I have no idea who invented this thing, but it is seriously the best way to split wood ever. No more chasing pieces, no more bending over, just insanely fast wood splitting. I am way faster than a hydraulic splitter. It is not even close. Granted, I get tired eventually but I am easily splitting 5 times as much wood as I was without the tire. I figure at least 1-2 face cords an hour with reasonable effort. I used to be faster with the saw, now I am faster splitting.
Anyways to make this, get a big chopping block, and screw some scrap 2×4’s to the sides, then put a scrap tire on it. I screwed the tire down but I don’t think it would actually move too much if you didn’t. Then fill the tire full of wood, and go nuts. Very rarely one piece will pop out but the best part is you can fit 4 pieces in sometimes. That cuts down on all the chasing and wasting time.
When you set this up there are gotchas.
1. Yes, you need to fasten the tire down, unless the block is MUCH larger than the tire.
2. Ideally you want a space under the tire. Fastening the tire to 3 small blocks nailed to the chopping block works. Otherwise you have to scoop out the crumbs periodically so that the wood to split isn’t on a soft cushion.
3. The block should be HEAVY. Currently I have one that isn’t quite heavy enough so I put a 4″ thick x 2 foot diameter patio stone under it.
4. You want room to swing at this from any side.
5. It is better, if you can turn the tire inside out. You may have seen such tires used for planters. You need a bigger tire, however. Truck tire works well.
In passing: I never split more than I have to. Anything I can pick up by the end with one hand goes directly to the wood shed. This means up to about 6″ diameter. 8″ are split in half. 12″ are split in thirds, first cut a slab off of one face, then split the remaining one in two. Anything bigger than that, gets slabs cut off the outer face all the way around, then the core split.
A larger log takes longer to burn. I usually have enough small stuff from dealing with the branches.
Hey Sherwood,
Thanks for the tips. My stove, sure does not like 8″ pieces so I have to do a bit more splitting. I might try turning that tire inside out. I did use a truck tire.
It sure does work much better than chasing the pieces around. I am rather curious how you found the blog?