Friday, 24 July 2015

Little Grey Fergie splits the firewood.


My neighbour  Alan offered to split the logs I sawed yesterday. What an offer! The alternative meant a whole day with a maul and splitting wedge, the wood is unseasoned and very tough to split. In an hour and a quarter we processed a tonne of logs with Alan's tractor driven splitter which he buiolt from bits of scrap metal and an old hydraulic ram.

Linked to the Fergie hydraulics it exerts about 12 tonnes pressure at the splitter blade and goes through the toughest wood smoothly, quietly and quickly. Its a pleasure to use. I did suggest that people would pay for the experience of operating it at today's Sports Day but of course you have to consider "Elfin safety!".

Harry Ferguson probably did more to revolutionise post-war British farming than any other person. He provided a vast range of tools to fit his tractors including a saw-bench but it seems that he never thought of a log splitter.

The tractor was built in the 50 s and then renovated by Alan, it putters away driving the hydraulics sounding and smelling as a tractor should.......... smells almost as good as a hot chainsaw cutting pine on a cold winter morning. 

No comments:

Post a Comment