At my limits for a log splitting job

tomstrees

tomstrees

Participating member
Largest job doing log splitting; initially customer contacted me on cutting up some smaller tree length wood, 5 or so cords, then a storm hit, much bigger wood, multi ton red oak tree lengths, some were cut up to reasonable sizes but logs are still around 1000 or so at least a good number of them.

Standard log splitter, larger 77cc or so Jonsered saw, fiberglass splitting maul, one wedge. One man job. Is this really doable? 4 hours at a time is about my limit on this.

https://imgur.com/a/eyZmpQm
 
Around here firewood is 200 plus a cord, city inmover, so probably not a big firewood burner, but you never know.

Big cost would have been dumpstering away big wood so figured splitting was better.

Between saw and wedge/maul should be able to process remaining big logs, probably worth more than fifty an hour.
 
Keeps ya young and strong though, unless you use your back too much.
Around here it’s 75$ a facecord delivered. The few guys that separate fruit wood sell it for around 140$ last I heard.
 
You may want to invest in a really good splitting axe like a Fiskars X27. It will pay for itself in one hour if you're billing $50/hour. I stopped using a hydraulic splitter (even when I was heating exclusively with wood) when I got mine, just faster to do most of it by hand. I have never used a wedge personally in 44 years of life and have never needed one. Fastest method for me is to set aside any piece you can't split by hand quickly, then come back to all the stubborn stuff with your hydraulic splitter or chainsaw. Fiskars also makes a heavy splitting mail that is great for gnarly pieces but you don't want to swing that all day. The X27 can be used all day and you won't kill yourself. You can do this, just change the way you're thinking about it. You have steady work at $50/hr until the job is done or the homeowner says uncle. Pace yourself and make hay while the sun shines!
 
Njdelaney said:
You may want to invest in a really good splitting axe like a Fiskars X27. It will pay for itself in one hour if you're billing $50/hour. I stopped using a hydraulic splitter (even when I was heating exclusively with wood) when I got mine, just faster to do most of it by hand. I have never used a wedge personally in 44 years of life and have never needed one. Fastest method for me is to set aside any piece you can't split by hand quickly, then come back to all the stubborn stuff with your hydraulic splitter or chainsaw. Fiskars also makes a heavy splitting mail that is great for gnarly pieces but you don't want to swing that all day. The X27 can be used all day and you won't kill yourself. You can do this, just change the way you're thinking about it. You have steady work at $50/hr until the job is done or the homeowner says uncle. Pace yourself and make hay while the sun shines!
Click to expand...
I wish I could like that ^^^^ a couple more times.
 
Njdelaney said:
You may want to invest in a really good splitting axe like a Fiskars X27. It will pay for itself in one hour if you're billing $50/hour. I stopped using a hydraulic splitter (even when I was heating exclusively with wood) when I got mine, just faster to do most of it by hand. I have never used a wedge personally in 44 years of life and have never needed one. Fastest method for me is to set aside any piece you can't split by hand quickly, then come back to all the stubborn stuff with your hydraulic splitter or chainsaw. Fiskars also makes a heavy splitting mail that is great for gnarly pieces but you don't want to swing that all day. The X27 can be used all day and you won't kill yourself. You can do this, just change the way you're thinking about it. You have steady work at $50/hr until the job is done or the homeowner says uncle. Pace yourself and make hay while the sun shines!
Click to expand...
Looks like it has excellent feedback: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars-X27-6-3-lbs-36-in-Super-Splitting-Axe-78846935/202681680

I've worked with a lot of hydraulic and flywheel type units like the Supersplit and nothing beats the right tool for the job.

However with knotty, gnarly and oversized logs it won't help you that much and the feedback supports that.

300-1000# logs need wedges, large saws, etc, until you can roll them on to a splitter.
 
On the other end of all this.......

I've seen a home built jobber. 50 TONish ram, 25HP gas Kohler, and a small K-boom with grapple. With all the major parts salvaged, It only cost under 3G to build. The main expense was the mini knuckle and grapple.

That thing is still going strong and, in some ways, blows away a processor. With a means to move it around and a saw on hand ...... it will split some cord. Takes just about anything you can feed it.
 
Man, you'll be in better shape than your neighbor's high schooler, lol. I got a guy here who does firewood on the side that comes out to my jobs sometimes. I've watched him load 300 lb pieces onto his trailer by himself (yes, he has a Stihl 390 with him). Damn near kills himself doing it. He's 60 something, about 5' 3" and built like a pro wrestler. Great guy.
 
I have a Fiscar x27 as well, its a great splitter. I'm also a fan of an 8lb maul, with the right profile its a great splitter as well. That said I'm a glutton for punishment and up until recently getting a chainsaw mill i though every stick of wood needed to be firewood regardless of diameter and knots.

