New Toy

I've just taken delivery of a hydraulic log splitter. It's very useful. I was given about a ton of leylandii logs the year before last. The trouble was they are about 20 inches long and full of knots. Still not too long for the stove. I gave up splitting them with axe and wedge because it was taking a very long time. 20" is a bit long for splitting with an axe so I was forced to use the wedge a great deal and the knots make the logs particularly resistant to splitting and I couldn't be bothered to cut them all in half. The result was nearly all the logs have been sitting in the shed waiting for me to split them since I got them. They're lovely and dry now. Along comes Mr hydraulic log splitter. With 10 tons at my command I can split any of these logs with ease. It wouldn't be as fast as splitting ordinary short (8-9") logs with an axe but it's certainly much quicker on the long logs. The only problem was that I bent the first of the little projecting log supports first time I used it. You can see them in the picture, two on each side. Well, I put a block between the log to be split and the head of the piston to push the log further to complete the split and the block caught on the supports each side and I pushed them flat without even noticing. Never mind, it hasn't affected how the thing works, which is very well indeed, if a little slow. I can see the attraction of an electrically operated hydraulic log splitter but it's not justifiable in terms of the amount of use I'd make of it.