western australia

We've fallen in love - with a log-splitter!

@JudyEv (381815)

Rockingham, Australia

September 17, 2022 3:27am CST

We’re house-sitting at a country home which has a tile fire. We keep the fire burning gently all day so we are using quite a bit of wood which the owners expected of us. However, we didn’t want to leave them with no wood when we leave. Vince’s brother was staying with us and had brought his chainsaw, so we felled a dead tree that was on the property and cut it into rounds. Of course, then it needed to be split. We had been told we could use the log-splitter which turned out to be a very wonderful invention. I hope you can work out how it operates from the photo. To the right you can see what looks like the head of an axe. You place the log to the left of that and a hydraulic ram pushes the log against the axe-head and the wood splits into two. The whole thing is driven by a petrol motor. If we’d known how easy it made the job of splitting wood, we would have purchased one for our own place. Of course, now we’ve moved to the city, we’d have no need of it. But it’s certainly a great invention.

22 people like this

22 responses

@crossbones27 (52905)

• Mojave, California

17 Sep 22

I have one in my back pocket, obviously, just kiidding. I need to go somewhere, this office life driving me nuts. I need manual labor back and besides pays about the same. At least that would get me moving and motivated and have fresh air. You moved to the city too. Whats wrong with you guys. Do not mind my warped sense of humor.

4 people like this

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@crossbones27 (52905)

• Mojave, California

17 Sep 22

@JudyEv All good miss lady hope the best for you and the family.

Lenore Plassman

@sallypup (69157)

• Centralia, Washington

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv The reality of no longer being twenty.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

What's wrong is that our sons are hours away (by plane) and when we fall off the perch it will now be easy for them to tidy up our affairs and sell up our house. So being able to house-sit helps ease the pain a little. And yes, a bit of manual labour is really good for everyone for all the reasons you say. Have a great day.

3 people like this

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@rebelann (117199)

• El Paso, Texas

17 Sep 22

Wow, that's a really kool contraption. Of course here few residents have fireplaces so there'd be no need for one.

3 people like this

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@rebelann (117199)

• El Paso, Texas

17 Sep 22

Well, there are times we could try that but we don't have any trees and the few that we do have are on private property and no one can simply invade to get wood.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

I understand that you probably don't need fires there.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

@rebelann Thankfully there is a lot of available timber on this land. They won't be short of firewood for decades.

2 people like this

changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (17239)

• China

17 Sep 22

It does make a light work of splitting wood ! It is nice of you to replenish the stocks of wood for the house owner before you leave.

3 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

It seemed very unfair to leave them with no wood although we are getting to the stage where we will soon not need to light the fire.

2 people like this

@Treborika (18194)

• Mombasa, Kenya

18 Sep 22

Can't wait to seeing the so termed fireless stage

@LadyDuck (502189)

• Italy

17 Sep 22

I know how a log splitter operates, it is a great invention if you have a large property and cut the trees to use the wood.

2 people like this

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@LadyDuck (502189)

• Italy

17 Sep 22

@JudyEv I am fascinated by those machines.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

It is a bit like eliminating one stage of the whole process.

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Lenore Plassman

@sallypup (69157)

• Centralia, Washington

18 Sep 22

Do you have ear protectors?

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

Yes, Vince and his brother had ear-muffs. I only had foam pieces that you stuffed in your ears but I must have the wrong shaped ears as they kept falling out. But this wasn't particularly noisy. Not nearly as bad as a chain-saw.

2 people like this

@porwest (112764)

• United States

17 Sep 22

Yep. I do not own one, but my wife's cousin had one up at his cabin Dellwood, and it was pretty neat. Made the task of getting firewood very easy. Very handy contraption, one of those.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

It just makes the whole procedure so easy. No effort at all.

2 people like this

@porwest (112764)

• United States

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv Yep. That's what I remember about it. Zip, zip and done.

2 people like this

@GardenGerty (169439)

• United States

17 Sep 22

Sounds like a genius idea.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

Maybe they've been around for years and we just haven't had the occasion to run into them before.

