Thinking about welding up a kindling cracker to process some resin rich wood I've gotten the last couple of years. Just curious what you guys are using to spawn some ideas for my build.... I've got plenty of scrap steel and some old tines from a tiller. May cut and weld them with a rebar cage. Something like this but with multiple cutters.. Google image....
I've been using one of these for many years now, It's got the weight for the small stuff. I mainly use it on kiln dryed framing stuff, 2x6's etc... Thats what I use for kindling most of the time. I think there about $30.00 now. Fireside FriendĀ® Splitting Tool
Nice set up, my stove don't go out much to really need kindling. I use the firestarters and they will get anything going.. I also thought this was gonna be a racist thread about old white men.
I'm going to weld one up that fits into the shaver post pounder. Decided to use old cutting edge off loader buckets. Beveled down.
I've a little Fiskars 12" splitter, but I just don't like hitting such small pieces with my fingers that close. I'm wanting to process pine knots that will be about 4" long x 1-2" wide.
Built a quick kindling cracker a couple of years ago and it worked fine. Did not change anything. I had lot 1x4 and 2x4 scraps to chop up. Several we're really rich with resin
Like to hear a report on that beast. Also interested in how short of a piece it can split, how far from blade to 9" dia ring. I use mostly wood scraps from woodworking projects for kindling. So lots of short (5-8") chunks. I use lots of kindling, I light at least 1 but often 2 fires a day from scratch.
I have one, it does great on kiln-dried pine scraps, hardwood lakes a little more force, as you'd expect. I curled the edge over doing yew and red cedar, which had some knots. I got it resharpened at the sharpening place I go to. As far as length you can split, pretty short, as long as you can hit it with your hammer. It's 4 inches from the top of the blade to the lower ring half.
Just called the Kindling Cracker. There are two sizes. I got mine from Northern Tool with a slight discount, but here's a selection... Amazon.com: kindling cracker xl
ended up getting the smaller one from Northern Tool. I split mostly hardwood chunks, short pcs left over when cutting 6-8ft chunks into firebox length. I usually hit these in the Super splitter to get them down to a smaller pc. then hit them with an hatchet for kindling. I go thru alot more kindling than most of you. This thing works pretty good, much faster and safer than a hatchet. Only thing is some of the hardwood is kinda springy. The wedge has a bit of curve when you look at from the side so that at times if your pushing a pc thru the middle of the splitter it wants to pop back up. I just slide it to the edge where there is less wedge and it works there.