Bowling pin sound, certainly...MM in end grain...no, not really. MM uses electrical resistance to calculate moisture content, and going across the grain can give you a false reading (I'd guess it would tend to show lower than actual) Most accurate test method is to test pins with the grain toward the middle of a freshly exposed (split) face of the wood in question...which should be roughly room temp also.
I know, but I've found with my MM's that it gives essentially the same reading using the end grain vs the face of a split. Some models have automatic temperature and humidity adjustment to be able to get an accurate reading. I don't trust that auto temp aspect when it's below freezing though.
It took some time, but I figured out splitting elm with an 11 ton in vertical. Some others have mentioned it, but you gotta work from the outside in, like blackgum. Any other way and my splitter just squeals. Cutting big rounds in half releases some of the fiber tension too. Big crotches have to be cut into firewood size. Never turn down an opportunity to use a big saw more. I won’t seek it out, but an occasional log makes it to my yard and I can’t let it go to waste.
So you shave the black gum rounds down from the outside with the splitter? I have a 26" DBH black gum to deal with that I am dreading.
I found that working from the outside in with my old splitter made life much easier , did this with large oak rounds in the past and that splitter ate some really big rounds.
Yes, I gotta bust the outside edges off first. 2-4” slabs that may be 10-12” wide. Elm and blackgum. Once the outside edge is knocked off I can take bigger bites.
That will be some good wood. I had some with the bark falling off. Split easier than the stringy hickory we had.
I know BRAD and don't doubt his judgement one bit when it comes to wood. I'm sure if he says good it's probably closer to excellent.
I’d disagree. That trapped box beam is the dumbest engineering feature ever designed. Wouldn’t be bad on a push through splitter where it could constantly clear itself.
I would caution against buying a box store splitter,,,especially to share. Things start breaking and your friendship may suffer. Who pays the bills? Who does the repair? I went halves with my sister on our DHT (biggest piece of Chinese junk). Family is easier. I use it, I break it, I fix it, I pay for it. Still havent figured out why she wanted to pay half LOL
Yes, it will trap larger pieces under the rail, but it is easy to clean out. Ours has 2 holes that let small pieces fall out. But for the $$, our County Line has been great.
My Champion is a fabricated beam like that...I don't mind it...not that hard to wipe out debris once in a while.
Yes, mine let go with a nice bang. Robotic welds that never fused the rail too one side. Everything has failed on my DHT at least once except for the engine,,,mostly in the first year. The warranty was good as long as you don’t mind doing the work yourself. DHT could not find one shop in Ct that would touch it. Fine by me but others might not like that. The blown rail was t from wood being crushed inside the channel to the point of petrifaction. Just one of those things that happens when welds arent done right. The failure occurred/began/started on the rear of the rail near the cylinder. Had pics, think they got deleted for computer cloud space issues. I used my stick welder as a plasma cutter and opened up the debris holes. It helps but still needs to be cleaned out occasionally. They ended the slots about 1 - 1 1/2” from the end,,,,to get a little extra strength in that area. Understandable but it was such a problem I opened them up and eventually added extra welds and gussets when I noticed the foot welds cracking.
Might I suggest just looking at the Wolfe ridge splitters, they are spendy, but they are made in Wisconsin, my buddy builds them, hell of a machine, I can split more wood by myself then I used to be able to with the d.h.t. I had with the wife and brothers help keeping wood in front of me. Just check them out
I have a speeco 22 ton, and the wood chips do tend to pack in the end of the rails, especially when moisture is involved. My homemade splitter is an I-beam and the chips fall right off.
