Splitter builders... 4 way wedge question

[motoman3b]

I've got an older splitter I rebuilt that has a rather large wedge 18" tall and probably 8" or more long I'm thinking about just cutting a slot into (the side of the wedge) and sliding a piece of 1" steel for a 4 way wedge. Has anyone done this before or see a problem with doing it that way?

Here's a picture of it

 

[avalancher]

Not a problem if you consider all the variables.Do you have the HP to push it?Will your splitter put up with the extra strain put on it?

A 4way can produce a great deal of extra strain on a splitter, and while your splitter may be holding up fine with what you are using it for now, the extra resistance to splitting may end up being more than what your beam, wedge, and ram can handle.Not to mention it takes a good bit more HP to push two wedges through the same wood as it does for just one.

 

[anymanusa]

coming at it from my engineering background I would think if you offset the wedge far enough behind the primary wedge you could get away with using much less power to split the wood 4 ways. I would think 3-4" would be sufficient, because after the initial split, much less power is required to complete the primary split, and then the secondary split can begin.

i don't really know what I'm talking about from a 'splitting wood' point of view though, as I've split very little wood in my life and never used a power splitter, I'm just using my engineering mindset to think it through.

 

[Hedgerow]

Whatever you decide to do make sure that you can easily go back to two way splitting. I've been using a 'slip on' 4-way wedge for 20 years and some wood is just too tough for 4-way splitting. After having a few pieces stuck fast on a 4-way you start to recognize when switching back to 2-way is a good idea. I've never use one but I sure the 'retractable' 4-way wedges like what is on the Timberwolf splitters is a lot better than the slip on I use.

That's something I always wondered. If you stick a nasty piece of elm on a 4-way, how do you get it off? Just knock it off with a maul? You just used 20 tons of force to jam it on there...

 

[timbrjackrussel]

Put a chain around the block and pull it off with the pusher plate!

 

[Hedgerow]

Put a chain around the block and pull it off with the pusher plate!

Good idea... I take it you've done this before? My cave man instinct would have been to just beat the hell out of it...

 

[chuckwood]

I have one just like that!

I've got an older splitter I rebuilt that has a rather large wedge 18" tall and probably 8" or more long I'm thinking about just cutting a slot into (the side of the wedge) and sliding a piece of 1" steel for a 4 way wedge. Has anyone done this before or see a problem with doing it that way?

I have a splitter that looks exactly like yours. Mine was made in somebody's shop, and I bought it for a hundred bucks, couldn't pass it up. It's extremely heavy, with a massive, thick, three foot long hydraulic cylinder. It has no motor, no pump, no wheels, nothing but two hydraulic hoses. The only way I can move it is with a front end loader and a log chain. I hooked the
hoses up to the auxiliaries on a hundred horsepower farm tractor and it would split *anything* with the motor just barely above idle. Of course, splitting was a two man job, one man operating the controls in the tractor, and the other man hustling the logs. Not too efficient, when it got down to it. So I decided to weld on the splitting blade to make it a four way. The weak part of my setup was where the stationary blade was flush welded onto the top of the I beam. It looks like your splitter is built the same way.

I found out that to work as a four way, the blade's bottom section has to be completely welded on to the vertical part of the I beam. I'd have to make it in three pieces all welded together, a blade "sandwich" that would have the I beam itself as part of its structure. Otherwise, leverage from 30 or 40 tons of force would just break it off. My splitter lasted only about an hour, the welds on the blade's bottom that attached the blade to the top of the I beam just broke when I split a big crotch piece with a knot in it. Well, it was fun while it lasted. One of these days, I might make it into a real monster 4 or even 6 way wood splitter with it's own hydraulic controls so one person can operate it. I plan to use a smaller tractor with a pto pump. It may be that such a monster splitter is impractical, but I did have some fun watching this thing split stuff that would have choked down an ordinary splitter.

 

[motoman3b]

well I planned on doing it this way so it would be easily removable and I'd only use it for straight grained wood.

 

[avalancher]

coming at it from my engineering background I would think if you offset the wedge far enough behind the primary wedge you could get away with using much less power to split the wood 4 ways. I would think 3-4" would be sufficient, because after the initial split, much less power is required to complete the primary split, and then the secondary split can begin.

i don't really know what I'm talking about from a 'splitting wood' point of view though, as I've split very little wood in my life and never used a power splitter, I'm just using my engineering mindset to think it through.

