Jim Ostry of Bruno, Neb., improved his firewood production efficiency with a self-propelled log splitter. “I called it that because it’s mounted to a skid steer. Splitting is done from the seat. I made mine, but there are companies now making them.”
Ostry’s creative process went through multiple variations. “I could write a whole life story on how this log splitter came about,” he says. “In short, as a person gets older, sometimes you have to change things to make them work better for you.”
First, he made a hydraulic lift to move blocks of wood. “But then I got even older, so I made a self-propelled log splitter. It split the wood onto the pile or dump trailer, then I stacked the small pieces or loaded my outside boiler unit.” The splitter became an evolving project. “Some of my additions included decking. This ensured wood that needed more splitting wouldn't fall to the ground. I also added a hydraulic lift deck to raise blocks of wood onto it.” Ostry still owns this splitter. It’s been a few years since he put it to use, but it still has its place, and he’s sure it’ll come in handy again.
He got the idea to build a log splitter on a skid steer at an auction selling a small, 3-pointed mounted, 4-in. beam splitter with a blown-out hydraulic cylinder. “I purchased it for $125, thinking I’d mount it upside-down on the skid steer and use it to break down the bigger blocks of wood so they’d be easier to handle with my regular splitter.” Unfortunately, the beam turned out to be a little weak for the hydraulic power of the skid steer, causing it to twist and bend into the shape of a banana. Ostry added steel to the top of the beam to give it more of a backbone. “This cured the problem until I decided it needed more splitting wedge, so I doubled the length and added cross wedges to turn it into a four-way splitting wedge.”
While this improvement worked well, it caused the beam to resume twisting. “So I added even more reinforcing, which took it from a 4 by 4-in. H-beam to a 4-in. wide and 10-in. tall beam with reinforcing inside that can no longer be seen. I also learned from this experience that if you have flex, it steals power.”
Ostry is pleased with the result. “What I like about this style of log splitter is you can pinch a log crosswise, hold it in the air, and then cut it into blocks with a chainsaw. It makes getting a trailer load of wood rather easy. I just pinch a block in the wedge, raise it over the trailer, and finish the split by dropping the pieces into the trailer. No manual labor required.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jim Ostry, Bruno, Neb. (vasek10_20@yahoo.com).