Thinking about a log splitter [NA]

Jim K

Jim K

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Never had one... never even used one. Moving into my parent's house (they're moving out first ;)) this winter, and there's a big brick fireplace that's capable of heating the house if you keep a fire going. Obviously I'm not going to heat only with wood, but fires are nice and I'd like to make use of it as much as I have time & wood for.

Meanwhile one of my landlords had a big ornamental pear blow down and he told me to take whatever I wanted. I'm thinking it might be time to buy a log splitter.

I'm not crazy about the thought of another engine to maintain, so I'm leaning towards a tractor powered unit. I've considered building one; they're not exactly complex, but I can't decide if it's worth the effort vs buying one, and having never run one, I'm not sure what I need.

So those of you that burn a lot of wood.... where do I start?
 
We had a wood stove in our last house and we really did love it and the quality of the heat it produces can't be beat.

Despite having a bunch of trees to cut down, we never bothered with a log splitter or splitting any of the wood ourselves. We did a couple of different things - bought a cord of wood pre split from someone else, and then also traded some people with log splitters free wood from trees we cut down in exchange for them splitting it all and leaving us half or so.

I know this sounds very un-Ted, but unless you really enjoy cutting down trees and then making the wood in appropriate sizes to burn, I'd just push the easy button. I can see it being very zen if it's your thing - personally I don't enjoy dealing with wood, I'm a metal kinda guy.

I agree with the idea of renting one for a weekend and then seeing what you think first, and maybe just leaving it at that.
 
As far as a tractor-powered version, my dad and uncle built one that just used a hydraulic cylinder to push the splitting wedge…not very fast, though.
 
Fireplace? I wouldn't bother...just buy some wood for those nights you want to sit by the fire. Too much heat goes up the chimney on even the best heat-circulating fireplaces to make a wood splitter worthwhile.
 
Yep, We had some large trees taken down and I had the tree guys cut them into fireplace length. I rented a hydraulic splitter. Ran it continually from dawn to dusk with my wife stacking the wood after I split it. I figure we did about a cord of it. Mininal cost and I don't have to worry about the small engine maintenance.
 
Definitely rent. Having your own splitter can be very, very expensive.

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Seriously, here in Florida we just don’t have enough opportunities to use the fireplace to justify buying a log splitter. The few times I’ve needed to split some logs I just used an axe or a splitting wedge. That way the wood warms you twice: once when you split it, and again when you burn it.
 
IMG_20200510_195313.jpg 20130120_075523.jpg Agree with the post above regarding heat benefit of stove vs fireplace.

I have a fireplace and a splitter. I think ours is 37 ton and works great. Honda motor starts right up after sitting over a year. Came from northern tool. Much easier to split upright rather than having to lift heavy trunks onto horizontal unit. No experience with a tractor model.
 
Stand alone model better than tractor model IMO. Having the ability to split perpendicular to ground is a huge plus. Wood you want to burn is quite heavy to be lifting onto the platform.
the tractor mounted ones positioning is awkward plus the hydraulics pumps can run slow so the ram takes forever to cycle.
Rent and play. You can split an amazing amount of wood of you have it cut and ready to split.
 
Hmmm... you all are making me question everything. I always thought of the fireplace as being a legit heat source, but the internet says it's somewhere around 0% efficient, +/- 10%. I'm not sure I believe that, as this thing is basically the entire wall of the house, and one you get it hot, it stays hot for many hours. We always adjusted the damper down to just let the smoke out, and the room would get quite hot. It's built in such a way that the smoke and heat travel along the sloping top to get to the chimney, heating up the masonry. It's possible though that the rest of the house was getting cooler and I didn't notice. It will be interesting to experiment with. I think there's some things that could be done to improve it, such as provide a path to draw combustion air from outside, and maybe even some heat recovery coils in the top of the firebox.

Never thought to rent one. Not a bad idea to get this tree split up, and then I'll have enough wood to run some experiments to see how much effort I want to put into it in the future.
Ted said:
I know this sounds very un-Ted, but unless you really enjoy cutting down trees and then making the wood in appropriate sizes to burn, I'd just push the easy button.
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Very un-ted indeed. I don't mind running a chainsaw. That's about the extent of my desire though in regards to working with carbohydrate foam.
Half Fast said:
Definitely rent. Having your own splitter can be very, very expensive.

