I've known a few guys who only split with an axe, I've never been cold in their place in the winter so they must be doing something right
Woe is me, still hand splitting
- Thread starter El Quachito
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
I've known a few guys who only split with an axe, I've never been cold in their place in the winter so they must be doing something right
D
Deleted member 83629
Guest
i split by hand using a gas splitter is costly to me i got enough bills.
Tazfreak
ArboristSite Member
Ditto,I bought a fiskars but it,s just in case a log gets stuck on the wedge.fiskars has had about 5 mins use total.Use hydro splitter 1oo% on every thing we cut.Get enough 'exercise' cutting wood,don,t need to swing a maul to have fun,had hydro splitters since 1981,all h/made.Just split 5 t0n this morning all tough ironbark hardwood,a handsplitter would have just bounced off.I hand split all ourwood before i made our first machine,haven,t used a maul since except to showoff.:hmm3grin2orange:
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
it's all about the axe and splitting technique. I've tried many axes and when I tried the 4 1/4 pound arvika I never tried anything else. one sweet all around axe. I can plink off a cord of wood way faster then a splitter can :msp_thumbup:. I used to work for a campground and they supplied free wood to their guests. my boss spent something stupid like $2500 on a nice splitter and I refused to use it. so damn slow :msp_thumbdn:.
Preston
Addicted to ArboristSite
I think this is great. The folks that want to split with an axe or the Fiskars have the privilege of doing so. Some of us over the years feels like we've busted enough wood on a stump and find it a lot less expensive on the back to use the splitter with the handle. I know I do it for the exercise. Cutting the tree up and getting it on my trailer is quite enough for me. I have enough aches now from my macho days, so now I have to work around those. It just don't hurt as bad.
jthornton
ArboristSite Guru
bowtechmadman
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'm a bit addicted to finding the "better" way to split wood. I've tried everything except the super split...wife drew the line in the sand on that one. X25, X27, small hydraulic, home built PTO powered hydraulic w/ log lift (havn't used it yet), PTO driven screw type.
Amazing but the X27 get's used the most.
Amazing but the X27 get's used the most.
KindredSpiritzz
ArboristSite Operative
personally i enjoy splitting all my wood by hand. I like the exercise and the mental quiet time. Good for the soul.
I use a splitting maul. I don't call it splitting wood. I call it going to the gym. My friend has started calling it that too.
ppkgmsy
ArboristSite Operative
I cut and split about 4 cords a year, mostly using the splitter. Gives me more time for other jobs and with the family. We also have an 8lb maul for rounds, 6lb and axe for kindling. Sometimes we'll race, with one guy on the spiltter and another guy on the maul.
Quite realistic but...once you have it home, split and piled what do you do for the rest of the year for excercise? I stockpile rounds so I have some to be hand split for an hour's excercise a couple times a week for most of the year. Gives me even more "excercise as I then have to move the rounds from the stockpile to the split/stack area
- yep, some neighbors think I'm crazy, the rest KNOW I am.Harry K
Preston
Addicted to ArboristSite
I lift weights, walk at least a mile, pile and burn limbs, then I rest a bit. And this routine is followed 12 months a years. When I'm cutting and splitting, I squeeze the weights and walking in early.
El Quachito
ArboristSite Operative
I like to burn my wood. I don't sit around trying to economize my wood consumption. I like to think that if I put in the sweat, than you bet I'll keep the house warm.
I busted out a 1/12 cord this afternoon, topped off a 1/2 cord I've been adding to this winter. Felt good.
I busted out a 1/12 cord this afternoon, topped off a 1/2 cord I've been adding to this winter. Felt good.
zogger
Tree Freak
Hand split and noodle. If I ever get a big road trailer for going elsewhere to do wood (as in getting paid to clear and clean), I will get one of those small gas splitters to go on the trailer, I like the one whitespider uses, the one that can rotate around big rounds..
740jsmayle
ArboristSite Operative
I broke out the Fiskars for the first time today . Split and stacked almost 2 cord still have some rough pieces to noodle. It makes you feel good about yourself when you get done and look at what you've accomplished . But I will have to say I wouldn't pass up a deal on a splitter .
flashhole
Addicted to ArboristSite
What is a Quachito?
jthornton
ArboristSite Guru
I wish I could work up a sweat but having a heart attack back in 1993 and a stint put in about 10 years ago leaves me short of breath quick. I know my limits and work within them, I can split a few pieces then I have to wander off and do some sit down work. It was just getting harder and harder for me to keep up with the splitting, I even bought some firewood this winter as I was out of splits.
