That's some nice farwood, and quartering by hand! Impressive. I may end trying to halve these with the maul just because I don't feel like fighting a 36" round on the splitter (and I HATE noodling). My vertical splitter is down at the moment. I've always had decent luck with long-dead oak and like yours, may lose some of the sapwood but still end up with a lot of good firewood. Never know when the FHC secret police are watching you and reporting you for firewood abuse...
If they don't pop easily, I'll rip or noodle (depends on diameter) the round a few inches deep, then try to split it again...if it still doesn't give in, then I'll either cut a lil deeper and try again, or drive a wedge or two in...most of these got a kerf cut in, then some wedge action, just because I was running out of daylight and wanted to get done ASAP.
Since these were cut into rounds several years ago they have a lot of cracks running through them so I'm hoping they'll pop easily. All the cookies just broke apart.
Started working on those red oak rounds. Despite my firewood abuse/neglect, the condition of the wood has been very good considering the tree was cut down in June 2021 and these rounds have been sitting on the ground uncovered since December 2021. Since I'm still feeling out the new splitter, I decided to try the log lift with one of the 36" rounds. The splitter had no problem lifting the round (the lift is supposedly rated for 700 pounds). At my age/health, it's not something I would want to do on a regular basis but still good to know the splitter has the capability. Came in for a quick lunch but I'm pleased with the condition of the splits so far. I don't need this firewood for next season but am fairly certain I would have no problem burning the splits after being stacked for the remainder of the year.
I've been impressed overall for it being a budget splitter. I ran some pretty good knotty pieces through it today and nothing stopped it. And no issues lifting up those large rounds.
Got a bit more done and ended up with the three trailers full (2 of splits for the stacks and one for the uglies/shorts/chunks bins). From that one tree, I still have five more of the 36" rounds and some other rounds/cookies to process. Trying to be glad I can still do any firewood processing at all but it's humbling knowing what I used to be able to do and seeing the amount that other people get done in the same amount of time or less.
Nice having the left feature should you need it. Great to see you back at it. One nice thing about oak is the long life of the heartwood. Like you I prefer to split rounds ASAP, but life happens.
A bit more progress today on those red oak rounds. Got three of the 36-inchers split and a couple trailer loads stacked. Two more of the 36" rounds left to go along with a couple smaller rounds (will be lots of uglies out of those) and some cookies. I think I will get enough decent splits out of the remaining rounds to finish off this stack at 5 feet (1.25 cords). Did have a bit of a whoops moment on the second round today. Still getting used to the splitter and I was reaching over to use the lever to raise the log lift while making sure the round didn't roll off the base of the lift. Got a little aggressive with the lever and the lift came up too quick. Pretty much launched that 36" round over the splitter and off the other side. Had a good chuckle out of that one. Just moved the splitter and retrieved the round with the grapple. No complaints about the power of the log lift.
Nice stacks. Glad that splitter is working out great for you. And I'm sure glad you weren't in the way of the launched round. I've had a couple roll off Blue Samson, luckily I was on the lift side. I have had a couple roll down hard when I was on operator side and had to stop them. And your FHC family is DANG proud of you and what you can still do. Many can't do that...
I was on the lift side trying to balance that round on the base and reaching over the splitter to work the lever. When I was on the operator side and lifting up some of those large rounds I was being extra careful so I wouldn't end up wearing them. There isn't much of a cradle opposite the lift and it's not really meant for rounds this big. These are the largest rounds I've dealt with in the last 16 years (and not likely to get more) so not overly worried about modifying the cradle as I think it will be enough to handle the round size I usually deal with.
Work smarter not harder and give credit where it is due. I used the info you provided in one of your posts to source the hydraulic top link and the adapter plate (Vevor & eBay). I've been wanting to try the rear forks for several years and after reading through your posts after you set up your Kubota (and getting some IBC totes), finally pulled the trigger. Thanks for the motivation and information.
