Log Splitter

I once seen a clip of a kindler s[litter/small logs, looked quite clever and dodgy at the same time.

Was a great big heavy wieght with a splitting edge on it, welded to a big metal bar and hinged, half way? along they had a coil spring from a car which must of balanced the wieght out so they just pushed it down and it sprang back up itself with very little effort.
Brilliantly simple althou i guess it might take a bit of working out the right wieght for head and size/postion of spring.
 
I do think most domestic splitters are too slow and I can split most logs faster with the maul. The other negative about a splitter is they take up more room in the shed. If am getting logs they are cut and split on site so it leaves the mess in the forest and then the logs are stacked in the shed. Electric splitter means there is another time you have to handle the rings and clean up the mess.

For just the amount of logs I need per year I would not give a splitter room in the shed. It might be different when I get older or if I was doing a few trailers loads per week instead of a few per year.

I usually tow my splitter to the green fallen tree (fallen not felled) where it has been prev cut into the right lengths and left for a summer to dry. I then split it and leave in a heap to further dry. Green splitting is impossible with a hand held maul and at 2' long much the same even when dry. Our wood has all sorts of twisted and curly grain most of the time. The 30 tonne force eats it as fast as you can feed it for hours..it never gets tired....I do lol!

A 2' round of our hardwoods 30-40"`s in dia when green can weigh a couple of hundred kilo`s...better off drying a bit! I don't think that there is an electric splitter that would split our hardwoods of a decent size.
 
Last edited:
The latest 'bright' idea from the Government is to ban damp firewood and house coal...........
 
Guys, iam looking for some advice , i maybe go through 3 ton of firewood per year, just wondering what type of log splitter to get , iam not looking for anything Flashy, just a good value reliable one, any views would be appreciated.
Neil
Axe - multiple heat opportunities - carting the logs, splitting, carting the firewood and eventually heat from the fire.
 
Just catching up on this thread. Xxxx using a maul. I need to be able to walk after. It kills you, yes it is all very manly and you can stand there wiping your brow with a whole load of ladies swooning at your feet with your muscles bulging but sod that. My muscles are in hiding so cheap splitter from the bay of evil. Make sure it is on a stand as previously said. In all honesty, I still find the stand too low so I may bodge it up another 4 to 6 inches. I have a 16kw woodburner that covers my heating and hot water. So I am looking at about 3 or 4 trees a year somewhere between 9 and 16 inches. Long as the wood is cut between 9 and 12 inches thick I have few problems splitting the logs. It is just so easy. Albeit loud. I wear ear defenders as well, (habit). This split it and carry it and all that "it keeps you warm 3 or 4 times"? Naw, best thing I ever done was to buy the splitter. It's a 5 tonne one by and has happily munched 24 inch wide logs.
 
To be honest the worst thing i hate about splitting wood is the bending down to pick it up.

I still like my axe, treated myself a Fiskars X27 which makes swinging an axe a real pleasure and effortless.

I'm lucky to have a banking that i can dump my timber on, i ring it, it rolls down to my splitting point and i have a couple of sleepers dug into the banking so splitting at waist hieght all the time.
I can usually fill my 6T dumper skip in under an hour just splitting (generally 18-24" long hardwoods) more because of the set up than me swinging hard

If u can somehow rigg ur set up wether axe or splitter to let gravity do the work it makes life easy

Either that or hire a couple of different 1's see wot u like. A lot might depend on the size of logs as well as wood type/grain

You could buy a 1Metre pickaroon. Very useful tool to save bending - Or a set of log scissors - both made by Stihl but cheaper ones available.
 
I always use a good axe to split my deer heads for my dogs...I am thinking now I could split them with my log splitter and just knife the connecting skin.
A bit of frigging around with grinder and welder and I reckon I could make a drop on head splitting attachment.
 
The latest 'bright' idea from the Government is to ban damp firewood and house coal...........

Because that's what causes most of the particulate pollution which contributes to poor air quality in cities etc and has health implications for millions. It's also bad for your flue / chimney. Mainly aimed at cheap crap sold at petrol stations etc. No issue with well seasoned logs.
 
1 of the big problems i have with pretty much all splitters is how do u get the big rings into them??

Thats wot u struggle to split most of the time, even the electric horizontal 1's it would be a mission to roll a big ring near it and hold it in place (with out ur hands) while the splitter works.

Really all depends on the size of wood ur splitting, at the moment i'm fairly happy with my set up including the axe.

I mibbe in the future could dig a vertical splitter into my banking so essentially the base would be at 'ground' level but be a lot of work and mean leaving it outside FT
 
Back
Top