# DIY Log Splitter Ideas ?



## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

Am wanting to fab a log splitter without the use of hydraulics or motors..something basic and functional. Has anyone built one or seen something that someone has made?
Thanks, 
Scott


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Without power? Its called a splitting maul accomptied with wedges and a sledge hammer. I guess you could use something like a spiral house or railroad jack, work like a piano stool. There was a corkscrew device that attached to your car's wheel years back but they were outlawed because of danger. You could alsodrill the wood and fill it with water so freezing it would work with a plug in the hole, thats how old cannon balls were split open for salvageing the metal.


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## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

That's why I was wanting to build a log splitter so I don't have to use a maul or wedge and sledge hammer...getting too old for that..and too poor to buy one.
Actually I am looking forward to making something with my own two hands that would save me some time and energy.

Not sure the freezing water idea would be a realistic option, but might give it a try just to see what happens.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

There are electric spliters that use a motor and screw of some sort. You could use a shop press to split a small amount of wood or make a spliter in that configuration with a bottle jack. It's going to be slow going though.


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

I've heard of a guy who took the heavy fly wheel from an old hay baler and welding a splitting wedge to the outside of it. He had it belted to an electric motor. When it came around it would split the stick of wood you stuck under the wedge you had welded to the wheel. Be carful where you put your hands.


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## Guest (Sep 7, 2004)

the lincoln project manuals have a couple in them. They are rather unatractive. northern sells a book for 10 bucks as well as parts. I think there may still be a web site in canada that has plans for a tractor driven one. I once rented one the kind that cost about a grand at the end of winter. 20 ton vert or horizontal 5 horse motor. to be quite honest i think you would spend almost as much or more building one. I would go with a purchased one. If you do elm you may want to be careful as i know someone who claimed they ruined one that way. I think the light duty ones are adequate for 2-3 cord per year but i am in zone 6 so a cord will usually do me a whole year. keep hand splitting you old geez it will make you younger. I use the monster maul. Dad grew up in iowa and clued me in that wood splits much better when it has been frozen a couple days. Cut to length as soon as you can then split in the dead cold. If you cut fresh it starts to crack as it drys and that helps too. I have never seen a used splitter worth buying overpriced and cobled up homade stuff or worn smooth.I kmet a 60 year old banker that hand split so much extra he had a fence around his place of firewood. I definately recomend the ones that can go vertical so much easier to load. some of the more expensive fancy horizontals have hydraulic lifters. I rented mostly to get a feel for the units prior to buying one but never gave up the cash yet still a hand splitter but it hardly gets cold enough here to hand split well.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

...............Well, I had this kinda Neat idee, whereby you take a splitting wedge and weld a couple of short pieces of pipe that would allow it to travel UP and DOWN a steel rod maybe 10 feet high. Then , you could hook a rope over a pulley and tie it to the wedge . Then , tie the Rope to an Abbasynnian Ass with a release mechanism when the wedge got to the top of the slide. Down comes the wedge and Walla...2 pieces where there was One . Oh, you may want to get some Gas X for your ASS , as they are known for their farting Ability when NOT given sufficient break time....... Friar fordyski ,


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

How about a handyman jack? Bolt a wedge on the top where the fence stretcher-puller normally goes. Make a platform for the round wood to sit on the lifter. Maybe hook the back of the jack to the side of the barn so it is stable. Jack the wood up into the wedge. It would be slow but cheap and self powered. Watch your teeth on the jack handle.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

WolfWalksSoftly said:


> Am wanting to fab a log splitter without the use of hydraulics or motors..something basic and functional. Has anyone built one or seen something that someone has made?
> Thanks,
> Scott


A splitting maul & wedges is the only way, given your restrictions. There are bottle-jack spliters, but they are using hydrailics. Anything else uses a motor of some kind.

--->Paul


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Thinking about it for a while I remembered that there is an arbor press at a friends machine shop which uses a fixed vertical shaft slide with a steel wheel at the top. The pressing portion is an off center wheel also mounted above the slide shaft, the action causes the off centered wheel to push down the lower wheel, handle is about 30 inches and the delivery pressure is 2 1/2 ton. 2 1/2 tons is puny for a log splitter but with a long enought handle it could work.


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

If you have a pickup, Weld a splitting wedge to the square tube that goes in the hitch mounting reciever on the back. Lay the stick to be split on top of a concrete block with on end of the wood against a tree. Have your wife or some other person of your choice back the truck into the block of wood. If that didn't work have them pull out a little farther, and floor it. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later.


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## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

Thanks for all the ideas, I was thinking of making a stand of some sort and weld or fix a wedge with weight attached that could be lifted and then dropped on a log. Maybe If I quit thinking about it, a design or idea will come out of the blue I can make work.


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Your idea is workable if you can find a piece of RR rail that weighs about 100lb. Run a rope down from a tree limb to a pulley on the top end of the rail. Run the rope back up to a pulley on the limb and down again. Weld the splitting wedge to the bottom end of the rail. The pulley arangement will require only half as much force to pull the rail up to be dropped even though you would have to pull it twice as far. 
More refinements are on the drawing board. LOL


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Go have a look at http://metalwebnews.com/poorman/poorman-metal.html Maybe some useable ideas there. Its a commerical plans site but there is pictures that may be idea inspiring.


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## SouthernThunder (Jun 3, 2004)

Im not sure about the legality (or how close your local ATF office is) but have you ever heard of pyrodex or black powder? They sell it at walmart during deer season. Drill the logs. Fill the holes with pyrodex and run copper wire to the holes. From a safe distance touch the other ends to your truck battery. Once you get it right you will be able to split logs very quickly without splintering them. BE VERY CAREFUL OTHERWISE THIS WILL KILL YOU! 

It works real well and doesn't use hydraulics or motors. This used to be a common practice, but then again so was dynamiting water wells so use at your own risk. :yeeha:


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## nobrabbit (May 10, 2002)

When I was still in NC, a group of engineers I worked with built a hydraulic splitter. It was powered by a stationary bicycle. Even had a plexiglass shield! It worked really well, think they got the original plan from an old Mother Earth News magazine and adapted it.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

SouthernThunder said:


> BE VERY CAREFUL OTHERWISE THIS WILL KILL YOU!
> 
> /QUOTE]
> 
> ...


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

mightybooboo said:


> SouthernThunder said:
> 
> 
> > BE VERY CAREFUL OTHERWISE THIS WILL KILL YOU!
> ...


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

rambler said:


> Don't be disappointed. Tho I believe the tractor 3pt type are no longer made, at least one company still makes the bolt-on-the-hub model yet.
> 
> http://www.thestickler.com/
> 
> --->Paul


WOOHOO!
Im gonna get me one of them there Darwin A-wards yet!
Seriously Paul,I REALLY appreciate the link :worship: 
BooBoo


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