How to Make a DIY Log Splitter
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- Chopping firewood with an axe is OK until the pieces get smaller and then things can get somewhat dicey especially for your hand you are holding the wood with. Follow me as I make a firewood 'Guillotine' to speed up the process and to take away any risk to my left hand!
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As a kid in the 1960's, I used to go to my grandparents house on Fridays from Junior school and chop a weeks worth of kindling for them, using a small, very sharp axe, whilst sitting on the backdoor step. My grandfather had shown me how to do it safely and then left me to it- never had a single mishap , and I did it every week until I left school to join the Royal Navy. Happy Days !
Good memories ..
Me too, happy days indeed...
"Grandpa taught me how to safely swing a sharp blade at my hand." Sounds like warm mems with gramps, i doubt there's truly a safe way by that method though.
@@cyberles8830 You don't swing a hand axe to split kindling. You should probably resign from the safety police and dedicate your life to gaining a little basic knowledge.
That's some good hand-eye training right there!
Ooh great project. Cheers Stuart!
Can’t beat CAD: Cardboard aided design…..
Now you are talking. I've never heard that one before - I'll have to use it in a future video - thanks.
Yours is what DIY vids should be like: fantastically helpful, detailed enough, and not too long. Bravo.
Stuart......4 words for you mate.
You are a GENIUS !!!!!
So thorough, so practical, so precise.
You really do have a 'mechanical brain' and i just love to watch and learn and see the end result.
You also never cut corners and have pride in what you do which i respect totally.
Well done and thanks for another great and inspiring video 👍
Thanks Matt
A great idea! A quick note about using an axe. When the wood gets too small to balance (or your aim isn't good enough) lay the wood flat on the cutting block, then strike the axe into one end. That will often split the wood, but if it doesn't, now the axe is stuck in, simply stand it up and tap it a couple of times. It is a great way of chopping kindling down to match size!
Back in the 50’s we had a gas poker which did away with the need for kindling. It also helped to refresh the fire when it had burnt down too far. Oh, I also remember the coal hammer, some of the delivered lumps were huge. The “slack” was put into the brown paper bags, that the shopping came in, to bank up the fire over night so the room was warmish in the morning. I grew up with one side toasty warm and the other freezing cold.
I don’t even have a fireplace and I watched this whole thing! Great as always Stuart
Get a fire pit!
Thanks Ronan
Thank you Stuart, this is such a useful idea. I have a spare length of 4x4 and some aluminium so definitely going to have a go at making it. For a blade I am going to try using a spare hatchet as the blade, pivoting through the handle but with an extension arm added for leverage.
I have to say this video was really satisfying to my male creative frequency. Thank you for making us feel like we were building it with you. Awesome.
Looks like a great bit of kit.
I notice you have a great deal less bending down to pick up and replace the logs on the chopping block. Excellent idea, well made and well explained . Thank you .
Had a hatchet accident 4 years ago, splitting kindling. Piece of the wood jumped up and hit just below my eye. Went to clean myself up from the blood and found some "facial fat" under me eye. Incredibly painful to touch and it refused to go back into the bleeding hole . Went to A and E where they found it was actually a small section of wood that I was trying to push back in. DOH!
I like the way you did this one. I recall seeing a few other designs of a similar splitter many years ago. I've been thinking about building one ever since a friend of mine gashed his thumb open really badly while swinging a hatchet to make kindling.
I will probably make mine entirely of steel and use an old axe head for the cutting edge.
Nice work.
You could add two more bits of steel, laminating the original bar in between them to triple the width at the cutting field. Half the width and ground with a similar angle to creat a wider wedge, thus forcing the split wood further apart and carrying through, might reduce the number of bites required..... little bit of welding required.
Get your self an old tyre and put the log in the middle then split it with the axe. The tyre stops the Half's/quarters from falling off the stump
I'd love to see that for log cutter with simple hydraulic press action - just pop it on cutter press the button and the logs split - great for those with log burners who are disabled yet still enjoy getting the firewood cut up.
I can’t believe how Coo-el I think this is. that’s proper diy that is and I will be making one this weekend. Thank you.
Did up one of these using a cheap machete as the split bar. Saved that assembly. Just notched the 4x4, the machete already had a handle and a hanginghole at the perfect spot on the tip.
Goes a lot faster than a woodwrights splitter and mallet.
Nobody should split kindling with an axe unless you have a holding hole cut into your splitting log.
Made the same splitter using 40x40x6mm steel 90° angle bar for the teeth which also screwed to the wall plus 6mm steel flat bar for the blade. These splitters cost about £75+ to buy but only £12 to make.
Fabulously thought out and constructed.
i've been looking for a no-weld version of this for a while! thanks so much!
