Super Split vs Timberwolf TW5

[Sawyer Rob]

Anyone watch them "side by side" at the "Firewood Shootout" this weekend?

They both had the same amount of wood of about the same type and size......staged right by the splitters, and both had two guys running them...

As I've been saying for a long time, put a table grate and 4 or 6 way wedge on the TW5 and it will go through "the kind of wood that most of us burn", quite a bit faster than a SS...

They both had a few pieces of "tougher wood" (crotches) and those pieces went right through the TW, while the SS had to bam them a few times...

Another thing I noticed... The SS operator was looking the wood over and turning it one way or the other, staging it for easier splitting, before the contest started. The TW5 operator just took them and split them as they lay in the stack...

Here's what the SS had left, when the TW5 was done,

I shot a vid, but I don't think I have a fast enough wi fi to post it...

They put on a good show!

The whole show was really GREAT, with MUCH better weather than at the last two years, shows...

Anyone else watch the shootout??

SR

 

[Hddnis]

Sorry, I don't buy what you're shoveling. I've run the TW6 and SS side by side and there is no way the TW wins in average wood.

You'd really hope a TW5 could at least keep up though since they cost three times as much and burn four times the fuel.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Thanks for posting SR.
What would be nice to see is the splits produced by each machine, and the splitter trash. Nasty pieces really slow an SS down, but I think you also get more stackable wood from a nasty round also, vs the TW.
Another thing is using two people. Can't tell from the photo but I bet the second guy on the TW is on the opposite side of the splitter from the operator, as he should be, placing rounds on the horizontal log lift or beam. Two guys on the same side doesn't make sense to me for either splitter, if in fact that's what seems to be in the photo.
At the end of the day, pulling pieces back on the SS table to resplit is work on top of work that you don't do as much of with a four-way. But it is higher, and more comfortable. (Now SR three point TW may be just as high as an SS. You do have a nice set up with a dedicated tractor.)

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Sorry, I don't buy what you're shoveling. I've run the TW6 and SS side by side and there is no way the TW wins in average wood.

You'd really hope a TW5 could at least keep up though since they cost three times as much and burn four times the fuel.

I'm not shoveling anything, I just posted what I (along with hundreds of others) saw happen at the shootout... YOU may not like the results, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen!

SR

 

[NSMaple1]

I see one guy working at the SS and one guy watching.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Thanks for posting SR.
What would be nice to see is the splits produced by each machine, and the splitter trash. Nasty pieces really slow an SS down, but I think you also get more stackable wood from a nasty round also, vs the TW.
Another thing is using two people. Can't tell from the photo but I bet the second guy on the TW is on the opposite side of the splitter from the operator, as he should be, placing rounds on the horizontal log lift or beam. Two guys on the same side doesn't make sense to me for either splitter, if in fact that's what seems to be in the photo.
At the end of the day, pulling pieces back on the SS table to resplit is work on top of work that you don't do as much of with a four-way. But it is higher, and more comfortable. (Now SR three point TW may be just as high as an SS. You do have a nice set up with a dedicated tractor.)

Thanks, I just came in for lunch, we (my wife and me) were out splitting a load of oak,

We love our splitter!

Anyway, in both cases, one guy was putting the rounds on the beam, (or handing rounds) the other was splitting... In the case of the SS, the guy had to wait for the operator to finish a round, before another could go on the beam...

It's a "timed" event, and the results will be published in the Sawmill and Woodlot magazine, Dec/Jan issue... EVERY splitter had it's own person timing and looking for cheaters, so it was fair to everyone.

They both started out with the same amount of wood, look at the TW's pile, then look at the SS pile... The TW was done in the pict. I posted, they were just cleaning the machine up...

SR

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Here's another pict., of the two in action,

SR

 

[c5rulz]

I'd like to see the Super Split munch on some stringy Hickory.

 

[jrider]

I would like to hear if the super split operator was more tired. Seems like you have to work harder to make splits fast with them.

