This project is continued from Part 2.
This oak tree died last summer giving me another opportunity to put the Oregon PowerSharp® system to work and try out a slide-hammer log splitter to make firewood. The oak tree was very tall and located between my house and neighbors. Too dangerous to take down myself because there was no room to fell it by cutting the trunk and letting it topple over. I requested quotes from several professional tree service companies to drop it in sections so I could do the clean up with my Stihl® chain saw equipped with the Oregon Powersharp® chain sharpening system. The bids to saw and haul the tree away were in the $700 range. The bids just to drop it in sections so I could saw it up into firewood were in the $200 to $300 range.
Dead Oak Tree between the Houses
The tree service company arrived with two men and a bucket truck and dropped the oak tree in ~5 foot sections for $200. They did a real nice job with no damage to the houses, other trees or backyard fence.
Dead Oak Tree Dropped in Sections by a Tree Service Company
Oregon Powersharp®
The Oregon Powersharp 16 inch bar and blade on my Stihl MS-210C chainsaw quickly sawed through the green wood of the recently dead oak. Most of my effort went into cutting up the tangle of branches into manageable pieces.
Sawing up the Oak Tree with my Stihl Chainsaw and Oregon PowerSharp®
Making progress…
Buzzing through the Oak log with the Oregon PowerSharp®
Happiness is an always sharp chainsaw blade:
Stihl Chainsaw and Oregon PowerSharp®
With the day getting late and rain in the forecast, I chose to clean up the branches and bag up the leaves. I sawed up the three remaining logs the following weekend.
Oak Tree Cleanup with the Oregon PowerSharp®
Slide Hammer Manual Log Splitter
I needed a way to split the logs into manageable pieces for firewood. I knew from past experience that swinging an axe hammer on a splitting wedge was a slow and hard way to split logs. My home is heated by natural gas and I rarely have a need to split firewood as I normally purchase cured firewood for the fireplace. What I needed was an inexpensive, effective and safe way to split the logs. I decided to try the slide hammer manual log splitter (Item # 93360) sold by Harbor Freight Tools for $27.99.
Slide Hammer Manual Log Splitter by Harbor Freight Tools
The slide hammer log splitter worked amazing well! It’s easy on your back because you stand up straight, working the slide hammer with your arms and shoulders.
The hammer actually works faster than shown in this video because the log is bouncing on the soft ground. I normally place the log to be split on short section of stump as shown in the above photo for a firm base. You don’t want to split a log resting directly on rock or a cement patio because you’ll dull the wedge when it punches through the log.
Tip: The hammer works more smoothly with a light coating of grease on the inner shaft.
Now I can’t say for certain, but it appears the Harbor Freight slide hammer log splitter is identical to the Anaconda slide hammer firewood and log splitter sold by Amazon.com. The dimensions, weight and construction for both products the same, except for the black versus yellow label on the shaft. The Harbor Freight log splitter says “Made in China” and Anaconda describes themselves as a “distributor/wholesaler”, so it’s possible both companies use the same Chinese manufacturer.
Thanks for reading,
Bob Jackson
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