Vertical or Horizontal

[Tin-knocker]

I always split vertical.
I think it would be pretty difficult to split horizontally with an 8lb maul!

 

[Marley5]

I always split vertical.
I think it would be pretty difficult to split horizontally with an 8lb maul!

Ahhh smart man.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I always split vertical.
I think it would be pretty difficult to split horizontally with an 8lb maul!

Give it a try sometime. I don't usually do it with an 8#er, but I used to swing my gransfors bruks like a golf club all the time. Works like a charm. Hold on tight though...

 

[Tin-knocker]

Give it a try sometime. I don't usually do it with an 8#er, but I used to swing my gransfors bruks like a golf club all the time. Works like a charm. Hold on tight though...

Hmmm. I think I'll keep letting gravity help me out.

 

[svk]

Horizontal. My splitter will tip vertical but it is very cumbersome to hump big rounds onto it. I find it easier to quarter big rounds by noodling or splitting with a maul then doing horizontal.

 

[Guswhit]

Vertical for the big pieces, then horizontal to finish them.

This is what I do also. If I get any really large trees I'm dealing with I drag the old hydraulic out and split them down to manageable size vertically, but I use my super split for everything else now!

 

[GVS]

I always get in arguments with my cousin about which way is best to split. He swears he can split faster than me, him sitting on a bucket, vertical, and me with an adjustable 8' long feed table, horizontal. With my replaced knee I can't sit on a bucket and reaching out to pull blocks to me would kill my back. He says standing by the beam kills his back. Back in the 70's he bought a Vermeer vertical splitter, one of the first on the market. I had a Bliss horizontal that went on a 3 point hitch. It took 40 HP to run it and would cut in both directions. He got 40 years of use out of his old Vermeer and just bought a new 14 horse splitter form the local Kubota dealer. I now have a TSC 22 ton. My feed table will lower to 7" off the ground with a 24" ramp, so I can roll big rounds on it, then raise it to beam height. So, virtually no lifting. So, anyway, how do YOU prefer to split? Joe.

Anything 200 LBS or more,I'm not even going to try to wrestle on to the beam.And I don't like to noodle either so i use my Horiz./Vert. a lot.I have 2 splitters, both straight and combination.If one goes down the road it'll be the straight horiz.

 

[sb47]

Horizontal, no way am I staying in a bent over all day.

 

[sb47]

Horizontal. My splitter will tip vertical but it is very cumbersome to hump big rounds onto it. I find it easier to quarter big rounds by noodling or splitting with a maul then doing horizontal.

That's the way I feel about it. Vertical seems to cumbersome. I noodle them up then then split. I don't stack rounds before splitting them. If I have to pick them up, I only want to do it once. Tree company's dump loads and I cut strait from the pile, then split as I go. The idea is to reduce labor and time.

 

[92utownxh]

I only go vertical to halve or quarter big rounds I was too lazy to noodle. Then I go back to horizontal as soon as I can. Vertical is too hard on my knees and back.

 

[stumpy75]

That's what I kind of found, to work vertical you need two guys. Maybe with a bigger machine than my 22 ton it will work better. My foot is small enough that when you try to set a big round on it, it just tilts away from the beam. So, I need to build a platform level with the foot so the round will sit square, or get a second guy to push it back against the beam, Joe.

That's what I did. I built a small platform for the larger pieces to set on so the pieces sit square.

 

[sb47]

That's what I did. I built a small platform for the larger pieces to set on so the pieces sit square.

I tried using some 2 by's so the round wouldn't slid off as much. I agree most splitters have to small a platform for vertical use.

 

[old CB]

Vertical. All that bending over and lifting wood onto the horizontal beam adds too much labor to what is already work. I split sitting down.

Maybe being 6' 2" with a long wingspan and being nimble gives me an advantage. But I find it easier to sit on a block and roll all my rounds to the splitter, much easier than lifting. I use all four limbs to prop and balance the biggest rounds, but anything 20" dia. and smaller I just rake it toward the splitter, often using a picaroon, and roll it into standing position. I toss the splits into whatever direction works, and stand up only to gather a few more rounds into my work area.

A while back I tried splitting a few rounds on the horizontal beam and found it to be a pain.

 

[Big_Al]

99% horizontal, 1% vertical. My splitter will tilt vertically for the big rounds but normally do everything horizontally. Lot easier on my back & knees.

 

[old CB]

Also, noodling to render wood liftable means extra work. Why noodle something that is a wheel? I roll it in, tilt it on its side, and split.

 

[Cody]

Also, noodling to render wood liftable means extra work. Why noodle something that is a wheel? I roll it in, tilt it on its side, and split.

Noodles make excellent chicken bedding, we've used them in her flower pots and what not, and it's awesome fire starter if it's dry, which doesn't take much. If it weren't for any of those uses, I probably wouldn't noodle.

 

[turnkey4099]

Noodles make excellent chicken bedding, we've used them in her flower pots and what not, and it's awesome fire starter if it's dry, which doesn't take much. If it weren't for any of those uses, I probably wouldn't noodle.

I'd noodle jsut to see the rooster tails of shavings. Neighbor has chickens and she loves those noodles.

 

[farmer steve]

Also, noodling to render wood liftable means extra work. Why noodle something that is a wheel? I roll it in, tilt it on its side, and split.

any reason to run the saw and smell the 50:1 2 stroke fumes.

 

[sb47]

any reason to run the saw and smell the 50:1 2 stroke fumes.

I sometimes throw some U4.4 racing fuel in my saw. Reminds me of sitting on the starting line waiting for the gate to drop. It's a little pricey, but it sure make's it smell good.

 

[Cody]

I'd noodle jsut to see the rooster tails of shavings. Neighbor has chickens and she loves those noodles.

It is pretty fun to watch the clutch cover build up, and then expel two handfuls worth of noodles in a bit of a poof. Has anyone noodled with .404? Curious as to how large those are.