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Went over to the dark side

Started by alan gage, October 24, 2018, 09:48:41 AM

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alan gage

I've been a happy hand splitter for the past 10 years but the other day I broke down and bought a used splitter from just down the road. It's a little Speeco 22 ton and it sure was nice to fire it up and split a dozen twisted crotchety rounds that I'd set aside as too difficult to split by hand. Now that I have a sawmill the nice logs are going to that instead of firewood which means I'll be dealing with harder to split rounds and it seems like I have less time too. Hopefully I'll still pick up the axe for a little fun and exercise but I think I'm going to like this splitter. Too bad it's so noisy.

Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

thecfarm

Those gas engines can be loud.
I was at a show once and what I think was a super splitter with an electric motor on it. Very nice. Quiet!!!
Reason I got one because of the cook stove. Wood has to be split about 4 inchs across. Takes a while to split that way. Seem like I was picking up pieces more than I was splitting. ;D
Now with the OWB I split some knotty pine with ease.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

brianJ

Ive split by hand for a long time.   Last winter I worked out a deal to get a 27 ton troy built splitter with Honda engine for an afternoon of chainsaw work.    It was someone I knew from back where I grew up.   I know for a fact it had less than 5 hours of work on it.   

That quiet Honda engine is just the sound of not getting tired and the wood piling up fast.

Ivan49

Quote from: alan gage on October 24, 2018, 09:48:41 AM
I've been a happy hand splitter for the past 10 years but the other day I broke down and bought a used splitter from just down the road. It's a little Speeco 22 ton and it sure was nice to fire it up and split a dozen twisted crotchety rounds that I'd set aside as too difficult to split by hand. Now that I have a sawmill the nice logs are going to that instead of firewood which means I'll be dealing with harder to split rounds and it seems like I have less time too. Hopefully I'll still pick up the axe for a little fun and exercise but I think I'm going to like this splitter. Too bad it's so noisy.

Alan
If you have a saw mill just put the log up make one cut down the middle , flip it uip and make one more cut down the middle of moth halves. I use to do that with everything so I had no splitting. For me it was faster that way

petefrom bearswamp

Must make some heavy quarters if the log is very large in diameter.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

jwilly3879

Older fellow by me splits all his wood on the bandmill in 8 to 12' lengths he then cuts it to length with a 12" Dewalt chop saw.

Don P

With the swing blade on the entry slab I just break it into pieces no bigger than about 3x3, the rest of the waste is smaller. I pick it up on forks and alternate cutting from each end to keep it balanced till its whittled down.

Ianab

I've been known to make firewood with my mill too. 

Got some big ugly logs that even a splitter might struggle with, not to mention wrestling 3ft dia rings around. Drop the logs under the mill and saw them into 4x4 or similar. Big enough to make firewood, small enough to cut fast and handle easy. Then chainsaw them to length later.

I figure it's no more work than sawing the log into rings, and then pushing those into a splitter. Mill uses about the same gas as a splitter etc, blade cost on a swing mill is low. Makes a bit more sawdust, but the logs are free, as is a hole to dump the sawdust in. And most importantly, I've got a mill, I haven't got a splitter.  :D
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

alan gage

I have been cutting up firewood logs on the mill. Then I'd hold them in the grapple over the dump trailer and start whacking off 18" at a time. Works great for all but the 4' or so hidden in the grapple. It's a nice way to do it but I've only had limited time available at the mill and prefer to use it on sawlogs and, to be honest, I just don't much enjoy processing firewood that way. I like bucking logs but don't like standing in a dump trailer awkwardly bucking those slabs.

More enjoyable to me is to buck the logs and stack the rounds at my house where I can spend as much or little time as I want processing them at any given time. Relaxing isn't quite the right word for it but something along those lines. Maybe cathartic.
Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

hedgerow

Quote from: alan gage on October 24, 2018, 09:48:41 AM
I've been a happy hand splitter for the past 10 years but the other day I broke down and bought a used splitter from just down the road. It's a little Speeco 22 ton and it sure was nice to fire it up and split a dozen twisted crotchety rounds that I'd set aside as too difficult to split by hand. Now that I have a sawmill the nice logs are going to that instead of firewood which means I'll be dealing with harder to split rounds and it seems like I have less time too. Hopefully I'll still pick up the axe for a little fun and exercise but I think I'm going to like this splitter. Too bad it's so noisy.

Alan
Enjoy that splitter. Just put some ear plugs in. Don't be like us old guys that spent a lot of time around noisy equipment when we were younger with no ear protection and have lost some of our hearing. The last 10 years I always were ear plugs around noisy equipment. 

gspren

Depending on the engine sometimes better mufflers are available.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

alan gage

I don't think it's a particularly noisy engine but it's just that I'm used to splitting wood being a quiet time when I can hear the birds and the dog and cats running around the yard. The splitter drowns all that out.

Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

LeeB

I do not regret my choice to switch to a splitter at all. I get what I need done quickly and way less strain. 
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

upnut

Congrats! If yours does not have the catch tray on the side I can highly recommend getting one, saves much bending over for splits. We also fabricated a stout steel plate to protect the engine from debris/falling chunks, plus a plate to protect the hydraulic oil filter. Mine has split alot of wood with zero problems. I also bought the four-way wedge, but after a couple repairs relegated that to splitting clear straight stuff into cook-stove size wood and kindling. Good Luck...


 

Scott B.
I did not fall, there was a GRAVITY SURGE!

Al_Smith

Quote from: hedgerow on October 25, 2018, 08:59:55 AM
Quote from: alan gage on October 24, 2018, 09:48:41 AM
 
. Don't be like us old guys that spent a lot of time around noisy equipment when we were younger with no ear protection and have lost some of our hearing.  -----------true story .50 years of industrial noise ,chainsaws ,old bull dozers with straight exhausts and high powered rifles takes a toll .

gspren

 I do wear hearing protection but I wonder how much it really helps. My 90 year old mother is pretty much deaf and she had an office job, no guns, no mowing or chainsaws etc., there are several other older people I know that had little exposure to loud noise and they all lose their hearing.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

alan gage

Have split about a cord with the new splitter over the weekend. Pretty much all of it was large stringy crotchy rounds that I wouldn't have even bothered with when hand splitting. Nice to use it rather than giving it to friends that have splitters. Very happy with my purchase.

I used to think that, given good straight grained rounds, I could split by hand faster than a splitter. Pretty sure I was wrong. 

Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

samandothers

Glad you are enjoying the new to you splitter.  I bet your back is also!

alan gage

Quote from: samandothers on October 28, 2018, 10:32:53 PM
Glad you are enjoying the new to you splitter.  I bet your back is also!
For the past 9 months I've been having back issues for the first time in my life. Oddly enough, even when it was at its worst and I could barely walk, hand splitting wood not only didn't hurt much but actually made it feel better. I certainly couldn't swing as hard as I wanted and had to adjust my form a little but it seemed to loosen it up when nothing else would. 
Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

Gearbox

I to have made firewood on the circle mill . Just one wrong pull on the lever and make a good oak log into firewood .
A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

mike_belben

The spine was designed to work hard then rest well.  Its how the fluid in your disc gets squeezed out (work) and replenished with whatever nutrients and oxygen etc by the blood stream then sucked back in.  rest and stretching elongate the spine and make the disc suck the fresh fluid back in.  


Without exercise and rest you get degenerative disk disease.. The gel in your spine dies from suffocation basically. Use it or lose it.  Swimming laps always fixed me right up. 

Praise The Lord

alan gage

I've split about 3 cords with the new (to me) splitter which, in addition to what I'd already hand split, should be plenty for next winter. Sure am glad I got it. Really sped things up and pretty much all the wood I split with it were logs I would have turned up my nose at if splitting by hand. It's nice to be able to use those logs for myself rather than giving away the tough to split rounds.

I didn't think I'd make much use of the vertical splitting feature. Figured I'd just load up the loader bucket with rounds and put it at a comfortable height. But it turned out that often when I had time to split wood the loader wasn't at the same location so I ended up using the vertical splitting feature quite a bit on the bigger rounds.

The splitter is rated at 22 tons and while it grunted a few times it handled pretty much everything I threw at it. There were a few crotch pieces where I split off the outside and decided not to tax the splitter by trying to do the whole thing but overall I was very impressed.

Alan
Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

petefrom bearswamp

Mike I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in about 1987 when a young 50 yrs old.
Did some exercises and improved my posture and am still going
BTW I quit hand splitting in 1978 when I built a log splitter., 8HP (B&S) craftsman engine and various hydraulic parts from what was at that time Central Tractor, Now TSC
Energizer bunny splitter "still going" but on second engine, a Honda 5HP
PS son and grandson run it now and I stack, but somewhat slowly
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

Dave Shepard

Quote from: alan gage on October 28, 2018, 10:16:39 PM
Have split about a cord with the new splitter over the weekend. Pretty much all of it was large stringy crotchy rounds that I wouldn't have even bothered with when hand splitting. Nice to use it rather than giving it to friends that have splitters. Very happy with my purchase.

I used to think that, given good straight grained rounds, I could split by hand faster than a splitter. Pretty sure I was wrong.

Alan
I used to think that,  too. Especially with a slow splitter. The slow splitter will go all day long without a break. A fast splitter will eat the straight and the knotty all day. My splitter runs off my backhoe ports. No way i could keep up with it. 
Fast splitting of maple chunks. - YouTube
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Magicman

Wow, that splitter is wicked fast Dave.


 
I added another 20"X12' log (not shown) to this firewood whack yesterday.  Guess that I will be bucking/splitting firewood for Winter after next.  :o
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