Timber Wolf vs Wolfe Ridge

[Pnoone]

Looking at either a Timber Wolf Alpha 6 or Wolfe Ridge 35SHO to get my firewood business rolling. I've got 2 tree services that will be keeping me supplied with wood, I have a lot of wooded land with mature hardwoods that I own, and have a logging company that would give me tops so I'm not worried about supply. I'll be splitting mainly for the suburban customer that wants a cord or two to burn for ambience.

Both machines will have a 20hp engine, 28 gpm pump, pretty much exactly the same specs and features. I've had a Wolf Ridge dealer who used to sell Timber Wolf tell me after 2017 the quality of the Timber Wolf machines (particularly the cylinders) has declined. But he's selling Wolf Ridge so you know how that goes. The other advantage to the Wolf Ridge is there is a new one for sale 90 minutes from me. Couldn't get my hands on a new Timber Wolf for 4+ months and I'll have wood coming in starting this week. Anyone have any experience or opinions on the 35SHO vs the Alpha 6? I'm looking to split 100 cords in year one and ramping up to the thousand cord range over the next few years.

 

[rancher2]

Never been around a Wolf Ridge. Years ago a buddy a state away had heart surgery so I loaded up a buddy and we went over to the other buddies place for a week to process wood for him. He had a TW6 Timberwolf splitter which at the time was close to new. Both of us are a little over six foot tall. the working height for us was way too low. By the time week was over my back was done. Other than that nice splitter with a log lift. I have heard there quality has went down. I would also look at Easton splitters. I run a homemade with four inch cylinder and a 28 GPM two stage pump. I like the speed.

 

[Juniors saw works]

I have done some research into all three and in my honest opinion the wolf ridge looks like the front runner for me. The 35sho would be my #1 choice just a superb machine especially if you have a nearby dealer but everyone’s taste is different

 

[Roy Cobb]

I have an American 25 with 13 inch tires and log lift, 4way and 6way. Been reliable for a long time.FWIW.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I looked at a couple minute video of each. Mostly looking at the wood split, not the machines. I did not look at pricing of either.
No resplitting with either, but lots of trash from both.
Nature of box wedge I guess. Never used one, so take these comments with a grain of salt.
The splitter is only one part of the work flow.
Some questions to ask:
-Can I run this splitter from one side, or do I need to switch sides to load? Do I need another helper to make this machine efficient staging and loading?
-Can I sell this wood? The customer typically wants consistent length and size to stack?
-Do I need a conveyor with the splitter to keep the work flow going?
-What other splitter/conveyor options are there? (There are several.)
-Will I be moving the splitter often? Attached conveyor, or separate move?
-What will I move it with? (My quad could hardly move the TW-6 in winter unless it was flat ground)
I would strongly suggest looking at the vertical splitters with attached conveyor. Again, don't look at the splitter, look at the wood produced.
They will be slower, no dough.
But you probably will not be spending time cleaning up as much splitter trash, as you determine the size splits.
Spend some time planning the work flow like the Mc Donald boys did. They went to a tennis court with the kitchen crew. They moved the cardboard equipment and work tables around, and tried this and that. They found bottlenecks in the flow. Moved things around and redid it many, many times until they were no longer tripping over each other.
I've done this also over a period of years, with a modified 4-wheel super split, two log decks, conveyor, nursery wagon for saws/equipment, bench vise mounted on quad for convenient sharpening, and a Posch PackFix. For large stuff I have to noodle on the bench. Not great, but it works. Good flow and very little trash. Sold the TW-6 with modified wedge. I would love a processor for sure.
Check out Ohio Wood Burner. I saw the big brother to his Jappa 405, the Jappa 435, at the Paul Bunyan Show six or seven years ago. Best looking splits at the show.
Best of luck.
You've been here since 2014. Doesn't say were your located. But the Timber shows are scattered throughout the year and a great place to compare hands on and talk to people.

 

[Pnoone]

I have an American 25 with 13 inch tires and log lift, 4way and 6way. Been reliable for a long time.FWIW.

