rowan lee

I swear by this maul- Leborgne | Produits - - 3.7 kg Bursting Maul with mis-hit guard Not sure how much they cost anymore, its been that long since we bought our's. No issues with the handle, unbelievable hardened steel in the head, we have bashed that so many times with a 10lb hammer (10 years worth of firewood - the knottiest elm you can physically split by hand) and still not even a crack or a corner chipped off. Truely unbelievable, the sort of tool my old fellow will give to me for my kids one day.

Get a large splitting block of slightly wider diameter to that of the tyres internal diameter. trace out a circle of the tyres internal wall with a markers and roughly cut out a stepped groove about an inch and a half deep by whatever diameter you have left on the splitting block and wedge your tyre down on it. Try and find one of those boy racer low profile tyres with thin walls, you will fit more logs in that way, given the bigger internal diameter.

One thing I did notice on the vert/hor combi's is the awkward positioning of the controls on some models. In most cases the vertical positioning controls seem fine, but the horizontal work position lever controls looked to be a little awkward to access comfortably for long periods of work time. May not be the case with all models but if you go for a combi, look at the control ergonomics in both working positions. From what i can tell, horizontal splitters are good if you get a big tonnage one with a hydraulic log lifting flap as a standard and you are planning predominant billet production. there just seems to be less bending involved, everything happens at waist height (for re-splitting, you can just slide pieces around the deck on top with a cant hook etc). Vertical splitters big and small with waist high tables under the blade are better for rings as you can centre the pieces more easily, especially the more irregular shaped farm spec timber that a lot of potential hires would have. vert is also easier for knotty rings as you can pull the log right out to the tip of the blade for better penetrative power etc. If I was thinking of the hire market myself, I would want a mobile vert splitter with 1m stroke (10-15ton), and removable table. One that folds up into itself like the Thor mobile unit,for ease of transport and setup. With a long stroke of 1m the blade can reach the floor, thus if there are some heavy brutes left at the end, the removable table can be separated and the big bits split on the ground into smaller pieces first eliminating any manual lifting. This type of splitter also opens up the posibility of billet production as well.

Seen a thread like this before - is it roughly 2 loose cubes logs per ton?

Came across this fabrication today on an irish trader site - not a bad little idea for the diy firewooder amongst us. walk around - firewood processor - YouTube In action: www.jkfabrications.com - YouTube (not sure what this random commentary is all about?) there are some pictures also if anyone wants them.

Lovely fire Chris, I noticed a lot off you lads on here use a leaf blower - to get things going. Brilliant idea, never thought of that.

True, Ive watched butchers here in Ireland with saw heads, and alot of nice firewood going to waste as well. granted its faster, but the getting on the ground and working methodically through a ditch/boundary is much more enjoyable, especially if there is no pressure.

Nice bit of clearing being done along those hedgerows. We might see some pic's in the burnup thread sometime mate?

Exactly Jon, cheap as chips to run these pto versions. About £600 difference (? I think) in the pto vs the standard Thor 13. Difference in price between my old 35 and a newish 100hp tractor (alot I reckon). What I will pay out in disel costs over my life worths of splitting wouldn't even bridge the gap.

Yeah thats me splitting away!

Possibly man, maybe it was a pinch, but his left hand looked very close to that blade. Notice how he looks away to the third party who is helping him, as the log slides along. And in that split second, he's like 'ai cazzo di merda!' close one, and throws his hands up in that knee jerk reaction. Bloody dangerous looking machine regardless.

Got the thor magik 13ton (pto) as well. Its a vertical splitter, with a two speed auto return ram. The oil reservoir is built into the main housing of the splitters mast. Its got dual controls, but you can use a single lever initially to wedge your billet/block in place under the blade before you engage full hydraulic power (leader control system). I run it on just over tick with an old 35x, the shearing power through knots is very impressive. Great piece of kit, very well built, simple and reliable.

Balfor demo - YouTube Not a big fan of band saws, glad not to have to use one, common sense or not. Poor old demo kid nearly forgets where his hand is as he lines up the log for his second cut.

Not sure what size your thinking about but here is a large hiab setup a guy down the road has.

I have seen plenty of approaches to this problem here and elsewhere online. This is how I do it. First I cross cut the billets in a rack (see pic. here http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/39586-log-cutting-2.html). I hear lots of people giving out about hand balling, I load the table up with one of those ball ended beet forks ( and it has an Irish style long straight handle, not the short 'T' jobbie you boys use on hand tools across the water, which I'm sure does kill the back). Working off the table takes the back ache out of the whole operation. The stainless steel insert came out of a domestic bin housing I found in work (the lid and bottom removed). I simply stood on it to achieve the desired oval shape needed to fit the nets on. The wooden housing sitting on the small pallet, helps keep the bag steady as its being filled, and when the insert is pulled out completely, the net doesn't fall over before it has been tied. The nets are the standard 40ltr jobbies (52x82cm).

I don't recall seeing that basket/tipper combi 10 wheeel rig before in your previous submissions. Serious piece of plant by the looks of things.

Don't have one, but like the fact that you can control/activate the splitter action, i.e. if a log drops awkwardly into the chamber you can correct it, before it jams the log onto the wedge automatically and you have to fetch the hammer like alot of other processors in the same class! That circular saw action is lightening fast as well. Very efficient looking piece of kit.

Cost about 5 bucks to build, much cheaper then the oregon 'easycut' version which some crazy cats are trying to charge 150euro for over here.

Held on by ropes on the sides and horse shoe nailed through the guy eyes back and front. Took quite a battering recently in the winds but held its nerve.

Complete with stop block at one end, and as you can see also handy for all that 3inch stuff that builds up from time to time.

I process about 50cm3 a year on my own with a small tractor (which you have also), a pto splitter that will do billets (1.2m lengths), a small diy rack that holds about 30 billets at a time and a slightly bigger chainsaw then you have (ms261). Once the rack is loaded with billets in a horizontal fashion its just 4 cross cuts and nearly 1/2cm3 in 5 mins cutting. Much faster then the old fashioned two man saw horse system I used to use like yourself. I can process about 2 - 2.5cm3 on a tank load. The biggest investment was the pto splitter (but still 75% cheaper then a basic processor), but it should last in this kind of domestic environment. Sell a few sticks to friends and family for a season and you'll get your money back for this easily.

Good advice above, I like the look of the Farmi as well (pto and petrol/mobile) , and the optional log lift device for the Farmi is a smashing idea, but possibly a little light looking in its build (haven't actually seen one in person though).

Ive seen a few flat beds running what look like rear fork lift type tyres all round. They almost look like solids but i'm sure they're not. Not sure what the ratings for these would be, and whether or not they would suit your rims? Might be worth investigating though.

haha lol legend! Very witty lads. Running around inside the wheel like hamsters!