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I think that the general concept here, aside from the 'build it from junk for nothing', is that the all-mechanical splitter designs have substantially faster cycle times than a hydraulic system. That's not a bad thing.
Don't think for even a MOMENT that a hydraulic splitter isn't dangerous. The simple fact that you're splitting wood, means that forces are in play that are of lethal magnitude. Even slinging a maul, or sledgehammering a wedge can get you hurt or killed. There is no such thing as 'intrinsically safe' work.
Let's say you want to make the reciprocating splitter 'more' safe... give it some method of maintaining it's spinning inertia, while at the same time, being able to 'trigger' it... this is entirely possible. This is how inertial trip-hammers work. Wheel spins... crank doesn't. once the trigger has been pulled, a pawl engages the crank, and spins it ONE REVOLUTION, and in that last 90-degrees, resets the sear of the trigger. Only 'safety' required, is a really hefty sear... and with enough flywheel inertia, that PTO shaft and tractor can be set aside in lieu of a roto-tiller engine belt-driving a rubber tire against the wheel.
The HARDest fact, however, is that the bailer's crank and ram were designed to mash HAY, not wood. There's substantially higher shock force in mashing wood across a wedge... I wouldn't expect the reduction gear, or the journal, crank, and rod to be strong enough to take that punishment over-and-over again, for a long period of time... particularly not with a stout hardwood... and I'd expect you to need a fist-full'a shear pins if you had some knotty oak.
But from a pure mathematics standpoint, figure the energy of a 40T hydraulic splitter pushing a piece of wood say... 3" over a wedge. Now figure the energy of a 16lb splitting maul being swung, and the kinetic energy being disspated over 3" of impact... then compare the linear load of that ram, and the torque required to yield equivalent forces, and you'll see that the crank, when crossing full-open, has the capacity to develop incredible (by comparison) force. As the stroke crosses 90 degrees (straight up), the ram's speed reaches maximum, and as the stroke reaches full length, the ram's speed comes to an absolute stop. The wood's splitting force is maximum at the moment the ram pushes the wood against wedge. Force is extremely high for only a fraction of wheel rotation... once split, the wood gives up rapidly. In this light, geometry is EVERYTHING.
The concept of mechanical splitting isn't bad... nor is hydraulic... in fact, NONE of 'em are 'bad'. It's just that some METHODS, and the engineering decisions made, lend to somewhat scary situations. It ain't like there ain't other really dangerous things on the farm, eh?
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