Thinking about buying a super splitter...

[iamspt]

I'd like to hear from the guys that own super splitters and let me know what you think of them for production work....say under 30 cords a year.

Are they reliable? Will it out perform / underperform a timberwolf with a 4 way wedge (amount of wood split in same amount of time)

Let me know what you think!

 

[triptester]

Let me start by saying that I own neither the Super Split or the Timberwolf.

Yes the Super Split has a fast cycle time, 2 seconds, but if you have a 12" round that you want to split into 4 equal pieces you have handle and resplit the wood 3 times. 6 seconds machine cycle time and if you are real fast another 3 seconds to reposition the wood for secondary splits, total time 9 seconds.

Timberwolf TW-5 FC , 6 second cycle time, 4-way wedge. 12" round ,4 equal splits , one cycle, total time 6 seconds with 1/3 the operator effort.

Super Split is a fast machine but can the operator keep up the pace over an extended time period. Machine is narrow and top heavy towing could be ruff.
Limited options , no log lift, no multi-split wedge.

 

[STLfirewood]

I have a super splitter and I think I would take it over the timberwolfe. I have never used a timber wolfe 5 or 6. Here is my take the super splitter is fast and very cheap compared to the wolfe. How much of your wood is a perfect 12inches? what about 8 inch wood. You will have a hard time wearing out a super splitter. You might have to replace the engine but the drive set lasts a long time(thousands of cords). Plus they use very little fuel. A lot of it would depend on what kind of wood you are going to be cutting.

Scott

 

[046]

if you've got the budget and are doing production work.
hard to go wrong with timberwolf!

for us folks splitting under 10 cords a year. high recommendations for a 35ton Huskee (speeco) with 12.5hp, 5in ram. slow cycle times of 15second range is main drawback. busts through 3ft+ rounds with ease.

super solid with zero negative feedback so far. definitely one of the best buys around for $1,600. four way wedges are questionable, if you are splitting inconsistent wood sizes and not doing production work.

 

[iamspt]

Most of what I split is in the 12-24 inch range...

 

[CharlieG]

I've got the Iron and Oak 30 ton (horizontal only), $2039 delivered. Slower than the Super Splitter, but has split very large rounds without complaint .

 

[gage52]

i had a tw-5. i bought a ss heavy duty used it for under 10 hours and sold my tw-5. if your splitting stuff under 24 inches the ss is the way to go!

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

Definatly get a supersplit! I bought one three months ago and love it. Even if it might take a little longer to split a piece into four equal pieces, a little practice can fix that. I know for a fact I can split wood faster then any other splitter out there, including timberwolves with four way wedges. If anyone objects to this, bring your splitter and wallet, and we'll have a split off.

 

[Philobite]

I'm on the west coast and have about 60 acres of redwood timber in an NTMP I manage. There is an overburden of tanoak and our forester wants us to thin down the tanoak quite a bit to provide more light to the redwoods. So this puts me in the position of selling perhaps 15-25 cords of tanoak a year.

The logs are anywhere from 3" up to 24" in diameter and generally 16" length.

The Super Splitter has caught my attention, and I have a few questions.

1. Tanoak is fairly straight grained and easy to split when green, but is a bit stringy. When using the hydraulic splitter it is sometimes necessary to sort of pry the pieces apart after the split. I'm wondering how the Super Splitter approach would work on this. The splitter blade seems a bit short.

Along these lines, have you tried both green and dry wood splitting?

2. Has anyone worked out any kind of feed table, lift, or other system so you're not having to lift the rounds up to the Super Splitter?

3. Is the electric motor as effective as the gas motor?

4. What happens if the end is not bucked at 90 degrees, but bucked crooked?

Thanks in advance, Eric

 

[STLfirewood]

I'm on the west coast and have about 60 acres of redwood timber in an NTMP I manage. There is an overburden of tanoak and our forester wants us to thin down the tanoak quite a bit to provide more light to the redwoods. So this puts me in the position of selling perhaps 15-25 cords of tanoak a year.

The logs are anywhere from 3" up to 24" in diameter and generally 16" length.

The Super Splitter has caught my attention, and I have a few questions.

