splitters dangerous !!!!!!!!

[chugbug]

Talked to a friend today and noticed he was limping pretty bad !! Says the log splitter was grunting on a big round and when it popped, the piece on his side shot down on his foot and broke it pretty bad !! You just never no !!! Anyone hear of any other accidents with a splitter that we should be aware of ???

 

[serial killer]

Splitting wood by hand can be dangerous too. Just ask Jack Del Rio and Chris Hanson.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=1634325

 

[Kansas]

Its one of those things you never know? I try to keep a hand on top of whatever I am splitting so I have some control. I have been hit in the nuts many times and smashed my feet and knees and pinched myself, my advice is just be carefull and aware its a lot of pressure it will go somewhere if you crowd it. hth

Kansas

 

[046]

sorry to hear of his injuries... was he using splitter in horizontal or vertical mode?

where was he standing when wood struck him?

details will help others avoid same mistake...

Talked to a friend today and noticed he was limping pretty bad !! Says the log splitter was grunting on a big round and when it popped, the piece on his side shot down on his foot and broke it pretty bad !! You just never no !!! Anyone hear of any other accidents with a splitter that we should be aware of ???

 

[Circle B MN]

Always wear boots. Steel tips are preferred, but get to be a bit chilly in the winter. A tall leather boot will do a lot more to protect your feet than hiing boots or sneakers ever will.

 

[stihlboy]

occasionally a splitter will make the wood "pop" when it splits it and may launch the piece up to 3 feet in my experience.. i got hit by one in the shin and decided that was enough for the day

 

[Lignum]

I have had it pop out and hit my ankle, hard enough to see white for a few seconds, and had it pop up and tear up the under part of my wrist, twice. I have learned a long time ago where the safe place to stand is.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I know a guy that left the log splitter hooked up to the truck, and when the ram pushed the log forward, his hand was between the end of the log and the truck bumper.
Then another guy got his hand between the log and the sharp part. Chopped two fingers clean off. They put them back on, but he would have been better off with the amputation. They look crooked and ugly and don't work too good.

 

[Mike Van]

Anything that puts 20 to 30 tons of pressure on something as unpredictable as a chunk of wood is bound to have mishaps. Much the same as a chainsaw that's reved up to 10G's, or a 10 ton tree being felled. All this stuff can be dangerous. You have to learn to respect it for what it is, but not fear it.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Talked to a friend today and noticed he was limping pretty bad !! Says the log splitter was grunting on a big round and when it popped, the piece on his side shot down on his foot and broke it pretty bad !! You just never no !!! Anyone hear of any other accidents with a splitter that we should be aware of ???

He won't stand in the same place twice! Hard way to learn tho'. Some rounds are gonna pop, it's that simple. Bummer though on the injury...

 

[Blazin]

And stay behind it...You fellars with the vertical spliiters beware of the knarly chit!

 

[treevet]

I have had my fingertips squashed a number of times until I wised up by grabbing the piece on the splitter to move it in position and fingertips were in an unused cut. I have a habit of going down a log sometimes and marking the cuts to be made with a partial cut to not end up with an unusable piece at the end or one too long. ouch

 

[chugbug]

I figure he was standing right along side of the log , he was using it in the normal horizontal position , he said if it had been in the vertical position and he was squatted down in front of it when it popped he could have been seriously hurt , the piece would have popped right out at him maybe at face level .!!!!!

 

[streeter]

I had the same thing happen last year A split landed on the top of my left foot and broke some bones. Hurt like :censored: turned black and blue. I called a doctor buddy and told him what I did, He laughed and said he did the same thing

 

[ms310]

we were splitting up some old oak with our new splitter that our old splitter wouldn't go threw and all of a sudden a nice size piece let loose and flew about 15' in the air!
No one got hurt but it was a good eye opener to what can happen, so we are alittle more care-full now.
One nice thing about that piece flying in the air is we never had to load it it flew right into the trailer.

 

[kbiv]

I was splitting some real old and twisted oak vertically. I let down on the lever, was steadying with my left, Hit a knot and the log kicked sideways, pinning my fingers against the bar. Released the ram, expecting to find nothing but blood and bones, but lucked out. After the bleeding stopped, everything was still attached. Couldn't move them for about a week however, due to the swelling.
I need to buy a splitter but all I can afford is one of those "Stickler" monsters. They look scary as everything, but I guess it's about the same risk as a table saw with no guard. I guess as long as I do my part it should be somewhat safe. As my hero Homer said, "its like a lottery that rewards stupidity!!"

 

[wdchuck]

Ya'll are a dang sight tougher than I.

 

[Sawmill]

A friend of mine and his 2 sons were using a splitter and it was raining with snow mixed in so everything was wet. He had a piece come out and hit him between the eyes embeding his glasses into his nose and ripping a big chunch of his scalp back. Knocked him out and his kids thought he got killed. After a few days in ICU he came home and later he took the splittier into the shop and welded 1/4 long beads of weld on the pusher plate. He figured the wood was cut on an angle and everything being wet it just flew apart. It gave me a new respect for my splitter I think about this everytime I am splitting wood now

 

[treevet]

Usually a piece that is going to fly out gives a little warning by making some ungodly sounds. I think my Timberwolf with the auto return is a help as you can run for cover while the machine runs its cycle when you got a piece that is threatening.

 

[computeruser]

I had a log pop and hit me in the nuts. I was running the splitter in the trailer (stupid, I know) and was standing in a pile of split logs...nearly got knocked out of the trailer when the log got me. Ouch.

One of the advantages of the wedge-on-beam splitters is that this sort of stuff tends to happen less often than with wedge-on-ram designs, at least in my experience.