Which Log Splitter to buy?
- Thread starter Redbox02
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Rio_Grande
ArboristSite Operative
Thanks, Found it when I read on down the list.
http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/180355.htm
http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/180355.htm
I have a Huskee 22 ton vertical/horizontal splitter with a Honda motor and like it fairly well though it’s the first and only big splitter I have owned or used. I did get a DR electric splitter but it was too small for the big stuff so I sent it back. I would like to have a small electric one for splitting kindling and small chunk wood. And with electric I could do it indoors.
I found that if I cut the big heavy rounds in half or quarters and use a dolly to wheel them to the splitter it’s much easier. I put it in the vertical and I use an old piece of plywood and lay it down on top of the part that’s on the ground. When I roll up with the dolly and drop the half round on the plywood it lands on top of the metal plate on the bottom so I don’t have to lift it. The dolly helps a lot! Once I get them split to a size I can handle I flip it to the horizontal and finish up.
I only had one problem with the splitter, the carburetor. It ran fine the first year, and befor I stored it away I ran the carb dry and removed all the gas so it wouldn’t gum up.
That didn’t work so I paid $70. to have the carb rebuilt. It ran fine the next year and I used Stabil in the fuel instead of running it dry. That didn’t work ether.lol this time I asked about a new carb for it and it was only $40.00 so I put it on myself and it’s ran fine ever since. Could be it was a bad carb from the start though it did run fine for a while.
Pecan wood will bog it down quite a bit but I think the pump may be getting weak. After all I have only split about 100 cords with it so I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
Dennis
I found that if I cut the big heavy rounds in half or quarters and use a dolly to wheel them to the splitter it’s much easier. I put it in the vertical and I use an old piece of plywood and lay it down on top of the part that’s on the ground. When I roll up with the dolly and drop the half round on the plywood it lands on top of the metal plate on the bottom so I don’t have to lift it. The dolly helps a lot! Once I get them split to a size I can handle I flip it to the horizontal and finish up.
I only had one problem with the splitter, the carburetor. It ran fine the first year, and befor I stored it away I ran the carb dry and removed all the gas so it wouldn’t gum up.
That didn’t work so I paid $70. to have the carb rebuilt. It ran fine the next year and I used Stabil in the fuel instead of running it dry. That didn’t work ether.lol this time I asked about a new carb for it and it was only $40.00 so I put it on myself and it’s ran fine ever since. Could be it was a bad carb from the start though it did run fine for a while.
Pecan wood will bog it down quite a bit but I think the pump may be getting weak. After all I have only split about 100 cords with it so I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
Dennis
beerman6
Addicted to ArboristSite
I know I've lost more than that to chiropractors and missing work.
sunfish
Fish Head
My brother has a farm store V/H hydro, 24 ton. He was having trouble splitting some largish elm rounds. So I grabbed my largest saw and started noodling, I was making two cuts to his one cycle time. He was goin to haul the wood off, but it's now in his firewood stacks. :msp_smile:
As far as which splitter.
I went with the Super Split J model and could not be happier! Great machine!
Just a bit over $2500 shipped.
As far as which splitter.
I went with the Super Split J model and could not be happier! Great machine!
Just a bit over $2500 shipped.
chiefs584ever
ArboristSite Operative
I word. Timberwolf.
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4 cords of wood ? really ? over the life of the splitter you would rather save $800 and lift logs or bend over and roll them up to a verticle.
you must have an excellent health care plan. More power to ya. As far as my money goes you can't do better then a log lift and a table. Production is way more important then price.
MATTYB11
ArboristSite Operative
Timberwolf
I purchased an entry level timberwolf (TW-p1) about five years ago. I have have had nothing but good luck with the machine sine. I have probably split about six cords a year on average. The machine does not split vertically, so I ordered the manually activated log lift after a few months. I also added the four way wedge for the 12"-18" straight grained stuff.
I purchased an entry level timberwolf (TW-p1) about five years ago. I have have had nothing but good luck with the machine sine. I have probably split about six cords a year on average. The machine does not split vertically, so I ordered the manually activated log lift after a few months. I also added the four way wedge for the 12"-18" straight grained stuff.
EXCALIBER
ArboristSite Guru
I guess I am going to be the odd one out again, but hey at least I am consistent. I would suggest you go to a scrap metal place and pick up a nice big I beam ($100), and some other metal to make a splitter. Stop by a tractor parts place and you should be able to pick up a 5 or 6 inch good non leaking cylinder for under $100. Find a design that you like and either build one yourself or have a welding shop fab you one up. You will be way under that $2500 budget, and will have a machine that will leave the super splits in the dust. Guess I don't understand why everyone is so dang in love with the kinetic splitters. They are fine in straight grained easy to split wood, however do not work well on stringy softwood, or hard to split wood which is what I though a splitter was for. They do have a fast cycle time, however with no log lift I will be dammed if I am going to carry piece after piece to the splitter unless you are splitting baby wood with it. You can also build your splitter with a 6 or 8 way split and do one piece every cycle, so one full round processed every 8-10 seconds, there is no way you can do that with the ss or dr or whatever kinetic splitter there is. Plus you only position the wood one time where on a kinetic you are constantly grabbing the wood and repositioning it, pain in the ass if you ask me. Just some ideas
Couple of questions so us Kinetic junkies can better understand your hydro crush...
have you ever tried to run a 6way on anything other then completely straight grained hardwood?
and what is a "stringy softwood" ...
oh and if you're into rollin yer own..you can build a flywheel splitter too and save all that money you're gonna waste on hydro fluid .... hehe.
