Which Wood splitter.........

[keith c raymond]

I am thinking of investing in a splitter.A good friend has purchased one from Sears.It looks the same as Troy-Built,etc.and the price was not bad.It has some good features and looks rugged.But,what is the best Ram movement,wedge going into the wood,or ram pushing into the wedge?The ram pushing gives the option of a 4 way wedge,but the wedge going into the wood is 2 1/2 inches wide on the sears unit,and splits the piece before it is halfway through. What is the verdict about this, as I am looking for a splitter for 3-5 cords a season,And what about the horizontal-vertical option? is it worthwhile?It seems to be good for large wheels.Towing and movement are not a problem.

 

[Vman]

horizontal/vertical option....u want to be able to go vertical, u can pile up the logs around you, sit on a log in front of the splitter, roll the logs in and split them into pieces without moving from the sitting position...no back pains from lifting the wood to put onto the spiltter if u only have the horizontal. u just sit there, fast and easy work, no a$$ busting.

IMO, the 4 way wedge is useless...unless of course, every piece of wood u have is the exact diameter that would render 4 pieces of wood thats gonna fit in your stove. if u have wood big enough for 6 or 8 pieces....u will need to be an engineer to plan out your split..LOL yes, the 4-way is attractive but not sensible.

RAM/Wedge...IMO, the wedge on the ram going into the wood...u can see what is going on, positon your split, and if a stubborn piece does not split and gets stuck, the return of the ram will knock it off as there is a bracket at one point that will stop the wood from going up with the ram, but the ram continues up dislodging from the wood. with the ram pushing the wood into the wedge, u cannot really see the split positon, and if a piece gets stuck....go get the sledge hammer.

hope this helps

 

[geofore]

woodsplitters

For a homeowner splitting 3-5 cords a season of strait grain, small wood it doesn't matter and you don't need the fourway splitter. I don't think either machine you mentioned has the power to use a fourway on a knarly piece of wood.
Vman, the true test of the woodsplitter is to lay a piece across the bed and operate the ram. If the ram can't push the piece through the wedge shearing the wood in half the logsplitter doesn't have enough crushing power, change to a larger diameter cylinder and try again. If you don't want a piece to get stuck make sure the woodsplitter has enough power to shear the wood across the grain. Both the woodsplitters I built do have the power to shear wood across the grain. Pieces don't get stuck, they get crushed into the wedge and sheared in half. If a piece is too long it goes in sideways and is sheared to length.

 

[Vman]

yes, i agree......the few pieces i have gotten stuck were splitting oak that was still green and was either the stump section or a big "V" section (section where the tree "branched out")....my wedge would go all the way through but the wood did not fully seperate......had the "stringy" strands on the 2 sides of the wedge holding it together.

 

[Mange]

I built a splitter and split well over 300 cubic meters with it.
It puches the wood on to the knife, so I dond't need to throw the splitted away it just falls down when splitted. When the pile is getting too high it puches itself away from the pile, this is comfterble as there is little time/effort wasted moving wood and splitter by hand.

Most of the wood I split has been Elm, but I tried on the most common trees here, and Elm is tuffest, specially dry Elm.
If you split from the tp end it is easyer in most cases.
To see on the wood how to split is not is not easy, but after a while it is not that hard.

This one splits Elm up to 80cm wide,dry or not, and cuts up to 30cm.

I will post a pic of it.

 

[Mange]

Here is pic's of it.

 

[jokers]

Here is pic's of it.

Electric, very good idea. But why do you wear the bike helmet?

I agree that there are advantages to having the wood pushed into the wedge as you`ve stated Mange.

Russ

 

[Mange]

Here is pic's of it.

I connect it to the traktors hydraulic if there is no power, but so far I did most splitting at home or at a farm nearby.

 

[spacemule]

Here is pic's of it.

How much noise does the machine make?

 

[Mange]

With the electric engin, not much.
The cracking of the wood is louder than engin.

 

[spacemule]

That sounds like a neat idea. I've always hated the constant noise of gas powered splitters.

 

[Mange]

I tested the motor last week as I had problems with fuses blowing up...
Here I have 16 amp fuses and no problems.
My friend had 16 amp fuses and we burned up 9 fuses in 20 minuets.

Problem solved by changing cable from 3 short ones to one long.......
I am not very elecrtricly talented so I found this weired.

I decided to call an Electric Man Who would know that was wrong.
He put his amp tester on the engine as I split, it was no problem even with the biggest wood about 24" it never exceeded 18 amps.
Then I cut a few.......
It was up at 42amp as highest........

