Although they are probably considered toys by the 20ton guys, I was surprised when the wife brought home a Ryobi 4T electric splitter to help me with a tendonitis type elbow problem from spitting big stuff lately. I used it to split a few normal 16-18" long 12" diameter chunks of sugar maple and it did it no prob, both dry and green. After some breakin runs I threw in some knarly dry pieces (from near the base of the tree or at a crotch) that I've been using as chopping blocks as my maul would just bounce off them. It split those without a strain too. I've managed to split even bigger stuff and only had it stall a couple times, but, after popping the log off the splitter and repositioning it, I haven't had anything that it would not split after retrying. Even 24" long and 20" in diameter. Of course the only holdback would be the availability of electricity, but if you only need a household unit, are not in the business, its a good buy for around $250-300. I changed the hydraulic oil in it after an hr of use to flush out any machining debris and the probably cheapo asian oil, but it was clean. (just a habit I do with any new mechanical thing) I tried to use it with my 4800watt generator but it would trip the 15amp breakers.