I'm using The Boss 7 ton splitter, I bought it at Home Depot. I'm very pleased with this little machine.




This is chestnut oak, great firewood, it has as many BTUs as white oak. This stuff is rather stringy and difficult to split. On the big pieces, I make a little chainsaw cut, 2 inches deep, and then the splitter cuts them right in half.



The woodshed is just about full. The dark wood, the top 2/3 of the stack, is what I put in today. Below that is ash, left over from last year, and a little black walnut in the corner.

I like ash and black walnut, but chestnut oak is much better, I don't mind that it is hard to split.

I finished up last week, using my Husky 35Ton:



Best thing I've come up with; IBC Tote cages, pallet forks on the tractor, and a IBC Tote dolly in the garage. Just drop a tote full of wood on the dolly and push it into position. I drop the empty totes where I'm cutting and splitting. It saves on moving it multiple times.

Wood shed is low I need to replenish

You tried that contraption on elm?

What is maintenance like on that rig?

Sharp thinking Chuck R as good as any I've seen. Mb

There's no maintenance on the splitter.

I have never tried to split elm, I've heard it is pretty bad.

I have 40 acres of Green Ash that needs cutting... c'mon over! Lol! Makes great firewood, but I'm a recreational fireplace burner so take a little at a time.

Harvesting cardboard from the TJMaxx dumpster?

😃

Ash is dead here a schit ton of it

I can't explain the physics behind it, but this is the best log splitter I've ever used.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars...k-absorbing-Handle-378841-1004/202681680

It just busts through wood better than anything I've ever tried. If that little 7 ton splitter will handle it, I can do it faster by hand with this tool.

I tend to pick up a little wood at a time year-round so I rarely have a big pile of wood that needs to be split all at once. But if that happens, I occasionally rent one. I've had 35 ton splitters straining to split some of what I burn.

Now go try their 8 lb maul for bigger stuff.
Much more momentum. I’m over 70. Need momentum

And who stacks their firewood in containers???? Why??
Get more containers and save time.

Never use a hydraulic splitter. Noodle a bit with the saw and split.
Don’t have to move the splitter and move the wood once. Into the 25 bushel bin.

It doesn't matter what method you use, it's still a lot of work and you get you hands on every piece 4-8 times to get it in the stove. At least I can fill a wheel barrow and wheel it in the basement up to the stove, and feed out of it. Otherwise, it's the usual cut/split/stack/remove from stack/haul to house........

That splitter is adorable.
🤣

I can't take credit, just google:

"Pallet forks on a tractor" and "uses for IBC Totes" there's some ingenious folks in this world!

I'm just a lazy guy that tries not to touch wood anymore times than is absolutely necessary. But it has speed up processing & storing dramatically.

It works pretty well. Real easy just to drop an empty tote wherever I'm working and it definitely cuts down on the loading and unloading. A 275 gallon tote cage holds about a face-cord worth of wood. When we get ready for fall I just pick up a few and move them under the overhang on my barn to keep dry, then into the garage as we need them.

I actually bought the pallet forks for dragging around a tote for watering trees using a PTO pump on my 3PT:



But I've been amazed at how useful they are. I can pretty much pick up medium sized brush piles and just dump them on the fire. The forks are the implement that stay on the tractor the majority of the time now.

I have 48 acres. I only had about 20 ash trees, and they all died 5 years ago. I have enjoyed burning the ash, it is easy to split and has a pretty good amount of BTUs. But, the ash in the forest is now all gone.

All killed by the emerald ash borer, which was introduced into the US in 2002, up in Minnesota. Some scientists say that every ash tree in North America will be killed by this green bug.

Our Son has a hydraulic splitter. At the cabin, a hand maul, a tire on the stump.

I’m too lazy.
Cut up the wood and split in place
Load in bins
From bins to stove.
Lift the wood twice

Not a bad splitter for light work !

When I built my house built a closet on the outside wall about 6' from the stove with a door inside and out fill the closet from the wood piled outside the door....holds around 5-6 days of wood....

Emerald Ash tree bore started up her in Michigan back around 1995....was cutting an Ash that blew down bark was loose could see that something was under the bark eating the tree....took it to a DNR Biologist he said don't worry its just a bug that killed that tree.....by 2005 most of the Ash trees in the woods were dead or dying....

These wood splitting threads make me glad I’ve moved south. I spent too much of my life turning trees into home fuel. I enjoyed it at the time but after the kids left home the fun dwindled I would still enjoy it, but in much smaller doses than I used to take.

My wife uses a similar
My wife uses the same splitter to resplit her split firewood into smaller prices that she burns in the fireplace. She did a cord last weekend. Actually works pretty well.

I thought about getting a splitter last year but figured I could manage another year with the maul. I'll see how I feel this year. Mostly burn larch (tamarack) and jackpine, which isn't too bad to split. GD

For years did it with a maul, and my back knows it !

I use a similar Ryobi 5-ton splitter I picked up at Home Depot 17 years ago. Split about 5 cords per year, it's still running strong. Works fine for our local firewoods. Mostly lodgepole pine. It's pretty quiet too, and I like that.

