Webber Log Spliting Gun

[Mel Miller]

This should interest the guys that like to gather and process their own wood from the forest.
I've known about these (there are others) for some time, but seldom seen one. I was lucky enough to find this in a bunch of old junk.
Patented in 1925 by J. Webber from Vancouver, WA. Patent 1,533, 579.
The idea was to fill it with black powder, drive it into a pilot hole in the end of a log, stick a fuse in the hole and light 'er off.

[Jerry Thompson]

Both my Grandfather and Father spoke of splitting large cottonwood logs when they lived near the Cheyenne River in SD. They spoke of some home made device they had made to use with black powder. The had to get the logs to a size to get to the steam engine that had a huge buzz saw that was belt driven from the steam engine.
My father was a true mechanic and could fix or fabricate about anything. He kept the steam engine together and running while others fed the logs into the saw.
Dad said that the steam engine did not even seem to notice any load on it when the big logs were being cut.
I do not recall how they loaded the logs up onto the platform the saw was mounted on.
They used the steam engine for about everything, pumping water out of the river, thrashing grain are two of the main things along with sawing I recall of hearing them reminisce about.

[Jim Matthews]

Freaking Cottonwood.

What a nightmare.
I got a free log length delivery for firewood
that I can't give away.

[Jerry Thompson]

Cottonwood was all they had to heat with. They used the Western Red Cedar for fence posts. There were other types of trees also. I was 18 before I knew there were other kinds of trees besides Cottonwood and Cedar.;)

[Joe Tilson]

If you've watched the series Mountain Men, they had a show where Eustice in NC used a similar device to slit Black Locust for a rail fence one of his customers wanted. Very interesting.

[Tom M King]

I want one!

[george wilson]

Might be a tad dangerous while driving it with a sledge hammer fully loaded into the end of the log! And,I was setting dynamite at about 14 years age in Alaska. Think I'd rather set the dynamite. Roy Underhill turned up with one of those many years ago in Williamsburg. As far as I know,he never tried it out!

[Joe Tilson]

George,
If I remember correctly, they drilled a hole with a brace and bit before tapping it into the hole.
Would that not be a better way?

[george wilson]

I just don't like the idea of hammering on a tube full of black powder. Possibly nothing would go wrong,but that tool is coming from an era where safety concerns were nearly non existent. Even in the 50's,we did some pretty dangerous stuff,like handling dynamite hat had frozen all Winter. The nitro settles to the bottom of the sticks. Very dangerous to be carrying about. I carried a whole crate of it very carefully,but over torn up ground full of roots!!

[Steve Beadle]

I have questions about how the black powder tube was used. Was it placed in the pilot hole, full of black powder, a fuse added, and then touched off? In other words, the tube was in the log when the explosion detonated. Wouldn't that destroy the tube so that it could not be reused? Or was the tube used like a funnel, to place the black powder in the pilot hole, then withdrawn before the big bang? Or was the tube designed in such a way that the force of the explosion went out through perforations, so that the tube was reusable?

[Joe Tilson]

Again, If I remember correctly this was a directed charge, some were discharged straight into the log, and some were made to discharge to the side therefore splitting the log. George is very correct in that they were very dangerous. My grandfather talked about people losing hands or fingers. Being from where Eastern Chestnut was processed by Vestle Lumber Company even into the early 50's. They used these devises. This was a large lumber yard, and something to watch as a child. That's where I got the bug. Man, I'm getting old!

[Mel Miller]

I have questions about how the black powder tube was used. Was it placed in the pilot hole, full of black powder, a fuse added, and then touched off? In other words, the tube was in the log when the explosion detonated. Wouldn't that destroy the tube so that it could not be reused? Or was the tube used like a funnel, to place the black powder in the pilot hole, then withdrawn before the big bang? Or was the tube designed in such a way that the force of the explosion went out through perforations, so that the tube was reusable?
The tube is fairly heavy steel. A quick calculation tells me the walls in the main part (not the tapered nose) are over 7/16" thick. Dia. of 1 5/8" & the hole is 23/32".

[Art Mann]

My father-in-law used to have one of those things. He actually tried it once a big butt cut of a dead oak tree. It worked as expected and there was no risk and not much drama. It didn't result in a thoroughly split piece. Hand splitting was still necessary. Another problem was it is a lot of trouble to drill a hole in the end and pound the thing into the hole with a sledge hammer for every single chunk. Yet another problem is it goes through a lot of black powder splitting up just one tree. He decided to rent a hydraulic log splitter and that went faster than the explosive splitter. I didn't witness the event but he showed me the splitter and told me about it.

Maybe the thing was more practical when the only alternative was a sledge hammer and a wedge and black powder was dirt cheap.

[Tom M King]

I miss the days when you could buy dynamite in the hardware store...... It wasn't That long ago. The last time I bought some was in 1979. I'm not sure how long they sold it after that. We set off 24 sticks one evening just before sunset, trying to brfeak some rock in the ground, and the sound rolled around the horizon for 20 seconds. I ended up building that basement with two levels in the floor.

[Marc Seguin]

That is too darn cool. I very badly want to see a video of one of these being used.

[george wilson]

Yes,black powder is about $20.00 a pint. Wouldn't take long to go through some money just to split wood. Plus,I guess it has been confirmed that people got hurt badly sometimes using these.

Not only did I help set dynamite a a teenager,there were frequently mercury fulminate blasting caps left laying around from all the land we were clearing all the time. They made dandy firecrackers!! Very dangerous to handle. Powerful enough to blow your fingers off,and mercury smoke to inhale too!! What dandy toys. Fortunately,I knew enough to avoid maiming myself,but I did some dangerous stuff as a kid! Hauling steel cable pulling stumps was another job I did. That stuff can snap tight and ruin you. I knew a guy who that happened to.

[Phillip Lang]

Some additional information about the design and operation of a splitting gun may be found at:

http://gilboahome.com/ghspublications/Individual%20Articles/PDFArticles/SplittingGun.pdf

[george wilson]

Re: The link just above; Old Carlton Lewis should have known that the LAST thing you ever carry black powder in is a GLASS BOTTLE. It can set the powder off from static electricity inside the bottle.

[Tom Vanzant]

Familiarity breeds contempt, and he was lucky. I had a reloading friend that dumped ~1000 rifle primers into a glass jar "to make things handier". He was lucky too. That was a pretty good hand grenade he kept on his workbench.

[Judson Green]

That is too darn cool. I very badly want to see a video of one of these being used.

Not exactly the same thing but probably close enough.

Powder Wedge 2.mov: http://youtu.be/AkcsJUQG4cI