Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Eggasperated]

OH has got a manual log splitter thing (sort of big diamond shape) but we have loads of logs left from last year that are now well seasoned and difficult to split. I see Aldi have a foot operated log splitter in their offers this week at £40 here ,does anybody know whether this would be any good? or should we go the whole hog and spend £200+ on one from Screwfix?

I do have a horror of OH damaging himself whichever one we buy (he has a history of being accident prone ) and I did wonder whether the foot operated one might end up with him splitting his foot .

Any advice welcome .

[Olly]

Interesting, I've never seen a foot-operated one before. I can't split logs with a sledgehammer, as I can't lift it high enough - I end up whacking it repeatedly like someone trying to drive a nail in, not very effective!

 

I lashed out on an electric one a couple of years ago and it is fantastic - splits logs so easily, however there are restrictions on the size that it will take and the foot-operated one is likely to be the same (also don't lose sight of the fact that you need to cut the logs to size anyway before splitting, and that's still really hard work!). The only comment I'd make on this is that it's 1.2 tonnes of pressure where the electric one is 4 tonnes approx - I wonder if it would work on some of the really chunky logs.

[Eggasperated]

Thanks Olly, where did you get your electric one from?

Lots of the logs are already cut to length, although we do still have a pile we rescued when the electricity board trimmed the trees outside, which are about 3m long awaiting OH with the chainsaw.

[Olly]

Oh well, if you've got a chainsaw then you're halfway there - I think in that case a logsplitter would be a good investment. I got mine from Screwfix, it is similar to this one although I think it's a different make.

 

They are very heavy, supposed to be operated at waist height but even if I had a strong enough workbench I couldn't lift it up there! I had to get a friend to collect it for me in his van. They are very safe provided you follow the instructions and don't try and split anything too large, you need both hands to operate it so (in theory at any rate ) you can't trap your fingers in it. I think it's been a worthwhile investment since I get a lot of free wood that needs splitting.

[The Dogmother]

You can hire pneumatic log splitters - never tried one myself.

[Saronne]

I bought a hydraulic one from Titan about 2 years ago. They're a bit slow, but make light work of the biggest logs.

Well worth it if you burn a lot. Which I do. In fact, I think I may have an obsession with firewood..

[Eggasperated]

OH is drooling with delight at all the log splitters . We decided the Aldi one wasn't up to the job so have decided to get a decent one (when OH eventually makes up his mind which one ).

[Beantree]

We have been using a Clarke manual hydraulic splitter for two years now (Machine Mart). Very powerful at 10 tons, but leaks a bit on occasion. Got it on one of their VAT free days. Only problem is the speed of indexing along the bed. What you must have is all the logs almost the same length. Think 450mm is maximum splitting length as well. You need 10 tons for seasoned wood. These little electric or petrol units at only 4 tons will only split green timber.

[Eggasperated]

I've looked at that one Beantree but the maximum log diameter is 175mm which is too small for most of our logs.

[Beantree]

What we have done is use a 'wood grenade' on the larger stuff to get it into 4 pieces Eggasperated. Position the grenade in the centre and hit it with a 8lbs sledgehammer. It's pretty good. Depending on the toughness of the wood we have used the splitter up to 250mm diameter pieces. It's all a long job though processing wood. Seen a Youtube video of someone using a Fiscars splitting maul. The wood is put into a tyre to keep it contained. But the Fiscars mauls are about £60 and it looks like very tiring (no pun intended) work.

[The Dogmother]

I sometimes use the log grenade and 7lbs hammer combo - great for working off any frustrations!