You might have seen ads for these tapered drills, promoted for splitting wood for the fire. I bought some, and yesterday I had occasion to split some oak logs that were a bit too big for the stove. So I decided to try them out.
I got out my big SDS drill (about 1kW I think), fitted the bit and set to work on the oak log. I stood on the log to steady it. (It seems that this is what they do in the ads.) The bit sank into the the wood, buried itself to about half its depth, at which point the log was still unsplit and the force needed to turn the bit was now greater than I could apply to the drill. The drill forced its way out of my hands and whacked my arm.
Now, faced with a jammed bit and an unsplit log, I decide to withdraw the bit from the log to try again. With the drill in reverse, I stand on the log, but this time it's the log that frees itself rather than the drill, and it rotated through half a circle and whacked my foot.
So I'm hopping about, cursing the world in general, but it's not until a while later that I decide to inspect the damage. Corker of a bruise, eh? I don't think I will be using those log-splitting bits again. Not on oak, anyway. Back to the axe.
8 comments:
Does your SDS drill have a hammer only (no rotation) setting? If so, you might try an ordinary wide chisel bit.
Hi decnine, yes it does; I will try that.
Sorry to hear abot the toe, it looks very uncomfortable! I had been considering buying a wedge drill like that for odd logs when I was too lazy to wheel the hydraulic out of the shed, swinging a large axe scares me. Thanks for helping me make up my mind. The electric/hydraulic ones are fantastic by the way, I have split ash trunk about a foot diameter with mine (bought second hand and is actually a fairly old french Carrefour supermarket badged one).
Hi Woodsy, you're the second person who has been dissuaded by my little story from buying a wedge drill. I also am keeping my eyes open for an electric splitter.
Hi Woodsy, I have a person-powered splitter; it has two concentric metal shafts with a blade on the end of the inner shaft. The outer shaft is closed at one end, and it slides down the inner one, the closed end smacks the end of the inner shaft, pushing the blade into the wood. It works well but it is tiring. I was hoping for greater ease with the wedge drills. I have seen splitters similar to the one you show - I passed up a smaller one, second hand at a car boot last year, much to my current regret. Only €75 it was.
Ouch!!! I hope your toe has recovered now.
Hi Cherry Pie, it's now the 13 April, and as of yesterday I no longer walk with a limp, but my toe is still a brighter colour and is a bit more sensitive than normal, and I think I'm going to lose the nail. It's on the mend, however, thanks for your thoughts!
I have been without a computer for almost three weeks so I have only just been able to access the feeds to the blogs I follow.
I am glad that your toe is on the mend :-)
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