Thats awesome!
This box blade might end up being v1.0. I don't like the pressure it is seeing or the size of the wood coming out. Any pic of your blade set up?
The main blade is 30mm steel and arrow shaped and sits on another 30mm which is drilled with a series of holes so that a pin can be inserted for different heights in one inch increments
I have it set a 4 inches and the blades are also 4 inches apart so although I can cut any length up to 22 inches, 16 inch suits our woodburner
The two knives behind are made from the worn wear plate of a D7 Cat, and they are welded to the main blade and rise up and down with it. They are set at a slight angle inwards so that they meet the pieces split by the main vertical blade head on. I think that is only slightly important but what is really important is to not allow the wood to expand between two blades as it is split
Like all splitters, it works well by itself when you have nice accurately cut rounds of Ash or Beech or other easy woods but difficult wood like Elm needs watching, a bit like a bad child, as it will always try to cause trouble when your back is turned!
First photo is from the right side with the log being pushed right to left. You can see how there is daylight between the back of the first vertical knife and the two rear ones
The second photo is from the rear and it is not easy to see the angle of inclination inwards but it is there. The two tines were left there from a previous attempt to make a trash grid
I recommend reading James Dyson’s autobiography, the English guy who made the vacuum cleaners.
He mortgaged his house even though he had a young family and the amount of prototypes he made and the hours of research was unbelievable
My small attempt was only possible because of our lockdowns in the Covid., and I only had the materials lying around the farmyard here as all the main dealers were shut, hence the roughness unlike yours which looks well engineered
The main objective of mine was to bring wood up from fallen trees on the farm to my back door with no heavy lifting. I managed to do this in this video with the help of the Teleporter with its electro hydraulic controls allowing the use of a remote control.