Wood splitting advice - DIY solution?

[stole]

Hi.

Looking for advice on a wood splitter or other solutions to increase efficiency without breaking the bank.

Short intro, we have underfloor heating by wood stove. Honestly not a 100% sure how much wood we use in a year, but somewhere between 2-3 cords I'm guessing.
Firewood access : At a family members place we just took down a 42m (137 foot) hemlock. The diameter at base is about 130cm (51 inches), and 10 meters up it was still around 90 cm (35 inches). Further up splits into 3 sections.
Work method: I've been using 37cc 14" chainsaw cutting sections that I'm able to load onto a trailer, then bringing it home to split with a splitting axe. There is a small chance that we will move in some years (hopefully not), so I don't want to invest a fortune into equipment. That said, although I love physical work I definitely need to reduce the work load in the long haul.
Steps to increase efficiency : I have a 62cc 20" chainsaw coming my way for a good price. I need an efficient wood splitter. I'm not a mechanic, but fairly handy and have been working as a commercial diver for 15+ years. At work I have access to welding/machining equipment. We have a hydraulic power pack that is sporadically used , that I could probably borrow on the regular, so I'm considering doing a DIY standing wood splitter along the lines of this splitter. The power pack is rated 38lpm (10 gpm) at 140 bar. Does anyone have any comparable practical experience if this would be sufficient? Any tips on hydraulic cylinder? If there is some other solutions I should look into, any tips is valued.

 

[promechanic]

Realistically, you should be able to buy a good used splitter, possibly even a new one for less than you would have into building something functional like you describe. Unless you have most of what you need on hand already, you won't save money building a basic splitter.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

I have to agree with Promechanic. Buying a premade splitter would normally mean a better resale value if you evr get put of it or upgrade. One thing I would suggest is to run several different types of splitters before commiting to a certain design. I did build my own after running others. You can get experience by offering to help someone when they are having a split day. I learned quickly that uprights weren't for me as the constant leaning over would get to me, Same with 3 points on the ground. No one can tell you what best suits you, so you need to narrow it down before investing time and money. This is even true if you do decide to build.

 

[stole]

Thank you for the answers. You are probably right about the cost. After looking at different splitters I think the main advantage in building would be to get it custom fitted to my needs. I might just rent a couple different ones for a couple of days to see what I like and dislike with each.


As mentioned I might have free access to a HPU : https://www.kw-hydraulik.de/en/dyna...ower-unit-with-petrol-engine-18-hp/hpu18ps-38

It's 18 HP, but 10 gpm at 140 bar from what I can tell. Would this be sufficient for a 3" or 4" ram? If so it could save me the cost off enigne, pump, valve central?

 

[sean donato]

It would work, but it would be slow with a 4 or 5" cylinder. 140 bar is ~2k psi which is a low pressure rating for a splitter or any other modern hydraulic system.
I've built my own splitter, and plan on building another, we'll it will be more of a mini processor when it's done but I digress. Cost wise it's cheaper to buy a pre-made splitter in most cases. I happened to be given a lot of the steel for my first splitter. Basically just bought the cylinder, valves and pump. The lines were "free". I had about $1600.00 into it.
With prices jumping up it will be substantially more in material costs alone.

 

[stole]

Thanks. There's a used MTD LS 550 for sale for $1600, so that might be a better option.

 

[Franny K]

Thank you for the answers. You are probably right about the cost. After looking at different splitters I think the main advantage in building would be to get it custom fitted to my needs. I might just rent a couple different ones for a couple of days to see what I like and dislike with each.


As mentioned I might have free access to a HPU : https://www.kw-hydraulik.de/en/dyna...ower-unit-with-petrol-engine-18-hp/hpu18ps-38

It's 18 HP, but 10 gpm at 140 bar from what I can tell. Would this be sufficient for a 3" or 4" ram? If so it could save me the cost off enigne, pump, valve central?

• Delivery rate: 38 L / min. at 140 bar, 25 L / min. at max. 250 bar

250 bar is about 3500 psi. That would be quite adequate just not two stage that goes fast until more pressure is needed. I have been operation a 4" cylinder off tractor hydraulics for multiple years using less than that. In the scheme of things half the hp and dual stage or whatever it is called that is like downshifting in a standard transmission vehicle was probably as fast.

