Getting a log splitter---what makes sense.

[Pruning@trunk]

How much wood would one have to split/sell to justify getting a more commercial grade splitter like the tw-5/tw-6 or a built-rite 11 or another splitter of similar quality and price?

Personal use per year is around 7-10 full cords.

If the kind of wood matters for this case, I would say 100% oak and in my area it runs $250-$350 a full cord delivered.

 

[nathon918]

i only split for myself, about the same amount as you, and i built my own splitter about the same size as the TW-6, have around 5g's into it,
more of a speed thing for me, as i like to just gather about a years worth of wood, then split it all at once (about 18 hrs.total) just spend a few hours after work for a week then im done for the year, then its out of the way, and if im not busy with side work i can just work on future wood.
id rather just have it done as fast as possible, than screwing around with a slow undersized splitter...
also if you just want it and can afford it, then theres all the justification you need...

 

[Hinerman]

A splitter like that is overkill for 7-10 cords per year; but if you want one and can afford it go for it---I would too. FWIW, I think a $1000.00 Huskee 22 ton (or something similar) would meet your needs IMO.

 

[zogger]

To answer your question, just ask yourself how many cords versus how fast you need your purchase price pay back. A year, ten years, what? When do you need that splitter to be paid back in sold cords, then just do the math there.

Payback on tools is way too subjective, depends on how fat your wallet is all the time, what you do with it, etc. Example, my fiskars supersplit original was paid back to me within a dozen swings. It was *real* fast and justified in my mind after just a couple three rounds split. Just the less wear and tear on my bod over the 8lb maul made it worth it.

So back to a high end splitter, do you just want it, or are you contemplating going into big firewood sales? Or some other reason, perhaps just to get your personal wood done much faster?[

 

[blades]

If you are going to be stacking it and working by your self speed of ram doesn't matter as you put it in the splitting stroke and get another round. even with a helper a standard 20 ton speeco can keep both of ya humping real good, and you could add a slip on 4-way wedge for the straight stuff. as above depends on your plans going forward.

 

[Bushmans]

Whatever makes sense is whatever helps you sleep at night.
Seriously what makes sense to me probably won't make sense to you or the guy your standing next to.
If your burning 8 cord a year and want to sell 8 cord a year?
I would say it's not too bad but it would take around 4 years to get your money out of it with wood sales.
Also the wood you are splitting right now will need a year or two minimum to season so add a few years onto the projected payoff date! That is a lot of money to sit on!

 

[spike60]

Always lot's of variables in these discussions. But between the lines, I read some conflicting thoughts in the OP's question. Sounds like you really want a heavy duty splitter for yourself more than you actually want to be in the firewood business. Are you are only thinking of selling wood to help pay for the splitter? Not sure this is a wise route to take. If you have the money for the splitter, then go ahead and buy it for your own use. If it's a stretch, then set your sites on something more affordable.

And like a couple others have said, the splitters you are considering are serious overkill for the amount of wood you are using. The 22ton Ariens is IMO the best inexpensive splitter out there @ $1199 and you'd be amazed at what it will split. Decent 12 second cycle time, but in my book it's more important to have the splitter match YOUR cycle time than having a splitter you can't keep up with. Plus I like to be able to move the smaller splitters without having to hook them up to a tractor or whatever.

 

[dave_dj1]

How much wood would one have to split/sell to justify getting a more commercial grade splitter like the tw-5/tw-6 or a built-rite 11 or another splitter of similar quality and price?

Personal use per year is around 7-10 full cords.

If the kind of wood matters for this case, I would say 100% oak and in my area it runs $250-$350 a full cord delivered.

If and that's a big if, money was no object then I would have one of those splitters even if I only split a half a cord per year. That being said, I think it all boils down to personal preference and affordability. I don't think there is such a thing as "too much splitter" but that's just me. Like has been stated already, get what you feel you need/want. I enjoy working up the wood but don't want to spend forever doing it. I built mine to suit my needs/wants.
good luck,
dave

 

[blades]

One of these days I gots to add some sort of lift arrangement to mine. I would call it a preventive medical device.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

To the OP,

You left out the most important piece of information. Realistically, what is your budget?

