Shay Yilander: New Richmond News
Published Friday, July 20, 2007

Wood-burning has long been a staple of the Midwest. The crackling fire providing warmth and relaxation to homes in the winter. Or simply sitting around the fire pit telling stories of times gone by.

The only hassle of enjoying the serenity that a fire brings is getting the logs to burn. They can be purchased, or split on one’s own. The only problem that exists is that is a physical task. Often one that people like to sidestep.

Enter the Hands Free Log Splitter.

The device was invented and patented by Hammond resident and entrepreneur, Charlie VanDusartz. VanDusartz, who said he has cut wood all of his life to heat his home, came up with the idea for the device two years ago and has started to market it in the area. After chopping wood the traditional way with a maul and an axe, VanDusartz, who admits to going through 10 chords of wood a year, said the chopping began to take its toll on his back.

“I’m not as young anymore,” he said when explaining the motivation for inventing the Hands Free Log Splitter.

The device mounts universally on any skid steer loader mount. A skid steer is a rigid frame, engine-powered machine with lift arms used to attach a wide variety of labor-saving tools or attachments. Once mounted, the Hands Free Log Splitter allows the operator a simple and effortless method of chopping wood.

The Hands Free Log Splitter is basically a large cone-shaped screw that burrows into pieces of wood until they split apart. VanDusartz says a single person operating the device can split more wood than three people with a maul and/or a hydraulic splitting machine. The device has free range of movements, tilting up and down, like a pendulum. It is controlled with the skid steer’s on board hydraulic controls and mounts universally on any brand machine, including Bobcat, Case and John Deere brands.

VanDusartz says that the operator can effectively chop wood with the machine all day long, without getting tired. The device can also be used in the winter with frigid temperatures, while the operator remains warm, as long as the skid steer has an enclosed cab.  Aside from its non-physical solution to splitting wood, the machine is also much safer than traditional methods of chopping wood.

“It’s virtually impossible to get hurt using it,” VanDusartz said. “The machine won’t run if the driver is outside of it.”

VanDusartz is hoping to market the machines to local implement stores, as well as the general public. He also hopes to get them into rental companies who already have skid steers, so those who don’t own a machine can rent one. Of course, in order to use the $4,295 machine, the operator must first have access to a skid steer.

Currently, VanDusartz’s machine is being fabricated by American Structural, a company out of Somerset.

The Hands Free Log Splitter will be available for demonstration at the upcoming Polk and St. Croix county fairs, where VanDusartz will take orders for purchase.

A video of the Hands Free Log Splitter can be viewed at www.usprideproducts.com.

“Hello Charlie and Joni,

Received the bucket just after dinner and I am very enchanted to see the quality of the bucket.  From the quick connects to the position of the fitting on the cylinder, to the thickness of the plates. This unit will give us many years of service without a doubt.

Thank you for your attention.”

Marcel Lafontaine
Acheteur – Buyer

“Hey Charlie just thought I would tell you what we have done with your splitter. Because we run a tree service we come across all kinds and sizes of wood. We have split everything from red and white elm, sycamore, locust, huge chunks of mulberry, crotched pieces of locust, and 6 ft across chunks of cottonwood and everything in between.

We split pieces that we would never have considered before due to the huge physical size and also due to the severe crotches. What I just described to you used to go to the ditch. And you felt like mission accomplished getting them to the ditch after wrestling them out of someones back yard and finally on to the trailer.

I knew for years we were throwing a tremendous amount of good wood away but it just wasnt worth the time and energy spent ripping a big chunk with a chain saw just to reduce the size to manageable pieces to next put on the conventional splitter and fight them some more. This is so much easier and so much faster. With splitting monster pieces I have found that it works best to work around the chunk and gradually work your way in. Similar to peeling an orange. You weaken the chunk by working around the outside.

Thanks for being so creative and designing the superior log splitter! I can only imagine how many tries and modifications it took to perfect the unit, but it works well!”

Monty – Adel Tree Co Adel Iowa

“Hey Charlie

Just wanted to let you know the splitter is working perfectly and works just as advertised.   Awesome application on a skid steer.

Thanks ”

Daryl

“Hey Handsfree Guys … please add us to your dealer page for Wisconsin.

Very happy with our new two hose unit … works great!”

“My tree care firm is 52 yrs old this year and we are geared to handle most anything, we split our firewood with a blockbuster wood proccessor, which is a great tool until diameter of logs exceed 20″, now lets face it guys in the tree care industry 70% of our wood product exceeds 20″dia and we are forced to “hand cut” and use a conventional splitter, no longer friends not with the hands free from US Pride products!!

