Do it, trust me! I split wood by hand for 40 years, and I can still do it. I have toys, HD motorcycle, 4 snowmobiles, a Yamaha Grizzly 660 four wheeler, a JD lawn tractor. you get the gist, but my splitter, she's my girl. I love her. Ashwatcher got the same one .
It saves a lot of work; hard work. First off, if splitting horizontally, you have to lift every piece up onto the splitter. Not so if splitting vertically as usually there is no lifting needed at all. Just roll the log onto the splitter. I try not to be lazy but can't see any good sense in working harder than necessary when you've paid big dollars for a machine to do the work for you. Let the machine and good sense make the job easier for you. That is why we buy tools. Also realize that guy in the video really did not know much about what he was doing as most anyone could have split that wood at easily half the time or less than what it was taking that guy. For example, the ash he split 99% of the time you really only need to put that wedge a couple inches into the log rather than stand (or rather sit) there and watch the wedge go all the way down. Then he would start to raise the wedge and wait for it to get out of the split before touching it. Why wait? It is split. Also perhaps the biggest time saver (and it saves wear on the machine too) is that once the wedge gets above the log, stop it. There is no need in making that wedge go all the way up. He said it splits a 26" log. So if you are splitting a 16" log, that is close to 10" of wedge movement that is wasted. You put the log on and wait for the wedge to drop down. Why not start with the wedge maybe 2" above the log? Over an hour's worth of splitting that can make a huge difference in time and the amount of wood you can split. There are other things one could write about but this should give you an idea. Hope it helps.
Very well stated Dennis Now, if I could find that dang goose. You know, the one that lays the golden eggs.
I did not watch the video so I missed the guy doing full cycles when not needed. What I never understood was why folks said it was easier to split in vertical mode. Now that you explained it I understand why. Unfortunately my "yard" is not in any way flat, there is no way I could roll rounds over to my splitter, so for me it is easier to pick the round up and set it on the tray that is waist height rather then to have to set the round back down on the ground again to split. Also my table catches half the round so I can let it just "fall" into the splitting area as I go if that makes sense. So for me doing it the "wrong" way is easier. Maybe I will rent that excavator again and make my self a flat wood working area, but until then no rolling rounds around for me. One wrong move and the round would roll 50 yards down a steep hill into the pile of misfit rounds.
Oh, it's not the wrong way Handsonautotech, dont become part of the conspiracy!!!...Kidding aside, which is a long running rib jostling between Sir Savage, I and others, it is simply a matter of preference as are so many other things associated with our addiction. Personally (and correctly) I split horizontal because firstly I like the upper and lower body workout and secondly by being upright I get to wield my Logrite pickaroon like a wood ninja...picking up rounds with it and laying them on the beam--90% of my spitting is done either in front of the shed or pallet/rail rack so I immediately turn from the standing position into the stack thereby eliminating yet another touch-I dont have to "get up" and then bend back over to pick up and stack-I think posture is important as with any lifting and of course there are limits-I have split vertical a few times on really big rounds but if I can lift it safely, by hand or by pickaroon, thats my choice-Some would argue the risk of reaching/rolling large rounds from a seated position could result in severe back strain...So my friend, the choice is yours and neither is wrong,,,one is just more right!!!
Did I say something wrong? -I will call in either Bob Seger or Conway Twitty if I have to..."Horizontal Bop" or "Love to Lay You Down"...either way my contention has standing...jus sayin....We lay trees down to access them,, they should be split the same way...
You can sit on a crate, or a hunting chair etc, while splitting horizontally. If not splitting big rounds, you can easily, and quickly split horizontally while sitting. It's all in the method, and how you set it up.
I think that maybe, by the time I leave this blue planet, we'll have this horizontal vs. vertical thing solved. Maybe.
Nope, not a chance---it's as old as time, chicken vs egg, tree falling in the forest kinda thing sir...It is fun though. I love this place!
One thing I like to do is that we usually cut in winter then split in spring. So as I haul the wood out of the woods to where it will be split and stacked, I just sort of stack it up rather than just throw it in a heap. The place the splitter right beside the row of logs and just sit there and split. As the logs get a bit further away I have the pickeroon for reaching. Therefore, when splitting I do no lifting at all. It works for me and besides, because of physical problems I can not stand there to split as my body just would not take that at all.
No! Trees grow vertically because God made them that way. He also intended for us to split that way. Further proof is that when we watch anyone split by hand, 99.9% of the time they do it vertically.
No way. Sitting down and rolling rounds low hurts my back. I'm 6 foot 6. I want things up high. I just bought an electric hoist and log tongs to use to get the bigger rounds onto the splitter.
As a tall feller, horizontal is easier on my back as well. One of my worst back-hurt-moments came after some vertical splitting. I wouldn't tell anyone that one way or the other is the best, but as you say, up higher works better for me.
Check this out. I emailed them to get the wheel/screw piece to attach to the rounds but they haven't emailed me back. Went with log tongs instead. If they sell me the wheel I'll try it.
I have developed my own technique for dealing with the big uns. I just use Fiskars or Maul to bust them down to "man sized pieces" then toss em on the splitter. I usually will wait till I have a couple dozen or so largies and break them up, then finish them off later.
