At what point did you buy a splitter?

[CRThomas]

Splitter

The first winter I moved out of my parents house as a young 20-something guy I swore I would never split another round by hand again. When I started burning for myself I bought a splitter and never looked back.. exercises hugh!

You don't need to spend $1,300 on a serviceable splitter ether .. I think I've got maybe half that in the old ass Speeco I own and it will handle whatever I toss under it..

I go out in the morning and about 0630 I have to go fix my wife her coffee get her up for we visit a while she of to work I go back and wrap the rank I have split to customers need wrap it in the color or paper they like. About 1000 o'clock I load 30 bundles in my truck go deliver them collect my money go eat with the wife. And then play the rest of the day. Thanks to my log splitter.

 

[branchbuzzer]

Same here. Not knocking them, just that firewooding is my workout and stress relief. Seems sometimes that there are things in my life that I'd really like to hit and break but I can't. Firewood kinda stands in, I guess. I've been doing about five cords a year for a few years, and splitting is not as hard on my back as bucking and loading. If I were suffering from splitting by hand I guess I'd get a splitter, but so far I think it helps more than it hurts.

I would put myself in with this too. I've always wanted to do it manually because for me, it's always been an easy thing to do for light exercise and flexibility, something to loosen up with. I do about 20-30 cords a year with a 6# maul* and I've never considered the swing motion to be physically demanding - even if I hadn't been doing it much lately. I think poor technique is what causes a lot of the physical problems involved in splitting/stacking. That and knowing what one's body can handle and what it can't - differentiating between fatigue and structural damage can be hard if one isn't active. If there's a physical limitation, that's another matter, but I've taught women with very little upper body strength to be effective splitters - it's not really about power.

I'd also put the expense of the splitter up there as a reason. I couldn't justify the price for the amount that I do, my firewood market prices, and my time value. Only something really fast would decrease my time spent on it, and that's not really an issue for me.


*Fiskars X27 en route from Bailey's... ( I figure I can always auction it off if I can't make the transition )

 

[mooseracing]

When I would ask my dad why he didn't buy a splitter, he would say, "I've been investing on one for "x" amount of years". Depending on the age I was at the time. We always split manually until I was within a year or two of moving out to finish my degree. Then he finally plopped down the cash for a used professional one.

I'm now at the point where myself and sometimes my g/f split everything by hand. I would love to invest in a splitter, but my old farm house and barn have higher priorities. I will continue to split by hand until the 8-9 cords I burn a year, can't be split in time. Or I hit the lottery :hmm3grin2orange: Be helpful to start playing first.

Usually at the end of the year I will borrow my parents to split up the last cord of knotty stuff that I couldn't split down by hand any more.

 

[Tazfreak]

I can't decide whether or not to take the plunge. I split only to sell. I sell about 12 cords a year, mostly split by hand and some from borrowed splitters. I could get more done if I had a splitter... not sure how to justify the $1300 or whatever to get one.

What convinced you?

i started selling wood in 82,chainsaw,all handsplit.about 6ton delivered per day.tough,interlocked ozzie redgum,red,greybox.to get more splits igot asplitter custom made,no store boughts available then.had splitters for 30 years.most wood here is ,tough,tight.only wood folk who split by hand is on she-wood or fairywood.if u sell wood in quantity uneed a quick,productive splitter.

 

[half]

buying a splitter

Well it is not rocket science to work out that electric heating is not going to get any cheaper, { and in this country we have dams and and free steam and wind to generate power,] and the heat pump sellers say their system is the best, on the tv all day.
So I put a wood burner in, and worked out that wood will never go up in price , as long as I cut it myself. Sure fuel will go up but I bet not as much as power, and I can still cook when the power goes down, I class my woodsplitter as an investment to keep my home warm, and I am not controlled by some idiot in a suit telling me how much power for heating is going to cost me. I should have bought one 30 years ago. And saved back damage

 

[awspence]

I live in the piedmont of NC, so I dont burn as much wood as a lot of people. Maybe 2 cords. Splitting that amount was never an issue until a motorcycle wreck scrambled my left wrist. I hand split two more seasons after that, and just put up with the incredible pain. This past winter i built my splitter, and I could never go back. Much better on my wrist and the rest of my body.

Here is a picture of it with a few twigs on the trailer.