generator and splitter

[kitestrings]

You always have some things you do by choice that you live to regret, and others that you appreciate because they maybe make life a bit simpler.  Whenever I set up to split wood, as I did over the weekend, I have to feel good about this one.

One of my pet peeves with wood splitters is that you're outside on a beautiful (typically fall) day, but you've got a 50 hp tractor or worse a ~5 hp Briggs screaming away next to your head.  Generators, especially the stock 3,600 rpm variety, have their own particularly annoying whine as well IMO.

We bought this generator about 15 years ago or so, and had it set up with a live PTO shaft.  They are/were routinely used on service trucks with a hydraulic lift.  I fitted a hydraulic pump and relief to the end of it where it stays mounted year-round.  I have spacers on the housing that allow it to be quickly coupled to the drive for splitting.  The generator is 1,800 rpms and is located in sound insulated shed.  We have about 75 or 100' of hydraulic line and I pulled the pump off an old PTO tractor driven splitter.

The one powertrain serves both aux generation and splitting functions.  Saturday - the warmest day in a while - I split wood while listening to Amis Lee and Johnny Clegg.  Call me smug.







~kitestrings

[12AX7]

That's a LOT OF WOOD!

I like (love) the idea of keeping the noise away from the work area. 

[kitestrings]

That's a LOT OF WOOD!

It's more than a years worth (3 or 4 most likely).  If you're even a year ahead it just burns so much better.  We went for years without a decent woodshed - tarps, old metal roofing and the like.

We usually just stack the outside tiers and then pitch it in loose behind that, but we do try to fill it even up between the rafters.  I've never stacked it all.  IIRC it would hold about 14 cords if we did.  A friend calls it our "tree-friendly wood shed", I guess because of the trees growing thru it.

Regarding the noise - I actually like to still split some by hand.  My Dad worked a good share of his younger life working in the woods, and he could hit a chunk with his best maul (or over-sized axe) and it made a "smacking, popping" sound.  It is a challenge for me to replicate it, but satisfying when you do.  If you have to use a splitter (and we do) it is a big improvement.  I can usually hear the fluid through the lines and the wood splitting, and the birds, kids, etc.

[madlabs]

Kite, you make me jealous! Look at all that wood. Nice shed too.

What splitter head do you use? Makes me think about making an electric powered version.

Jonathan

[kitestrings]

Thanks.

This splitter was originally a vertical, 3-point hitch mounted type.  I think it is this company (though much older model):
http://www.americancls.com/Products/TractorMountLogSplitters/TractorMountTM24V.aspx
I flopped it (horizontal), cut the reservoir off it, used the drawbar for a rear axle, fitting the ends with some old lawn tractor wheels.  Then I added a 'pneumatic' caster on the front and lengthened the lever.  Ours has a rather fat ~3-4" triangular wedge.  Neilho made up a removable horizontal wedge that attached with long socket-head thu-bolts, but we eventually permanently welded them on.

Given a choice, I think I'd prefer the design where the 4-way is fixed on a large vertical fin and the chunks on the bottom can drop away as they come through.  With the horizontal wedge fixed (some slide I know) wood gets pinched on the bottom without raising the leading edge of the piece.

I'd been hoping to come across a electric drive unit.  They're expensive new, and round here they use them for bale-wrappers, so the used ones seem to disappear.

For our needs this works pretty well overall.  I skid log-length hitches up between the shed and the house, block it up and split the big stuff.  This way we handle each piece once.  The next time I pick it up its headed for the stove.

Regards, ~ks

[hiker]

reminds me of my homestead days with my dad...he built a sawmill from a old 8hp motor..and a 20"? circular sawblade..with a long belt going down to the engine. my dad would grab one end of a log and i would grab the other --then feed it into the blade...we always had a year or more of wood stacked. that was back in the 50s and 60s....still have that old mill ... :}

[kitestrings]

There's still quite a few old circular firewood saws around too that attach to a tractor.  We had one for a Farmall.  The table slid back and forth on a stationary blade like what you're describing.

I still can't stack as well as this fellow:

[thirteen]

With this type of tree you use all the leaves and the stump for heat. Looks pretty nice. I wonder how many day old it is. Just a chuckle 13