Do You Need a Log Splitter?

Nothing beats sitting by a cosy fire on a winter'smoney.
evening. But first you have to get out there and splitIf you are interested in making furniture with your
some firewood. Of course, you could use the oldlog splitter, you can use it for that purpose in addition
fashioned method of hitting a wedge with a mallet toto splitting wood for a fireplace. The rustic look of
split the wood, but you'll get the job done faster andsplit wood furniture is popular in the western look and
be sitting by the fire sooner if you use a log splitter.the cabin look.
How can you decide what size log splitter you need?Log splitters tend to be expensive. Even a used one
You measure a log splitter in terms of ton capacity.will cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. How much
The log splitters that professionals use are at leastyou spend will be determined on how much value
20 ton capacity, but for home use, a splitter in theyou think you will get from your splitter. Do the
two to five ton range should be adequate.numbers and you will probably see that if it takes an
The tonnage of the splitter will determine thehour to split 10 logs by hand, and you earn $50 an
horsepower of the engine, since a bigger capacityhour at your normal job, you have some expensive
splitter will require a larger engine. If the engine islogs. But with a log splitter, you can probably split 100
underpowered for the job, it will burn out quickly. Sologs in the same time; your price per log is now $.50
the first decision you have to make is how youper log instead of $5 per log!
intend to use the splitter-just for your own use forMake sure you take safety into account when you
logs and making furniture, or if you are going toare deciding upon a log splitter. You will be safer if
make a lot of furniture or split a lot of logs to sell.you get a self lubricating and self maintaining splitter
Besides making the job of splitting logs easier, a logso that it stays in good condition. Just as you have
splitter can be used for more than just makingto sharpen your axe, you have to keep your log
firewood. Big forestry suppliers use a splitter to makesplitter in top condition.
the first cut for making log planks, or for cutting logsAll of the features such as safety, time and
into manageable size for paper making. Theseconvenience will make it a lot more desirable to have
splitters are part of a loggers equipment used in thea hydraulic log splitter than the strenuous manual way
forest to get cut down trees ready for transportof doing it. Even if you only use it for your cozy
and processing. Depending upon the end use, the logsfires, you'll get a lot of benefit from having a full
are split in a certain way so as to save time in thesupply of firewood all winter long.
wood mills and in this industry, as elsewhere, time is