Got wood, here go's…. I turn 52 next month, mostly everyone on this forum knew I split by hand and I did it for the exersize and just really enjoyed it! Three back surgeries later I can't do it any more, I did enjoy it though. I don't know your age but a little work of advise, "SAVE" your back! I am in the process of building a splitter and part of me is sad but the other part of me says. "i'll be able to pick up my grand kids some day" so the choice was easy. This past summer I rented a splitter for the weekend and did 4+ cord. I'll never go back to splitting by hand.
I'm heading for 60 and respect my back... Doing tree work for years I lifted my share of big wood in backyard jobs, etc... Luckily I lifted correctly but am thankful I never blew out a disc or groin.. I welcome the splitter...the speed lets me get done that much faster to do other things.. Save you back is right..
Splitter I had that did 30 inch splits, for a gasifiaction boiler I had before we moved,, Once we moved I went back to a SuperSplit with regular woodstoves... Didn't need the long stroke anymore... Push the detent pin out in the wedge and you can drop on a single wedge that easy... I would consider this machine or the SuperSplit... SplitFire was well built and made in Canada..
Really great post Dennis. The splitting of Kindling became my responsibility at about the same age but I did not have to split wood at that stage. Our wood was trim ends from the mill which I picked from the wood and sawdust storage bin in the boiler feed bin. The wood would then be stacked alongside the boiler to dry. Once dry it would be packed in armfuls up two sets of stairs to our house and stored by the cook stove. My older brothers really did not like this chore, but me, being the youngest, I just loved the time that I got to spend with my Dad in the Boiler room and If the Sawyer blew for more steam, I got to shovel the really dry wood and sawdust into the fire box. My love for firewood and boilers has not diminished to this day. I think I would have loved to be a steam engineer but the modern boiler just did not have the charm of that 1880s boiler. This picture is from about 1958 the year the boiler was condemned. Our house was above the mill in the trees. Sorry I've got a little off subject with this one!
A set of heavy flywheels drives the arm out... Rack teeth engage into a spinning pinion gear between the flywheels... I had one for 20 years with zero problems..
Electric splitter.. do occasional larger pieces with a maul.. 57 years old and got bad tendonitis in my elbow once after swinging a sledge into a wedge for 2 days and it took months to be able to do much of anything ..
Seems like the way to go. Fast, cheap, efficient. Very nice machine. Makes very quick work of the rounds and splits. Kills the hydraulics on speed.
I split by hand. I'm 58 and at some point I won't be able to do so. But, as long as I can I will. I still walk golf courses for the same reason; because I can. The late Dr. George Sheehan said, "Concede nothing to age." It will come take what it wants when it's ready. No sense handing anything to her. Firewood is what gets me outside and keeps me there on cold winter days. I relish every minute of it. There's something priceless about coming in after a day of it with sore muscles and hitting the warmth from the stove, the smells from the kitchen, and cracking that first well-earned cold beer.
Yup those look like kick a$$ splitters! Take less power too if I remember correctly so less fuel used or can run on a 1/3HP electric motor.
Surely this thing could go vertical somehow and still smoke hydraulics. Plenty of ingenuity to turn that thing 90°.
Might just need stronger return springs... I'm happy the way it is... When you look and see how much wood you just split in 15 minutes you'll be happy with it just the way it is... To me the ground is damp, I'd rather be standing..
I understand. Totally respect you guys out there with the bad backs still doing what you can. If my back was bad, I'd be using the baddest azzed splitter out there. No question.
Good for you. I said the same thing at 58, thought I was going to do it forever, then a broken back at 62, then diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at 65, and bingo, things aren't quite the same. But I will quit when I can't tie a rope around one split and drag it into the house and hoist it into the stove (Oh, and that will be only because my son has vowed to keep me in wood, whether I can cut it or not, as long as I can get it in the stove). At 58, I thought I was going to be young forever....didn't quite work out that way, but I hope it does for you. Mind you, I am not complaining. I will fight to the end!
