Splitter Advice

[hawthornheavyhorses]

Hi All,

 

I've been selling firewood for about 18 months on a small scale where I work with the horses, selling about 30 cubic meters in nets. I've hired in local contractors with a processor to split my wood for me, but is a bit limiting and difficult to organise. I am applying for a grant to help me buy a splitter so I can up production next season and hopefully start local deliveries.

 

My question therefore is what splitter I should go for? The timber is 80% hornbeam with the rest being ash/oak/maple/sycamore mainly. Lovely stuff. It varies in diameter from 15" to 4".

 

Any suggestions for makes/models and suppliers would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt

[weldersunited]

Hi Matt,

 

What power do you have available? ie tractor etc? There are quite a few about and I've personally made a few of my own now. I think vertical are best as the logs I tend to get are quite lumpy so don't want to be lifting them up onto tables.... I get over the bad back thing by kneeling in front of the table which brings it tp waist height. If it's mainly more manhandlable stuff then a waist height table might suit your needs better. Have a look around and also decide your budget- there's a wide range out there!

[hawthornheavyhorses]

Hi.

 

Good question, that would be quite important!! Needs to be self powered really access to a tractor can be difficult.

 

Needs to be able to split logs up to 3ft to make it worth doing. The wood is a real mix of sizes, some bits are really hefty. I know you can get some horizontal splitters with a cradle for loading, but I'm struggling to find suppliers or anyone who have used one to recommend.

 

Budget ideally would be around £1500.

 

Thanks!

[Stubby]

Hi Matt. I have two types a cork screw type and a hydrulic ram type . The cork screw is by far the quickest especially on big rings as you cake almost solit it like you were cutting a cake . If yopu only have a max dia of 15 inches it probably does not mater which you go for . If you have a tractor yuc can use then a cork screw such as a "high crack" or similar would be good . You only need a ford 4000 or Fergie 35 set at just over tick over speed and there is so much torque they will spit anything . Regards Andy .

[davetaz]

Thor self powered towable vertical 3' splitter, 13T from

firewood processors Hakki Pilke, logsplitters, sawmills, woodchippers

[toprotter]

As above 'screw splitter'

Be aware they Can have a habit of flipping ring if it catches

a knot. A joy to use never had a problem with mine and as mentioned

Run on a ticking over ferg 35 a treat.

[chainsawdom]

ive just brought a thor 13 ton magik and its built like a tank well impressed with it mines pto driven but they do a petrol version.

[Rich2484]

Used both screw and ram and I prefer the ram by far. Also the variety of the ram is it can be towed around on e back of a wagon or quad, got one that had a 3hp engine on it but found it not to be man enough so swapped it for a 5hp Honda engine.

 

Also found that you could disconnect the hydraulics from the engine and attach to a tractor spool valves.

 

The screw type had me a bit worried also found it can split wood and make a mess, not so good when you want to net bag. Also constantly waiting for a ring to spin over and crush my hand, so it was not comfy to split with for me.

[Stubby]

With a screw type Assuming its a clockwise rotation ,you should always keep your left on the ring and keep your right back so that should it flip it will flick your left hand off and not trap your right . Having said that you should only need a momentary push on the ring and then you can let go as the screw will pull the ring on itself . Simples !

[farmer_ben]

Hi.

 

Good question, that would be quite important!! Needs to be self powered really access to a tractor can be difficult.

 

Needs to be able to split logs up to 3ft to make it worth doing. The wood is a real mix of sizes, some bits are really hefty. I know you can get some horizontal splitters with a cradle for loading, but I'm struggling to find suppliers or anyone who have used one to recommend.

 

Budget ideally would be around £1500.

 

Thanks!

 

i run a Browns hydrolic splitter (Log Splitter | Timber Equipment | Browns Agricultural) and its a cracking simple to use splitter. well priced to for its decent build quality