If you want to process larger log rounds the shortcut is to get a splitter designed for bigger wood. More support is just the start of modifications needed, a larger ram plate likely to become needed to keep rounds more on axis during the splitting stroke helping keep the rounds aligned and stable during the split stroke etc. Using your hip and hands to keep rounds alingned during the split adds or carries with this method of operation additional personal risks which I would caution you to assess giving weight to our nature in that as we become expirenced with a process and as we fatigue during splitting sessions all naturally tend to let our guards down. Then the splitting blade/knife will need to be lengthened/strenghtened the the run out table fo split wood will need to be changed to keep splits from falling. Merry christmas and good luck. Ray Stormont
Ray! Thank you so much for watching and your very helpful insights/comments. I have really thought about what kind of wood I will be processing down the road. If the log is straight, and a minimum of 12" in diameter, it is viable for my sawmill. These rounds were from a crooked branch and were, indeed, larger diameter. My thought is that I could always rip wider rounds to a more manageable size if needed. You make excellent points about how I use my body to keep the round in place, and I have never been comfortable with that. I really appreciate your thoughts on this. Stay tuned!!!
As always, I learned a ton. Do not have a wood splitter yet but will be getting one within the year, and therefore this was extremely useful. All the very best to you and Beth for the holiday season.
Thanks so much, Howard! They are definitely a game changer, even a lower level one like my "unicorn"! Merry Christmas to you, Coral and the whole gang!!!!
Nice splitter other than that oil fill location. My splitter has a Honda engine but the oil fill is nothing like that. Merry Christmas to you and your family my friend. 🎄🙏♥️
Good evening John, this is a little out of my wheelhouse, but as always I did enjoy your video and I wanted to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas. Hope you have a wonderful holiday, Ben 🎄🎅🎶🎵🪵🪓🔥👍🍻
Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to you and your family John. I have an old splitter and if I were going to modify / upgrade it to accommodate a work platform I would use the metal caging that some of my Woodland Mills products came in along with some on-hand metal supplies I currently have. Fortunately I weld and do metal fabricating. If didn't weld or do metal work then I would build a wooden mockup to ensure it's exactly what I want then bring the wood design and splitter to a fabricator to weld on a steel version. I would hope that it would not cost an arm and a leg. If the cost to have the upgrade done plus the price I could sell the splitter for adds up to 60% of the price of a new splitter that would fit my needs then I would sell the old splitter and buy a new splitter. Otherwise I would have the fabricator do the job. I look forward to seeing the mod / upgrade. Take care!
Paul: That is great advice. Right now, I am thinking of the modifications you and others have suggested. Even if they incur some cost, and I decide to sell the splitter down the road, I should be able to recoup some of that cost in the sale. Thank you as always for sharing your experience. (I may need to take a road trip up your way so you can teach me to weld!!!!)
Hi John and a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you. I would put on the side you not using a shelf from the ram to 6” past the end of the spitting wedge, 8” to 12” out with a tilt upwards to keep wood from falling off. This would keep the split pieces from falling off the end after being split. And the rest of the shelf toward the ram could be used as a staging station for the next piece to be split. On the side you stand on again put a shelf 6” past the splitting wedge, like the other side. But out from the wedge about 6” to 8”. Also tipped up a bit. But only have it start from where your leg is out to the 6” bast the wedge. And you could have the end by your leg at 90 degrees out or 45 degrees or what ever your comfortable with. I would have about 12” long shelf at the start of the wedge, to 6” past the end of the splitting wedge. Then what ever angle is comfortable from the 12” part back to the edge of the splitter where you stand. Hard to explain. Hope fully you sorta get what I’m trying to say. I would also have the 4 way splitter part easily removable so you can use the single wedge, but mounted so the 4 way wedge can’t slip off. Hope this helps John. 👍🏻🪵🪓🔥👋
Noel!!!! I knew you would have some great ideas. I get the picture clearly! I can tell you have way more splitting experience than I do, and am grateful for you sharing this with me! Merry Christmas!
Mr. John, not my wheelhouse either, but I have been around these machines...the four-way and add-on wings sound like a good start. You personally could cut down the driver's side wing or have a fab shop do it for you. Your methodologies demonstrated in this video are efficient and neat. On the Honda oil change, certain Briggs engines have a dràin pipe (plastic and metal, depending on the model) surely a similar system could be retrofitted to the Honda. I have the same blue funnel shown and love your STIHL beanie...Happy Holidays to you and yours sir....
