Don't do this

[tatra805]

Today my neigbour and i were splitting appr 3.5 cords of wood with my new splitter toy. ( 21 ton homemade horizontal splitter on tractor hydraulics)

He is a great guy and veterinary as profession (so knows something about cutting meat).

As he was my splitb!tch for the day he was positioning the logs on the splitter and despite my instructions to leave the wood alone, he kept holding the wood till it contacted with the wedge and started splitting.

We had a knotty one that stalled the splitter. (while he still had his hands om the log to keep it in position) I told him that moment that this stupid piece of wood was stopping 21 tons of pressure.

He looked up and said: wow, thats way more than any tool used to amputate or cut anything i know of in veterinary business... guess i better keep my hands off and maybe some other parts of my body further away from this thing.

always a plus when partners get your point straight away

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Haven't had a crotch explode since my senior prom....

Seriously folks, I cut them into cookies now....so much easier than futile attempts with the splitter.

 

[Steve NW WI]

My hand surgeon said the #1 woodsplitter accident he saw was nearly ALWAYS caused by two people operating a splitter at once. He said that should be outlawed. In the fall he was getting 2-3 people per week from injuries caused by two people operating a splitter at once (one operates the levers and one moves the wood = BAD). He smiled and said it kept him in business.

That's a fairly common practice with my splitter. There are usually 3 people on the machine when I get family or friends to help. One lever operator, and 2 wood handlers. Rules are simple, and complete:

1) Hands go on the side of the wood only, NEVER on the ends.
2) Lever operator NEVER pulls the lever until all hands are visible and not in danger. (sitting on the tire gives a good view of the whole area on mine)
3) The whole crew watches each other to make sure 1 & 2 are being followed EVERY time.

The gals are the best lever operators, they seem to be a lot more cautious and detail-oriented, and will give the guys hell if their hands are in the wrong place.

All the people I trust around my splitter realize what could go wrong, and are very conscientious (WOOO - just spelled that without the spell checker going off!). With untrained/unknown people, it's a lot bigger danger, that's why I don't call the temp agency for help splitting!

I won't say an accident will never happen here, but if the rules are followed every time, it won't.