Large horizontal log splitter

[Tom Richards]

Hello Iam looking to speed up production of firewood and would be interested to hear which large horizontal splitters you are using.

 

at the moment we bring back timber and cut into rings with a saw and split them with a vertical splitter. I thought if I could cut into meter sections then run the billets through a processor this could speed things up .

 

Thanks 

[GarethM]

The longer the billet the more grunt you will require. Personally I don't think billets works unless it's woodland management stuff that's all straight and knot free and then you need to stack or bundle them afterwards.

 

Fuel wood splitta night be your thing or just get a faster splitter. Old school but it works.

[Peasgood]

1 hour ago, Tom Richards said:

I thought if I could cut into meter sections then run the billets through a processor this could speed things up .

It doesn't in my experience. Billet and sawbench does a bit but it is a lot more work.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Peasgood

[Woodworks]

I tried billets one year. Got a big vertical splitter so used that. As said unless the wood is perfect they dont split evenly so when you come to cut your billets to length one end is kindling and the other needs splitting more. They dried well but far too labour intensive as it took as long running the billets through the processor cutting to length as it would have to process roundwood in the first place 

Edited October 9, 2022 by Woodworks

[GarethM]

When I first started I did the 18" thing, circular saw in half when required.

 

It was pointless, is your idea to billet a years worth and is storage limited for normal split rings.

[Tom Richards]

37 minutes ago, GarethM said:

When I first started I did the 18" thing, circular saw in half when required.

 

It was pointless, is your idea to billet a years worth and is storage limited for normal split rings.

No I wasn’t thinking to do a years worth and storage is not a problem. Just thought it would be more time efficient to do that rather than logging up with a saw and them onto the splitter.

 

 

Just trying to think of the most time efficient way of logging up ( maybe it is with a saw then onto the splitter ?

 

i appreciate the comments. 
 

cheers

[Tom Richards]

Forgotten to say the timber I would be using it for would be 20” plus diameter 

[Tom Richards]

This is the sort of stuff . I have to cut a 9 inch log off, then larger ones need to be halved or quartered so the chap who does splitting can comfortably lift them .

 

 

[GarethM]

Don't think there's ever going to be a one size solution especially with the weight of a 20" trunk.

 

Do you chainsaw all the rings at the moment, surely something that big would be easier on a sawmill or band saw kind of arrangement.

 

Think we've all seen the rauband stuff, but I've always thought it messy and left crap looking firewood.

Edited October 9, 2022 by GarethM

[Peasgood]

I have a big vertical splitter that will do 1.2m billets and have used it recently to deal with some lumps of wood I have around the place, random lengths but 1m ish.

I cut them into billets thinking I would run them through the processor to get them to length and just use a 2way knife. It kind of worked but they were a bit of a nightmare in that they just don't fall right being such irregular shapes as billets. They never roll down and sit ready for the splitter.

Using it to just cut to length and onto the conveyor without splitting was better but seemed a long winded way of doing it.

If you were putting them on a horizontal splitter in rings they would need to go through more than once unless you invest an awful lot of money for a 12 way machine or bigger. Means a lot of handling again and I always cringe when I see folk leaning across a horizontal splitter, just waiting for an accident IMO. Very bad if it is an employee, bad enough if it is yourself.

Just my thoughts, everybody has a different way of working.