The Stickler was mentioned briefly in the Hand Operated Hydraulic Log Splitter message thread.

MM

Is this the cone that bolts to the car wheel? If so forget it, way too dangerous.

Interesting to read the replies about the Stickler, here's my take on it. If you don't mind taking the time to mount the Stickler on your car or truck, you won't find a better way to split the nasty kind of wood that is always left behind. I bought one last fall ('05) and have split 4-5 cords with it, and to me it works fantastic! Sure, like any power tool you need to keep your wits about you, but as usual common sense is all that is required. This thing has split anything I've attempted, and living in the Northeast there's some pretty knotty, tough wood around. You know those logs that have the 10" diameter branch stubs sticking out? Well, if you don't mind a little effort you'll be rewarded with some of the best-burning wood you can find (let 'em get good and DRY first!!). I really enjoy using it, and love to see stubborn wood "go down". I will say that my Toyota truck stalled twice with it, but I think I had the revs a little too low for the piece I was splitting. Feel free to ask me about it anytime.

Hello all. I bought a Stickler after looking at all the different types of log splitters. It's simple. It's fast. If the power plant breaks down, Ford Rangers are a dime a dozen and cheap to fix. I love the thing. It works great.
I will be putting it to a real test in about a week when I split a mountain of logs into a mountain of split cordwood. The manufacturer claims it can split a cord (4'x4'x8') in an hour, so I'm looking forward to finding out if it does.

I saw one of these things used 20 years ago. It was mounted on a tractor pto. It worked. You place the log sideways to the screw while the log rests on a strong bar to prevent it from turning. the huge screw draws the log into the screw causing a raggid split. The split wood is not very pretty and the stacking takes up more space, but that could be useful for rapid drying via more air circulation, and the rough edges probably catch fire quicker.

It looks pretty efficient but I wonder how that old boy lost his arm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlpcnCsDBeo&mode=related&search=

Probably the same way he's about to loose a leg.

My father had one attached to a tractor when I was a teen, we split a ton of wood with it but as others have mentioned they are very dangerous.

I`m not buying into the attitude that everything is dangerous so why be too concerned about the unique dangers this type splitter presents.

Think about it, what happens when you perform physical labor, whether you are accustomed to it or not you eventually get tired and start to lose your wits and balance to some degree, depending largely I suppose on how good your balance and wits are to start with. This is not a tool that you would let a kid or an older person operate.

I still think they pose no more danger, (and quite possibly a lot less danger), than the tool used to cut the tree down and saw it into splittable hunks to begin with.

Would the "Texas Stickler Massacre" have even been scary?

{{gwi:317725}}

;-)

Point taken broke_not, but I`ve never allowed any of the children in my household to fell trees and only recently started letting my son block firewood with a small saw, ppe, and me right over his shoulder to reinforce proper stance and operation of the saw. Out of necessity I have on occassion been forced to "allow" the kids to operate the splitter, I also wouldn`t have any serious qualms about allowing my now elderly father to operate the hydraulic splitter because parts aren`t moving until the lever is moved. I`ve split alot of wood with a stickler and I`ve seen alot of dangerous chunks spinning round and that infernal screw constantly rotating, waiting to catch the pant leg of someone feeling a little too comfortable and familiar.

Another thing, does any proponent of this thing consider the mechanical effect on the power source when you shove a gnarly old piece of whatever on there and it stalls the engine?......or if a piece on the screw gets skewed and starts banging on the ground or the stop(ours was a 3pt model with additional stop), what kind of shock load is being sent down the driveline?

Yeah, the Stickler will work, but are there better alternatives?

There probably are better alternatives, my point was only that the *danger* factor continually brought up seems silly given that having a pile of wood to split means that a person has already spent some hours using a chainsaw. I can't think of any tool that demands keeping your wits about you while operating more than a chainsaw does.

If a stubborn piece of wood does kill the idling engine, there's no more shock to the driveline than there would be if a clutch was let out too quickly or without revving the engine up enough and the engine killed.

As for a 3 point model banging a stubborn log into the ground or log support, I'd suggest doing what we did back on the farm with our PTO driven accessories like unloading augers and grain cleaners. Attach a device that can either shut the tractor engine down immediately or de-clutch the PTO....and it can do so from where the operator is standing while splitting. Or, have someone stay on the tractor at all times to do so if necessary.

;-)

Good points broke_not and I realize that we can argue this every way from Sunday. Unfortunately we never had the luxury of an extra body to shut down the tractor and I still don`t. Letting the clutch out too quickly and stalling the engine, well, you wouldn`t expect that happening too often although the effect to the engine would be similar to lugging an engine which is extremely damaging. In fairness a slip clutch can be added to a pto driven implement but how many people would go for the added expense if they aren`t aware of the benefit?

Now here`s a factor to consider in regard to your comparison of using a stickler vs a chainsaw, assuming that both the felling/bucking activities and the splitting are going to be performed by the same responsible, physically able, safety conscious individual. Probability and exposures. In other words, the longer you expose yourself to a danger, the higher the probability is that you will be injured. There aren`t any viable high production alternatives to the chainsaw that I can think of off the top of my head so I can`t reduce that exposure, I can however think of much safer productive methods of splitting firewood so I can reduce that exposure. This is my opinion, obviously you are free to do as you choose.

I wonder, does the Stickler have any UL, OSHA, or ANSI ratings? How is it catagorized by any safety focused watchdog or certification group?

I bought a Stickler back in the 70's, and used it on an old Dodge P/U truck. Works great and i haven't found any type wood that it will not split. As far as Safety, it is safer than that chainsaw,, just use common sense, it is machinery. I would no want any other type wood splitter.

Does anyone have any information on what size engine I should use to make a table top version of the stickler?

We built one of these splitters early 80s after seeing one split Elm with no effort. Our splitter did not work as well due to less power mainly. Not to mention an Experienced Woodsman was using the unit. We did not see any signs of danger or we would have passed.

The safety is usually how equipment is operated or quality of the equipment being operated, IMO or both and we did not see either.

Differences in what we built vs his unit:

1. He used a dedicated work truckâÂÂs rear drive axle idling in his Low-Low gear to drive his large factory cone. With the rear wheel removed and the rear axle supported at the wheelâÂÂs height. He could roll his wood to the cone, flip it into the cone, it was split w/o an effort and loaded into his truck.

2. We built an angle iron structure on wheels approx 12â high. It supported a 5hp Engine, Reduction Gear Box and supported âÂÂA Smaller Coneâ (8â dia). Our unit would stall in the Elm and soft wood due to cone dia and lack of power IMO.

3. Before or after we built a splitter on a bearing press style that was Too Slow, Hard on Heavy 4â Channel Steel and Jack Power. We retired from mechanical splitters not knowing the pains of splitting mauls 30 yrs later.

4. My 9-12 Ton Hydraulic Splitters donated as a project is Slow But Hard To Beat.

Have a good Restful Winter vs Rehabbing!

The only issues with the Stickler are difficult to set up kill switch (safety) and the mounting to a vehicle (portability). Cars and trucks have more than adequate power to split anything - as others have noted. If only someone would attach a wood splitting screw to small engine and work out a better kill switch...twistersplitter.com