying the unsplit round on, and a bigger one for the other side to collect splits until I have enough to stack them. I highly recommend two side tables for this type of machine. Hope this helps, good luck with your project!
Thanks for the real world feed back! The hydraulic splitters I used had the ability to operate horizontal or vertical and it did cross my mind that a typical towable splitter having a stationary wedge would lose the vertical option. In this part of the world trees are not crowded so they tend to have many heavy limbs. Dealing with big gnarly crotch sections is inevitable. I kinda shake my head when I see these multi head wedges. I would say about half of what I split wouldn’t play nice with anything other than a single plane wedge.
I almost exclusively cut storm-downed or diseased, fallen stuff on our place, most often oak or cherry, now that I've cleaned up all the EAB-killed ash. I sell off what logs I can to the sawmill, so I end up using a lot of tops and branch wood for firewood like you do. I agree with you; red oak splits like a dream (usually), as long as it is from straight trunk sections, but the crooked gnarly stuff is a whole 'nother ballgame! I would imagine a big machine with a multi-wedge could handle some of this, but a lot of it would be more crushed than split, I would think. I end up cutting a lot of white pine as well, but of course I don't use it for firewood. It turns into sawlogs and brushpiles for critters.
Personal preference is cylinder mounted for me. I don't want to have to reach or catch to re-orient for resplitting. I'm also peculiar in that I want to be the arbitor of the size shape of the splits usually accounting for anomalies in the piece I'm splitting. I wish I could say it's all straight grain and uniform. It's not. Beam mounted allows for 4 way wedges and such. More likely better for mass production. The only correct choice is to be made by the user and their needs (and means). If I could have any of them I would want the vertical table setup/guillotine style with foot pedal and lift.
Doing a good job of splitting is sort of like working a puzzle, only backwards, reading the grain and knots to get good clean splits. And the feedback is immediate when you get it right. I enjoy it when I'm not rushed for time.
