So You Think You Are Lazy?

I take the cake...

I guess you use what you got, but after a little thought I decided with a lot of welding, some scrap steel, a few parts out of a Ford Focus, a homemade woodsplitter, and a log trailer, I could improve upon the way I split firewood. I started this project awhile ago, but recently got into it again. Basically in the fall I fabricated the parts, but over the last few days actually welded it up.

In a nut shell it is an upside down woodsplitter. Attached to the boom on my log trailer, it allows me to hoover my splitter over the firewood rounds, pinch them but not split them completely, until I move the wood over my dump body (not in the photo) and then finish splitting them. In this way I never have to pick up a piece of firewood, it is all done by moving hydraulic levers. As I said, pretty lazy to say the least.

The key is a PTO pump on the tractor that drives the woodsplitter as I need volume and pressure, and so while welding up a carrier to mount the tank, splitter vale and trailer hitch, I also installed a functioning Ford Focus seat. Its nice, moving back and forth, has a functioning tilt back rest, lumbar support and even a cup holder. I am pretty sure I am the first woodsplitter with a cup holder on it!

I am not sure it is faster then doing it by hand, nor even a good woodsplitter, but after 10 hours I will be just as fast as when I started, so I guess it was worth doing. We'll see.