Santa Came Early!

[brenndatomu]

Splitter acquired. Now if only the weather would cooperate.....

View attachment 321560

Man, that's as bad as getting a new sled for Christmas, and its too warm for snow!

 

[bigealta]

Forget about covering just your stacks, you now have to cover your entire driveway too. We are on about day 5 or 6 of either rain, mist. or fog.

 

[Caw]

Looks like I'll get to fire it up Saturday afternoon and Sunday. It'll be wet until then. Snow would have been fine....not like it's December or winter or anything. 😡

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I don’t know, it kinda looks like a tarp to me. This is truly a case of no pics, didn’t happen, lol. Least you could do would be to tease us with a pic of the trailer hitch or a tire peaking out or something!

 

[MRD1985]

Looks like I'll get to fire it up Saturday afternoon and Sunday. It'll be wet until then. Snow would have been fine....not like it's December or winter or anything. 😡

It’s certainly been an odd December

 

[Caw]

I don’t know, it kinda looks like a tarp to me. This is truly a case of no pics, didn’t happen, lol. Least you could do would be to tease us with a pic of the trailer hitch or a tire peaking out or something!

It's not splitter porn, it's erotica. A slow burn. You must use your imagination!

 

[Caw]

 

[bigealta]

We had sun here all day yesterday. Didn't it make it up to Mass?

 

[Caw]

No. It's been gray and raining since wed. Should stop in the next couple hours here.

 

[brenndatomu]

No. It's been gray and raining since wed. Should stop in the next couple hours here.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It’s sunny to the west of you… just sayin, lol

 

[Caw]

Got about an hour in before I had to make dinner and it started getting dark and drizzly again. Cruised through a lot of wood though! She runs great. I'm ready to go ham on the pile tomorrow.

 

[MRD1985]

Attachment doesn’t work. Suspense is killing me! Glad it runs well.

 

[Caw]

Attachment doesn’t work. Suspense is killing me! Glad it runs well.

Repost just for you. Clothes still on as it's raining. You can have a body shot tomorrow. 😉

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think the tarred look is growing on me! It’s kind of like Victorian ankles.

 

[MRD1985]

Repost just for you. Clothes still on as it's raining. You can have a body shot tomorrow. 😉

View attachment 321719

Nice. We got screwed here again with rain too. Originally wasn’t supposed to 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Caw]

The unfortunate part is I'll need to move all this heavy ass soaking wet oak to the back tomorrow. Each piece weighs a ton. I already feel my back balking. I probably can't move all of it it's too wet, the tractor will dig up the yard after a few runs. I'll just keep splitting and move it when it dries up or freezes.

 

[MRD1985]

The unfortunate part is I'll need to move all this heavy ass soaking wet oak to the back tomorrow. Each piece weighs a ton. I already feel my back balking. I probably can't move all of it it's too wet, the tractor will dig up the yard after a few runs. I'll just keep splitting and move it when it dries up or freezes.

Yup, that does suck. I wish I had the luxury of a tractor. Gotta move mine with a wheel barrow or load my truck/trailer…not sure which is worse

 

[Caw]

Sun is out, it's dry, let's gooooo!

 

[Caw]

Powering through my oak like butter but whatever this stuff is can F right off:

 

[MRD1985]

I would let that sit in the round a bit might not be as stringly if it dries a little . Definitely a blast to split by the looks of it 🤣

 

[EbS-P]

Powering through my oak like butter but whatever this stuff is can F right off:

View attachment 321759View attachment 321760

That’s the special instant light firewood. The kindling is ready in place

 

[brenndatomu]

That’s the special instant light firewood. The kindling is ready in place

Exactly!
Mr CAW, meet Mr Elm!
It makes great heat!
And for anyone not familiar, dead standing (dry) elm splits easily...but green, better have some hydraulics!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I have a wedge that was my father’s. It’s an odd thing with 4 wings off it. My father swore by it for Elm.

 

[Caw]

I kind of figured it was elm though I thought elm would be more dense. I only had one log of it. Never processed elm before but everyone wasn't kidding about the string. Next time I get an elm log I'll buck and let it sit a while.

The day went well, we got 90% of the pile split. Wife and I tag teamed the small pieces in horizontal mode to save our backs and I did the big ones in vertical. My son helped with the controls. Wife made a bunch of runs to the stacks with the tractor before we all called it quits around 3. We're onto to NYE food prep. All that's left is some small standing dead ash and 2 big red oak rounds. I put the splitter away and will finish up by hand next weekend.

A few things I learned:

1. I need a padded seat cushion. I sat on a round all day and my poor backside is very tender.

2. It doesn't use nearly as much gas as I expected. Took 2 tanks to get through about 1.5 cords. Not bad at all. I may run ethanol free next time.

3. It's very well balanced but awfully heavy and hard to move around by hand more than say 5 or 10 ft to reposition it. I'm glad I got the 2" ball for my lawnmower to go back to the shed. We snuggled it right under the work bench in the back. Also has a nice kick pedal for the stand to keep your hands safe.

4. I actually really like the 11.5 second cycle time @brenndatomu @Ashful I think it's just right. It's slow enough to let me remove/reposition splits on it's way back up and not cycle all the way up. Then it's fast enough to not make me wait forever to actually split the piece.

5. With red oak I can short cycle very easily. Often times only needing to move the wedge 8-12". Plenty of power for the big 30" rounds. It had to work a bit on the elm but handled it fine. I'm overall very pleased with the power and speed.

Here's some pics from the day: