You’ve probably seen the social media ads for the Carlton Hardware firewood splitter drill bit you mount in an HD drill motor. It looks almost effortless - but did the product deliver?
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We heat our shop during the winter months using a wood-fired stove. It’s not unusual for temps to be well below freezing, so having a dependable heat source is not only handy - it’s critical.
We typically burn hardwood that has been cut by an arborist friend of mine. He needs to place to economically drop woodchips and logs, and I can use both! Much of what is brought to us is Chinese Elm. It burns hot and long, but it is very stringy-grained and doesn’t readily split.
We do also get other wood types such as pine, fir, and cedar. These are softer but need to dry to split well by hand. We don’t have a hydraulic splitter - yet! We do plan to invest in one.
In the meantime, I’ve looked for various tools and approaches to ease the task of wood processing to have a good supply of fuel on hand for the shop stove. Wedges and splitting mauls have become my friend, as has my Stihl® chainsaw that my son gave me.
However, when I saw the ads for the Carlton Hardware firewood splitter bit, it looked interesting. We ordered it, got it, installed it in a heavy-duty commercial drill, and went to work.
Frankly, we found it had limited use, simply because it tends to dig in and get stuck readily, especially on harder, strong-grained wood. When this happens, you really need to be holding onto the drill while having the piece of wood secured. The drill will tend to twist out of your hand somewhat violently if you don’t.
If the bit sticks, it can’t be backed out, because the threaded shaft will simply unscrew. You have to rock the bit back and forth - which isn’t easy on the drill.
We found that you can only use the bit very near the edge or at the very end of the piece of wood with small portions of the wood being split off.
Would we buy it again? No. It was about a $50 investment all in with a couple of extra shafts and shipping. It works, but only moderately, and I think there are easier ways to get smaller splits for kindling.
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