There are many splitters out there for all kinds of prices with all kinds of features. is the primary use going to be for your own stash? You say you may want to sell some wood, that in and of itself begs the question, do you have the time and wood supply to develop a 50 cord or more a year operation? Do you have delivery capability? These are all questions that only you can answer.

My suggestion for what it's worth would be to look at a Timberwolf TW-2 or a TW2-HD. At 10 cord or less the TW-P1 is a good choice as well. Both are commercial grade splitters and you can add production increasing features a la carte as you need them. $2000 to $5000 depending upon the add ons. Log lifts are expensive and tie up one one side of the machine so you can't work from either side, to some this is no biggie, to me it's a PIA.

Where is the tow hitch? The only place that makes sense is opposite the wedge. Having to move a 1/4 to 1 cord pile of splits just so you can hook up to move splitter is a waste of time. On the subject of towing, will it be towed over the road? If so a lot of makes and models are eliminated from consideration right out of the gate.

American makes some good quality introductory range commercial splitters as does Iron and Oak.

An intro level commercial splitter is easy to sell at next to no financial loss if you decide to upgrade or get out later. Selling a full blown commercial splitter will bring a lot of tire kickers and low ballers. You'll eventually get a serious buyer but it usually takes a lot longer and you'll probably have to negotiate in order to sell. For example, when I sold my TW-P1, it went within hours of my add on CL getting posted for $200 more than I paid for it.

Your choice, your money.

Take Care

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

As others have said, what is best for one guy won't be the best for another.

If you are a numbers cruncher, take the amount of you heat bill before using wood and figure out the gallons/ amount/ btus of fuel you bought for a year. Multiply that number by the cost of fuel today and see how many years of "savings" would take to pay for itself. Remember, you don't have your time and use of other things like fuel, vehicles, saws and such.

I've always taking the approach of using the money saved from using wood to getting things that make the process easier. My whole OWB system needed 3 1/2 years of heating to pay for itself but that's not including heating another 36' x 50' structure and hot water for the house. Sure, I didn't include my time but unless I'm doing sidejobs, I normally don't get paid for freetime stuff. Even if you start selling wood to just one person you could be paying your tools off.

There is all kinds of ways to justify things but it boils down to what you want, can afford, or are "allowed" to do

For me it was an in the future thing. Sure, I could swing a maul as I used to do that all the time, roll around 4 ft beech rounds, lean over all day long but time will catch up with you eventually. With my set up now I have basically prolonged the amount of time I can use wood as a heat source. I like to be able to do things by myself and feel like I'm getting something done so that is why I went the route I did.

For the money, the 5 inch splitter at TSC is a good deal for the average guy and would handle just about anything you could lift into it. I compare this to a vehicle purchase. People pay a lot more money for something because the want it and no really questions it. The resale on a vehicle and the amount lost would pay for a high end splitter pretty quick. All in what you want and justify it as I said earlier.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

To the OP, I was in your same position. For a long time I wanted a better splitter, more of the commercial grade, but that was a chunk of change to lay down for one. I had others tell it to get something smaller, for what I split each year (9-10 cord per year). Well this year, the timing was right, and the funds were there, and I jumped all over it and am glad I did. I only split for myself, but my dad splits, and well he's not getting any younger, and have told him if he needs to use it, he could. 2 main reasons for me, why I got what I did, was 1) having the log lift would save my back aches (I've had cryonic lower back pain, that nothing can be done to fix it, but I've learned to watch what and how hard I push myself) 2) time. I don't always have all the time to cut and split, so with this, I knew my time would be decreased, and I'd be more productive, I just didn't know how much. It turned out, it cut it in half. I used to spend all day cutting and loading the trailer, and then all day the next day splitting, and sometimes a day after that too. I'm not that old yet, in my 30's but I've learned to take care of my body so I don't have issues later on, and this was a big justification in my purchase of the splitter I got. Now I've had a few people ask me if I'd come take some stuff down and even offered to pay me, but they are close friends, that I'd do for nothing anyways.

