working on firewood

flembo · Sep 28, 2014

The shed is full for this yr. and the 2015 2016 season is cut split and piled, a few more trailer loads will insure that. What's left in the log pile will cover the 2016 2017 season. The best part is the size of the logs a lot of them won't need to be split some will need to be split in half and a few 12" or 13" stuff to quarter but no backbreakers like shown on the splitter typical of last yr. My back will like that, it's a nice feeling knowing that the wood is in. I do have 2 big birch trees that are dead or dying I will take down this winter when the ground is hard.

Tall T · Sep 28, 2014

Nice!
Wish I could say the same about how organized and timely my wood program is. I've been hauling big blocks to my front yard using the carryall -- back and forth over the bridge I made.

Thank goodness the friend who helped me retrieve my rear tires from the tire jockeys that damaged my rims, just dropped off his wood splitter. Unloading it from his pickup was so easy . . . lifted the carryall to truck bed level and rolled the splitter onto it.

flembo · Sep 28, 2014

If you are the one that has been posting pictures of the bridge you built I have been kinda following the progress. I just hauled down my third load, haven't even unloaded the last one the the trailer holds 3/8 of a cord so 1-1/8 cord that's all for today. I wouldn't want to do it without a splitter.

Tall T · Sep 28, 2014

You wrote:
"If you are the one that has been posting pictures of the bridge you built I have been kinda following the progress. I just hauled down my third load, haven't even unloaded the last one the the trailer holds 3/8 of a cord so 1-1/8 cord that's all for today. I wouldn't want to do it without a splitter."

Yep, it is I.
In all the years I've heated with wood, this is the first time for a splitter!! Used to sell firewood too . . . no splitter.

What a treat . . . except for on the back. I'm 6'7" so it is a long way to be hunched over. Dislocated my sternum two years ago and that is still sensitive and had yet another fall the other day and my rib cage landed squarely on the edge of my carryall box. so I'm just doing two hour stretches with the splitter today.

Hey!
I just noticed something in one of your photos -- one of those, "duh, why didn't I think of that" things. Your tractor's hydraulics lift the tongue to dump the trailer.

Terry

Kirk-NJ · Sep 28, 2014

I'm still skidding,cutting and splitting wood. My 2n does the moving to the wood shed. My outdoor wood burner gets pretty hungry in the cold winter.

Kirk

flembo · Sep 28, 2014

Not quite high enough to completely dump but a little push by hand does the trick.

Tall T · Sep 28, 2014

Nice photo Kirk.
I presume you access your outdoor stove from inside the house?

T

Tom N MS · Sep 28, 2014

Surely Not...........

Tall T · Sep 28, 2014

I guess maybe he means the burner for burning up branches.

I was thinking of the outdoor woodboxes with access from the inside so why not a wood stove in it's own sort of furnace room with thermost controlled fans (or not) or ducting to bring the heat in.

I have a 1925 Fawcett monster of a wood furnace in my shop and the house I got it from had it's own furnace room. the furnace was enclosed in sheet metal. I have it just radiating the heat.

Kirk-NJ · Sep 28, 2014

No it's a walk outside by my wood shed
kirk

Tall T · Sep 28, 2014

Impressive!

Edit:

Ya know . . . the wood splitter isn't all the boon it is cracked up to be. It's great for gnarly old twisted rounds but that process of being bent over double (with a new hip and cracked rib) waiting for the ram to retract for another go is very time consuming and laborious compared to mall or axe chopping. With manual chopping you can better pick your desired shapes and sizes according to the grain and after having done it so much I can split sections and still leave the pieces standing on my big chopping block (2' tall and 2' diam block).

Seems like a lot more work retrieving the splitter pieces, retracting the ram, feeding the same piece back in, waiting for the ram to do it's thing -- definitely more time consuming and all the while breathing exhaust.

Lisa K · Sep 28, 2014

Do you have a 3 pt PTO splitter you use? Or do you split it all by mall or regular splitter? I've been eyeying up a 3pt to run off the 8n at the hunting cabin but can't justify the price over hard labor.

