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Old Metal Shears Make Speedy Wood Splitter
Shawn Smith can turn 3,000 lbs. of slab wood into firewood in 45 min. thanks to his alligator-style wood shears. Built originally to crunch through 1/4-in. steel plate or 1 1/2-in. round stock, his early 1900's machine cuts through wood with ease.
"I bought the shears for only $300," says Smith. "I got them che
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Old Metal Shears Make Speedy Wood Splitter WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Wood Splitters 33-5-34 Shawn Smith can turn 3,000 lbs. of slab wood into firewood in 45 min. thanks to his alligator-style wood shears. Built originally to crunch through 1/4-in. steel plate or 1 1/2-in. round stock, his early 1900's machine cuts through wood with ease.
"I bought the shears for only $300," says Smith. "I got them cheap because somebody had tried to pull one of the two 3-ft. flywheels off with a gear puller. They hadn't heated the flywheel first, and they ended up breaking it."
Smith bought the machine and found a replacement flywheel. Soon the flywheels were turning, powered by an old 18-hp, one-cylinder, Wisconsin engine Smith picked up for $150 at an auction.
"All I had to do was clean the carburetor, add gas and it started right up," he says. "I ran a V-belt from the motor to one of the flywheels, and the shears were ready to go."
To get the shears running, Smith first starts the engine and then turns the 4-in. wide flywheels by hand. When he engages the clutch, they start to spin.
Smith rigged up a stop on the output side of the shears. With the "alligator" snapping its jaws shut every two seconds or so, slabs have to be jammed in fast.
He uses an old hay elevator to carry wood chunks away. "The shears are a dangerous machine with no guards and no safety switch," says Smith. "I didn't want to be cleaning away chunks of split wood from around the shears when it was running."
The elevator conveys wood pieces into a truck box. He mounted a 3-hp Tecumseh gas motor on the side to power it. Wood chunks first fall onto a sheet metal apron. Smith figured he would need something to agitate the wood to keep it from getting hung up. He attached a piece of corrugated plastic to the bottom of the sheet metal, so it extended into the path of the elevator paddles.
"When the paddles come around, they rattle the plastic and shake the wood off the sheet metal apron and onto the elevator," explains Smith.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Shawn Smith, 9706 Water St., Salem, Ohio 44460 (ph 330 332-5036; jeep321@zoominternet.net).
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