I've been waiting for this Savage explantion. Now I have to meet you. Your routine is solid. I just think the difference between the wood i have and the wood you have is that softer woods are going to be really wet and heavy but still easy to split yet you got hardwoods heavier than the boulders to whichever blessed tree that has the girth of 6 mother in laws... well you find your tantra there. I guess with anything that is within 12 inches is ok to lift but after that ive gone vertical.
Here are a couple videos for you FatBoy85. Note that I did not run the engine at full speed as I rarely do that unless I have a bad knot to go through. On the second video it was some old oak that a neighbor wanted me to split for him. They had done a bad job of cutting but we got it done for him.
I like them! I try not to run at full speed either. It was only with the birch that I did. The knots were apparent. I just found it stalling a lot when I ran half. Still learning about it but best when its straight grained wood.
So glad you asked. That, my friend, is the reason for the video as that was all elm! Remember how bad it seems most talk about how bad elm is to split? Would you say this elm split difficult? Of course it had been dead for some time and if I remember there was no bark on the tree except for at the very bottom of the tree and I believe the diameter at the bottom was around 28".
I remember reading this elm story all over. People trying to split it and it hairballs and all. People had easier time getting through 4 accidents during rush hour. So best to leave it standind and let it die?
Oh yeah. We wait until at least 75% of the bark has fallen off and sometimes wait until it is all off. Even if it is all off, that bottom part of the tree will still have moisture but the top could burn right away.
I've been taught to always run a small engine (and often the big ones as long as Smokey isn't around! ) at WOT - this is part of why. I'm sure there are many wise men such as Savage who don't and still have perfectly fine small engines, but it can be hard to break from tradition.
I try to just get it where im running at maybe 3/4 its enough for the splitter without stalling. Mainly Im still breaking in the motor. Its run at full throttle for sure but ive only toned it down to get a sense of control. It pushes for sure. Hasn't hit anything it can't handle yet. Hard to beat that.
There is also a difference if it is 2 cycle or 4. 2 cycle usually wants to run a bit faster but 4 cycle you can run much slower and be okay.
I've seen more engine blocks cracking from vibration and stray logs take them out (usually cracks at the mounting bolt hole) and leaks oil... Full throttle, half throttle all I have ever seen are the silly failures nothing really to do with bearings or combustion chamber. So in my opinion I don't see a real difference. I personally am a wot guy because they're governed,anyway