I know what you mean, Marine. It is surprising how effective these little splitters are. No gasoline to add, no air filter to change, no maintenance. Like you said, fairly quiet.

I'm splitting about 10,000 pounds of oak, ash and locust per year. I've had my splitter for 3 years. I got a bad hand and wrist injury 4 years ago and it is difficult for me to use a maul, though I have a Monster Maul and a Fiskars.

The electric splitter is really good for kindling, very easy to split it real small.

Small splitter like that electric is mostly all a man needs

I had a 20 ton, 3-1/2 briggs for n. Replaced engine 3 times and lovejoy couplings almost yearly. Pain the ass. But it also got ran 8 hours a day sometimes for several days.


Sold it, a King wood furnace and a stihl 029 for $1000. What a bargain for the dude.

Got the Heatmor hydronic outside wood boiler. I can put up to 18” whole rounds thru the door. We have 307 acres to saw on so I just cut wood that fits. Heck with splitting

We have about a dozen 36” red oaks that toppled in a derecho wind. No worth sawing on. I’ve working on the limbs down to 18-20” and leave the rest.

If Milwaukee comes out with something like that in 18 volt I would be all over it

Ahhhhhh, to be a young boy again, cutting and hauling firewood with my dad..........

I rent a 28T locally and need three people hustling to keep it from being idle. One feeding logs, one operating, and one stacking. Worth the money.

Now my neighbor bought a 20T from HomeyD that I can use. It’s a just a little slower going through knotty spruce.

Anyone use a four sides wedge? What they call a wood grenade?

I just finished splitting a few pieces of fairly tough pine. If I'm being honest, the arthritis in my hands and wrists is starting to be annoying enough that the little splitter looks real good today. GD

I dont think the electric would be good for me. However, there is little doubt that those bigger 37 ton splitters are over kill. I got a Speeco 22 ton and it is all I ever needed. My dad , brother and me went in a a 27 ton about 20 yrs. ago and it is still going strong. I got sick of asking for it so I went with my own 22 ton. There is no difference, and it cant possibly take more than a few tones to split 90 % of my wood. Cycle time is way more important.

He'd be OK on Red Elm, but the American Elm will bring that little splitter to its knees.... Fifty years ago I had a local welder build one for me that runs off tractor hydraulics... Used an old AMC axle for the wheels.. I've been able to split anything with that unit..

Agree.. It's all about what you're splitting.

I just had my 35T cylinder rebuilt this year, all it took was 1 piece of "hardened" hedge to blow the seal.

I've got mostly: hedge, hickory, oak, maple, black walnut and some elm. When it comes to the crotch pieces the 35T comes in handy

What kind of Elm trees? Our Elms dies many years back

Wabigoon writing about splitting wood and a grenade, reminds me of a guy that I worked with that was splitting wood with a maul and wedges. The guy came in Monday morning on crutches because a piece of his wedge broke off when he hit it and it went through his leg like a bullet. I split lots of wood with a maul as a youth, but now its just easier to reach for the thermostat.

Some American Elm, but less every year. The bark beetles and Dutch elm disease is doing a number on them.

Safety glasses are a good idea.

Use mostly mesquite and juniper - we might have enough on he pile of last one or two more winters.
If still around after that, I'm going to need a good little splitter - the axe days seem to be done.

Lost a lady locally several years back. Beavering away with the family out in the woods and small chunk off the wedge pierced her chest tearing the aorta. She knew something had hit her but shrugged it off. Tipped over about 1/2 minute later.

I mostly burn Larch, so there's rarely need for a wedge.

If I ever have to go to Ponderosa Pine, I'll have to secure a splitter though. When I've been helping neighbors, we need maybe 4 people to max out a splitter's potential. Two bringing rounds, one running the splitter, and another throwing pieces out of the way.

Based on your recommendation, I picked up one of these today. I just split a few pine rounds, but it seems effective and easy to use. So far so good. Thanks for the tip.

Anybody got a preference when it comes to chainsaws? 🤭

Here we go again.

Husky or Stihl. Whichever has the nearest service center.

A good splitter saves time and work. When splitting with an axe, I like a firemans axe. I mostly split lodge pole, jack pine and tamarak. Only using a couple cord a year, it's not the chore it was with two stoves!

I've also got a Fiskars X27 splitting axe. I use it if I'm busting up a small amount of rounds. It does work very well.

Just teasing. Maybe stirring the pot a bit. Actually I recently bought a Husky 450. Why? That’s the brand stocked by my nearby servicing dealer. My little old Husky saw keeps working well past any reasonable expectation. I just needed a little more power for some upcoming chores.

Our 57 acres are full of them, the worst part is that the 'up hill' side of the 3/8 mile driveway has more and the largest ash trees per acre, many towering over the drive.

I'm slowly getting those removed.