Just put the tongue in the bucket and nothing falls on the ground. You could block up the trailer tires on ramps to get it to a more comfortable height. Angle the splitter in the bucket so you have the clearance you need to work. If you find a spot the works just drill a hole and mount a trailer ball in the bucket to keep it in place while you work. Also you can use that to roll the splitter up the ramps.
Hi John, new subscriber here. If would take a pallet mount 4legs in corners to get you to the height of your splitter. Just to get an idea how that works. I have a smaller splitter that is to low to the ground at 30 inches. 36 inches off the seems to be a very comfortable height to work off of. I built a 4x8 table at 36 in height. It has a 22 inch wide opening to bring the logs out right on to the splitter. The depth is about 18 inches. That serves very nicely as my staging platform. I built ramps to raise the splitter to 36 inches . We just started our channel fall of 23. I have videos that show what I call the round table and you may pickup some other ideas. I have had major back surgery and need to watch the bending and lifting. I live in northern Minnesota. Check our channel out may get some ideas. The table I’m referring to cost around 200-250. To build. You could use pallets for the floor. If you need other info let me know.
Hey there, my friend! Thanks so very much for watching and for your comments and suggestions! Wow, there is a lot of collective genius out there in the community. I really appreciate it.I definitely am focused on making it as ergonomic as possible. Just subbed your channel!!!
Build a decently sturdy table that is sitting on a pallet and toss it on the table so you just roll it in. Also, put something under the splitter so you don't ever bend over and the splitter is at just over waist high. No back strain. last suggestion. Maybe get a longer control knob make it a 45 degree turn towards you so you aren't reaching like that all the time
If you want to process larger log rounds the shortcut is to get a splitter designed for bigger wood. More support is just the start of modifications needed, a larger ram plate likely to become needed to keep rounds more on axis during the splitting stroke helping keep the rounds aligned and stable during the split stroke etc. Using your hip and hands to keep rounds alingned during the split adds or carries with this method of operation additional personal risks which I would caution you to assess giving weight to our nature in that as we become expirenced with a process and as we fatigue during splitting sessions all naturally tend to let our guards down. Then the splitting blade/knife will need to be lengthened/strenghtened the the run out table fo split wood will need to be changed to keep splits from falling. Merry christmas and good luck. Ray Stormont
Ray! Thank you so much for watching and your very helpful insights/comments. I have really thought about what kind of wood I will be processing down the road. If the log is straight, and a minimum of 12" in diameter, it is viable for my sawmill. These rounds were from a crooked branch and were, indeed, larger diameter. My thought is that I could always rip wider rounds to a more manageable size if needed. You make excellent points about how I use my body to keep the round in place, and I have never been comfortable with that. I really appreciate your thoughts on this. Stay tuned!!!
As always, I learned a ton. Do not have a wood splitter yet but will be getting one within the year, and therefore this was extremely useful.
All the very best to you and Beth for the holiday season.
Thanks so much, Howard! They are definitely a game changer, even a lower level one like my "unicorn"! Merry Christmas to you, Coral and the whole gang!!!!
Nice splitter other than that oil fill location. My splitter has a Honda engine but the oil fill is nothing like that. Merry Christmas to you and your family my friend. 🎄🙏♥️
Thanks, Marty!!! I love the engine, but the devil is in the details. We have to get together one of these days, my friend! Merry Christmas!!!
Good evening John, this is a little out of my wheelhouse, but as always I did enjoy your video and I wanted to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas. Hope you have a wonderful holiday, Ben 🎄🎅🎶🎵🪵🪓🔥👍🍻
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Ben!
Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to you and your family John. I have an old splitter and if I were going to modify / upgrade it to accommodate a work platform I would use the metal caging that some of my Woodland Mills products came in along with some on-hand metal supplies I currently have. Fortunately I weld and do metal fabricating. If didn't weld or do metal work then I would build a wooden mockup to ensure it's exactly what I want then bring the wood design and splitter to a fabricator to weld on a steel version. I would hope that it would not cost an arm and a leg. If the cost to have the upgrade done plus the price I could sell the splitter for adds up to 60% of the price of a new splitter that would fit my needs then I would sell the old splitter and buy a new splitter. Otherwise I would have the fabricator do the job. I look forward to seeing the mod / upgrade. Take care!