Looks like a solid machine. How many cords/year do you put through it?

I looked at a couple minute video of each. Mostly looking at the wood split, not the machines. I did not look at pricing of either.
No resplitting with either, but lots of trash from both.
Nature of box wedge I guess. Never used one, so take these comments with a grain of salt.
The splitter is only one part of the work flow.
Some questions to ask:
-Can I run this splitter from one side, or do I need to switch sides to load? Do I need another helper to make this machine efficient staging and loading?
-Can I sell this wood? The customer typically wants consistent length and size to stack?
-Do I need a conveyor with the splitter to keep the work flow going?
-What other splitter/conveyor options are there? (There are several.)
-Will I be moving the splitter often? Attached conveyor, or separate move?
-What will I move it with? (My quad could hardly move the TW-6 in winter unless it was flat ground)
I would strongly suggest looking at the vertical splitters with attached conveyor. Again, don't look at the splitter, look at the wood produced.
They will be slower, no dough.
But you probably will not be spending time cleaning up as much splitter trash, as you determine the size splits.
Spend some time planning the work flow like the Mc Donald boys did. They went to a tennis court with the kitchen crew. They moved the cardboard equipment and work tables around, and tried this and that. They found bottlenecks in the flow. Moved things around and redid it many, many times until they were no longer tripping over each other.
I've done this also over a period of years, with a modified 4-wheel super split, two log decks, conveyor, nursery wagon for saws/equipment, bench vise mounted on quad for convenient sharpening, and a Posch PackFix. For large stuff I have to noodle on the bench. Not great, but it works. Good flow and very little trash. Sold the TW-6 with modified wedge. I would love a processor for sure.
Check out Ohio Wood Burner. I saw the big brother to his Jappa 405, the Jappa 435, at the Paul Bunyan Show six or seven years ago. Best looking splits at the show.
Best of luck.
You've been here since 2014. Doesn't say were your located. But the Timber shows are scattered throughout the year and a great place to compare hands on and talk to people.

Good insight, thank you. The setup is definitely going to be tweaked like them boys at McDonald's. I've got a skid steer that will help move all the box wedge slash and can use that or an atv/truck to move the splitter. Point well taken that a 2000 lb splitter mired in wood takes some effort to move and needs to be planned for. I'll probably do runs of stuff that will split right through the 6 ways and only use the box wedge for larger stuff to avoid resplits. I'm headed up to the PA Timber Show next month. I've seen Ohio Wood Burner and listened to the Wood Hounds podcast a little. I'm thinking he's not processing that much wood since he stacks everything he splits. The Jappy machines are interesting but even the 435 can only handle a 17" log. And it's $70k with no powerplant. And not made in America. I'm skeptical of anything that has a digital readout on it. Seems to work well for him though, he's clearly found a solid niche.

 

[Roy Cobb]

I was processing 75 face cords for a while per year. Now 50..

 

[Sandhill Crane]

TMainus has the best set up out there. Check him out.
Also read Casey Forrest on firewood bags.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

Second vote for a vertical splitter. Conveyor if it suits your workflow. We got a Split Force, 26 ton, self driving, lift table.



In 6 weeks, working about an hour or two a day, we got this much done from early March to mid April.

 

[lone wolf]

I have a Wolf Ridge SHO 28 ton, 20 HP, and it is a pleasure to work with. It has been a game changer. Now what machines are currently available to buy and in stock at this moment is another issue to deal with?

 

[Sandhill Crane]

We got a Split Force, 26 ton,

Where do you get info on these?
Is it the same as Power Split?

 

[Pnoone]

Second vote for a vertical splitter. Conveyor if it suits your workflow. We got a Split Force, 26 ton, self driving, lift table.



In 6 weeks, working about an hour or two a day, we got this much done from early March to mid April.

That’s awesome.

Second vote for a vertical splitter. Conveyor if it suits your workflow. We got a Split Force, 26 ton, self driving, lift table.



In 6 weeks, working about an hour or two a day, we got this much done from early March to mid April.