I wouldnt set that second wedge that far back, you are going to end up with a lot of wood that wont be split all the way through, especially when dealing with wood that is stringy.The vertical may go all the way through,but the horizontal will be split short of the 3 or 4 inches and you will just create even more work for yourself.
Take Treeco's advise and get you a slip on from Northern tools.I got one, and there are times when wood is just to tough to plow a four way through, and you can slip it off and bust it once with the vertical.There have been times when i have got my four way buried in wood that wouldnt go and couldnt get unstuck, it was a simple matter of pulling the wood with the four way off the wedge and split around the four way until you can pull it free.

 

[Wood Doctor]

TreeCo Has a Good Point...

I have also found that operating a splitter sometimes takes more brains than brawn. When you learn to use the machine and understand its limitations, you can usually tell immediately if it's going to get through a log before the log becomes almost impossible to remove.

Many experienced log splitter operators who can spot this deserve far more credit than they ever receive.

The 4-way splitter will bang out logs faster, but I'm not sure you ever get a better stack of firewood because many logs will have been split 4 ways when they should only have been split in half.

 

[Hedgerow]

I have also found that operating a splitter sometimes takes more brains than brawn. When you learn to use the machine and understand its limitations, you can usually tell immediately if it's going to get through a log before the log becomes almost impossible to remove.

Many experienced log splitter operators who can spot this deserve far more credit than they ever receive.

The 4-way splitter will bang out logs faster, but I'm not sure you ever get a better stack of firewood because many logs will have been split 4 ways when they should only have been split in half.

That's true doc, but nobody ever accused me of being strong in the brains department... Although, come to think of it, I've never had anyone complain about the pieces of wood being too small...:monkey:

 

[motoman3b]

Not concerned with it getting hung up on the 4 way if it does i'll just put another piece of wood in and that will push it through. I think cutting the slot in and just having it slip in is gonna be the way to go now i just need to find about 1.5-2" thick peice of steel 3-4" wide and a foot long. Not high on my priority list we just got dumped on with snow so I wont be cutting wood for awhile... I'll post pictures of it when its done and let you guys know how it works

 

[Wood Doctor]

That's true doc, but nobody ever accused me of being strong in the brains department... Although, come to think of it, I've never had anyone complain about the pieces of wood being too small...:monkey:

That's because people burning wood also need kindling, much more than they are willing to admit. 4-way spliting wedges can produce lots of it.

I have one buyer who also begs for scrap pieces whenever I deliver split logs. I usually fill up a few boxes with tinder when I go to his place and he sighs in relief. On occasion, he offers an extra $10 bill.

 

[pacman]

off set

Off set the secondary split as said before.

Also tilt the secondary slightly so that in first contact it will split and free the wood as it is passing threw.

I did this to a splitter I was working on it did perfect. You might want to add a kick plate to the back of your wedge for reinforcement.

It would be good to kick the secondary wedge also. This mean that you put it in a position so that angle will start splitting the wood at the edge instead of the center where there is alot of force. Like the shape of a (w) almost its hard for me to explain but I hope you get the idea.

If you got a good splitter and doing a good job just keep spltting.

 

[gink595]

You don't need 10 million tons of force for a 4-way! I'm getting by with a 5 hp Briggs and a 11 GPM 2 stage pump. Nothing fancy and nothing to brag about, BUT it will shove a block of wood through my 4 way, like someone else mentioned you just have to be able to spot what will make it through and what won't. Getting one stuck a couple times will make you more aware of what will split. The shape of the wedge helps with what setup you have too.

Here's what I made this is version two, the first one I tried didn't work very well, but I can't say I'd improve anything with this one.

[video=youtube;bvkKA_SvvC8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvkKA_SvvC8[/video]

 

[motoman3b]

well here she is.... Works pretty darn good too I probably should of done a longer piece of steel and made the wedge more gradual but it works and I cant complain, easy to take out if I dont want to do a piece 4 ways.

 

[dave_dj1]

I don't see that as lasting. I think in a short amount of time you will find that the hole will just get sloppier and sloppier until it becomes worthless.

 

[motoman3b]

If it does I'll fill it in with some weld to tighten it back up, I doubt very much its going to get sloppy enough not to work but I guess time will tell

 

[archertwo]

Really good setup gink595. Looks almost like the one I made for my processor.