Wood splitting debate. Maul vs splitter

[axs]

My body appreciates the burning of dead dinosaurs to get the job done. As an added bonus, the better half will get on the hydraulic splitter. She ain't touching a maul.

 

[CTYank]

Careful....he's very protective of his tools.

Hey, Steve, who's that guy in your avatar? Sure ain't you. Actual pic available here.

Speak for yourself. A bit less mean-spirited would be a plus.

 

[playback]

I think the situation you are In also plays a part. I'm only about 3 years into splitting and because of what I have access to wood wise, splitting by hand is not nearly as effective.

Our city/county cleanup drops off trees and such at a local dump spot and a few of us in the area grab from that what we can. It's not ideal wood and over half of it is crotchy or very hard to split (can you say sycamore?)

For me, getting a splitter was necessary so that I could even utilize what would I did get. I've been able to collect 2-3x more wood because I can actually split it where I couldn't before.


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[CTYank]

Given that view of hydralic splitters, I'd suspect that you didn't have very many "salesman of the month" plaques hanging on the wall.

Considering what most of us have invested in saws, the cost of a small splitter can hardly be considered a big deal. And they are simple machines that are trouble free for anyone who knows how to check the oil level. Granted, you generally can't take them into the woods. And that's where a maul and noodling come in to get those blocks down to a size where you can get them into the truck. But they do make life easy when you've got a lot of splitting to do. Same as your Ariens snow thrower. You could have just done all that work with a snow shovel, but the Ariens makes life a little better, doesn't it?

OK let's all be honest here: There's a certain psychology involved in this debate that runs along the "I don't need a splitter, cause I can still get it done by hand." route. There's a certain "wuss" factor to getting a splitter, cause part of that decision involves not wanting to do it all by hand anymore. And splitting by hand is the last "pure" un-mechanized part of the whole firewood process. Just sweat and muscle like in the olden days. Yeah I get that, and I really enjoy when I'm hand splitting. But I also like having a splitter for the larger sizes, quanities and species of wood I run into. Job's easier, life's better.

Nope, the mfg in WI didn't go that route. We did sell a few. Then the impact of an Arab embargo went away for a while.

About the snowblower, not so. You're welcome to try to clear my sidewalk after the local plow-jockies have built up ice-floes there. It's about 100' long, so some would end up in the ER trying. The neighbors don't even try, for whatever reason, so guess who cuts a swath through theirs. Random bottles of wine show up. Way beyond a "little better" in fact, and yes, it's a sweetie.

It's all a matter of personal preference, and I really like intense gym sessions. And being able to toss the tools in the p/u in seconds. Nothing to do with "wuss" factor at all, just a matter of what gets it all done most simply. Not having to watch a clock, and having many truckloads of oak & shagbark littering the driveway a bit back, they all got busted to size in about a week (of high-80s.) Probably could have rented hydraulic, but not even tempted.

Now that the drive was cleared, more white oak from Land Trust project is getting quartered in the woods, accessible only on foot, then brought home to be made ready for many years hence. Then there are a few stashes of shagbark.

None of those tools are "venerable", especially if you understand the meaning of the word, Steve. Lighten up. Too bad "ignore" inop.

 

[svk]

Hey, Steve, who's that guy in your avatar? Sure ain't you. Actual pic available here.

Speaking of avatars, the kitty who thinks he is a lion is quite the good fit for you.

It's all a matter of personal preference, and I really like intense gym sessions.

John, you mentioning the "intense gym sessions" gave me a good laugh. I remember when we cut wood together and you seemed to think 10 minutes of cutting followed by 50 minutes of extolling the benefits of each of your saws, axes, and other tools was "intense". Intensely boring maybe....

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

For the guys dead set on "splitters are bad", is it safe to say that you buck all the wood by hand too? Afterall a chainsaw would be some some sort of infernal tool from the Devil right?

 

[muddstopper]

Unlike some, My time is limited. I like to get all my wood done in one session. I prefer hydraulics because it lets me get the work done is a reasonable amount of time, without wearing myself out doing it. I keep a 8lb mual and a double bit axe close to the splitter, and I aint beyond using them on some of the smaller, straight stuff. The stuff that is going to make more then two pieces usually gets a dose of hydraulic power. Really big stuff comes off the splitter in 6 pieces, one pass and done. Something that needs resplit, just stack t 2 or 3 pieces high and another strok of the splitter and its now 6 pieces. No sweat and no grunting.

 

[NSMaple1]

Using a splitter hasn't eliminated my sweating & grunting - just reduced it.

 

[CoreyB]

Well I have not found a splitter to rent or borrow. I did find an older gentleman that has one. I asked him about it and the sneaky old man says" As soon as it cools down a bit more I will take you out and you can gain first hand how it all works." Yep looks like I will be helping the old timer get some firewood lol.

