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Screw cone splitter had a wave of popularity during the wood heat craze that followed the oil embargo in the '70s.. Most of them were made to go on the back axle of a car, in the place of a wheel, but others were made using rollers, so you could just drive your car or truck on, or to fit a 3 pt tractor hitch, taking power from the PTO, or even a Gravely tractor. They actually worked very well, and the PTO ones in particular made for a very nice, compact package, as they needed no valves, hoses or pump, and could split wood as fast or faster than a 10HP hydraulic splitter. There are many good videos of screw splitters to be found on Youtube. The axle style tended to have right hand threads, like a standard hardware store screw, and the PTO ones usually had a left hand thread to match the rotation of a tractor PTO. If you have a PTO version with a RH thread it will not work on a Ford or most other US tractors and was probably made to fit an early Japanese tractor with the reverse PTO (Kubota at one time sold a Kuboto-branded PTO screw splitter). Screw cones got a bad reputation for being dangerous. I've never been able to figure out how well deserved this reputation was, but after using one it seems to me they are comparable in danger to a chain saw if one resists the urge to go too fast. It is interesting to note that Stickler still sells a axle cone in th US, and that screw splitters seem to be especially popular in Europe these days. Newer ones tend to have safety features not used in the old days, primarily kill switches. Anyone got a 3pt PTO screw splitter they don't want, in the MA-NH-VT area, I am looking for one.
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