John
John
The lack of auto-cycle log splitters has nothing to do with OSHA... more to do with design, engineering, cost, reliability and the "lawyer factor". It just can't be done effectively and reliably with off-the-shelf hydraulic components. My splitter is 100% hands-free auto-cycle and still manufactured/marketed, but both the valve and cylinder are proprietary "in-house" designed, engineered and manufactured... the only thing off-the-shelf about it is the engine bolted to it. The valve is a simple single-spool/single lever and only contains a single o-ring that can be replaced using nothing but a couple monkey wrenches (actually the lever isn't part of the valve, it connects to the spool via the auto-cycle linkage). As far as I know, the government hasn't yet gotten around to regulating log splitters (I'm sure it's just a matter of time), just the engines powering them.
It ain't necessary for hydraulic log splitters to be the huge, bulky, heavy things that most are... that's just the "easiest", fastest and cheapest way to build them by bolting/welding off-the-shelf parts together without the need for any real engineering or fabricating skills. My splitter, that's been manufactured since the 70's, is proof of that! Fully hands-free auto cycle, auto-throttle, 25-inch stroke with under 10-second cycle time, stroke length is infinitely adjustable via a simple thumb screw, uses a floating push plate that grabs angle-cut rounds without slipping, the fluid reservoir is in the beam and has no vent, it does not use a pressure relief valve of any sort, it does not use Lovejoy couplings, has only one single small diameter hydraulic hose, it generates pressures around 8000 PSI so the cylinder can be very small diameter and light-weight yet provide a true 18-tons of sustained splitting power throughout the full ram travel, stores in less area than a small lawn tractor... and weighs less than 200-pounds full of fluids and dripping wet! I can lift the beam and roll it around using one finger!
OK... Back to the topic.
I split some by manual power, but only if it's a relatively small quantity of straight-grained, easy splitting stuff... if it won't "pop" with a single swing of the axe or maul I bring out the splitter, I work smarter, not harder. Exercise?? I get plenty of exercise doing other stuff... beating my body up swinging a striking tool against logs that fight back, even slightly, ain't worth it to me. Manual splitting may be good exercise for the muscles... but the repetitive motion and shock does more damage than good to joints, cartilage, tendons and whatnot.
addendum; Oh... and if my splitter wasn't so light and handy to use I'd probably do more with the axe/maul... but it's just so darn easy to grab and roll where I want it, right up next to the log being split. If I had to move rounds to the splitter, rather than the splitter to the rounds, I likely see it different.
Last edited:
Preston
Addicted to ArboristSite
Whitespider said: Quote.OK...
I split some by manual power, but only if it's a relatively small quantity of straight-grained, easy splitting stuff... if it won't "pop" with a single swing of the axe or maul I bring out the splitter, I work smarter, not harder. Exercise?? I get plenty of exercise doing other stuff... beating my body up swinging a striking tool against logs that fight back, even slightly, ain't worth it to me. Manual splitting may be good exercise for the muscles... but the repetitive motion and shock does more damage than good to joints, cartilage, tendons and whatnot.
At one time I too "demanded" my wood be split by hand. Well, with the ax, wedge and sledge, but the wood fought back. I too will work smarter. I get my exercise as things are.
I split some by manual power, but only if it's a relatively small quantity of straight-grained, easy splitting stuff... if it won't "pop" with a single swing of the axe or maul I bring out the splitter, I work smarter, not harder. Exercise?? I get plenty of exercise doing other stuff... beating my body up swinging a striking tool against logs that fight back, even slightly, ain't worth it to me. Manual splitting may be good exercise for the muscles... but the repetitive motion and shock does more damage than good to joints, cartilage, tendons and whatnot.
At one time I too "demanded" my wood be split by hand. Well, with the ax, wedge and sledge, but the wood fought back. I too will work smarter. I get my exercise as things are.
Arbonaut
Go Climb It
Wow. Axe vs Maul vs Splitter. Axe vs Maul is bringing a knife to a gunfight. Maul vs Splitter = Rifle vs Tank. A tank is good if you need one. Kinda low on mobility, though. Strategy resides in the preliminary stages of battle. Tactics are employed on the march. Think of ways to make the wood work for you. Don't fight it.
Access your needs then adapt to accommodate the needs in the most efficient way.
Access your needs then adapt to accommodate the needs in the most efficient way.
