Wood Splitter Now this is the way to get in your winters wood

[sheepdog 10]

Power tools and equipment, not a place I thought I was going to be using but have to tell you about the joys of having a wood splitter.I had never had even the oppertunity to see one work until this past week when we borrowed one from a friend of ours. It's built on an axle, so it can be pulled behind even our little car. It has a 5 horse power Briggs and Stratton engine, which really, isn't much bigger than a lawn mower engine, so I was pretty surprized at how powerful it was. We put some really good size wood on it and it would just bust right through it. I got a crash course on how to operate it, and then I ran it while my better half ran the chain saw, and boy did we get a trailer full of wood in a hurry. While it is still back breaking work, you have to lift the logs on it to split them, it sure beats the devil out of wacking logs with a double bitted chipping axe! Or even a splitting mall. So, if you are considering getting, one, go for it, they are GREAT!

[Watermonkey 0]

Yeah, but that little B&S motor must be about as loud as they get. Too many similar engines around here running other things like power washers and generators. I wonder if there's a quieter model. I've often thought of buying a wood splitter but I've been pretty put off by the price. What kind of maintenance (other than the engine) do they require? Are they hydraulically operated or what? I just recently blew ten grand on a diesel ATV and trailer to tow behind it for transporting small loads of wood out of the forest and for snow plowing as well. That's a real time-saving combination right there. I bet it'd tow the wood splitter just fine thank you very much. I'll have to consider it for next year. Any idea who makes the better splitter out there?

[jlhaslip 4]

I have seen Wood splitters that run off a Tractor Power Take Off, too. Really quite handy to have around.All of the ones I have seen are hydraulically operated with a cross shaped "driver" so it will 'quarters' the wood. Unless you are using really big wood, once through the splitter will fit in almost any stove opening. I burn wood only during the coldest part of the season, so I only have a cord or 2 around, but a guy I know owns one and it saves him a tremendous amount of Labour. He does about 150 full cords a year and sells it, as a one man operation, too. He can split an awful lot of wood in an hour.

[sheepdog 10]

This one had a single edge splitter so only halved the wood, not quarted it. Quartering would probably be great if all your wood needed quartered, but often they only need halved, or in the case of the what we work with those odd shaped chunks and forks that have to be split up in odd ways to get around the knots and burls. I guess you'd just have to work with one to see how it went doing only 4ths. Yes, it is hydraulic. As far as noise, yes, it is fairly noisy, but then again, so is the chain saw, so it's not too bad. This one has a fairly good muffler on it. Kinda reminds me of those real old John Deer tractors that make that putt putt putt nosie. We have an ATV too, and boy is that ever a life saver for an old fat lady!!!! Funny, I thought my better half was nuts for wanting to spend that much money on one, (it was more expensive than our car) but since we have it I find it to be one of the most useful tools imaginable. I use it ALL the time. My kennel is designed with large outdoor areas for the dogs, so it is spread out over quite a bit of ground. I can put a crate on the back of the ATV (ours is an Artic Cat) and easily move dogs around wherever I need to. If I'm just moving one I can hold it on my lap and let it ride with me. Surprisingly enough, most of the dogs don't mind riding it. And....a side benefit for owning an ATV I never realized, I find now that I can drive our car in a more civilized manner on the highways if I can let the Evil Kineevil side of me come out while I am goofing off on the 4 wheeler! (yes, I have some of those "Little Old Lady From Passadena" quirks in me.)

[jlhaslip 4]

Yes, that Little Ole Lady From Pasedena Complex... Anyways, some of the wood around here is fairly large, so quarters are nice, otherwise, you would need to handle the halves at least once more to get them down to stove size pieces. The stove I feed has about a 10 inch by 10 inch throat, so that is still fairly large, and handles 24 inch lengths quite nicely, too. It would allow for longer pieces, but then it becomes quite a chore to handle them easily.Another trick is to put the large end into the opening first. That way, if the piece has trouble going in, you stand a better chance getting it back out. I have a few stories about needing to leave the door open until the wood got burned down to get that final piece all the way in. And that is just not a safe thing, to burn a Wood Stove with the door open.We use mostly Douglas Fir, but lately, there has been lots of bug-kill Pine available at a reasonable price. There is not very much for Hardwood around here, but once in a while, a Birch becomes available, and I snag it when I can. Like the one in the front yard that needs a serious trimming. Before the wind knocks it onto the house...

[sheepdog 10]

That is one of my worst fears, getting a chunk of wood stuck 1/2 way in the stove. I've come pretty close any nuber of times, but always managed to push/pull/pry it on in or out. My other greatest fear is having the piece of wood land on my finger as it goes in the door, and mash/break/burn my finger. That I have had happen. Many bad words were use. I am greatful we have a good hardwood supply here, I would think that pine or fir would burn really fast. We have a lot of oak, several varieties, we cut up a big red oak last week that was huge, but short trunked and would not of made a good saw log, but it sure makes good firewood. Well, things are not looking so good here, constant drizzling rain, and the betther half is thinking about going to town to the local Oreileys to pick up parts for the generator just in case. Whenthe temps drop it could get really ugly. I hope and pray we do not loose electic power. Not having water is a huge problem with all the animals to take care of here.

[Watermonkey 0]

I'd think it'd be a good investment to buy a 500 gallon reserve water tank for the dogs. Or a backup generator. Either way, I think I like the sound of the quartering wood splitter and my Arctic Cat diesel would look pretty good with one hitched to the back of it. I just split a whole trailer full of wood today and brought it down to the wood pile to be burned. It took a couple hours whereas maybe only fifteen or twenty minutes for a splitter I suppose. I've been getting all Western Larch or, what the locals call, tamarack so far this year. It's a semi-hard wood that burns real clean and hot, high BTUs per volume. Seems like I'd better think about putting that on the priority list after all. We are wanting to move come spring time, though, so I'm not sure I should be acquiring more stuff at this point... Regarding the ATV, I've got a snow plow on it as well as the trailer so it's become maybe the most useful vehicle around here. It just keeps on going and going on a tank of fuel. I haven't filled it once since September but I use it two or three times a week for plowing or wood gathering. We've got about two-thirds of a mile of easement/ driveway to plow plus another three quarters mile in to the woods if I need to go after another tree to burn, which I seem to need to do every three weeks or so, and let me tell you, with ski goggles and gloves and good insulated overalls plowing is actually quite painless! I'd even call it "fun" on some days! I'm just waiting for this most recent storm to pass to plow again. We're suppose to get a half foot of snow before all is said and done. I'm starting to actually look forward to snow! I hate it when it melts, though. Makes for a slippery, messy, muddy drive.

[sheepdog 10]

I'd think it'd be a good investment to buy a 500 gallon reserve water tank for the dogs. Or a backup generator.

Oh yes, very good idea. Not having water for that many dogs/goats would be a disaster.
Actually, we have both. My better half designed a high preasure washer for the kennel, and it has a 1,050 gal watertank as a reserve tank. We run water into it whenever we do the wash downs, so it is always nearly full. And we have a small portable generator. It wouldn't run everything, but we could take it to the pump house, run the well for awhile, fill everything up and then move it back to the kennel/house. Out of old habits, I always keep plenty of empty plastic bleach bottles around, so can always store plenty of extra water.

The biggest problem is the direct heat needed for newborn pups. There is no way to get that without electric. I use heat lamps and heat pads on the newborns. A few years ago, we installed one of those ventless gas heaters, and I love it as it works without the need for electricity, but keeping the kennel air temp high does not help the newborns.

At any rate, so far most of the really bad weather has just missed us. We've had lots of rain, but that I can live with.