Well I can't argue with that. When home and splitting it is hydro all the way the 4-way wedge makes quick work of it. On site when hoarding and the rounds are larger, they get quartered up with manual labor so thats when the isocore and x27 come into play. Me at my age it is hydro all the way as long as it is possible.
Someone who is good with a maul and an axe with a few steel wedges would get that done twice as fast. I am older than buzz-saw so on hard to split stuff I break out with the hydraulics.
Oh man, just watching that slide hammer splitter made me tired. Never tried the axe, love the isocore. Watching the slide hammer splitter I wonder how it would work if you took the slide off and used one of the gas powered t-post pounders.
I agree with the sentiments. The slide hammer is slow and tiresome. Thought it was a neat concept, but definitely slower than traditional splitting tools.
Thank you for the comparisons. Using that slide hammer is too much like driving t-posts and that will ruin your shoulders quickly! I tried the fiskars axe once and thought it was terrible. Certainly not up to par with my old single bitted axe. I've never uses a fiskars maul but have no doubts it should work very well. My body was about ruined years ago so that I had to give up splitting by hand, so I tried hydraulics and wondered why I had not done this years ago!! Hydraulics rock!
I’ll go against the grain. I’ll bet that slide hammer would work pretty good if it was designed a little heavier. Can tell just by the sound of it it’s too lightweight for big rounds. Add an extra ten pounds and see what happens. Also you don’t start in the middle. Is it faster than anything else? No. Is it better than anything else? No It could work better than it does for people that don’t like swinging mauls and axes.
A young gentleman from the UK who usually comments on my videos had the same thoughts. A heavier wider head would be interesting to try. I did the center splitting and edge splitting to test it directly and fairly against the axe and maul.
The slide hammer is just a safer alternative to an ax. It doesn’t fly through the air and miss or glance off its intended target inflicting bodily injury as easily. Will wear you out sooner than an ax but for a few armfuls of wood it’s good. Just don’t try to split a whole cord with it or you’ll really feel it next morning. An ax would be better for larger amounts if I can’t have a hydraulic splitter imho.
If I had to guess I’d say that splitter is designed for 12” and under. That was some nice straight grained red oak. Doesn’t get much easier than that. I spent a lot of years lifting cement blocks over 6’ + vertical rebar. That type of action would be fine with me. Needs a lot more weight and travel. Heard it topping out. That’s wasted energy for the splitter and user right there. All that said give me push buttons and levers LOL
Watched the whole video, thanks for the evaluation. But what I’m curious about is the stove in your shop. What is it? I’d like to see us upgrade the barrel stove at work.
