Cords per hour through splitter

I have the exact same splitter, and I do 1/4 to 1/3 cord an hour without stacking. I’m pulling rounds from a pile, so that can take a few moments to get the splitter back splitting. I did not cut most of the rounds, so they are 12” to 24” long, many too heavy to lift easily. Lots of knots and crotches in twisty white ash. If I had a stack of straight grained, easily split rounds at 16” diameter I think I could do double my normal volume.

 

This is where I may be "cheating" a bit. The large rounds I split by hand out in the woods where I fell and buck them. I do this so I don't bust my back trying to lift them into the trailer to haul them back to my to be split pile. So when I start to split with my hydraulic, I'm dealing with ALL manageable pieces and don't have to struggle with monster rounds.

 

I would agree. I split all straight grained red/white oak and some scattering of maple.

Same here.

 

I can hand split a cord in 4-5 hours* provided its easy splitting, fresh cut wood.

 

That’s nearly as fast as me with a single wedge hydraulic with 10s cycle time! You are crazy.

 

I know!
Thats sort of taking my time too. If i stage the rounds or used a tire i could go faster.
Lots of coffee helps too! If i have a backlog of rounds ill go faster, but if only a PU full or two ill take my time. I hate to have rounds pile up as i get overwhelmed when it comes time to splitting...right Haftacut ?

 

Yes, I can easily see this. Not counting the Supersplits in that discussion

 

Well that's like cheating too...especially that RO...it see's the wedge coming and just falls in two!
Makes for short strokes on the ram

 

Pretty much! LOL

Although I do run the ram most of the way a lot of the time as there sometimes seems to be some wood fibers holding the pieces together otherwise. I'd rather not struggle separating the pieces time after time.

 

Sometimes I pop the splits and then hand the whole thing to my wife to deal with the fibers

 

I'd think a Super Split would be able to do WAY more than a cord an hour. Although you would probably need someone handing rounds to the operator so they are not wasting time getting them.

I'd even benefit from someone handing me rounds, as I too waste time getting them myself with the splitter wedge retracted and waiting.
Here's a video I just shot today after work. May make some sick, as I have my GoPro attached to my head and my head does not sit very still. It's a hair under 15 minutes long. Starts with me starting the splitter cold, letting it warm up some, splitting a full trailers worth (1/4 cord), yelling at the dogs to stop barking at the neighbor, idling down the splitter while cleaning if off and then shutting the splitter down.

Started splitting at right about the 2 minute mark and stopped splitting at the 14 minute mark with a full trailer. You'll also notice at the very end I had fluid spurting out the tank vent. That's because I split on an incline with the tank vent down hill. It gets steeper the further I move the splitter up hill, as this is the first time this year it has done that. I will have to put boards under the downhill wheel like I have done in past years when it starts doing that.





Average length of my splits:







4 loads like this equals a full cord, possibly even a hair more.



This is 4 loads. The two full rows to the left of it total 4.3 cord, or 2.1+ cord each single row:

 

Well heck, much of that wood is already broken down. How much time do you spend on that and how much time do you spend staging what needs to be split?

 

yeah, like I mentioned a couple times above, I half/quarter the larger rounds in the woods where I buck them by hand so I can more easily lift them into the trailer to haul them to the pile. Although, if you think about it. One larger round now becomes two or four smaller pieces.....which means having to reach, grab and lift one or three more times....which equates to LOST time compared to lifting it in larger form once and simply rotating the round on the beam to split it that way. The way I do it is easier on my back, but will actually take LONGER to split hydraulically vs grabbing it whole and lifting it once. I'm still cycling the ram close to the same number of times whether it's in round form or halved/quartered form. The only difference is now I have to spend more time reaching and picking up the sum of it's parts. I would much rather leave them in whole round form, as it would save me from hand splitting in the woods and also save me from having to grab/lift multiple times when it comes to splitting with my hydraulic. So, the bottom line is doing it the way I am doing it may actually DECREASE my cord/hr through my splitter vs leaving it whole.

It takes me a few months of various weekends to cut and gather my wood into the pile you see. I do the cutting, bucking and hauling during the winter and split once the snow disappears. I didn't know the gathering and piling of the wood needed to be included in the time it takes to simply split a pile of wood though.


Bottom line is, it is about how much wood one can run through a big box store, single wedge hydraulic splitter. You said what I am currently doing, and have been doing for years, can not be done. I simply felt the need to show you how it CAN be done and how it IS done. Now, I know I am splitting easy splitting wood and my splits are probably on the larger side, I won't deny that. If I was splitting Elm there would be no way I could do so at the rate I am currently doing it, but to say a cord/hr can't be done with oak or other easy splitting wood is ridiculous. All you need to do is minimize the time the beam sits empty....simple as that.

 

If you take out staging rounds to where you don’t need to move and just split, I think everyone would see their time decrease.

 

I think that's obvious So what you are trying to tell me is, the cord+ per hour I can run through my splitter does not count because the wood I am using is too accessible for me. So I need to scatter it around the woods more so I spend more time walking to and from the splitter in order to get a "true" cord/hr? You originally said how a normal big box store single wedge splitter could not do a cord an hour. You implied it was because of the limitation of the splitter itself, you are now saying because it can do it it's because I don't have to walk very far to my pieces of wood. If this is the case, then I will also say that any one of your splitters are not capable of doing a cord an hour either under those same circumstances. Except seeing you have heavy equipment to transport the rounds, instead of the rounds being scattered around in the immediate area I want you to place your rounds in the next township over. See how ridiculous your logic is?

I never heard of anyone scattering their rounds around like Easter eggs on Easter morning and then start splitting. I may be stretching it here, but I think most humans, and probably most primates, are smart enough to realize grouping the work to be done and bringing the tool used to do the work to the group is more efficient than having everything scattered all over. I know when I paint I make sure the can of paint is near me at all times and not sitting in a different room.

I think most of us homeowners all stage/pile our rounds in a manner which makes it easier for us when it comes time to split. Whether it be in a trailer, truck bed, driveway, numerous piles in the woods or one big pile in the woods. We all probably split from a pile/grouping of some sort and when done shut the splitter off and move it to the next pile.

I will also say, even my 9+ sec (actually about 9.2sec) cycle time splitter is capable of more output. I could see even more output if I had someone picking the logs for me and even more if I had a third person taking care of the splits. So all the person running the splitter is doing is just that....running the splitter. This would limit the amount of time the beam is empty to pretty much only when the wedge is retracting.

A Super Split would see even more throughput with the same 3 person setup.

 

You are reading way too much into this and what I implied or didn’t. Keep on keeping on and have a nice day.

 

Don't you have your splitter set up in the vicinity of the rounds...pretty sure I've seen pics along those lines?
I know I back my truck right up to the splitter so I can just go from the tailgate to the splitter beam...and when the ground is dry enough, the splitter is set up right next to the stack too...truck-splitter-stack-done.

 

nah, just trying to figure out the basis and the rational behind this comment, that's all:

That post was made soon after mine which I posted how I can come close to a cord an hour, and that was even with my old Speeco 13sec splitter.

I guess you just "forgot" to add the part in about how far or close the wood had to be to said splitter in order for the cord/hr to be "accurate". I didn't know the wood supply had to be X feet (or is it maybe miles?) away from the splitter. My bad. I can tell you I'm not about to move my splitter 100' from my wood pile just so I can split at whatever rate you feel as though I should be with a single wedge box store splitter.

Now, if you would have came back and said that your sample data size is only 12 minutes long and not from over a course of a few hours where fatigue may start to enter into the equation, that would have been a MUCH better counter argument than, "but your wood is too close to your splitter".