 

[captjack]

Im sure the SS is a great machine - Im sure its faster if you have 1 ft diameter perfect rounds - I, and Im guessing a lot of us dont get those kinda trees I get what ever the tree service is cutting down - that being said - my tw5 will bust up some really nasty chunks of wood. The 3ft rounds that I use the log lift for would need to be noodled down with a saw just to pick up and place on the SS. I think both machines have strong points but for my application I lean toward my tw5.

 

[litefoot]

I'm curious why people choose a SS over a hydro splitter. Faster times for processing wood to sell? Just want to get the personal pile done faster? Made in America? Table height? Just want to be different? Lighter, easier to move around? All are good reasons in my book, but I'd like to hear what you say.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

I'm curious why people choose a SS over a hydro splitter. Faster times for processing wood to sell? Just want to get the personal pile done faster? Made in America? Table height? Just want to be different? Lighter, easier to move around? All are good reasons in my book, but I'd like to hear what you say.

Cost! Hydros, I'm talking the big ones, not the ones you get in a department store, are expensive. There's a lot of parts and it adds up quickly. If you want higher gpm pump, you have to get the parts rated for that flow, and they go up in price quickly.

 

[Guswhit]

I have both. I built a custom horizontal/vertical many years ago that I have continued to modify for my purposes until I got it exactly where I wanted it. My wood sales changed to a majority of bundles now. I have found that my production increased dramatically with the SS for the bundles and much less mess. Unless I get something above 24" in diameter I use the SS religiously, even for making large splits for my OWB. There are things that I want to change on the SS that I haven't done yet for my own personal preference when time allows, but it is nothing with the performance. I am currently supplying 3 campgrounds with bundles and am dealing with 3 more for possibilities for the coming years. My reservations with this of course are finding enough help/time to be a quality/timely supplier. I have access to unlimited wood so that is an issue. It took me a few days to change my thinking with how I split wood before my production was ramped up, mostly due to the fact that I was set in my ways. As with anything new, you have to be willing to review how you do things to achieve better results for your personal application. If I wasn't splitting for sales, I would never have sought out and purchased the SS. For the cost of personnel use only I feel that I might as well just have turned up the thermostat and burned gas.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I'm curious why people choose a SS over a hydro splitter.

Many of us now use both.
The SSHD gets my time. Simply more comfortable to use on the wood I'm splitting, which is generally 16" or less. Bigger stuff gets set aside for the TW log lift.
Check out the operators position for each machine in post #7.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

Many of us now use both.
The SSHD gets my time. Simply more comfortable to use on the wood I'm splitting, which is generally 16" or less. Bigger stuff gets set aside for the TW log lift.
Check out the operators position for each machine in post #7.

WOW that's really low! To the top of my slide plate it about 30-31", right at waist height, and that's comfortable. I'd hate that height on the TW, and so would my back.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I agree, that TW is too low, if it was mine, I'd raise it up to a more comfortable height that fit "me"...no big deal.

SR

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Many of us now use both.
The SSHD gets my time. Simply more comfortable to use on the wood I'm splitting, which is generally 16" or less. Bigger stuff gets set aside for the TW log lift.
Check out the operators position for each machine in post #7.

WOW that's really low!

When I said 16" I was referring to the diameter of the rounds, not the height of the splitter. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

When I said 16" I was referring to the diameter of the rounds, not the height of the splitter. Sorry for the confusion.

I was just looking at the pic, and well the TW looks like it's 16" from the ground.....about at knee height.

 

[sunfish]

I'm curious why people choose a SS over a hydro splitter. Faster times for processing wood to sell? Just want to get the personal pile done faster? Made in America? Table height? Just want to be different? Lighter, easier to move around? All are good reasons in my book, but I'd like to hear what you say.

All those reasons except don't care about being different. The SS is also quieter & uses a lot less gas.

 

[sunfish]

I'd like to see the Super Split munch on some stringy Hickory.

I've done a fair bit of stringy Hickory with the SS, no problem at all.