Eastonmade; Firewood Exploding? Here's Your Problem!

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:00]Hi guys, it's Andrew here from Eastgate Woodsplitters, today. Welcome back to the channel. I am out here in the wood yard. Um a quick note, uh there is the Northeastern Forest Products Expo coming up this weekend, May 1st, May 2nd, at the Champlain Valley Exposition Center in Essex Junction, Vermont. This is a really great show.

[00:00:18]Um live demonstrations on all on all the firewood stuff. Uh there's Arborist gear there, there's logging gear, there's firewood stuff, there's sawmill. There is just about something for every land clearing. There there there If you're into this kind of stuff, logging stuff, or forestry stuff, or what whatever happens to be, guys, it's worth your trip to go out there. Um but today's video is about exploding firewood.

[00:00:41]You've all seen it. Everybody that's watched a wood splitter video at one time or another has seen a block of wood. If you've split wood, you have seen uh a piece of wood explode on the wood splitter.

[00:00:52]There's a reason this does this, guys.

[00:00:54]There's lots of people that think that it's a species of wood, this side or the other thing. Here's what's happening.

[00:01:00]It's flex in the chassis of the machine.

[00:01:02]It's flex in the main beam of the machine. The machine isn't built rigid enough for the tonnage that it that it's applying. Um our machines are are normally really really good. Like if you go look at our 511 up through our 37D, the chassis on that is an inch thick. It's really really heavy. So, when you're splitting, that that think think of that as your beam.

[00:01:25]And and you're splitting a piece of wood and and all of a sudden you're hitting something real hard, and then it's actually pulling apart like that, and then as soon as it splits, it springs back like that. It it's literally a springing action of the steel in the beam, and that's why wood explodes, guys. Um we try and build all of our chassis stiff enough and heavy enough to do that, to be able to take that abuse day in and day out. Um if you watch a lot of our videos, you don't normally see that a whole lot on on our machines. Um maybe if you have like a block of wood that isn't cut square, a little different scenario there, but um under normal operating conditions, uh our machines shouldn't really do a whole lot of that. Um Now, guys, if you see other machines doing that in the market, especially at this level, I've seen a couple of different videos of machines doing that.

[00:02:12]Uh don't don't shy away from it.

[00:02:14]Honestly, guys, uh there is a lot of really good equipment, especially when you get into this caliber of equipment, that is really really good. It's well-engineered, it's well-designed, and the companies you're buying it from they're going to look after you. Um and most of the designs are are tried and true. Uh they've been running them for forever and ever and ever. So, don't don't let that deter you. You're going to be buying good stuff. Um so, the one thing with that is is obviously the safety part of where the wood blows apart.

[00:02:43]So, the other reason we don't want this to happen, other than safety, is longevity of the machine, guys. Um every time that that that beam stretches like that, you're stretching the steel.

[00:02:55]That's what's happening, guys. We we want to build it rigid enough that that that piece of steel is always it's not going to deform, it's not going to it's not going to twist, it's not going to flex. We want to build it as rigid as possible. And you got to think, guys, too, like these these wood splitters um these commercial wood splitters, uh they pull out a pile of tonnage. Like if you look at if you look at if you think of this, even on the small end of it, 14 tons is a small end of it. That that that that is the smallest splitter that we currently make. That is the Ultra and the Axis in terms of tonnage. Um and that's 14 tons. So, that's 28,000 lb.

[00:03:30]When you when you get up in into our our 1222, it's a 24-ton machine. When you get into a 37D 2028, you're looking at a 37-ton machine there. You're looking at 74,000 lb trying to rip this thing apart if you're into big hard wood. Um so, again, guys, if something seems like it's hard going through the wood splitter, or if it seems like it's flexing a lot, like a like um just don't run it that hard. You got to got to take take a different approach to it. That that that's all there is to it. Um So, yeah, that is why wood splits apart.

[00:04:02]It doesn't have a whole lot to do with the species of wood. It doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything other than the beam actually flexing on it. Um the odd time in a processor, you might see a piece of wood get jammed in the side of it. Uh that's why the back end of our machines are so wide open. Um but you might see see a piece of wood get jammed in the side of it. And and the the spring action there is the side of the machine actually going like that, and then it lets go. And that's why it shoots out of the back of the processor.

[00:04:27]Again, we try to leave the back end of our processors as wide open as we can. We tend to have a lot of a lot of flex here. Like if you actually look at the side panels on on our processors, they're not terribly thick. They're designed to flex. If they bend, you fold them back up. So, it's very again, it just is very forgiving, a lot safe safer than than a lot of the machines on on the market right now. Um So, yeah, guys, that that's that's why that's why we do it the way that we do it. Um Yeah, so there's not really anything wrong with any anybody else's designs or how they do it. You're You're buying this type of equipment from reputable manufacturers, you're going to be buying good stuff. Um So, that that is my video for today.

[00:05:05]Like I said, the Champlain Valley Exposition Center, the Northeastern Forest Products Expo is coming up this week. Uh Friday, Saturday, May 1st, May 2nd. It's going to be a really great show down there. We really enjoy doing these. We get to come and talk to you guys. That is that's honestly the best part of my job, guys, is coming out and talking to people and getting feedback from from customers that have run machines, that are running machines, that that people that are looking to buy new equipment. Because a lot lot Look, basically, guys, we're we're we're building machines for you. If we don't get the feedback from you guys, we can't make our machines better. So, um Anyways, guys, that's all I've got for today. Just I just wanted to touch base on that. I've seen a couple of different videos come up, and I thought it'd be interesting to to put that in there. If you guys have any ideas for videos at all, drop a comment down below. If you have any questions, drop a comment down below. I'll try and I'll try my best to get back to you. If you haven't done so, subscribe if you can, please. That is That is a big tremendous help for for us to be able to get extend our reach and reach new people. And hit the like button. There's even a There's even a hype button down here.

[00:06:06]Hit hit the hype button. I don't know what the hell the hype button does, but I seen it pop up here the last last month or two on YouTube. If you know what the hype button does, let me know.

[00:06:14]Anyways, guys, like I said, thumbs up, hit the subscribe. I'll see you all on the next one.