Splitting firewood (acre, house, gas, horse)

[MechAndy]

We burn wood to help heat the house.
The other year I had to cull 14 or so large trees for a new access road.
I’ve been hand splitting for a while now and it is not fun.
I bought most every kind of easy manual splitting device known to man.
They either did not work as advertised or I was just to weak to swing a big ass maul.
I’m just not 20 years old anymore.
I totally dreaded it.

Not no more .
Today I bought a Harbor Freight electric log splitter.
I always thought that electric ones would suck but surprisingly this one works great.
It has no problem doing large rounds of pine or fir.
They say it can do large oak but I doubt it.
I can split 20” rounds of soft stuff easy enough.
I dig that I can use it inside the shop without worrying about fumes or all the noise from a gas engine.
My wife likes to use it too because it’s easy

I don’t like that it requires 2 hands to operate.
One hand starts the motor, one hand activates the hydraulic ram.
Might have to fix that.

I cut 16” rounds so I need to modify it not to retract 30 some odd inches.
I think I could tac on a metal spacer to reduce the space to 18 inches.

There is a country boy that welded on an axe head to his and it can cut anything.

I have it sitting on a small folding table and that works fine.
Here is what it looks like.

[harry chickpea]

Truth be told, there were times I used my chainsaw for "splitting." On the last day of a below zero streak of weather in Vermont, and with fresh cut wood, splitting could be easy enough. Then I discovered trash birch that grew in swampy areas. Cut before it reached more than 8" diameter and Bob's yer uncle.

I've wondered about those splitters. Good to know they actually work.

[Creekcat]

Just curious, why have it on the table? Seems like more lifting to get the wood to the splitter.

[gamboolman]

My Uncle had a Hydraulic Splitter Powered by a small gasoline engine. It worked great.

Like you, as a kid and young man, I enjoyed manually cutting and splitting wood.

Now at age 63, if we get a Wood Heater, I would buy me a Hydraulic Splitter with gasoline fueled engine.

Truth be known, I would also hire a kid to do all the Wood Chopping, Splitting and Stacking.....truth be known....

[Hemlock140]

My late stepfather had a gas model, and cut his own firewood until about age 81. They heated exclusively by woodstove. I would help them harvest trees from their acreage, but eventually he would buy logs and have them delivered. He could do much of the splitting sitting down on a chair, grabbing the wood with his cant hook. The hardest part for him was cutting the logs to size with the chain saw, so my brothers and I would go up and help with that.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Its good to know that the electric splitter works. That actually makes sense since the work is done with hydraulics and it doesn't matter much which energy source pumps the hydraulic fluid.

My family has a big sturdy gasoline powered splitter and it sure makes life easier. Swinging a maul is for the young who still have good backs.

[MechAndy]

Yeah a half a dozen swings on a maul wears me out and I start looking for a reason to quit.
I get satisfaction when I walk away uninjured too.

I’ve used a big gas one and thought that was what I was going to buy.
I still might but I’m no longer in any rush.
They are about $1,500 for a nice mid-range one and not to fun to store.
The electric one was like $330 out the door and stores easily anywhere.

That pinche table is great.
Most guys use their tailgate or a table instead of bending over
I can’t stand leaning over the whole time anymore and my knees don’t like me resting on them either .

I did some research on these through YouTube for reviews and mod hacks before and after I got it.
There wasn’t any negative reviews. Not one.
Some of the mods were downright scary though.

The best mod I saw was adding a foot pedal switch as your engine on off switch instead of that spring loaded factory switch that way you don’t have to use both of your hands on them 2 switches.
Amazon has foot switches for $16-$40.
The free hand is nice to hold onto the wood or to protect yourself.

To keep the ram from traveling all the way back one guy uses a piece of wood as a stop.
This one concerns me because of it maybe wearing out a seal.

Lots of guys are sticking big wood rounds on theirs and it works on those easy enough.

Any way, that’s all I got.

[hunterseat]

Great info!

[Diana Holbrook]

The right tool makes any job easier! Very cool.

[guidoLaMoto]

That table you have it on reminds me of the last horse I bet on atthe track-- It was carrying too much weight and folded in the stretch.