Hot take: Spending $600 on a good 40-ton log splitter was either the best or worst move I ever made

I dropped $600 on a used 40-ton splitter last spring after fighting with a maul for 5 years, and it cut my firewood prep time by like 80 percent but now I'm worried I got lazy on my wedge work and lost that arm strength. My buddy swears by his manual splitter and says I'm just burning gas and getting soft. You guys think power tools make the job easier or just turn us into soft hands who can't swing a maul anymore?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jennifer15d ago

Read something online where a guy compared a log splitter to riding a bike with training wheels forever. Said he could split a cord in an hour but his shoulders went from solid to jelly by the second winter. That stuck with me because my neighbor's got a 50 year old splitter that leaks oil and he still runs it every season. He told me last week his arms are fine but his back is shot from hauling the logs around. I'd rather have soft hands and a working back than pretend I'm Paul Bunyan for one weekend a year.

ray64814d ago

So you're telling me the secret to Paul Bunyan arms is a bad back and a puddle of hydraulic fluid? That's quite the trade-off. I always figured those old splitters were like stubborn mules: they leak, they groan, but they get the job done while you're bent over picking up logs. Sounds like your neighbor traded his shoulder problems for a chiropractor's retirement fund. Maybe I should just stick to buying my firewood pre-split and keep my spine happy. At least my hands will be soft enough to dial that number.