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Seriously, here in Florida we just don’t have enough opportunities to use the fireplace to justify buying a log splitter. The few times I’ve needed to split some logs I just used an axe or a splitting wedge. That way the wood warms you twice: once when you split it, and again when you burn it.
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That girl doesn't look like she's ever held an axe before lol. I'm inclined to do some by hand purely for the exercise, but from what little I've split manually in the past I know I'm going to want some mechanical help to get through the volume I have to do. There's also a few big trees on the property that need to come down,
 
4CEA5D9C-AB4B-48FA-B840-55D7266E191E.jpeg Whatever you do, do not get a wood chipper…
 
I acquired a Honda tractor with a 3 point hitch and about 12 attachments. Front end loader, backhoe, brush hog, seeder, disc, rototiller, auger, mower. I didn't know Honda even made tractors. Apparently they made it from 96-98. Good luck getting parts....but it's a Honda. Had a log splitter attachment but the valve was a little slow. Put a high speed valve on it and man is nice for the little I use it.

Now, if you really wanna have some fun with those trees that need to come down...rent a forestry cutter and a bobcat. Gotta rent the machine set up for it as the window has 1" thick plexiglass. Turns that tree into woodchips right fast dead quick in a hurry.
 
A fireplace is usually a net energy consumer. You lose more energy than you produce. You need a fireplace insert, a woodstove or a woodstove insert in order to get get heat. I heated the house for years with a chainsaw, woodstove and a splitter. Get one that flips up so you can split horizontally or vertically. Wood is heavy.

Make sure your wood is dry enough. You can split by hand, and there's some pleasure in it. But it is work, and a workout. I could split enough wood for the occasional ornamental fire, but not for serious heating.

I got rid of the woodstove and installed a gas log. Now, I sit on the couch and press the clicker to make the fire bigger or smaller. When we have people over, I light some wood scented incense in the far corner. Most people are sure they are looking at a real wood fire.
 
I bet you have one of those German "fireplaces." It's a not a true fireplace as most people are assuming.
 
Too late. I sold my 35 ton hydraulic to a guy down the street.
Traded my wood stove in on a pellet stove.
 
Odd timing, but I just rented a log splitter today from Home Depot. I had a 40' branch snap off of our black walnut back in August that I had already cut into 18-20" sections. Truly a massive branch, which was around 26" in diameter at the base. Made the 20" Husqvarna chainsaw work and the big end for sure.

Anyhoo, in 2.5hrs I split about 2/3 cord of wood with the rental log splitter. Costed me about $80. New log splitters run around $1,400. It's going to take a lot of rental splitting to outweigh the cost of purchasing one. Downside is that this wood is still green, so it'll have to sit at the back of the property for a year to season it. $100 is the going rate for a rick of wood, so it saves me a little bit splitting my own, but not enough to justify the hassle. I was just making use of free wood.

As far as the fireplace, unless you have an insert the heat is about a net zero as it draws heat out via the chimney in exchange for radiant heat. Get an insert with a blower that pushes the heated air into the room. Doesn't provide the same crackle/pop that open fireplaces do, though.
 
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Shortly after I moved into the house I had the wood stove converted to gas. Push button, Great atmosphere, mediocre for heat. Turned the gas off a couple years ago, maybe I’ll turn it on this winter.
 
Not going to install an insert. It's just not worth the effort at that point. I'd rather have a novelty open hearth that gets used occasionally for fun than an efficient box that takes the romance out of it. Ditto for going to a gas log. Neither of those will remotely compete with the geothermal anyway.

Dad claims to have heated the house with it while he was finishing the inside before they got the gas boiler installed, although "heating the house" might really mean "a spot to take a break and warm up". We used it when I was a kid, but never more than as a nice novelty on a cold evening. It'll be interesting to turn the central heating off and fire the thing up and see what happens. The thermostat is in the same room, so I can't imagine the heat running while we had a fire going, and I don't remember the rest of the house getting cold, but it's been over 20 years since I've lived there, too.
 
Jim K said:
Not going to install an insert. It's just not worth the effort at that point. I'd rather have a novelty open hearth that gets used occasionally for fun than an efficient box that takes the romance out of it. Ditto for going to a gas log. Neither of those will remotely compete with the geothermal anyway.