Your channel gets more interesting with every new video. You explain complex things simply by breaking them down into small pieces
It reminds me of how I solve computer programming problems at work
Talking of eliminating risks when cutting wood, I noticed you used gloves when on the bandsaw. I learnt the hard way that gloves and bandsaws are not a good mix - one gloved hand got a little too close one day, snagged and I almost lost the top of my thumb!
Brilliant!
Back in the 70's my uncle had me chopping wood for "sticks" down his allotment when I was about 7 or 8. We used to then give them to the "poor people" in his words, in the village along with veg from his allotment.
Much better than a sissy stick.
What a brilliant idea Stuart and really well executed.
Thank you
I’m 💯 getting a log burner this year, free wood everywhere, no need to pay rip off gas prices, been making kindle with the axe, this great idea, definitely going to make this speed up kindle making, nice one
That is an ingenious design.
Seriously neat and professional build!!
very nice, works a treat.
I am tempted to make my own. A few changes however, a magnet in the top of the handle and a plate against the post perhaps. no fuss with the lanyard then, and perhaps a little longer handle for some more leverage. so less effort is required.
The magnets sound useful but not safe.
Excellent idea, indeed. Just a suggestion for improving it: Add (weld) two spacers on the side of the blade to make it thicker - that way, the wood splits faster and wider, and you don´t have to use more than one step.
I was about to say the same thing. Wood splitters are often thick so they separate the two pieces.
it would require more torque (body weight) with a wider blade.
Drill a hole at the back of each step, where you have 90-ish degree angles, to eliminate those sharp angles, which are going to act as stress risers, to further help eliminate the possibility of the wood splitting as you mentioned.
You can never have enough kindling....It helps your stove burn much better, less pollution and smoke and keeps the flue a bit clearer too. So every time I put a couple of new logs on the log burner, I also put on 3 to 5 pieces of kindling first.
Congrats P-DIY on building that awesome Log Splitter. engineer at it's finest.
Thanks Bill
i was looking at the store bought ones but they are over $200 and then i saw your video thank you so much
looks good, seems to work good too. I like to split my wood when it's frozen. best time is at around -30 C. splits a lot easier
Superb video Stuart, i have to say I'm often playing chicken with my fingers when chopping kindling with my bill hook 😂
fantastic idea and lovely execution, only thing i'd add is maybe a spot of sandpaper onto each of the aluminium strips where the wood touches them for a little added purchase.
Check out the Stock Knife which are used in green woodworking and clog making. They're a very similar tool.
Brilliant solution, Stuart!
Nice! I made one where the blade is fixed and you push the wood through it. I quickly discovered mild steel is too soft, you need to use spring steel
Very nice project. Like the cover on the steps to ensure its lasts longer. Well thought of.
Thanks
Very nice. Currently I'm making kindling by fixing a hatchet into vice, pointing upwards, holding log on the hatchet with my left hand and smashing on it with hammer. I can really precisely cut it to wanted width and it's much safer than splitting the log with the hatchet from above. But this is even faster and safer.
Great Stuff , I need this badly. Don't have a band saw and no success with mallet and chisel. so i have got this onto Vectric aspire etc using a 2 rail sweep. i should have it on the machine in the morning so i will post my results. angles are the tough spot here and i wish i had a bandsaw...
I made my “knife” 80cm and it works effortlessly 👍
Thanks for the idea! 💡
Nice one!
very nice and I'll add this to my list for retirement projects. I had seen something very similar sold by Lee Valley tools - for $289 (Canadian). Same saw tooth design, but made out of cast-iron so much slimmer. You have clearly illustrated a slightly different and much more economical way of producing the same result.
Great project - a lot of result for not that much work, nice one.
I like the fact that you make a mock up in cardboard and really think of the design before you make the prototype , I cut almost all of my kindling with a battery jigsaw . My multi fuel stove is rated at 5kw maximum log length of 30 cm and recommended diameter of 15 cm have you a similar simple design for an actual log cutter as at present I use various hand saws or a chainsaw all of which can be slow noisy and dangerous (I don’t like the chainsaw).
Great thing, thanks for sharing with us. Best wishes from Germany and stay healthy. Peter
Great video, great project. I'm now thinking of doing something similar, but glancing at an old trolley jack in the garage and wondering if it could be mounted to work as a hydraulic press for some extra oomph. Scope creep! 😆
THAT IS A SUPER HANDY TOOL I MUST MAKE ONE I HAVE 2 LOG BURNERS AND IT'S A BALL ACHE USING AN AXE TO DO THIS CHORE THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO
A well thought out and made solution to what can be a dangerous job.
I just got a demolition saw and wedged the wood in a large building block.
Birdy
brilliant, I have heated with wood before, and kindling is the key to good fire building. I enjoy your tips and videos.