1 person likes this

@snowy22315 (208751)

• United States

17 Sep 22

I have a log splitter here. It weighs a ton and noboy ever uses it. Friend had a plan for it but as far as I know he never split any logs. I might just let it "convey" with the house, if I ever manage to sell it. Friend gets mad when I want to sell things he has dragged down here. I guess I am supposed to keep them in perpuity..

.

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@snowy22315 (208751)

• United States

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv Of course, but it would be difficult to transport.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

They're pretty useless if you have no use for them but boy, they do the job. Would you offer it back to Friend? Perhaps he'd sell it.

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@allknowing (153544)

• India

18 Sep 22

Here the guys do it with an axe - quite strenuous

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

We must have cut up half a ton of wood in about a quarter of an hour. Chopping is really hard work, especially if your back isn't as strong as it should be.

1 person likes this

@RebeccasFarm (91299)

• United States

18 Sep 22

What a gloriously useful thing Judy!

1 person likes this

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@RebeccasFarm (91299)

• United States

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv I would love to use it

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

It was incredibly easy to use and made a hard job so much easier.

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@Hannihar (130150)

• Israel

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv At times we need others to show us the way how to do things the right way. Now, you know what you may need if you split wood again either at home or somewhere else.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

Yes, that's true. We'd certainly be hoping for one of these if we even need to get a large amount of wood.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Sep 22

@Hannihar We won't need wood at the next place and, although we come back here for a while, we don't have any other places booked up so we probably won't buy one. But it would be tempting if you had to cut a lot of wood sometime.

1 person likes this

@Hannihar (130150)

• Israel

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv Do you need wood where you live or will you be house sitting at other places that would need wood? If so, maybe you and Vince can get one if you will need it.

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@LindaOHio (222285)

• United States

18 Sep 22

That's a really neat device.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

We were really impressed with it.

1 person likes this

@Kandae11 (57233)

•

18 Sep 22

Those inventions from way back really did the job.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

I don't think it is an old invention but it certainly does the job.

@CarolDM (203396)

• Nashville, Tennessee

17 Sep 22

How convenient especially when you are using the wood for a fire. They are cool tools indeed.

1 person likes this

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@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Sep 22

@CarolDM I used to like working with wood. The smell was always lovely.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

Some wood can be incredibly hard to cut with an axe but this makes child's play of any timber.

1 person likes this

@CarolDM (203396)

• Nashville, Tennessee

18 Sep 22

@JudyEv We had a wood heater for a few years growing up and I remember the smell of the fresh cut wood.

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@BarBaraPrz (51811)

• St. Catharines, Ontario

17 Sep 22

Yup, always good to have some handy device do the hard work for you.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

This particular wood was white gum and an ordinary axe just bounces off it. We were really impressed - as you might have gathered.

1 person likes this

@Juliaacv (56208)

• Canada

17 Sep 22

We had a wood stove when we were young at a home that we lived in. My hubs used to split the logs with his axe, but we were young then. He always made sure to burn wood from a cherry or apple tree on Christmas, those fruit trees have such a pretty aroma.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

Sandalwood has a lovely aroma too. Vince has done his share of axe-work too but this machine is just something else.

1 person likes this

@wolfgirl569 (135581)

• Marion, Ohio

17 Sep 22

My dad had one for many years. They are wonderful

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

They make splitting wood just incredibly easy.

1 person likes this

@xFiacre (14784)

• Ireland

17 Sep 22

@judyev That’s quite ingenious.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

18 Sep 22

They had an even bigger one at the last house-sit but I didn't take a photo of it. It would take longer logs and the axe-head arrangement had another blade at right angles so it would slice the wood into four rather than two. We were nearly drooling over it.

1 person likes this

Vicki, #1 Creek Girl

@1creekgirl (44560)

• United States

17 Sep 22

My husband has a wood splitter, not sure if it's like yours, but it really is much easier to use than chopping wood by hand. Your house owners will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

Chopping wood by hand isn't the end of the world but some wood can be very hard to split. This just makes it all so easy.

2 people like this

@Beestring (15373)

• Hong Kong

17 Sep 22

The log splitter is indeed a great invention.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

17 Sep 22

It does save a lot of work.

1 person likes this