Dad claims to have heated the house with it while he was finishing the inside before they got the gas boiler installed, although "heating the house" might really mean "a spot to take a break and warm up". We used it when I was a kid, but never more than as a nice novelty on a cold evening. It'll be interesting to turn the central heating off and fire the thing up and see what happens. The thermostat is in the same room, so I can't imagine the heat running while we had a fire going, and I don't remember the rest of the house getting cold, but it's been over 20 years since I've lived there, too.
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Our fireplace is oversized so most inserts wouldn't work for us. We probably use it 6-8 times per winter just for ambiance. We'll cook s'mores and such for the kids. Ours even has a arm that pivots out if you wanted to hang a kettle over the flames although we've never tried it out. Our thermostat for the downstairs is in the same room and it definitely keeps the heat from kicking on in the kids bedrooms if I don't pay attention to it. I hate gas log fires and wouldn't trade the real wood fires just for the sound. When we had the big snows last year and threats of power outages happening in TX, it was nice to know there would be a warm spot in the house should the power go off with single digit temps outside.

I wouldn't mind an insert though, just to keep it sealed off better when not in use. A damper only does so much.
 
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Jim K said:
Not going to install an insert. It's just not worth the effort at that point. I'd rather have a novelty open hearth that gets used occasionally for fun than an efficient box that takes the romance out of it. Ditto for going to a gas log. Neither of those will remotely compete with the geothermal anyway.

Dad claims to have heated the house with it while he was finishing the inside before they got the gas boiler installed, although "heating the house" might really mean "a spot to take a break and warm up". We used it when I was a kid, but never more than as a nice novelty on a cold evening. It'll be interesting to turn the central heating off and fire the thing up and see what happens. The thermostat is in the same room, so I can't imagine the heat running while we had a fire going, and I don't remember the rest of the house getting cold, but it's been over 20 years since I've lived there, too.
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If he's anything like my dad unless you see your breath, the thermostat doesn't get touched.
 
Cost wise it is cheaper to rent. Around here is about $100 to rent for a weekend. The downside to renting though is that you must split everything in that one weekend. It is heavy, hard, dirty work. If you own then you can go split for an hour after work on days when you feel like it. There isn’t the pressure to get it all done in just one or two days.
 
Racerx said:
If he's anything like my dad unless you see your breath, the thermostat doesn't get touched.
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We're the opposite. His thermostat is set at 78, mine is 65.
 
I’m a wood burner going way back, woodstove. With a fireplace you can put an insert in it to get a good amount of heat, I’ve done it twice.

Most of the chores dealing with wood burning are enjoyable to me, exercise too. I used to borrow a friend’s splitter, then bought my own. Before that I did it all with a maul & wedges. I bought an ‘Iron & Oak’ splitter, made in MN I think. I plan to use it today. I keep an eye out for wood, do well with supply.

This looks like a great Winter to be a wood burner, I’m usually 75 on up in the colder months, temp.
 

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Seasoned split Oak is going for $220 a cord around here, delivered but not stacked. Worth every penny.
 
I've had a gas-powered log splitter for years. It works as expected. A friend who's very familiar with splitting wood switched to an electric unit and he raves about it. The ran speed is much faster and he says it works better as a result. I've never used one and don't need to change but it's worth looking into.
 
Stewartb said:
I've had a gas-powered log splitter for years. It works as expected. A friend who's very familiar with splitting wood switched to an electric unit and he raves about it. The ran speed is much faster and he says it works better as a result. I've never used one and don't need to change but it's worth looking into.
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Probably better for overall noise than the gas powered ones, but it obviously comes with the restraint that you'd have adequate electric power near where you are splitting the wood. Seems a bit special-use if your wood splitting is always in a residential backyard or you truck the cut logs to one spot each time.
 
As my granddad used to say "Wood heat warms you up twice - once when you cut it and once when you burn it."

Can't comment on wood splitter - I'm somewhat in the same boat. When we replaced our HVAC a few years ago, we made sure to put in a dual zone system so we could burn wood in the downstairs open fireplace and let HVAC circulate and supplement upstairs heat. Unfortunately, I have burned through the remnant wood that we had accumulated from cleanup around the house. I have several trees I want to take down this winter, but the wood won't be ready to burn for a year or so, so I'll probably end up buying a pre-cut truckload for this winter. Trying to decide what I want to do for a splitter when I do get around to taking these trees down. From the price of things, I'll probably just end up renting when it's needed.
 
We had a cabin with a nice soapstone stove. It was great. The current place has a Vermont castings POS. Doesn't put out enough heat to know its working. I have used a few gas hydraulic splitters. they are great. So now the neighbor has an electric/hydraulic splitter. I was skeptical, especially it's compact design. It works great. We took down a number of trees, and blocked them last year. split them this year. For something less than a full time wood stove, i would certainly go with the electric. This one is a Harbor freight of all things. Again wors amazingly well.
 
