TW-6 wedge design

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I am thinking of adding 5" to 8" to the trailing edge of this four-way wing to create 'a shelf' to hold the two upper splits which would then be pulled forward with a pulp hook onto the log lift and beam for re- splitting. As is, the top two splits fall on the out feed table, or sometimes sideways and on the ground, either way making for more work than seems necessary. One drawback would be the added weight, as the wing need to be removed at times for nasty splits, partially due to the blunt width of this style vertical wedge. The box wedge designs are shelf like on top, allowing easy repositioning for re-splitting. What's your thoughts...?
 
That's funny. My buddy was just saying the same thing last week. Except for the extra weight, I don't see a down side. Let us know how it turns out.
 
That doesn't bother me so much as the fact that the wedge doe not go down far enough for my liking. If the wedge went another 1"-1.5" lower it would be perfect. It seems like we get a ton of splitter "garbage" from the wedge being to high. A lot of the time I will lift the pieces up to center them better on the wedge. It seems like most of our pieces just fall back onto the outfeed table after being split. Not the end of the world. I also want to raise mine up about 6-8 inches as well. My back is getting worse as I get older and standing hunched over that splitter for extended periods of time is getting harder and harder to do.
 
I like the idea of being able to support the upper splits. You could tack weld a length of 12" wide 3/8" to the back & test it for maneuverability. As this is just a support, 3/8 would be heavy enough & you could even consider 1/4".

If your wings are 16" overall wide, using a 12" x 16" piece of flat:
- 1/4" would add just under 14 lbs.
- 3/8" would add around 21 lbs.

You can add a gusset or 2 on the top of the extention to the back of the wedge where it will be out of the way of the cylinder. (12"x12" of 1/4" flat steel weighs 10 lbs.)
 
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When I dropped the wing off Friday it did not sound like they're going to get to welding it till the first of the week. Finished all the big stuff, cut/split this week so I'm good. Ready for more logs to be dropped off. Then it all begins again. Hopefully a bit warmer this week. Weather has been hard on equipment where I'm getting logs from. Their skid steer has been down several times. My forklift is parked. Empty wood racks are all froze down anyway. Doing big stuff is a lot of effort regardless what equipment you have this time of year. Anxious to see if the shelf wedge (S-wedge?)helps some. The dogs happy though, any day and everyday!
 
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They widened the road in front of our shop 2 summers ago, they had to cut down a couple of big oaks and a big maple we had by the end of the driveway. The tree guys were nice enough to put them on our pile with a big wheel loader. Well I've been working around them for long enough and we finally started cutting them up this week. You are right, the big stuff is a pain, but man do you get a lot of nice firewood out of those big chunks. That log lift paid for itself today, I've never split wood this big before. We still have 2 more to cut up yet.
 
I find the 4-way on the TW-6 is the better wedge. The 6-way produces splits that are a tad large for my liking, but when those are split in half, they are too small. In your original picture, I would have hit that round with the 4-way all the way up (or until it splits into 4 as evenly as possible). Then hit those 4 splits again with the 4-way all the way down. That gives you 16 good sized splits with only 5 cycles of the splitter. I find now that I am splitting more trunk wood just like that and not bothering with the branches once they are under 6 inches in diameter. I know it sounds like a waste, but those little ones are becoming a pain in the butt having to bend down so much.
 
As mush as I love my tw-6....that's about as much as I hate the 6 way wedge for it. I results in to many skinny strips and pieces that need a resplit for it to be any good. A thinner wedge with a disappearing 4 way would be a much more efficient set up IMHO. If your modification works out, I might have to consider the same for my machine.
 
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They used a piece of scrap 1/2" that had some holes in it already. I'm happy with it. Just need something to try it out on something big. Was suppose to get a load of logs today. Got three inches of snow and then freezing rain instead. Soon enough this wing will get a workout and I'll post an update. If anything maybe I could have gone wider cross-ways. Hope to try it out by the weekend.
 
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They used a piece of scrap 1/2" that had some holes in it already. I'm happy with it. Just need something to try it out on. Was suppose to get a load of logs today. Got three inches of snow and then freezing rain instead. Soon enough this wing will get a workout and I'll post an update. If anything maybe I could have gone wider cross-ways. Hope to try it out by the weekend.

Put some more holes in it. It'll make it lighter:)
 
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This is what makes me think it could have been wider to keep a large piece from tipping sideways. But I did not want it so big as to get in the way of pulling re-splits forward. Trial and error at this point. It may work fine 90% of the time. Shortly after this I went in and the dog took my gloves. Does not chew them. She is a collector. Tried the sprays but no luck.
 
At least your dog watches the wood. Mine jumps in the truck to keep the seat warm while my family loads their truck from my piles :angry:
 
Sawdust Inspector: Where do you live? I'll bring my truck to load up too! The dogs can play.
Finished cutting today. This big stuff is work and you need to get at both sides of it. Adjusted my sharpening, raising the file, increasing the vertical angle on the top of the tooth. Doesn't seem to dull as quickly in this frozen Oak. Plastic wedges are great to keep the deep kerf from binding as well. Tomorrow, out for breakfast, and then splitting time....
 
Sawdust Inspector: Where do you live? I'll bring my truck to load up too! The dogs can play.
Finished cutting today. This big stuff is work and you need to get at both sides of it. Adjusted my sharpening, raising the file, increasing the vertical angle on the top of the tooth. Doesn't seem to dull as quickly in this frozen Oak. Plastic wedges are great to keep the deep kerf from binding as well. Tomorrow, out for breakfast, and then splitting time....
Just south of Green Bay. Kinda a far drive for you.
 
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