1. Tanoak is fairly straight grained and easy to split when green, but is a bit stringy. When using the hydraulic splitter it is sometimes necessary to sort of pry the pieces apart after the split. I'm wondering how the Super Splitter approach would work on this. The splitter blade seems a bit short.

Stringy is not an issue because the SS has more of a cutting action the a splitting action. Slice through one side and if you need flip it and hit the other side. I have to do this sometimes with ash elm etc. I always have a hatchet around also in case I get a hanger.

Along these lines, have you tried both green and dry wood splitting?

Yes both green and dry split fine with a SS I have not had a problem with either.


2. Has anyone worked out any kind of feed table, lift, or other system so you're not having to lift the rounds up to the Super Splitter?

You couldn't run a lift off of the super splitter flywheels easily. If they are that big I bust them with a maul or 1/4 with a chainsaw. I also have a cheap hydraulic splitter to 1/4 with if I need. Feed table to could gravity I guess.


3. Is the electric motor as effective as the gas motor?

I have the 6.5 Robin on mine works great. I have not tried a electric because I don't keep the splitter in a fixed place. If it worked that would be great I hate all engine noise.

4. What happens if the end is not bucked at 90 degrees, but bucked crooked?

This can sometimes be an issue. This is what I mean when I say you need to learn to read the wood. You can learn how to deal with it. It will do it but you have to place the wood with the angle going up.

For what you described you'll be doing I think a super splitter will work great for you. There is a reason you see very few for sale used. People keep them because they have almost zero maintenance. Only thing you have to service is the small engine. No lines,filters,valves,hoses,cylinders, etc. Very simple,very fast,pretty cheap.


Thanks in advance, Eric

Scott

 

[Philobite]

Scott,

Thanks a million! I spoke to Paul at Super Splitter this AM and the only downside for me being on the Far Left Coast is that shipping would be around $500, as it's all direct factory sales so no local dealer.

I also spoke to him about the electric motor. He says it, of course, has less "grunt" for splitting gnarly stuff compared to the gas engine, but for most splitting it's just fine as it's the flywheel action that you're using. I like the idea of quiet splitting!

He suggested if I want flexibility I could get the gas engine model, pick up a used electric motor locally and purchase the adapter plate, pulley and belt from SS for around $70. That way I could swap between electric and gas from time to time. I think this would be great as it would enable me to split without disturbing neighbors (nearest is a couple hundred yards, but on still days the engine could be heard by them, as well as taking the unit into the woods and splitting on gas power.

One other thing he said is that the trailerable unit has a work surface that is uncomfortably low, whereas the regular unit has a higher work surface and is much better for production (but is too top-heavy for highway hauling). So to haul the unit around our property I'd need to mfg my own goose-neck with a hitch. No prob.

 

[woodrat51]

For what it's worth--. I have a Brute/Timberwolf TW3HD with 6 way wedge on my tractor and love it (high production& low noise. That being said-- if I had to drop to one splitter, it would be my other one--a Super Split that I changed to an electric motor to get rid of the noise.
This machine is 20-25 years old and in all probability will still be working fine in another 25. My son would “take it of my hands” anytime. My point is that with any wood up to 16”, I could probably run “head to head “ with someone operating my tractor because of the cycle time factor. The Super Split has about a 2 second cycle-- I use a pulp hook to grab & position (and reposition) the pieces, so basically I can get six splits off a round in the same time my tractor with the six way wedge completes its cycle!
With the "production table", the bending is pretty much eliminated.
Most all splitters are lousy for towing on the road ( little or no suspension-too much bouncing around). I seldom take mine out of the yard- when I do, I run it up into the back of the truck on ramps.
Do you get enough large wood to justify the investment in the TW5?? If you do (and/or you're thinking about doing firewood as a business) get the TW5-- you'll never regret it!
But if you don't really need the "firepower" of the TW5, the Supersplits are the best splitters out there for the average person. I have a TW3HD (pto mount) as well as a Supersplit-- they're both first class pieces of equipment. Just depends on your needs.
BTW-- I have a logger friend who split literally mountains of wood using a Supersplit til he "upgraded" to an 80K processor!
Over the years, both of my machines have split many hundreds of cords of wood. Both of them are great machines!

