Removing stubborn metal fence posts with wood splitter

Metal fence posts that have been embedded into the ground can be extremely hard to remove. In the past, I have tried with muscle power (no result, except back pain), sledge hammers (very hard to hit a sledge with an upward motion, car jacks (minimal result, usually the fence post bends in an unpredictable fashion).

So, I got to thinking, looked around in the garage for some object, some tool to use to remove the one post still in the front yard, having long ago fulfilled its useful purpose. Then my eye struck my 10 ton manual hydraulic wood splitter, and thought about the possibilities. On a limb (pun intended), I decided to drag it outside and give it a whirl. I placed the wood splitter in the upright (storage) position, wrapped a chain around the base of the post, looped it through the welded on U clamp on the top of the piston and started cranking. It worked, literally no sweat. One advantage over the car jack is that the top of the wood splitter I beam (the part with the cutting edge) prevents the fence post from bending over.

This is what it looked like:

 

As you can see, the splitter sits on a piece of 2x10, to prevent it from sinking into the ground.

Here’s the video:

Alternate use for wood splitter!