Log Splitter

[rock_hopper]

Thanks Guys, I appreciate all the great comments.

[rock_hopper]

(05-01-2015, 06:05 PM)EdK Wrote: Nice log splitter Patrick.  

I bet it rides nice and smooth with those big tires.

Ed

I pulled it down the highway outside town at 60mph and it did fine. I still can't see it in my mirrors even though I thought I built it big enough.

[rock_hopper]

(05-01-2015, 06:10 PM)Highpower Wrote: Smart move on bolting the wedge. Or, you could have done what the railroads do and borrowed some of their thermite.   

I don't know I think I should have bought an I beam....moving the rail around to drill the holes on my drill press kicked my butt.

[RobWilson]

 Patrick , very tidy build . 



Wish I had a need for a log splitter or fire wood processor 



Rob 

[f350ca]

(05-02-2015, 12:49 AM)rock_hopper Wrote:

(05-01-2015, 06:05 PM)EdK Wrote: Nice log splitter Patrick.  

I bet it rides nice and smooth with those big tires.

Ed

I pulled it down the highway outside town at 60mph and it did fine. I still can't see it in my mirrors even though I thought I built it big enough.  

Borrowed a friends splitter this past winter, its a little unnerving hoping its still behind you as you go down the road. Like the big tires on yours, his had little more than wheel barrow tires.

[PixMan]

Attach a tall flag to the end of it for travel?

[stevec]

(05-02-2015, 12:49 AM)rock_hopper Wrote: I pulled it down the highway outside town at 60mph and it did fine. I still can't see it in my mirrors even though I thought I built it big enough.  

I pulled mine onto my utility trailer for the above reason.

Steve

[Pete O]

That's a nice splitter, great job.
I ruminated over the idea of building a splitter for about 3 years, went back and forth between the ideas of building a tractor-mounted one or a stand-alone splitter, vertical or horizontal, in the end I went and bought a chinese one! Decided I needed a log splitter more than I needed another project at the time.

Something that I have often wondered about with log splitters, every one I have seen on the internet from the USA and Europe uses a ram to push the log onto the wedge, whereas all the splitters I see here in Australia drive the wedge into the log, i.e. the log stays still and the wedge moves. I've often wondered why the difference, I know that water goes down the sink the opposite way around in the southern vs northern hemispheres, but not sure that can explain log splitters going the opposite way too?

[stevec]

Pete, I'm pretty sure that moving wedge splitters are available and in use in North America.
Choice is usually based on preference.
 
I like the fixed wedge design for my application. When my logs are split through the wedge
the pieces end up on the "tray" I installed, under and beyond the wedge, not on my feet.

I built a log lifter for my splitter and it occupies the side opposite to where I stand to operate the splitter so a "tray" ahead of the fixed block wouldn't be practical.

The moving wedge design is prone  to sticking log pieces (when they have knots or just don't split completely for whatever reason).

Just some reasons why I chose the fixed wedge design for both  splitters I built.

The first one I built was a 3pt. hitch design and the tractor provided the hydraulic pressure. I found tying up the tractor while splitting meant I couldn't use it for bringing more logs to the splitter and other chores.

Steve

 

[f350ca]

As Steve said they're available just not common. The neighbour has a tractor mounted one that splits in both directions. Its long and has a plate at either end. Would be quick if you had two people available to keep feeding it, but the split wood would pile up at your feet.