I kind of like the anvil on the piston/cylinder and the wedge or 4 way or even 6 way on the end.

I am guessing the flat face (p+T) are skid steer sized ones? The flat face stuff I have (and it got converted to ag type) were 2000psi max which I think is kind of standard.

Hemlock splits easy. At least the stuff here in Ct, USA.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Hemlock is an excellent exterior wood - have you considered having it sawn into lumber? Or is it too late?

 

[jblnut]

I helped a brother in law split roughly two cord of red oak with a rented splitter a few weekends ago. It set him back a grand total of $42 plus fuel. If you don’t have a ton to do every year maybe gathering it, bucking and doing it all in a day or two and renting a splitter would be a decent option ? No maintenance, purchase or storage hassle with a rented unit if you have something available close by.

 

[stole]

Hemlock is an excellent exterior wood - have you considered having it sawn into lumber? Or is it too late?

I considered a couple of options. One was using a Logosol and bigger chainsaw to make solid wood table tops. Another was selling parts to an amazing wood sculpture artist in the area, but he only took it if he got it for free (incl delivery).
It probably would take 2-3 years minimum to dry enough.

One guy in another town had the same idea and told me to forget about it, no one was interested and he ended up giving it away as firewood. Not to say that is the standard, but it did put me off a bit.

Another guy sold his, but I'm not sure about the price, it had dried minimum 2 years though.

Maybe I'll dig around a bit again and see if there is a market. It's a tight fit to get into the area where the tree is, so heavy machinery is not an option.

 

[buzz sawyer]

I considered a couple of options. One was using a Logosol and bigger chainsaw to make solid wood table tops. Another was selling parts to an amazing wood sculpture artist in the area, but he only took it if he got it for free (incl delivery).
It probably would take 2-3 years minimum to dry enough.

One guy in another town had the same idea and told me to forget about it, no one was interested and he ended up giving it away as firewood. Not to say that is the standard, but it did put me off a bit.

Another guy sold his, but I'm not sure about the price, it had dried minimum 2 years though.

Maybe I'll dig around a bit again and see if there is a market. It's a tight fit to get into the area where the tree is, so heavy machinery is not an option.

I'm in the same boat. I have a big Red Oak that will become firewood - no mills locally are interested in it for lumber.

 

[fields_mj]

I was in a similar spot a few years ago with a great big pin oak. It was around 65" where I made the back cut, but that was over 3' up off the ground. Where I was originally going to cut it, it was closer to 7' across. The first +30' of the trunk was extremely straight, and it was solid to the core. Nobody wanted any of the lumber. I ended up cutting the trunk into 3 sections, and taking it to a friend of mine who has a mill. I had to mill the bottom section of the trunk in half in order to be able to get it loaded up onto my trailer (and in order for it to fit in his mill). He milled it into lumber, and we split it between us. He quartersawn mine, and kiln (electric) dried it for me so it would be more stable. I am just now in the process of finishing up a face frame linen cabinet and I used it to make the face frame and the doors.

As far as a splitter goes, as others have said, buy a used one. Another option is to rent one when you need it. Get all the wood cut and bucked to length, then rent a splitter for a weekend and get it all split. Rent a different style every year if you can and you'll figure out what you like and don't like should you ever decide to buy or build your own.

For a large tree like that hemlock, you're going to end up needing a large (+70cc) saw at some point. For a number of years, my large saw also served as my log splitter for stuff that was too big to split by hand (or too big to lift into the truck bed to haul home). I still use my big saw with a 28" bar to noodle large rounds into halves or quarters that I can lift onto my splitter (which I bought used for $475 usd). I still split a lot by hand with my Fiskars X27. If there are only 4 or 5 pieces that I can't split with the axe, I'm prone to just noodle them with the chain saw rather than mess with fueling up and starting the splitter. Because most of what I burned this season was ash and hickory that was all pretty straight and easy to split, I didn't even start my splitter this year. An X27 and a 90cc saw will take care of almost anything.

Here's some pics of the big oak and the cabinet. The deck of the equipment trailer is 74" wide and 15' long. The cabinet doors and drawer face hadn't been stained yet in the pics. The cabinet itself was ready to take into the bathroom so just laid them on it so I could snap a few pics before I started putting a finish on them.