hand powered mechanical wood splitter

[NHRedneck]

thought the survivalists here could enjoy this, looks awkwardly simple to make with some scrap steel a maul head and a small car front strut. the reason im sure the survivalists will love it is that it doesnt require any gasoline to operate, which as we all know would be scarce in SHF scenarios

LiveLeak.com - Homemade manual wood splitter from Ukraine

 

[coastie]

My fingers got shorter watching that. Run some oak or hickory through that and it wouldnt work worth a crap.

 

[ShadeWPI]

I think I'll stick with my manual wood splitter based on a hydrolic floor jack. Sure, it's not as fast as that thing, but I'm a lot less likely to need a trauma patch and suture kit from using it.

 

[Archilochus]

What the heck wood is he splitting? - you could practically split it with a stern look.

 

[coastie]

Pine, Birch alder? Something like that

 

[MisterHappy]

Hand powered wood splitter ....isn't that an axe?

 

[Boris]

actually it's pretty ingenious device. What you guys fail to realize, is that while it's well balanced, that chunk of metal (maul) has so much ****ing momentum that no log is going to stop it. That's why it looks easy. If you learned how not to stick fork into your eyes, you can manage to keep your fingers in tact, it's not that fast.

 

[n1zfg]

The shame is that the OSHA and CPSC safety-nazis would be all over the poor slob who tried to professionally run or sell one here.

On another note, that beast positively screams re-purposed engine hoist.

 

[NHRedneck]

actually it's pretty ingenious device. What you guys fail to realize, is that while it's well balanced, that chunk of metal (maul) has so much ****ing momentum that no log is going to stop it. That's why it looks easy. If you learned how not to stick fork into your eyes, you can manage to keep your fingers in tact, it's not that fast.

boris understands what im saying, it wouldnt take long to get the "swing" of it. im not reccomending everyone starts splitting wood like this every day, im just saying that if you are a prepper who knows how to weld and has a good supply of wood, this could be worth making and keeping out behind the shed. split fire wood would be easily used for trading purposes during financial instability of SHTF

The shame is that the OSHA and CPSC safety-nazis would be all over the poor slob who tried to professionally run or sell one here.

On another note, that beast positively screams re-purposed engine hoist.

theres no reccomendation that anyone tries to manufacture one, but hell if someone wants one ill gladly fire up the welder and put one together. you supply the steel, ill fab it no problems.

i simply posted it for people to keep this simple idea in their heads, i know i would rather figure out how to run that splitter than swinging a maul for a few hours.

 

[noddaduma]

Hand powered wood splitter ....isn't that an axe?

Seriously... I've been using an axe since I was ten and don't see a reason to stop.

 

[ClickBoom]

If it don't have a carburetor to get ruined with good ole American blended ethanol gasoline, I don't want any part of it.

Tim

 

[Nectaris]

More importantly where does one find that much wood without knots in it?

 

[n1zfg]

theres no reccomendation that anyone tries to manufacture one, but hell if someone wants one ill gladly fire up the welder and put one together. you supply the steel, ill fab it no problems.

i simply posted it for people to keep this simple idea in their heads, i know i would rather figure out how to run that splitter than swinging a maul for a few hours.

Don't get me wrong.

I saw it as a remarkably elegant, and tempting, design.

The operator also showed some serious skill manhandling those logs while simultaneously keeping his digits out of the way.

 

[ShadeWPI]

Boris,

I'm not knocking the design, it's very good. Like some others, I question how much driving force its actually generating as he appears to be splitting dried, straight grained soft-wood rather than the green new england hardwoods that we're all likely to be using. Still, it's a good design base, even if it could use some tweaks.

 

[jdev]

Way to do it without fearing your fingers may get taken off.

 

[ShadeWPI]

theres no reccomendation that anyone tries to manufacture one, but hell if someone wants one ill gladly fire up the welder and put one together. you supply the steel, ill fab it no problems.

i simply posted it for people to keep this simple idea in their heads, i know i would rather figure out how to run that splitter than swinging a maul for a few hours.

With some modifications, I think it would be an excellent design. One change I would recommend would be to change it from over-head hand powered to using a ground mounted foot-pedal. You legs generate 2-3x as much force as your arms and tire much less quickly. If you're going to build one based on arm-power, I'd recommend extending the grip down and to the side so that it can be used between waist and shoulder height, where you have the most arm strength and least fatigue.

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And a similar design can be extended to a manual "power-hammer" for a forge.

 

[Business]

My fingers got shorter watching that. Run some oak or hickory through that and it wouldnt work worth a crap.

exactly my thought whatever he was splitting it wasn't hard wood