I do not understand these GIANT wedges,, on low powered electric splitters,,
A tiny wedge will greatly improve the success rate of splitting.
My first tractor was a 404 IH,, with a loader,, and the loader pressure was only 1,600 PSI.
I had an extra 2" bore cylinder, and wanted to make a splitter out of it, powered by the tractor loader hydraulics.
Rather than that big 'ole wedge like the electrics use,, I used an old single blade axe head.
That axe would go through most anything,, I kept the blade REALLY sharp
I think I remember the head was only 4" high,,
The great thing was I had $00 invested,, just scraps I found at work, etc,,
The beam was made out of two pieces of angle iron,, something I had seen in Mother Earth News,,
Back to back, the angles created a "V" to hold the log.
A friend at work, back around 1983 built a splitter,, 4" cylinder,, that run off the tractor hydraulics of an old John Deere.
He asked me to look at it because it would hardly split anything.
Well, he had a 12" tall wedge,, with a sharp "V" shape.
I talked him into notching 5 inches of the top of the splitting wedge back about 3 inches.
He was VERY hesitant,, as he did not believe that could help.
After the first three logs that we split,, he was all smiles. The splitter was now splitting exactly as he thought it should split.
The shortened wedge made the splitter MUCH more successful.
I thought we would have to sharpen the front of the notch,, but, that never stopped it,
After the log had gone three inches on the wedge,, it was usually split, and ready to come off the splitter.
It is like shoveling heavy snow with a 40" wide shovel, or a 12" wide shovel.
The 40" wide shovel is impossible to push, the 12" wide shovel is almost effortless.