Never again

[arrow]

Been cutting wood for 60 years.
I tried something new today.
Had a load of stems delivered and the driver asked if he could bring me a 40” wide stem, 15’ long and tapering to 32”. I said “sure” since I got this new Champion vert/*** splitter.
So I take to it with my 20” bar and my tried and true Husky 257 and 3 cuts into this thing and I’m out of fuel. Now I have these 3 cookies averaging 36” wide and 16” long and they weigh at least 250 lbs per.
I try to stand them on end so I can roll them to the splitter and have to use a 4’ peavy to get them up.
I get them to the splitter and push them up the splitter foot w the tractor.
The 27 ton splitter easily splits this wood but to wrangle the splits is back breaking.
4 hrs later including bringing these splits to the woodshed to be stacked, I got the stem half done.
Yes it produces a lot of wood but it’s way too much work so, I won’t be doing that again.

 

[4570Man]

A sharp saw would go a long way toward making your day easier. And you can noodle them into 1/4s pretty easily which makes getting them in the splitter a lot easier.

 

[BravoXray]

Bigger isn't always better, sometimes.

 

[arrow]

A sharp saw would go a long way toward making your day easier. And you can noodle them into 1/4s pretty easily which makes getting them in the splitter a lot easier.

I used to log professionally.
I wouldn’t think of cutting with anything but sharp.
I find noodling a giant pain.
What works better is to index the round on the edges with a chainsaw cut to hold a wedge. Make the cuts across from each other and insert the wedges then pound away.
Much faster than noodling.
I was just too stubborn today.
If I got this new fangled splitter designed to wack a round vertically, then by golly, that what it had to do
Also, my chainsaw is too small for this work. I could have used my 272 that was stolen years ago.

 

[arrow]

Bigger isn't always better, sometimes.

Nope, it ain't always even if it’s applying to banana splits

 

[Jstpssng]

That's when my grapple is nice; put the round at about splitter hieght, then roll the splitter underneath.
Of course anything I brought home that size was loaded by hand, any wood left on my property is 12" or less.

 

[WinterDeere]

There were a few years when it felt like everything I was dragging home was over 36" diameter. Lagest was a white oak that was 60" diameter where it broke off about 15 feet above the ground, and flared out to more than 72" diameter at knee height. But there were many ash trees from the same property that were all 36" - 44".

I took to noodling most of that big stuff into 8" thick slabs, then "walking" those slabs over to the vertical splitter. You get used to moving those heavy pieces with a lot less effort after awhile, but still a total PITA.

I was only in my late 30's or very early 40's, when I was doing most of that, so still excited by such heroic efforts.

 

[Yander]

Been cutting wood for 60 years.
I tried something new today.
Had a load of stems delivered and the driver asked if he could bring me a 40” wide stem, 15’ long and tapering to 32”. I said “sure” since I got this new Champion vert/*** splitter.
So I take to it with my 20” bar and my tried and true Husky 257 and 3 cuts into this thing and I’m out of fuel. Now I have these 3 cookies averaging 36” wide and 16” long and they weigh at least 250 lbs per.
I try to stand them on end so I can roll them to the splitter and have to use a 4’ peavy to get them up.
I get them to the splitter and push them up the splitter foot w the tractor.
The 27 ton splitter easily splits this wood but to wrangle the splits is back breaking.
4 hrs later including bringing these splits to the woodshed to be stacked, I got the stem half done.
Yes it produces a lot of wood but it’s way too much work so, I won’t be doing that again.

Makes a great shooting backstop; that's what we use.

 

[arrow]

That's when my grapple is nice; put the round at about splitter hieght, then roll the splitter underneath.
Of course anything I brought home that size was loaded by hand, any wood left on my property is 12" or less.

Ok wait a minute:
Let me get this straight.
You’re picking up a 36” round with the grapple and rolling the splitter under it?
So your splitter is a pass through or moving wedge horizontal?
What happens to the 125lb splits?
One remains on the beam and the other?

 

[4570Man]

I used to log professionally.
I wouldn’t think of cutting with anything but sharp.
I find noodling a giant pain.
What works better is to index the round on the edges with a chainsaw cut to hold a wedge. Make the cuts across from each other and insert the wedges then pound away.
Much faster than noodling.
I was just too stubborn today.
If I got this new fangled splitter designed to wack a round vertically, then by golly, that what it had to do
Also, my chainsaw is too small for this work. I could have used my 272 that was stolen years ago.

I could have those noodled in 1/4s with my 500i or 372xp in 1 or 2 minutes each. Thats a heck of a lot faster and easier than pounding wedges.