Paul: That is great advice. Right now, I am thinking of the modifications you and others have suggested. Even if they incur some cost, and I decide to sell the splitter down the road, I should be able to recoup some of that cost in the sale. Thank you as always for sharing your experience. (I may need to take a road trip up your way so you can teach me to weld!!!!)
Hi John and a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you.
I would put on the side you not using a shelf from the ram to 6” past the end of the spitting wedge, 8” to 12” out with a tilt upwards to keep wood from falling off. This would keep the split pieces from falling off the end after being split. And the rest of the shelf toward the ram could be used as a staging station for the next piece to be split. On the side you stand on again put a shelf 6” past the splitting wedge, like the other side. But out from the wedge about 6” to 8”. Also tipped up a bit.
But only have it start from where your leg is out to the 6” bast the wedge. And you could have the end by your leg at 90 degrees out or 45 degrees or what ever your comfortable with. I would have about 12” long shelf at the start of the wedge, to 6” past the end of the splitting wedge. Then what ever angle is comfortable from the 12” part back to the edge of the splitter where you stand. Hard to explain. Hope fully you sorta get what I’m trying to say.
I would also have the 4 way splitter part easily removable so you can use the single wedge, but mounted so the 4 way wedge can’t slip off.
Hope this helps John. 👍🏻🪵🪓🔥👋
Noel!!!! I knew you would have some great ideas. I get the picture clearly! I can tell you have way more splitting experience than I do, and am grateful for you sharing this with me! Merry Christmas!
@@thebradleysoncatbirdhill6849 Your welcome John. Glad I could help.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, 👍🏻🎄👋🪵🪓🔥
Good afternoon John.
You may have to resort to some king of pump to do that task. That is a bit of an oversight for sure.
Thanks, Gary! I am amazed that for the price of that engine an the overall quality, they were not thinking about the end user! Merry Christmas!
Mr. John, not my wheelhouse either, but I have been around these machines...the four-way and add-on wings sound like a good start. You personally could cut down the driver's side wing or have a fab shop do it for you. Your methodologies demonstrated in this video are efficient and neat. On the Honda oil change, certain Briggs engines have a dràin pipe (plastic and metal, depending on the model) surely a similar system could be retrofitted to the Honda. I have the same blue funnel shown and love your STIHL beanie...Happy Holidays to you and yours sir....
As always, Brian, I really appreciate your insights and all your experience. Have a blessed Christmas Day.🙏
Just put the tongue in the bucket and nothing falls on the ground. You could block up the trailer tires on ramps to get it to a more comfortable height. Angle the splitter in the bucket so you have the clearance you need to work. If you find a spot the works just drill a hole and mount a trailer ball in the bucket to keep it in place while you work. Also you can use that to roll the splitter up the ramps.
Love it! Great tips. Thanks so much for watching and joining in on the comments👍
Hi John, new subscriber here. If would take a pallet mount 4legs in corners to get you to the height of your splitter. Just to get an idea how that works. I have a smaller splitter that is to low to the ground at 30 inches. 36 inches off the seems to be a very comfortable height to work off of. I built a 4x8 table at 36 in height. It has a 22 inch wide opening to bring the logs out right on to the splitter. The depth is about 18 inches. That serves very nicely as my staging platform. I built ramps to raise the splitter to 36 inches . We just started our channel fall of 23. I have videos that show what I call the round table and you may pickup some other ideas. I have had major back surgery and need to watch the bending and lifting. I live in northern Minnesota. Check our channel out may get some ideas. The table I’m referring to cost around 200-250. To build. You could use pallets for the floor. If you need other info let me know.
Hey there, my friend! Thanks so very much for watching and for your comments and suggestions! Wow, there is a lot of collective genius out there in the community. I really appreciate it.I definitely am focused on making it as ergonomic as possible.
Just subbed your channel!!!
Build a decently sturdy table that is sitting on a pallet and toss it on the table so you just roll it in. Also, put something under the splitter so you don't ever bend over and the splitter is at just over waist high. No back strain. last suggestion. Maybe get a longer control knob make it a 45 degree turn towards you so you aren't reaching like that all the time
Cost effective. Just put stacked pallets under the tongue so wood doesnt fall on the ground and not using your knee as much to catch it.