Thanks 👍
Love the ‘shatters at 9000rpm tends to educate’ euphemism 😂
Great presentation and description.. if you could add a wedge device to the cutting edge, the sticks might snap off on the first slice. Some have put a nail or a screw in the end of a piece of kindling to hold the board upright for the hatchet, keeping the off hand safely away. It also looks like a curved "scimitar-like" blade would be another useful improvement.
This is brilliant. I need plans!
Excellent project! That paddock purchase has proved a terrific investment Stuart 👍🏻
Thanks John
Exelent solution .thanx Mike scotland
I love the use of good old C.A.D. to design (cardboard added design)
Excellent idea and desing! Thank you for this! burn wood is getting may more expensive and less broken down on our side of the Atlantic. I was looking for such a lever-based splitting device. Have a good day!
Dry firewood do not splitt as easy as a newly cutdown trees and if its frosen even better. Nice vid. Greetings from Finland
Great vid inspired me into making my own .
Who buys their logs from a petrol station? Only once when I had flu did I have to stoop so low and really, it just felt like burning fivers one after the next.
What a brilliant project Stuart. Just in time for Winter too!
You could use some 'fluted' or grip patterned stair edging, just for a little more grip on the bottom of the wood
Elegant and simple. I’ll make one for my mother. I might use an old lawn mower blade though since it’s probably a higher carbon steel. Or I also have an old school rusty two man saw I could cut up. And I agree with others about making the blade thicker so it wedges as it cuts.
A lawn mower blade is a good idea if it's long enough
Very nice cutting device necessity is the mother of invention
Excellent video, I have been waiting over 6 weeks now for one I ordered from Knacks in Austria (lost in post)! Had I seen your video first I would have made my own. The blade was my concern but the mild steel bar seems to work well. The only suggestion that I have is to put a metal sleeve in each half of the slot for the guillotine handle bolt to rotate in so that wear on the handle lever action via the pivot bolt would not transfer to the wood.
Is there more physics on the notch geometry lurking out there in the ether 🤓Thanks for the video.
That's a great idea making out of wood. Good job!
Great video ill have to make one of these thanks
That is a brilliant device.
Interesting video. I'll try to make one next autumn.
Very satisfying to self build something like this!
Design thought: I'd be tempted to drill through the upper face of each aluminium "tread" and place very short screws facing upwards to provide a "spike strip" to grip the foot of the log on the tread. Seems there is a chance of the log potentially skidding off the tread whilst applying pressure on the cutting arm.
Loving all your videos, Stuart!
Thank you
That is brilliant! While not everyone has access to a bandsaw it really does make me think about how I can achieve something similar 🙂
Richard, I don't see anything here that could not be done with a drill, hacksaw and a handsaw. After all, as a friend likes to say, "we're not building pianos here." I agree, it is brilliant.
thats quite soft steel if im not wrong(im not really sure how much the wood would affect the sharpness though). would it be better to harden the blade after you have shaped it? you got my diy mind going fore sure. nice project
He used a mild steel. If you want a hardened edge, which is a very good idea, then a high carbon steel would be required.
Your thinking and planning on this is so good! Kudos to you🙌
Use a piece that you’ve cut already and hold it on the top in the middle of the piece you are cutting with your left hand to steady it, then use a hatchet to split the rest.
A taller chopping block would make a huge difference as well.
Brilliant Stuart, you should patent that design idea.
great video as usual
Lovely idea and good to see in action at the end..I'm probably Britain's worst DIY'er.. but your videos certainly give me confidence!
You can do it!
Another way that might work is to build a stepped piece in layers rather than cutting saw teeth in a 4 X4 post section. That way you don't have to work out angles.
Still, you did a nice job.
Bloody. Brilliant!
Brilliant idea n execution
Ingenious idea Stuart. Great video.
Nice and practical
Excellent idea mate!
definately earned my like and this comment
Well that was a really useful project, well done to you. It makes your life easier….take care as always
Thanks Val 👍
Thats really nice! Never thought those can be made from wood instead of steel. Fantastic work!
Nice neat job.
One modification, would be to add either anti slip tape or glue some sand paper to each of the steps/lips you rest the wood on. I did notice the slipping slightly in the video.
quite a clever idea, it will probably do with a few iterations but looks safe, you should make them to sell.
I love it, I have been "educated" in the past.
Just use a piece of wood to hold the log instead of your hand. Then hatchet away! You can cut kindling way quicker.
Well done!
Looks good. But I reckon you could do something similar to a compound bow to make it easier to cut thicker wood
Nice job
Looks like you got a pretty good zombie wacker for the upcoming apocalypse if you chuck away the stepped bit 😉. In all seriousness great idea, great video will definitely be copying it. Patron page visit is next.
Super. Nice project.
Heath Robinson would be proud!
9:10 if you were very serious about the grain split direction, you could have tilted the board and made the notches so the butt surface is directly perpendicular to the aluminum L bar, rather than cut angled into the grain and make the butt surface weaker.