I've cut a lot of firewood over the years. The biggest piece of advice I can make is get one that tilts vertically so that when you have to split the really big stuff you don't have to pick it up, just roll it into place. Last year a huge tree fell in my backyard, never measured the diameter but given that my 20" chainsaw bar only made it maybe 2/3-ish of the way across if that it must have been 30" or more. I cut the trunk into sections maybe 16-20" wide and my wife and I together could not pick one up. It was on a hill where it wasn't safe to try to get at it with the loader tractor.... a diamond splitting wedge and my big sledgehammer literally bounced off it. The only way we got the thing cleaned up was my log splitter tilted and I was able to jimmy the log sections into it and start breaking them up into something manageable.

I thought about tractor mounted one to have one less engine to maintain, just make sure your setup allows you to load the splitter and actuate the hydraulics without having to get on/off the tractor all the time or have a second person to run the controls. That would get old really fast.

As far as sizing, I've only used 2 and I never got the impression "tons of splitting force" was a big deal. Generally they should split anything you can manage to load into it. Where I always have issues regardless of size is sections where 2 or more limbs join together... something about that part of a tree seems nearly indestructible for some reason.
 
The remains of the massive tree I probably spent a couple of days breaking up.
 

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Have a stove as our heat source at our cabin. A good splitting maul and seasoned wood is pretty easy to split by hand.
 
What is cold weather?

I joke. It gets cold enough that a nice wood fire in the fireplace is nice and comfy. It does not get cold enough for the net loss efficiency of a wood fueled fireplace to be a big deal. The new gas furnace keeps the place tolerable in the winter with minimal effort, but somehow sitting in the freezing garage watching the little LED lights on the furnace while drinking Jameson isn't the same as hearing crackling logs.

On the other hand, the sound of crackling logs here means you probably didn't make it our of your house in time. Kind of f*Y(&d up but I've lost a couple friends that way.
 
Sac Arrow said:
What is cold weather?

I joke. It gets cold enough that a nice wood fire in the fireplace is nice and comfy. It does not get cold enough for the net loss efficiency of a wood fueled fireplace to be a big deal. The new gas furnace keeps the place tolerable in the winter with minimal effort, but somehow sitting in the freezing garage watching the little LED lights on the furnace while drinking Jameson isn't the same as hearing crackling logs.

On the other hand, the sound of crackling logs here means you probably didn't make it our of your house in time. Kind of f*Y(&d up but I've lost a couple friends that way.
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It hailed in Fresno today. Did it hail in Sac?
 
LesGawlik said:
A fireplace is usually a net energy consumer. You lose more energy than you produce. You need a fireplace insert, a woodstove or a woodstove insert in order to get get heat. I heated the house for years with a chainsaw, woodstove and a splitter. Get one that flips up so you can split horizontally or vertically. Wood is heavy.

Make sure your wood is dry enough. You can split by hand, and there's some pleasure in it. But it is work, and a workout. I could split enough wood for the occasional ornamental fire, but not for serious heating.

I got rid of the woodstove and installed a gas log. Now, I sit on the couch and press the clicker to make the fire bigger or smaller. When we have people over, I light some wood scented incense in the far corner. Most people are sure they are looking at a real wood fire.
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This. ^^^ The fireplace warms the one room it's in.

That big roaring fireplace flame creates a big chimney draft. All of that nice, warm, heated air in your house that goes up the chimney has to be replaced in equal volume by that cold, outside air through all of the leaks in your house.

About the equivalent of opening a window or two.

Folks with a fireplace note the furnace usually starts up shortly after the fire gets crackling.

I'm on my second insert now. This one is an EPA pellet stove, with 2 stage combustion. The inserts will heat your house. Many can even be piped so they use outside air for combustion.
 
I love my insert as it’s crazy efficient but hate the fact that it’s essentially a hot air heater and gives off almost no radiant heat. After running it for a few days it dries the air out in the house to the point where we have gotten bloody noses and sinus infections. Someone needs to come up with a way to add a humidifier to a wood stove insert.
 
kmacht said:
I love my insert as it’s crazy efficient but hate the fact that it’s essentially a hot air heater and gives off almost no radiant heat. After running it for a few days it dries the air out in the house to the point where we have gotten bloody noses and sinus infections. Someone needs to come up with a way to add a humidifier to a wood stove insert.
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Lol, picturing a Port-a-Cool attachment to the fireplace.
 
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