Nice idea for a splitter wedge...BUT...

[Junkfxr]

Always trying to speed things up and tired of resplitting, I built this wedge last winter. Good idea but I never thought about how much power it would take to push a block through it. 30 tons won't push more than about a 16" diameter poplar.

 

[mga]

hey....ya never know until you try.

interesting, tho....

 

[Mike Van]

The split pieces have no place to expand to, nice idea though -

 

[Rookie1]

Reminds me of a french fry maker. I like it too bad it doesnt work well.

 

[tomtrees58]

The split pieces have no place to expand to, nice idea though -

that wait think taper it tom trees

 

[Chuck Diesel]

What is the bore of the cylinder? What is the rod size?

 

[Junkfxr]

The split pieces have no place to expand to, nice idea though -

All of the wedges are tapered out from the center ones about 15 degrees so the split pieces wouldn't hang up in the wedge. Never had a problem with that. It usually stops as soon as the block hits the wedge and you can forget about anything with a knot in it.

 

[Ductape]

I'd like to see that perfected !

 

[Junkfxr]

What is the bore of the cylinder? What is the rod size?

5" bore, 30" stroke, 2" rod

 

[boostnut]

Looks nice, I bet a 6" cylinder would solve nearly all of your problems. You've come this far, why turn back now?

 

[Butch(OH)]

Ma, hadda thing like that to run taters through, LOL.

Seriously, You do need to pay attention to the relief in the wedge meaning the wood must be able to pass without squeezing. Even with relief I wonder about the multi wedges when working in tough to split wood. I have a pretty tough splitter, you may have seen the pics on here, but take an ole fence row elm and there is no way it's going to shove it through a 8 way wedge when it struggles with a 4 way. One thing I never see discussed here but I found years ago is that the same kind of tree found out by itself in a field or from a yard or fence row splits much harder than the said brand of tree from the middle of the woods. I would realy like to see if the factory made 6x and more multi wedges would split the stuff I commonly work with. Me tends to think they work well only with "processor grade" logs cut from a forrest?

 

[Trout 2003]

That is AWESOME! Increase the cylinder and fix the problem. Neat.

 

[triptester]

Timberwolf offers a wedge something like that for the TW-6 but it only does half the block at a time. Can't remember the brands but the box wedges I have seen are designed so they can use relatively thin metal for the cutters, 3/8" or 1/2" at the most.

 

[Junkfxr]

I had given a lot of thought to putting a 6" cylinder on it but I had such a hard time getting the wedge to stay on it with the 5". The wedge is made out of 1/2" flat bar and welded to the machine with 7018 filler. For the first two days after putting it on, I left the welder parked by the splitter just to keep the wedge attached to the frame, it was ripping the 1/2" flat bar like tearing paper, never had a weld come loose though. After the fillets were built up enough to keep it from ripping, the whole thing would twist and not spring back, I was constantly having to chain the wedge to the pusher and pulling it back around straight. I work with alot of tough to split wood like Butch(OH) talks about and even with a 6" cylinder I don't think it will work very well. If all I had was nice, straight grained, not twisted, no knots or crotches, semi hard wood, then I'd probably put the 6" cylinder and a bigger pump on it but that kind of wood just doesn't come along very ofter in my world so I'll probably torch the wedge off and start doing something different next week.

 

[jags]

What if the splitting face were concave or convex or "staged". It would reduce the instantaneous pressure of try to get everything to split at once.

 

[Junkfxr]

What if the splitting face were concave or convex or "staged". It would reduce the instantaneous pressure of try to get everything to split at once.

I have been giving that some thought but I got so fed up trying to get stuck pieces off of the wedge last year that I don't even want to try using it this year. A block would get about 1/2 way through, hit a knot and stop the hydraulics, had to cut some out of the wedge with the chainsaw, not a fun afternoon.

 

[avalancher]

Well, one thing is for sure though, you have to be commended for coming up with something like that though! I admire your ingenuity!

 

[2FatGuys]

The Timberwolf TW-7 uses a box wedge similar to yours. It only does one "row" of splits at a time. That uses less poser and leaves a way to pull the log off if it sticks.

 

[Junkfxr]

Ma, hadda thing like that to run taters through, LOL.

Seriously, You do need to pay attention to the relief in the wedge meaning the wood must be able to pass without squeezing. Even with relief I wonder about the multi wedges when working in tough to split wood. I have a pretty tough splitter, you may have seen the pics on here, but take an ole fence row elm and there is no way it's going to shove it through a 8 way wedge when it struggles with a 4 way. One thing I never see discussed here but I found years ago is that the same kind of tree found out by itself in a field or from a yard or fence row splits much harder than the said brand of tree from the middle of the woods. I would realy like to see if the factory made 6x and more multi wedges would split the stuff I commonly work with. Me tends to think they work well only with "processor grade" logs cut from a forrest?

My father in law calls those trees "wind shook". I quess he's right. If you notice,the grain in most of the "fence row" trees is twisted, unless it's a gum, then it doesn't have to be in a feild by it's self to have twisted grain. I wouldn't even attempt to put a peice of twisted grain wood on that wedge. I guess I've fantasized (hehehe) about a processor too long, now the reality sets in, processors require selected wood, not the stuff that I cut.

 

[Nailsbeats]

hey....ya never know until you try.

interesting, tho....

I could have told you. Too much wedge surface area and binding trying to shove stuff through those holes, not a chance, commendable effort though.