Hello All,
I dont know if this is the correct forum but im gonna ask anyway. I recently(just this year) started cutin wood. I only cut enough to have a couple fires in the summer and wood for the wood burning stove upnorth about a face cord a year.
Thanks in advance
Matt
If this is all the wood you anticipate cutting on a regular basis [a normal year, let's say], buying much of anything pricey to split wood is a waste unless you have the bucks and just wanna do it. But you said you wanted to keep the cost down, or something like that.
I have the usual collection of splitting means, including a double-bit axe, mauls, Fiskars axe, Honda-powered hydraulic splitter. We heat with wood and I cut and split maybe 7 to 8 cords a year. I use all the above, but mostly the Fiskars and the splitter. I could easily get by with just the Fiskars. They run around $40, sometimes on sale a bit less.
Unless you are physically unable to split or nearly so, any gizmo you buy will not be worth it. It either won't work worth a darn, or it will work great but tie up a buncha money. My hydraulic splitter could split the wood you use in a year in a few minutes. Works great, but it would be sitting there, unused, for 364 days a year.
If you simply can't stand the thought of splitting by hand, you have been given some options here on the forum. But the least-investment [$$$] option is pretty much limited to splitting with an axe or maul. Unless, though, you can find a used splitter someone is trying to get rid of. My brother-in-law just found a nice one in good shape [gasoline-engine model] for $500, probably would sell new for double that. It isn't a top-brand machine, but he only splits a cord or so a year and has developed serious shoulder problems. He found his on CL. But that is still $500 and I am supposing more than you wanna invest.
Now, if you are thinking you will be needing and using a lot more wood in the near future, different animal.