Eventually I moved up to a horizontal splitter with a removable 4 way wedge. It works great and I can feed it large rounds if needed with the mini and BMG. Its not quite as fast as some of the profesional models but I often split wood alone, so its a good speed for me.
 
JaredDTS said:
Start on the outside working around and try to split the outer layers off first rather than trying to split everything in half.
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Thats the trick there. Everyone who hates hand splitting aims for the middle of the round until their exhausted and only split a few rounds.

I find that technique works well with hydraulic splitters too. Keeps you from juggling two large pieces, instead you hold onto the large one and let firewood pieces get pushed through the wedge.
 
tomstrees said:
Looks like it has excellent feedback: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars-X27-6-3-lbs-36-in-Super-Splitting-Axe-78846935/202681680

I've worked with a lot of hydraulic and flywheel type units like the Supersplit and nothing beats the right tool for the job.

However with knotty, gnarly and oversized logs it won't help you that much and the feedback supports that.

300-1000# logs need wedges, large saws, etc, until you can roll them on to a splitter.
Click to expand...

if using a vertical splitter you just rotate them between cuts whilst splitting in a spiral motion into the centre. I did 30,000 lbs in 20 hours on a weekend of twisted hardwood. These splitters have their place...
 
Lots of good insight from people who obviously have spent lots of time splitting. Removing bark, or at least breaking the continuous ring of bark around a big round will also help. I've had big pieces that I fought with that come apart easy once the bark ring is broken. The nibble around the edge method that @JaredDTS mentioned works great too for big pieces. Cherry often is straight grained up to a certain size and then the outside 2" are a twisted mess. The radial splitting approach doesn't work for this. @Jehinten I had the same experience, first when I bought a lathe and next with the chainsaw mill! Of course I've never used anything but a basic hydraulic splitter and never had to worry about splitting for money so I'm sure all those things have their place.
 
After a little practice, you’ll be able to win your honey the kewpie doll every time you play the hammer game at the fair :)
 
The bottom line with big wood is that large equipment is usually used to dumpster/tub grinder it away. If customers do not want to pay for that, they look around for some willing worker or sucker to process it for less.

There is no way to bust up 1000# logs without first quartering it, etc.. They cannot be eased on to a vertical splitter unless you have several strong men. And the splitter needs to be able to handle large oversized wood. I have done well over 1000 cords of wood splitting, never had to face wood this big.
 
Love to see some pictures with something for scale. I've never seen a round cut to 16" or even 20" that was anywhere near 1000lbs. This must be some massive stuff.
 
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tomstrees said:
The bottom line with big wood is that large equipment is usually used to dumpster/tub grinder it away. If customers do not want to pay for that, they look around for some willing worker or sucker to process it for less.

There is no way to bust up 1000# logs without first quartering it, etc.. They cannot be eased on to a vertical splitter unless you have several strong men. And the splitter needs to be able to handle large oversized wood. I have done well over 1000 cords of wood splitting, never had to face wood this big.
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We used to have a Mighty Ox L-30 splitter, it’s a very strong horizontal with a lift arm - I like those better than uprights because you don’t have to bend over all day. Biggest log we split with it was a 5’ diameter Beech tree. Loaded the rounds with a skidloader to break them into quarters, and then fought them by hand on the tray. It did it, but it sure was a lot of work!
 
tomstrees said:
The bottom line with big wood is that large equipment is usually used to dumpster/tub grinder it away. If customers do not want to pay for that, they look around for some willing worker or sucker to process it for less.

There is no way to bust up 1000# logs without first quartering it, etc.. They cannot be eased on to a vertical splitter unless you have several strong men. And the splitter needs to be able to handle large oversized wood. I have done well over 1000 cords of wood splitting, never had to face wood this big.
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Looking at your pics it certainly looks doable with my equipment, but obviously you have to work with what you have. Have you done a log weight calculator? If its the pieces in the pics they shouldn't weigh 1,000 lbs. If there are bigger rounds then that may be.


For the rounds that I see in your pics, I'd lift them onto my horizontal splitter with my mini and grapple. From there its just rotating them until its all split.

In my younger days, maybe fresh out of high school, I split up some large silver maple with the help of two retired gentlemen. I don't remember measuring the diameter but it was probably 5' diameter trunk wood. I halved them with a sledge and 6 steel wedges, working along the split until it went all the way across. I think I even doubled a couple of them up. Then I walked each half over to a vertical splitter where one of the other guys ran the lever and I'd hand the splits to another guy stacking in the trailer. These days I wouldn't bother with that size wood or I'd noodle it down, but the point being that it can be done.


If you wanted to invest a little bit of money you could pick up an auger splitter, most home depots have a mini for rent with an auger system. Split all of the big ones without lifting, then split those smaller pieces with your splitter.

Here is a link of someone using that setup.

I've not used that myself but there are all kinds of videos online of the same concept, just different power sources.
 
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