need a good heavy duty splitter for cotton wood rounds, and questions about cotton wood

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bigric954rr

ArboristSite Lurker
Joined
Jun 18, 2015
Messages
46
Reaction score
17
Location
usa
I have a bunch of cotton wood trees im cutting down been splitting by hand its very very very hard to split!!

whats a good heavy duty splitter that would push though all the knots and twisted rounds?
looking for some thing semi fast to . im looking to do 40-60 cords of cotten wood then will go back to burning tamrack trees.

should i cut into rounds and let dry a few months before trying to split them?

will the rounds dry out if left undercover for a year like on a open back porch
 
Cotton wood is relatively easy to split but the massive size of rounds from larger trees means you need to do some wrestling or halve/quarter it by hand.

Just split it when you cut it and get it stacked off the ground, with top covered. It will dry relatively quickly then.
 
I split the big rounds with a wedge/sledge then the rest on a 5 ton electric splitter. Its not hard to split but poplar doesn't make great firewood either. So if it looks hard/time consuming I don't bother. You own the wood already so for sure worth the effort :)
 
They split easy by hand when it's cold.

Pretty much any splitter will do it, it cuts and splits very easy.
 
Most anybody can split cotton wood by hand if they want to. A sledge hammer with about 6 to 8 wedges will do it. If that is too slow then you need a hydro splitter. There many people saying that an electric will do the trick. From my point of view an electric will not do the job. From my point of view the electric units are too slow too feeble too short lived, but for some folks they meet their needs. Very dry wood often splits with less effort than green wood. A new or or used can be found anywhere. The price varies depending on market values. If you buy a new unit for $1,500 then when you are done with it it should sell for at least $1,000. My splitters should sell used for at least $3,500 to $6,000 and more. Mine are not easily purchased, but they are tuned for my needs. If you make firewood a steady part of your routine then what ever you invest in it you will get a return. Thanks
 
I dont know what part of the country you guys found easy splitting cottonwood trees but around here they are tougher than most elm to split. they just string apart like elm but are heavier and not as good for firewood. we usually leave them sit for a summer so some of the water runs out and they shrink to the point the bark falls off easily. same theory as elm, let it dry a bit first then split it frozen. cottonwood rots fast so dont plan on leaving it in the round for more than a summer. as splits if kept covered and dry they last like most wood but if piled outside in the rain or on the ground, it will rot in a year. the best type of splitter ive found for cottonwood is a thin, knife like wedge to cut the stings. it helps if its really sharp too. usually the thinner wedges are only found on the wedge on beam style splitters that are fixed horizontal only and push the wood through the knife/wedge. many people use the combo horizontal/vertical splitters too. i have seen some work ok and others just mash up cottonwood into a ball of strings thats not even recognizable. any splitter will work but the dedicated horizontal with a thin knife works best. tonnage? any 20 ton or bigger will work fine if the wedge is right
 
I haven't found anything yet that 27 tons wouldn't split through with a single wedge , I seem to split a fair number of knots.

I have a vertical / horizontal splitter , while it isn't a high speed production splitter , it is very versitile the big rounds I often roll the splitter to them and flop them into the splitter with the beam vertical then wrestle them around a bit , a cant hook can help turn them then take another bite , taking another chuck out of the round , I might get 4-8 chucks then go back and split them or toss them on the trailer or truck to bring home and finish splitting.

a single wedge 27 ton is going to be a hole lot faster than by hand but not a high volume production unit like a box wedge type that can split 4-5 split son every pull

but if you don't have several thousand in your budget my 27 ton was 1500.00 new

if you really need to go low budget , you can do like we did when we got started have a big stack of rounds and rent a splitter for a day and switch off and marathon split till you have to take it back , don't stack , just move the splitter down the row of rounds keeping the person running it fed then switch.
I do not miss a weekend of splitting form 7:30 am when I could get the splitter home from the hardware store till 9 at night then start splitting again at 7am till 8:45 then hitch it back up and have it to the store as they opened at 9 on sunday.

it sort of depends on the size of your cotton woods here they range form 8-10 inches on up to your going to need to cut from both sides with a 24 inch bar and might find a few that need a 32 inch bar from each side

what are you burning in ?

what is your time line to split it ? 10 cord a year as you burn it or 60 cord this year

not sure how big your covered back porch is but 60 cord stacked 1 cord high would be 1920 sq feet about the size of a hole house larger than my house ,cotton wood is also nearly twice as heavy wet than dry , making it one of the heaviest woods when wet and lightest when dry
 
yea this cotton wood is some of the hardest to split ive ever seen. im 280lb 6,2 and normally split most woods with one blow of a 8lb maul. this stuff im using a 10lb sledge hammer and wedge to do most of the splitting. im using a 461R to cut down the tree most are about 2-3 feet around a few 4-5ft ones.

im looking to cut 60 cords total over 3-5 years burn about 10 cords a year in a big wood stove. Any extra a year i may try and sell.

Im open to a single wedge around 30 tons if that will split all types of wood with knots.want some thing semi fast for single cut designs
 
The 27 ton dirty hand tools splitter I have splits well they make a 30 ton also, when you get to easier wood they now make a 4 way wedge. The cycle time is about right that I can get the next round in as the ram gets back to about 18 to 20 inches so it almost never gets all the way back before I have it going back into wood. On the big stuff that changes because of wrestling the rounds around.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
 
The largest ram that is available from most commercial builders is about 6''. That means give or take a few lbs 50,000 lbs of force is max period. A 4'' diameter ram could produce about maybe 35,000 lbs to 40,000 labs which applied correctly will split almost anything with a single wedge. A 5 or 6HP motor will be a little slow for some folks, but for most home owners that want to produce their own supply of wood for the winter will be delighted with the results. I have two splitters with a 6'' ram and a 28 CFM pump which would be a little slower then if the 5'' ram was reinstalled. They weigh more than 1,500 lbs and can be towed , but they are a little tough to move around by my self. For most people they would not appreciate these things and consider my splitters monsters. So pretty much any splitter with a 4'' or more diameter will get their needs met with a unit from Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight or your local hardware store. Thanks
 
ok thank you ive been looking at the northstar 37ton log splitter and the iron and oak 37ton one im open to others would really like to be able to push a 4 blade wedge
 
https://www.ruggedmade.com/log-spli...lectric-start-48-563-737-lf15ec-22-ll-ct.html

splitter_t2_nobkg_sq_1.jpg
 
Back
Top