Hmmmmm :umpkin:

 

[keith c raymond]

Both splitters look really functional.The thing I cant get around with the ones Im looking at is how close the fender and motor are to the work area.As I look at the ones posted here is that the work-split area is totally open,and as the day goes on ,this could be the diff beteween injury and busted machine.

 

[fmueller]

I got a new one from Menards for about 800.00 bucks. Its a yardmachine, 20 ton on wheels with a 5hp tecumseh motor on it. I own 5 acres of timber and its splits eveything I've thrown at it. You can also put it in horizontal or vertical position. I had one for several years now and never had any prblems. After shopping around and not being skilled enough to make my own I thought it was a pretty good deal. I'll try and get ya a picture.

 

[Wolfcsm]

Keith,

You might look at the HUSKY splitters that Tractor Supply has for sale. The smaller of the two does the job just fine. Worked with one and split aboout 30 cords of wood wiith no problem. I have the larger of the two now and there has been nothing that it can not split or cut through.

Hal

 

[keith c raymond]

Well , we broke down and bought a MTD from homey d .Its a 25 ton horiz-vertical with a cast iron wedge,6.0 Briggs new style engine .Seems rugged enough,same as sears and troybuilt ,etc. As soon as I load it up with hydraulic or atf,Ill let you know how it goes.

 

[jayskye2000]

I bought a Husky from TSC, to replace the old one I lost in a partnership gone bad. It's a 35 ton 12 HP. I don't know why they changed their big model, the old 34 ton 8 HP did the same job, with less gas. I can put a 6" piece of maple in sideways, and it just powers right on through! The only thing I don't care for, is the rope start. It's a pain when the temps around 20 degrees or colder.That's going to change though, when the warrenty's over.

 

[WESCOMAN]

Of all the log splitters Ive been using I have decided to build my own. All of them have worked well but I feel I can build a better splitter for 1/3 of what I would pay for a new commercail one. I'm looking at 2,600 for everything compared to 7,500 for a commercail one. Mine will have an electric start Honda 13 HP motor and a 22gpm pump 5x24x3 cylinder and 20 gallons of hydro fluid as well as cat 4 wire hoses. I havent found my "I" beam yet but it will be 12" with a steel deck welded on top. The I beam will also be gusseted for strength to keep the I beam from flexing. It will also be painted the same as my truck and run with the same rims and tires. I'll post some pics as I build it this winter.

 

[eyeinstine]

Of all the log splitters Ive been using I have decided to build my own. All of them have worked well but I feel I can build a better splitter for 1/3 of what I would pay for a new commercail one. I'm looking at 2,600 for everything compared to 7,500 for a commercail one. Mine will have an electric start Honda 13 HP motor and a 22gpm pump 5x24x3 cylinder and 20 gallons of hydro fluid as well as cat 4 wire hoses. I havent found my "I" beam yet but it will be 12" with a steel deck welded on top. The I beam will also be gusseted for strength to keep the I beam from flexing. It will also be painted the same as my truck and run with the same rims and tires. I'll post some pics as I build it this winter.

That sounds like a real nice setup and design.. I would suggest also adding atleast a 4 way wedge to it. Make sure it is hydraulically controlled with a small cylinder so you can move the cross wedge up and down to center it on the log, or to move it all the way down below the main verictal wedge so you can revert back to the single wedge for real small stuff, or really big stuff.. Alot of the commercial splitters are like this, so you can look at them to get an idea.

And get the biggest GPM pump and the apprppriate HP engine that you can afford.. theres no replacement for speed when doing firewood commerically. Thats you profit margin. As much wood in the least amount of time. I have a 16gpm pump on a 4.5 cyl, and i still wish it was alot faster. I bet your 22 gpm and 5" cylinder is going to be around the same speed.. I may suggest you go with a 4.5 cyl to speed up your cycl time.. i have found nothing i cant split with the 4.5 cyl. With enough HP, you can turn the PSI up to whatever is the weekest links maximum rating. Usually the control valve.. most are 2500 or 2750 PSI. Try and find a 3000 PSI valve, and make sure you hoses are atleast that.

Have fun, and post pics when done!
Ron

 

[WESCOMAN]

Thanks EYEINSTINE,
My buddy was a hydraulic man in Washington a few years back. He use to work on all the Mills. When I asked him about a log splitter he kinda cringed. He said that was the worst question they used to get back at the shop. Anyway he said the same thing you did. SPEED! He is designing the system for me now. He is waiting for the 2 stage pump specs to finish it up for me. It will hall ASS!

I also bought a used 24 ton Northern Hydraulic splitter yesterday. Came with a 5x26x2 cylinder and what looks like a 16 GPM pump amd 10HP motor. It is a very strong splitter. I can cut pieces sideways. The speed is ok but I agree needs to be faster. The splitter I'm building this winter will haul butt.