--Best wishes-Woodrat51

 

[Philobite]

Woodrat,

Thanks a bunch for your helpful info. While there are some tanoaks on our place that are 24", I'd say the average round I'd be splitting is 7-12". (So a lot are just split once, in half and those one or two splits really would go fast on the SS). My second choice (because of price) would be the TW5, or the TW5-F-C, with the log lift, but that's over $5k I think. Nice machines though!

I have a generic 11 ton splitter I can use for the odd really large round. I'm just thinking that the Super Splitter would be only 5/8ths the price of the TW5, quick at exactly the size and kind of round I'll be splitting, and very low maintenance and operating cost. And that electric motor idea seems like a silent winner. I could operate it nearer the house and family and not feel like I'm in an earmuff tunnel, if you know what I mean.

In any case I am appreciating all the input and advice here.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

I think the supersplit's power is very underrated. I have never seen a piece it can't go through. Sure, it might take two hits to get some of the bigger stuff, but most of the time when you have to hit it twice is because the wedge gets caught in the cross-grain, so your cutting more then splitting it. Other then that, for it's price comapared to most hydraulic splitters, I think you will be happy having a superwsplit in your situation. Good luck!

 

[Philobite]

A good friend came by to tell me he's already lining up customers for seasoned tanoak for me. This thing's getting out of hand!

I'm becoming encouraged by the prospects for upping my target to 30-50 cords. I can skid the logs with the D7, and use the 950 Wheel loader to deck, pull and hold logs up to cut with the chainsaw, and I can shove split stacks around and use the loader to grab split stacks to drop into the delivery truck. Sort of brute-force and not as elegant as a conveyor, but it works.

I'm also encouraged by what thinning the tanoak has already done for the redwood growth, just since summer '07. Check out this redwood. It's put on 15 feet just since then.

I think the Super Splitter is the way to go. I'm deciding on which model at the moment. Thanks everyone for the input.

It's kind of exciting, actually.

 

[abohac]

iamstp

I bought a TW6 and have now split 121 face cords with it this winter. I bought a bunch of very large stuff (nothing under 2 ft and up to 4 ft). I bought the TW6 because it looked a little more rugged than the other ones I looked at. I can't comment like the other guys because I have only ever used the homemade splitter I made when I was a kid. My homemade one was great with the exception of the log lift. The log lift is great! The TW6 splits pretty well and is fast. I like the way the valve works (set it in motion and get another piece of wood) but you can stick the damn thing on some nasty stuff so you still have to use some common sense.'ve been happy with the purchase but man- get your checkbook out! I also looked at the SS and it looked like a pretty good machine, but if I remember, it didn't have a log lift. In my opinion if you buy a splitter without a lift you are making a mistake.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

abohac, you don't have to have a log lift to be productive. Obviously in your situation, I would like to have one too. However, he said his rounds are smaller, 7-15" or something. I usually split about the same size, with the biggest getting up to 20" red oak. Every once in a while I might get some up to 35", which does stink. That's when its a two man operation to get it up. I'd like to fabricate some lift for my supersplit that might be removeable so I can take it off when I'm splitting the smaller stuff. Just a thought

 

[triptester]

For the super split owners or the hydraulic splitter owners that would like to have a log lift. Harbor Freight has hydraulic lift tables that will lift 770 pounds and raise to about 4 feet they normally sell for about $250 were recently on sale for 40% off.

 

[PB]

abohac, you don't have to have a log lift to be productive. Obviously in your situation, I would like to have one too. However, he said his rounds are smaller, 7-15" or something. I usually split about the same size, with the biggest getting up to 20" red oak. Every once in a while I might get some up to 35", which does stink. That's when its a two man operation to get it up. I'd like to fabricate some lift for my supersplit that might be removeable so I can take it off when I'm splitting the smaller stuff. Just a thought

I seen a Super Split in action at the common ground fair. It looks fast, but it didn't seem substantial enough. I guess I am used to the traditional hydraulic splitters.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

Plant Biologist, you must be from my area if you saw that at the common ground fair. What town are you in? Let me tell you though, I cut 50 cord a year on one, and it holds up just fine.