Joe, What you are talking about, does exist. My dad has one. The main frame is probably a 4-6 inch wide I beam. It stands about 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall. The I bean was welded on to a peace of steel, and the hydraulic ram welded in parallel with the I beam. The wedge which actually splits the wood looks like a peace of heavy steel bent at a 90 degree angle. It is welded to the I bean so the point is directly above the hydraulic ram.
The hydraulic ram is parallel with the narrow side of the I beam. I am not sure if some one did make it, but he picked it up at a yard sell for not much money at all $15-$20 bucks or so. Works pretty good, better than a splitting maul. Hope that helps, Mike www.blindmarketing.com -----Original Message----- From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 08:23 To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Manual wood splitter? I really am looking for a manual wood splitter, something powered by a hand pumped hydraulic pump or perhaps a screw turned by a bar. These things probably don't exist, but it would seem to make sense to me that they did. As a kid we had a couple of house jacks that had 20 T stamped into the castings. I was told this ment the jacks were rated at 20 tons, and they were turned with a real long peice of steel shafting. They were heavy, very heavy, and a lot of blocking was needed even for the smallest jobs. We used them for squaring up old barns and other buildings. Seems to me one of those screws must have been adapted to splitting wood. Could be used inside, would be quiet enough so I wouldn't become totally disoriented, and would be slow enough so I should be able to keep both my hands intact, and attached. Just dreaming. Once upon a time, I came across a wood splitter that was reported to use a hydraulic jack on a wev page. But that was back in the days of DOS and Net Tamer and I can not find the page now. The pages I do find, that may have just what I am looking forr, relie on graphics. Text description is really lacking. Recently found something called "Charlie's Wood Splitter" or something like that. It is apparently a large, conical bit that attaches to an impact wrench. (Requires a 3/4 or 1" impact wrench, and might be just the ticket. But $200 to find out is a bit daunting, and my impact wrench is only a 1/2" drive, anyway. I think adding a 3/a4 impact wrench to my tools might be pretty expensive, although I haven't actually checked at Harbour Freight or Northern. The idea is intrigueing, though. Makes so much sense. Will keep looking Joe At 04:50 PM 8/27/06, you wrote: >What kind of splitter are you looking for Joe? The only manual ones I >know about have a sledge or maul involved. >The splitters that use a hydraulic ram can be pretty pricey. I've had >one that was basically a Briggs & Stratton engine driving a geared down >augor. You jammed the log onto the end of the augor, brased it against >a pipe that was mounted on the frame and let it rip. I once failed to >brase the log right, and the whole machine took off hopping and didn't [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following Address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/