Tall T · Sep 28, 2014

If I had my druthers, I'd have a splitter with a big bed at waist level and a conveyor to bring the big rounds up to it.

A 3 PT splitter wouldn't work for me because my tractor has an under belly exhaust and I'd be dyin' without a respirator.

I just have the loan of the one I was using today.
Never have used a hydraulic splitter before.

Aside from a mall, the best kind of splitting axe is a single bladed one with a WIDE back. They are hard to find nowadays.

As for needing a splitter or not, read my edit to Kirk's post.
He splits everything by hand.

Terry

Yet another edit:
Found a good way to use the tractor's carryall today.
Put the Hydraulic splitter alongside the open carryall and sort of chuck stacked the pieces into it as I split the rounds. Then I backed the tractor into the woodshed and stacked from the raised carryall.

Kirk-NJ · Sep 29, 2014

Here is the 3pt pto splitter I have. If you are referring to the 3pt splitter that runs off the tractors hydraulics than I would suggest you speak to someone who owns one. Unless you are running off a front pump I think it will be a slow process. It's like my loader that runs off the hydraulic it's SO SLOW.

Kirk

flembo · Sep 29, 2014

I have a 20 ton 5-1/2 hp. It does the job for me just fine. I agree about a 3 pt. splitter you will need a verticle exhaust and the one I saw used a pto. driven pump. My son uses one on his Mahinda and he likes it.

tlh178 · Sep 29, 2014

glad to see i'm not the only one with a sore back, nice set up kirk. hopefully we won't see another long winter in mich or i'll be cutting more come jan.

ericlb · Sep 29, 2014

I found a solution for the sore back from bending over the splitter, don't bend over it, I used to set the splitter up on blocks, [ cross stacked 8x8's not cinder blocks] so its at stand up height, when working, but my back was still bad from all the heavy lifting of the wood, so now I put the rounds in the tractor bucket, a carry all will work the same for this, then put the machine at 90 degrees to the handle side of the splitter, and I mean right by it, use a spotter, position the wood at the same height as the splitter, now get a 5 gallon bucket to sit on and split away you can throw the split wood across the splitter into the wood shed or into a truck, tractor whatever to move it when done, its much better on the back, you can almost roll the big stuff onto the splitter bed, or if you wife is like mine she will help when needed , well, that wood is keeping her warm too...

LisaK · Sep 29, 2014

We've got one like that we bought at an auction 2 yrs ago....but it spins the wrong way. Bid on one like your Saturday but it went over $200. There was a gentle man that had on on cl he used on his 8n I believe it had a separate tank for the hydro fluid.

Tall T · Sep 29, 2014

BRILLIANT SETUP ERIC!
Can't wait to tell Russ who loaned me this one about your method.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I think we're all well conditioned to just go with the way something is designed or used, assuming that it has been all thought out when, with a little thought and engineering, we can often make it way better.

Cheers,
T

flembo · Sep 29, 2014

Well we got some great ideas it seems we all have one thing in common, sore backs caused by old age. I use a big block to sit on then split it at the end.

greywolf224 · Sep 29, 2014

Kirk, I would love to see that splitter in action. I have seen a few but never one actually doing the splitting.
Any video?

Kirk-NJ · Sep 30, 2014

I have just enough computer skills to post some
photos. I don't do videos although I guess I should
learn how to.
You can try youtube. Punch in unicorn log splitter
or pto log splitter. I'm sure someone will have one
listed.

Kirk

Tall T · Oct 3, 2014

Just finished splitting my big rounds but after the first go, and thanks to ideas here, I had it set up for ease.

I leveled the bed of the splitter and put a long PVC handle on the lever. I backed the carryall up to the stack of rounds and roll them onto the deck, then backed the tractor up to the splitter and lowered the carryall to bed level or just above. Because of leak-down I blocked up the carryall.a So the only real grunt work involved was loading the carryall with the blocks and the only bending was to position the block in the splitter. After that, because of the tall handle, I could stand up, split and retract.

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