Upside Down Woodsplitter Handles Big Logs

Upside Down Woodsplitter Handles Big Logs TRACTORS Skid Steer Loaders 19-4-8 "My woodsplitter handles logs too big for one person to lift onto a conventional table-type splitter. We have an almost end-less supply of this type of wood that I can get for nothing to heat my shop and my house," says Terril Stearns about the heavy-duty splitter he built to mount on a skid steer loader. The splitter is ideal for hauling wood from the many giant maples that grow in the area of New York where Stearns lives. The power company, for example, often has to cut them down and offers the wood to the public for free. But hardly anyone wants the big 30 to 40-in. dia. chunks. Stearns' splitter is an upside down version of a conventional splitter. It straddles big pieces of wood where they lie on the ground. The splitter's frame helps protect the operator from flying wood while splitting. The heart of the woodsplitter is an 11-in. high cutting wedge made out of 1-in. thick cold rolled steel. A knife-sharp edge is ground into the edge and there's a wing on each side that pushes the logs apart. The wedge is cut into and welded to the right side of an 8 by 8-in. reinforced H-beam so it's extremely solid, Stearns notes. A 5-in. dia. hydraulic ram with 30-in. stroke provides up to 50,000 psi to the 9-ft. 6-in. long by 30-in. wide machine. The ram is entirely encased in a steel cage to protect it from contact with wood or ground. The only moving part is its push block, which can only be operated from the cab of the skid steer. The 1,000-lb. woodsplitter attaches to and detaches from Stearns' 552 Mustang skidsteer in five minutes. He perfected it in three weekends last winter. "I've cut 15 cords of wood with it and I can split wood faster than two men can stack it," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Terril C. Stearns, RD#2, Rt. 20, Manlius, N.Y. 13104 (ph 315 655-9803).

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