Modified the log splitter

[The Shooters Apprentice]

I've gotten spoiled the last few years. About 3 years ago I picked up a log splitter at an estate auction pretty cheap that had a massive cylinder leak. Few bucks in new seals and it runs like a top, and i've been using it the last few years to split wood. Our cabin isn't too big, but wood is our primary heat source so we go through about 6 cords a year. 

This year I was busy trucking and didn't get hardly any wood split before snow set it. About 2 weeks ago I split a truck load by hand since the log splitter wouldn't start and boy let me tell you, I didn't realize how out of shape I was until I split wood by hand again. We are coming out of our 30 below snap and I figured I'd get some more wood split if I could get the log splitter running. It doesn't like to start in the cold, and today was no exception. I grabbed a head gun and put it on the pump to warm it up, and decided to see if I could build an adaptor to spin the engine over with a drill. Its got a Honda vertical shaft engine on it like a lawn mower. Anyway, pulled the cheesy plastic recoil off and lo and behold the starting pulley is held on with a 3/4" nut. Found a 3/8 drill adaptor and a 3/4" socket, chucked it in the drill and with the pump warm that thing fired ff in about a half a second with my southern engineered electric starter.

Guess it's probably idled long enough. Time to go split some wood!

I fought my hard starting wood splitter for over twenty years. I finally got old enough to say enough and put a new engine on it....Starts on the first pull and is ready to go right away where the old engine took 20 minutes to warm up. I have two splitters, big and small, and I keep 12 cord ready to go. I'm at the point now I might start paying a little money to get my wood split. The college where I work part time lets me cut all the wood I want off our logging site and this year they bought a firewood processor  that will do 10 cord in six hours. If the price is right I may not go into the woods next year for my wood.

I try an only use wood heat all winter. This year we ran the gas heater for a week because the wife was post surgery and I didn't have time to build and keep a fire going while taking care of her. I only burn three cord a year so it is not too bad. I used to cut 8 cord a year to keep my dad's house in wood. It's my turn to not work so hard for my wood.

[The Shooters Apprentice]

This one has a fairly new Honda motor on it and will fire right up until about 15 degrees and then the oil gets to thick and you cant pull it over fast enough. Warming the pump up works pretty good, but spinning it over with the drill is even better.