Yeah, for some reason the Italians have some safety standard that says the ram can only come so close to the wedge; I guess they don't want fingers cut off.
Man, this is ELM we are splitting here...a splitting maul is out of the question. because there is hardly any grain! Knots are no issue for this splitter, any more than they would be for any similarly-rated-tonnage splitter I agree that in clear wood, a maul is better...in fact, I heat with wood, and I split all my own wood with a maul, and I enjoy splitting wood immensely. But as I age, I can see one of these in my future...