John R
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I have a 22 ton Speeco from Tractor Supply that splits anything I throw at it.
It will split in vertical or horizontal, for $1000.00 you can't go wrong.
This is my 6th year with it, never any problems at all.
Unless your going to split wood for a living, it'll do you very well.
It will split in vertical or horizontal, for $1000.00 you can't go wrong.
This is my 6th year with it, never any problems at all.
Unless your going to split wood for a living, it'll do you very well.
EXCALIBER
ArboristSite Guru
Ok lets just start with the basics. There is no log lift for the kinetics, hence you have to manually lift log after log onto the table to split. Like I said I don't know what size rounds you guys usually split but most of my stuff is 20" to 30" on average. I would say that is what most people I know have to work with. Now considering that we have only cottonwood, elm, and pine I will use the first two to demonstrate. I cut my wood to 16" pieces, now that would make a piece of cottonwood that is 20" in diameter 142.6 lbs to lift on the table all day long. Now a 30" dia piece would be 320 lbs, a 36" dia piece 461.3 lbs. Now a piece of elm 30" dia would be 353.3 lbs. Please by all means come lift all that onto your little kinetic table (if it doesn't break it or flip it over) and then have to reposition the pieces about 8 or 9 times on that table each, and you will understand why I prefer to steer clear of them. Like I said depending on what people split it may be ok. If all you split is straight grained hardwood that is a max dia of 16-18 inches you may get by with it. However I live in the real world and wood comes in all sizes not just straight little pieces. Actually last year I split a huge elm tree for a client with my vertical splitter that the trunk was over 4' dia for about 15 feet, good luck splitting that with a kinetic.
I do like the idea of kinetic splitters as far as the cycle time, less gas used, ect, however for it to be the only splitter someone has and not be able to split most any wood that comes there way, I don't understand why you would have one. Second you can buy a swisher like mine for about $1000 and split everything. So why would you pay $2500 for a kinetic? Now you could also put a slip on 4 way wedge on mine and split that straight grained stuff faster than you can with a kinetic. If a kinetic has a 2 second cycle time and say 1 second to reposition the wood, then 3 seconds per split, if you split a piece 4 times (into quarters) you will spend 12 seconds splitting at best with a kinetic. You can do those same 4 spits with a hydraulic 4 way wedge in 7-10 seconds depending on the splitter cycle time. That's faster and $1500 cheaper. Now imagine a six or eight way split on a hydro, one 20"-30" round processed every 7-10 seconds. Compare that to 24 seconds it would take you to do it on a kinetic.
Now for your second question what is stringy softwood, that would be cottonwood. You must not have ever split any of it or you would understand. It can swallow that little 6" wedge on a kinetic and never even split the grains, rather just absorb the wedge inside the round because the wood is so soft and stringy. Then you would have to fight the round off the wedge to try it from the other side that didn't split. We do not have hardwoods around here, but after watching videos of people splitting oak, which is what everyone wants to show getting split on there splitters as if it were a challenge, I would say cottonwood is about 10 times harder to split than oak is.
Like I said they are a good idea but not for a person's only splitter unless you get little easy to split wood. The idea is good just needs to be finished and the price to drop by about $1500 bucks to compete. JMHO
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Flywheel splitters:
Log lift: it just takes some lateral thinking - look at what the Logrite guys have done with a capstan winch.
Big rounds: someone is going to come out with a 'don't mess with me' vertical flywheel splitter with a rotatable star wedge built into and under the table so the ram drives that round down through the table where the splits drop onto a conveyor. Someone, somewhere, has hoarded and balanced some super heavy flywheels in a workshop full of creative inventiveness and is cooking that up. I can feel it in my bones.
Log lift: it just takes some lateral thinking - look at what the Logrite guys have done with a capstan winch.
Big rounds: someone is going to come out with a 'don't mess with me' vertical flywheel splitter with a rotatable star wedge built into and under the table so the ram drives that round down through the table where the splits drop onto a conveyor. Someone, somewhere, has hoarded and balanced some super heavy flywheels in a workshop full of creative inventiveness and is cooking that up. I can feel it in my bones.
Hedgerow
HACK
Here's a little straight grained soft wood called Hedge for ya...:hmm3grin2orange:
[video=youtube;IIjQd-l1F4A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIjQd-l1F4A[/video]
Hedgerow
HACK
Good grief, you got a 7900!!! Noodle those 30" rounds!
sunfish
Fish Head
I can vouch for the Super Split, I was there. Man that was some nasty wood! :msp_biggrin:
Right on man! I noodle what I can't lift. Used to use a maul...
Hedgerow
HACK
Oh I forgot... Here's some Elm...
Just sayin...
[video=youtube;skG1n3jdj_k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skG1n3jdj_k[/video]
Just sayin...
[video=youtube;skG1n3jdj_k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skG1n3jdj_k[/video]
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