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rotdog_gw

Related to fireplace...but question concerns firewood. splitting.

rotdog
13 years ago

I need information relating parts for a FLOWTRON HS500 wood splitter. Looked but I cannot find a forum about wood splitting, firewood. Any suggestions?

Wood is being fed to a soapstone heritage fireplace,

http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood-stoves/stove-details?product_id=3

new fall 2009. I am not sure I would repeat the purchase. A high quality cast iron may be a better trade off with costs/ outcomes. My wife like the stove, not so, much for me.)

rotdog308

Here is a link that might be useful: soapstone heritage fireplace

Comments (4)

  • glenncz
    13 years ago

    I can't help you on that model, except to say I bought a cheap log splitter once and it wasn't worthwhile. But I use this big heavy maul and it works wonderfully! I can split notty wood with it and it gives a good workout. Probably need one even if you have a splitter for odd pieces. Better off to get one at hardware store for no shipping charge. Search Truper Axe, 12lb, on Amazon.

  • Olychick
    13 years ago

    I am a 62 year old widow who had to learn to split wood after my husband died 16 years ago. He'd always done it; I'd never picked up the maul, but I'd gone with him to down and buck up trees (he was a professional forester) and knew a lot about heating with wood and wood cutting/storing/stacking theory from watching him. After he died, I replaced his McCullough chainsaw that I couldn't start with an easier to manage Stihl. I had to order firewood, but one time I was able to salvage a downed huge fir tree near my home that had been bucked up by the utility company to move it off the road where it had fallen. I tried and tried to split it, but couldn't make a dent. I had some wood delivered shortly after and explained my dilemma to the wood guy. He took the time to show me how to split it: making sure it was right side up, looking for the natural cracks and hitting it on the edge of the rounds on one of those cracks; splitting it when it was green and full of moisture (not true for every species). I had to have the maul handle replace with fiberglass from all the bad hits, but I slowly figured out how to do it and now split all my own wood with a maul and sometimes a wedge and have for the last 16 years. Don't need no stinkin' wood splitter. :-D (I heat almost exclusively with wood and harvest trees sometimes from my own property). I figure if I can split firewood, anyone can. Maple is more difficult, but I can still do it...so can you!

  • christopherh
    13 years ago

    My splitter died about 10 years ago and I never replaced it. But I see all these HUGE splitters lined up at Home Desperado that'll split a 30 inch tree! 50 tons! 100 tons! 8 gazillion tons! Horizontal/vertical/upside down splitting! WOW! Do they have cup holders too?

    My splitter was a 7 ton unit powered by a lawnmower engine. It died after almost 20 years of use, but it split everything I put in it just the same as these "Impress the neighbor McSplitters" you see today.

    Being the same age as olychick, I use a maul. One shot and it's split. On to the next one.

    We too use wood as out main source of heat here in Vermont and nobody really uses a splitter up here. Wood dealers are plentiful so it comes already split, but sometimes we want some smaller pieces to start the fire. So BAM! I take out the maul. Especially when we fell some trees on the property. And yes, green wood splits much easier. I cut some trees down this fall and split them for next year.

    HOWEVER.... I tried to Google Flowtron splitters and found this video using one. In the amount of time that thing takes to split one log, I could split a dozen pieces.

    The video is below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: FLOWTRON SPLITTER

  • davej_07
    13 years ago

    Check out www.arboristsite.com and look under the firewood forum. LOTS of great information there.

    Dave

    Here is a link that might be useful: Arboristsite.com

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