This tool will split most species of whole log 8-10′ and even longer into quarters or less thereby makeing all those previously unmanagable pieces usable and sellable product !! how many nasty chunks, unions (crotches or forks) do you have laying around or have you tossed into the landfill? no more ,none here ! i have split logs 4 and 5 ft diameter and 10 ft long in minutes and then run through the processor or even the chipper if mulch is your gig.

The tech support i have recieved from the team at US Pride is remarkable, i have not only gained an irreplaceable tool but a great friend in the team at us pride the only problem i have with my hands free is that everyone wants to borrow it ! the beauty is that as fairly priced as it is you can own one very reasonably!!

Thanks U.S Pride !!”

Chris

Certified Arborist # WI-0540

Team LP Tree Service

Janesville Wis

“We bought our Log Splitter in 2008 and have used it on various size of logs. We cut our own wood for our Home Wood Burning System and have found the splitter to be both a back and time saver. We have not found a log yet that we have had any trouble splitting.

We would highly recommend the Hands Free Log Splitter to others that process wood for their own use or for others.”

Corey and Dianne Behnke and Jim and Florence Behnke

“Thanks for the splitter and the suggestions about how to approach a log. Starting about 3-4″ from the end of the log it started right in with no trouble, and the log gave up before the motor did. I haven’t gotten it stuck since.

The splitter looks to be built to last, with very heavy gauge steel. It’s a simple design, but it can do things other splitters can’t. I have a tree service and naturally end up with a lot of trunk wood that can be a disposal issue. Not many people want 4′ diameter wood. Now I can break down the trunks into manageable pieces to be split into useable firewood. The Hands Free Log Splitter takes the lifting out of the process, and my hands don’t miss swinging a maul at all. Plus I like to be able to split longer pieces from time to time.”

Peter Kaseman-Wold, ISA Certified Arborist

Goodland Tree Works, Inc.

Madison, WI 53711
www.goodlandtreeworks.com

By Michele DeLong Lyksett: Central St Croix News
Published Thursday, July 19, 2007

According to his wife, Charlie VanDusartz is full of ideas – lots of them. One of those ideas has officially earned him the title of “inventor.” In April, VanDusartz received a patent for the “Hands Free Log Splitter,” and this weekend at the St. Croix County Fair he will be presenting it to the public.

“I’ve been cutting wood since I was 10 years old,” VanDusartz said. “I’ve always split by hand with a maul. I love doing it that way, but I got too old for that. I don’t like those hydraulic splitters – they just don’t make sense to me. I just got thinking ‘There’s got to be a better way.’”

VanDusartz built a prototype of his “better way” a couple years ago and began using it. Later, with the help of Roberts’ Steve Nelson and Hancock Steel, he built a heavy duty version that had “all the bugs worked out of it.”

“My catch phrase is ‘It’s so easy you could split logs in a tux’,” VanDusartz said of his invention, a pointed metal cone that attaches to a skid steer. (He said he is getting a tux, but won’t be wearing it at the fair this weekend.) “You can split all the wood you need to split for the winter in one day because you don’t get tired.”
VanDusartz and his wife, Joni, have owned and operated VanDusartz Quality Woodworking, a custom cabinetry business, on 110th Avenue between Hammond and New Richmond for 12 years. They heat their shop and spray booth with wood, using about 10 full cords per year – “That’s a lot of wood!”

“The beauty about using this is you can do it alone. You don’t need any help,” VanDusartz said. “If it’s hot outside you can sit in your skid steer with the AC on and stay comfortable. If it’s cold outside, turn on the heater.”

Just because he got his patent (a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention) doesn’t mean VanDusartz has stopped coming up with ideas – especially ideas to add onto his invention. “I’m working on accessories to go with it,” he said. “It’s also a posthole auger – it’s got an attachment for that. Now I’m working on a fence spooler attachment.”

“We had many sleepless nights because there’s always something new,” Charlie’s wife Joni said. “I’d wake up and ask him ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I gotta check this out,’ he’d say. “He always had tons of ideas. I got him a book about how to patent because I was like ‘You need to have this book. You have to have a book.’”

VanDusartz said he has several Hands Free LogSplitters ready to sell. He is promoting his product to implement dealers and plans to hit rental businesses as well.

It is also featured on his new company’s website: www.usprideproducts.com “I just had to fi nd somewhere for people to see it. I thought ‘I’ll try it at fairs to see what the reaction is.”

As for future inventions, VanDusartz said he has some ideas up his sleeve. “I suppose I’ll probably patent something else down the road,” he said. “It’s kind of fun. We’ll see how this one takes off first.”