 

[row.man]

My splitter (predator) is almost too fast for me alone, thanks to the double ended wedge.
I can split a trailer load in 45 min, roughly 1/3 cord.
While I like the exercise, my 6 lb maul and X27 take hours to make 1/3 cord

 

[GVS]

Yup, stuff like beech really calls for a splitter. Two guys going at with mauls and straight grained wood can get a lot done in a short time, and make a splitter look like a waste of money. Get into some real difficult stuff and you could debate whether you're busting up the wood or the wood is busting you up.

Like a few of you guys have said, I enjoy doing some of the easier stuff by hand. But the splitter gets all the stubborn blocks these days cause I learned there's no point in trying to be more stubborn than the wood is.

If you use a maul or ax and your buddy is on the spitter you'll run out of gas long before the spotter does!

 

[USMC615]

It all boils down to pick your poison...that's all. I enjoy swinging a few implements at the wood, but my splitters get 99% of it. I didn't buy'em to just set in place.

 

[ZeroLife]

This is my happy place. Splitting by hand is my preferred method because that's a pile of nice, straight red oak, mostly. My father bought a splitter for the rough stuff cause they depreciate so slowly around these parts, it was cheaper to buy one and take the hit than it was too rent one 3 times. He's in his mid 60's, and there's about 6 cord left there, and another 10 coming late fall. I'm sure the splitter will get it's us.

 

[spike60]

If you use a maul or ax and your buddy is on the spitter you'll run out of gas long before the spotter does!

And it will take a lot longer to refuel me than the splitter.

 

[AIM]

All of my mauls are rusty. I love my splitter. Alot of people complain about cycle time on splitters. I just figure it gives me just enough time to take a drink of my beer between rounds.

 

[Whitespider]

Ah, it's been many moons since CTYank trolled in here to trash the venerable Fiskars.

I'm not a Fiskars fan neither... I have one, don't use it much, only on really easy-to-split stuff.
I use the 8# maul a lot more than the Fiskars.

As far as a hydraulic splitter, I can split more wood with an ax or maul for an hour, maybe two if it's easy-to-split... after that the splitter starts to catch-up in a real big hurry. If I'm gonna' spend the day (like 4-8 hours) splitting, the splitter gets a lot, a whole lot more done... but I'm still wore-out at the end of the day. The real time saver comes from the loading... I can catch the splits coming off the splitter and toss 'em directly in the trailer. Using an ax or maul means picking the splits up and loading after the splitting, rather than just loading during the splitting. (Admittedly, the hands-free, full auto-cycle also allows me to use my hands for something other than holding levers.)

Once you get the system and timing down, two people working a hydraulic splitter can get a bunch of work done in a relatively short amount of time... a whole bunch of work done.
*

 

[svk]

That auto cycle is almost like cheating.

 

[DrewUth]

Must be something in the water up there to make beech nasty. I'd heard about beech being nasty before, then got a mess of it from one giant beech that Sandy tore up. Split like a dream, with any of a bunch of non-bludgeon mauls. (Many totally confuse crappy POS mauls with the ones carefully forged by skilled smiths from good steel.)

When working through a stack of billets, those that resist with forks/knots go into a "group W" pile. They then get a quick partial noodling with whatever saw is ready & handy. Then hit with maul. It's all about KISS, IMHO.

I used to sell hydraulic splitters. For my purposes, given the above, they're more trouble & expense than they're worth, especially when I have big rounds out in the woods, to enable loading them out. E.g. 20" shagbark rounds. (X27 will suck wind on them besides.)

For background, 6.6 lb is a BIG maul. There'll be a variety in E. Falmouth for test.

+1 for the Arlo Guthrie "Group W" reference. Hairy eyeball!

 

[NSMaple1]

The real time saver comes from the loading... I can catch the splits coming off the splitter and toss 'em directly in the trailer.

Yessir - and with a cradle, you don't have to move fast to catch them either. I toss right into a trailer when splitting, then tow the trailer right beside my pallets & pile onto them. Depending where I'm working, there might be a mile or so in between. Or 50'. ATV trailer holds 1/3 cord, +/-. One lift off the ground to the splitter from where it was cut to length, one touch to stack, next touch is into the fire.

The ride in between gives a break, as does the ram returning when splitting. With enough breaks I can go all day.

 

[muddstopper]

I catch my splits one of three ways. One way is I dont catch them and just let them fall off the end of splitter as they split, the splitter will just push the splits out of the way as I continue splitting. Second way is I back my dump trailer under the splitting wedge and let the split simply fall on the back of the trailer, the next split will push the already split wood up toward the front of the trailer. The third way is I take the fel and push the rounds up to the end of my wood shed and stack every split as it comes off the wedge. I dont toss nothing into the pile as I split, I prefer to use my throwing time reaching for the next round to split. I have never understood why some folks think they have to handle every single split a dozen times before it ends up in the stove.