Like others have said, if you have the money to spend, it's your call. I had it, and chose to get a big splitter (I got the Oak series from Bobby at www.allwoodlogsplitters.com) and I'm glad I did, as everything worked out for me. If might take a long time to pay for itself, but if you look at what medical conditions and wear n tear on your body, I think you'd see that it would pay for itself much faster that just in terms of splitting wood and making heat. Just my opinion.

Just be sure, if you do get one, be sure to post some pics of it and write up how you like it and so forth!

 

[blades]

Note: Iron and Oak is no longer an independent co. It has been sold to a conglomerate. There have been some comments about build quality of late. I do not have personal knowledge so can not confirm.

 

[muddstopper]

Several years ago I rounded up enough scrap to build a pretty decent splitter. I used it for a few years, got to needing other things so i traded it off. Each year i would rent one of those Speedco, Huskey, 24ton jobs but was never satisfied with them. None of them even came close in performance as the homemade job I built out of scrap. A couple of years ago, I decided to just build me another splitter. I had actually bought a cyl and control valve way back when I traded off my old splitter and just hadnt used them. I was scraping out some other equipment so I robbed a 25hp kholer engine. I found a vickers vane pump at the scrap yard for free. Scrounged up a little steel and when to cutting and welding. I knew what I liked about my old splitter and the one thing I hated most about the ones I rented, so I had a pretty good ideal of what I thought I wanted. Wedge height has always been my biggest complaint. I made my wedge 24" tall, straight blade, no spreader wings. I made a hydraulic adjustable 4 way that would lay against the Hbeam for single splits, but would raise 12in to do an even 4way split on a 24in dia round. I added a cable boom lift with a 20ft remote cord for dragging and loading those large rounds and save my back. My cylinder was a 4inx2in by 24' stroke. I split every kind of crotch and knottey round I stuck in it. I finally stuck it in a 32in dia white oak with about 4 knots in it. Had to beat it off the wedge with a sledge. Flipped the round over and it split it just fine. Upgrade time, bought a 5in bore cylinder and a 28gpm 2stage pump. Nothing I have ran across yet even slows it down, even when splitting 4 ways. So another upgrade, I added 2 more wings and made it a 6way split. Another problem quickly surfaced. While I dont have any problems making 6way splits with large dia rounds I endup with splits that are 5in thick and 12-16in wide. So I endup with a lot of resplits. Next upgrade is in the works. It will be a 8way wedge, but instead of just adding more wings to the blade i already have, I intend to make a completely new wedge. Still rounding up steel for that. Since my 6way blade just slips in the hbeam change out will be pretty easy, especially with the boom just swinging above it to do all the heavy lifting.

When chooseing a splitter, I guess it really depends on what you want and what you can afford. I usually want a lot more than I can afford. I dont sell firewood and can get by with a lot less machine than what I have built, but I am also a lot like the poster that wants to get his wood worked up and be done with it, not spend my wkends splitting wood. If one values their time, you can justify one of those commercial splitters pretty quickly just in time saved. Will they split wood any better than my homemade machine, well a split is a split, is a split. I can keep 5 people busy loading and stacking with what I now have, but the truth is when I'm splitting it usually just me, and maybe the wife helping, and we like to take lots of breaks. So yea I can get by with less machine, but I really dont want to.

 

[Pruning@trunk]

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

Here are some random thoughts and information:

-Building my own splitter is something I don't think I will do b/c after all is said and done I don't think I will have saved to much in the end and the time it takes to do it.

-Money is always a factor, but I like making one purchase on items. I understand a commercial grade splitter is over kill for personal use but I do have the time to sell some wood on the side and I do have a good supplier of wood where I can get 50 full cords easy if I wanted. I have gotten already 15-17 full cords in 2 months. However most of the wood is larger 18-36" and a little hard to handle. That is why I was begging the question on selling wood on the side. It would namely be a one man show but I do have boys that are old enough to help and stack wood.

-I have other equipment like dump trucks, a large skid loader and grapple to help with the process. I will say I like running the saw, splitting, using equipment and the like. That is why on other thread I was asking about getting an OWB so I can have a better reason for my addiction. But since I have the option of natural gas, an OWB doesn't make sense right now with the low gas prices.