This is the wood grenade in action this morning. 20 inch diameter white pine. Bad firewood. Great kindling. I busted these pieces in half using the Fiskars as a sledge hammer, to make them easier to load in the pickup, this fresh green pine is pretty heavy.
This stuff is loaded with pine sap. I will split all this into little pieces, back at the woodshed, with the electric splitter. The Boss splitter is particularly effective at making kindling.

The wood grenade works very well.

If I'm bucking up stuff for firewood, I find it beneficial if one's rounds are on the uphill side of the road.

(snicker, snort, chortle!)
I cut down a big elm tree in the pasture. A couple of days later, the wife and me walk bybit and she asks, "Can that go in our wood stove?"
I explained about elm and she asked if it could be cut up into smaller pieces.
Out of curiosity, I cut about 4 or 5 "discs" about 2 inches thick and threw them out by the woodpile. We had plenty "other" wood to burn, so I just let them lay.
Two years later, I'm finishing up splitting some oak and mesquite when I see those elm disc's lying at the end of the woodpile. Hmmmm....?
I drag one over, put on my best Paul Bunyan wood splitting display and bury the axe in the elm tree round......and it just sits there, laughing.....unsplit!

No picture, a tire screwed on the chopping bock.

My grampa was born in 1893. My dad in 1920. They lived through the Great Depression. Firewood was an annual chore.
I was born in 1950.
Dad and grampa got a deer lease and built a shack on it with a wood stove for heat.
Hunted that same lease until 1983.
Every fall, it was an annual thing to cut a tree and split it into firewood for the camp.
Grampa and dad would cut nothing but red oak for firewood.
At about age 3, I can remember helping carry and stack the wood.

Of all the mundane chores on earth, cutting, splitting and stacking firewood is one I'll never tire of.
A bad elbow and a shoulder implant and I can no longer swing an axe hard enough to split much more than a #2 pencil! LOL!

I work in an office and like playing at firewood. We burn some at the cabin and may put a unit in the house. I like cutting and splitting. Felling a few trees is the most fun of all. I like the tools and the exercise. I suspect the fun might go out of it if I did it on a bigger scale. For now, I find satisfaction in a nice woodpile.

Ya I split that schit with a chain saw toughest wood I know of 😂

70cc plus, 24" bar plus.
Chisel chain
Lay em on their side and cut, don't let the noodles plug your saw.

Let the noodles dry in the sun, then put them in feed sacks, best free Firestarter you'll find.

Never had a motorized splitter it's always been Armstrong, have worked
through a bunch of dry hardwood. Always had a worthwhile pro saw, and
sometimes it's easier to cut 3 or 4 inches in, then split.
Other times it's better to cut all but a couple inches.


Simon,
I'd love to have a splitter like yours mounted on the basement wall vertically.
That would be the kitty's butt for kindling.

It's no fun splitting elm, and it doesn't have the heat of some easier splitting wood, but if you let it get frozen through, it splits easier. This works for hickory too, and it has a lot more heat in it.

Bought a very cheap log splitter, from Amazon of all places, during Black Friday and split about a cord over the last week with out issues. Also picked up a Milwaukee battery powered chainsaw and color me impressed. This will be a great combination to use free wood from work, and process it into firewood.

The old "firewood poem" says,

Elm wood burns like church yard mold
And even the very flames are cold

As my dad got older, he became less concerned about what he burned. If he could get it to fit into the fireplace, other than any resinous woods, he would burn it!
I've seen him burn china berry!

As to wood choices: In this region (PNW), it's rumored that one can air condition their home with grand/white fir. It sucks the heat right out of your house.

That IBC cage system has me going "hmmm" right about now. I used a lot of time and effort to build a 12x24 combo woodshed / shed...the wood half stacks about 8 cords. Versus 24 of those ibc cages stacked in the barn or leanto somewhere.

It works well, very well:




Look around for where to get them. I ended up buying 4 for $50 per, then got my last 10 for free from our Co-Op. I'd like to get 2 or 4 more just for firewood as I go through about 4 per heating season. My house is ICF construction with geothermal, so we really don't go through that much wood.

I cut one open on the side and we use it for a "safety cage" when pruning our fruit trees and working on deer stands.

Pictured wood is all Western Larch/Tamarack and our splitting implements. If one mistakenly drops a live tree, rounds will just spew a little water and sit there. Let it season outside for a year though, and two hits with a maul will have even the largest halved. One can beat on similar Ponderosa Pine for 5 minutes and work up nothing but a sweat. If we ever go that route, a hydraulic splitter will come home with us.



About 3.6 cords in the shed (5 layers deep), and we consume about 2.5 cords or 3.5 layers over a typical winter. Winter of 22/23 though we consumed a little over 3 cords. I do like a tight stack.

A different year with smaller material. We use Ponderosa Pine for the chopping blocks on the right with those holding up across 10 seasons or more. Hard to wear them out. I don't like to bend over to retrieve chunks, so bunk in the shorter main block to keep everything within reach.


We're allowed 5 cords per year from our national forest at no charge. Exceed that, and one must purchase a commercial permit at $5/cord. I sometimes wish we had hardwoods for more heat yield, but it's a 4-hour drive one way to just get near an oak.