Steve Hampton

Laura Rutherford wrote:Very helpful - thanks Steve!
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How long have you had yours?

I have only had mine this season, got it back during the summer, so I can not speak yet as to the durability of the device.  However, I am hoping that since I keep it completely sheltered from the weather, it will last a few seasons.  I purchased it with a coupon and paid less than $300 for it including tax, so I figure if I can get three seasons out of it that is well worth the strain it will have saved my back.  Hope you find this helpful.  If you have any further questions just let me know.

Hi Laura,

I would not be deterred by the "10 inch" rating on the electric wood splitter.  I purchased this model from Harbor freight
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-amp-5-ton-electric-log-splitter-63366.html

which is rated at 5 ton and is also recommended for "10 inch" logs.  So far I have not met a block of wood it will not split.  If I could lift the block of wood onto the splitter it has busted it.  I have had to bust some pieces of seasoned White Oak in half with a wedge and sledge to be able to lift them onto the splitter but was then able to work them up with it.  Hope you find this helpful.  If you have any further questions just let me know.

I would suggest looking up tobacco balers.  There are some instructions here at this link:

https://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id38/id38.htm

and you can see the sketched image the instructions are designed to build here:

https://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id38/fff00076.gif

When I was growing up we would use a tobacco baler much like this design to pack over 100lbs of dried burley leaf into a bale.
Should be able to use a similar design to compact straw enough for building purposes.
Hope you find this helpful.  If you have any further questions just let me know.