-So the wood is used for the shop (indoor stove) and doing maple syrup. So what I would do is use the softwoods and junk pieces for my heating and sell the hardwood and oak I get on the side.


Maybe another question is for the guys selling wood on the side that have a full time job (40 hrs a week)--what size splitter do you have and how much wood do you sell? And or what is the maximum amount you could sell due to the size of the splitter you run when you just have say 2 weekends a month to work on avg?

How much more wood (18"-36" rounds) can a person split (one man--healthy 30-40 yr old male) with a hort./vert. splitter when comparing it to a TW-5/ built-rite 11 / all wood oak series or the like? I know hard question to answer but would it be like a half of a full cord compared to 1.5 full cords? Any guesses?

 

[muddstopper]

Here is my take on those vertical splitters. First off, the wedge has to be fixed to the cylinder so this makes any type of 4way splitting just not going to happen without major fabrication.Also the vertical splitter have very short wedges and bases for the wood to set on. Good enought for 12in stuff but take a large 36in round and run a wedge thru one side of it and it just opens up on a great big hinge. This means you still have to wrassel that huge wedge around to finish the first spit. Got it split in half, then just keep turning and splitting, splitting and throwing the splits out of the way. Its just not for me. Sure you dont have to lift that heavy round up onto the beam, but you will work just as hard spinning that large round to get it all the way split. The big horizonal splitters, with a log lift, (or in my case a boom and winch combo), and catch table, you roll a large round on the lift, use hydraulics to lift it onto the table, run it thru your multisplit wedge, and it falls off the end of the table out your way. You can split a pretty big pile before you ever have to start stacking. I dont think you can really compare a hot/vert machine to any commercial machine, it would be a moot point, I aint tried to do any comparison as far as speed is concerned, the commercial machine will produce more wood per man hour than any of the homeowner hort/vertcal machines. I have done over a cord, split and stacked in about 30min, with lots of folks toteing and stacking. I can probably do pretty close to that amount just splitting as a one man show, if the wood is staged properly and I dont stack. I cant do it for hours on end, and that first cord will get the blood flowing. If your going to have help doing the splitting, you want to maximize the work being done and need a fast machine to do so. If your going to be a one man show, well ,you can only do so much and what good is a machine thats faster than you are.

 

[Pruning@trunk]

Just another idea I had.

What about getting 2 splitters---one for the skid steer (the s.s is owned already) and another horizontal splitter?

The skid steer can handle all the bigger rounds that are to heavy to lift by yourself and I think they cost around 2k and the tow behinds run around 1k. So then you can cover all your bases without spending the $6,500-10k figure on the commercial splitters. Sure one thing is maybe speed or production times will be slower and also more wear on your skid steer but just brain storming.

 

[blades]

What gets me is the high cost of a quick attach ss splitter, doesn't make sense to me. particularly the models where you have to be outside the ss to use it ( ss in service mode) like a 3 point one for a tractor. Some I have seen in the $2k range are not any heavier than a 15t Speeco,

 

[Joesell]

Don't forget about resale value. When I started looking at TW6's I thought I would get a used one. I love craigslist, because I enjoy finding a deal, and it's nice to let someone else pay the depreciation. However, all the TW6's I could find were 4-7 years old and looked like they were used every day. They were still going for $7500-$8500. What that tells me is that I can get a new splitter and use the sh!t out of it. As long as I do basic maintenance, and keep it inside, I should be able to recover almost all my money if I ever wanted to get out of firewood, or switch to the next best thing.

Yeah it was expensive, but I sleep just fine at night. In fact, I sleep great because I'm no longer sore from trying to lift those big rounds!

 

[Kingfisher30]

I faced this a year or so ago. I wound up getting a used iron and oak 26 ton, gx 270 powered rental unit for $900. The splitter i bought was in great condition and has run 90 hours with only a rebuild kit for the detent on the valve. The rental company I bought it from offered that I could bring it back and only pay a day's rental fee if I wasn't satisfied with it.