The problem with big trees for firewood, while they produce a LOT of wood for burning come winter…
Is that they make BIG rounds. Like 3 feet across.
Is that they make BIG rounds. Like 3 feet across.
I can pick up the ones that are 24″ across, they only weight about 250. Not that hard to put onto the splitter. Roll ’em onto your knee and stand up straight.
The ones that are 36-40 inches across weight somewhere in the order of 500-650 lbs (I weighed three that I just couldn’t roll onto my knee to pick up).
Hard for one guy to handle. Damp oak is HEAVY.
So I hadda get out the Wedge-and-Sledge to break ’em up into pieces I could handle.
Now THAT is work.
I’m gonna feel that all day long.
Probably multiple felonies if you do this today, but wouldn't it be fun? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERJURqj8kXo
Indeed. Come to think of it, places like L.A. Fitness didn't come into being until life was no longer "work." People now pay to have their yards done, and then pay to go to the gym. Then they wonder why they're broke…
My brother has a vertical splitter. Best thing ever.
We dropped an *OLD* hardwood maple and could pull the chunks into position with either truck or come-along. Listening to the motor/hydraulic cylinder moan was the worst part of the whole experience.
My splitter is an old homebuilt…probably from items liberated from the Steel Mills in Gary….
It does tilt, but the pusher plate is 6" high, and it is pretty hard to get the logs onto it. Not the best engineering.
It is on it's third (used) engine, and I have redone the cylinder twice in the past 20 years. It is probably 40 years old.
It has a 6" dia cylinder and the math says it is a 40 ton unit at 1000 psi. Not much it won't split.
I don't mind the lifting or the splitting, I need the exercise. I'm just getting old and tired and out of shape.
Well, at least you can feel the grain of the wood and find the spot to split. I know a lot of people who don't have that basic skill.