Pretty nice setup. Looks like very little waste too. How many cords is that total? And that was about what 40-50 hours of work to split that much? I assume you aren’t counting stacking or bucking time. Looks like you’ve got a great setup.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

Where do you get info on these?
Is it the same as Power Split?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqb0ZYEmlrZdG5C-chdl9jw is the channel for the maker of the Split Force. Made in Quebec family owned for quite some time now. I do believe for US customers they are now available from Shaver Specialties. If you have a Canadian buddy who could buy it for you you'd likely save a fair bit given the pricing I've seen lately. Seems to me if the price is CAD$10,000 for a certain model to a Canadian customer, then it was USD$10,000 for a US customer. When really it could only be about USD$7000. But, like everything these days, prices change a lot so what I type here might not be relevant soon afterwards.

There's another company in Quebec that sells same/similar, Timber Devil, who have also been around for decades. https://www.timberdevil.com/en/our-wood-splitters/ I don't know anything about them other than what I've seen on their web site. I contacted them when I was looking to buy a vertical splitter but they would not return my call.

I never run a PowerSplit but they do look a lot a like.

That’s awesome.

Pretty nice setup. Looks like very little waste too. How many cords is that total? And that was about what 40-50 hours of work to split that much? I assume you aren’t counting stacking or bucking time. Looks like you’ve got a great setup.

Very little waste, about 1/2 or more of less waste than the EastonMade 12/22 we previously had.
At the time of that video I think that stretch of wood was 17-1/2 cord of 16". But in another section of the yard we keep 12" and 14" and hardwood ends. My guess, it was about 22-24 cord all total. We try to split a cord a day, some days 1-1/2, some other days only half and some days none at all.
Yes, that includes blocking the wood and stacking. On average, it takes 2 to 2-1/2 hours to do 128 cu ft of stacked wood from the log pile. It really depends on the quality of the logs. Lately we are getting a lot of rot that we split off and sell at as campfire grade. When we're into good logs that are 8" or larger, we can block, crack, stack and park a cord in as little as 1-1/2 hours.
Thanks. The setup is always evolving. We're in a bit of a transition at the moment as we just sold the Hakki Pilke processor we had. We're just going to be running the chainsaw and the vertical splitter, working right at the log pile. The HP took an hour longer to do a cord when you factor in having to sort the logs for what could go through it and what could not. On average only 40% of the logs were suitable enough for the HP. We put a lot of thought into whether to sell the HP or not but once the Split Force arrived, it was an easy decision. A bit more physical work but much less time.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqb0ZYEmlrZdG5C-chdl9jw is the channel for the maker of the Split Force. Made in Quebec family owned for quite some time now. I do believe for US customers they are now available from Shaver Specialties. If you have a Canadian buddy who could buy it for you you'd likely save a fair bit given the pricing I've seen lately. Seems to me if the price is CAD$10,000 for a certain model to a Canadian customer, then it was USD$10,000 for a US customer. When really it could only be about USD$7000. But, like everything these days, prices change a lot so what I type here might not be relevant soon afterwards.

There's another company in Quebec that sells same/similar, Timber Devil, who have also been around for decades. https://www.timberdevil.com/en/our-wood-splitters/ I don't know anything about them other than what I've seen on their web site. I contacted them when I was looking to buy a vertical splitter but they would not return my call.

I never run a PowerSplit but they do look a lot a like.




Very little waste, about 1/2 or more of less waste than the EastonMade 12/22 we previously had.
At the time of that video I think that stretch of wood was 17-1/2 cord of 16". But in another section of the yard we keep 12" and 14" and hardwood ends. My guess, it was about 22-24 cord all total. We try to split a cord a day, some days 1-1/2, some other days only half and some days none at all.
Yes, that includes blocking the wood and stacking. On average, it takes 2 to 2-1/2 hours to do 128 cu ft of stacked wood from the log pile. It really depends on the quality of the logs. Lately we are getting a lot of rot that we split off and sell at as campfire grade. When we're into good logs that are 8" or larger, we can block, crack, stack and park a cord in as little as 1-1/2 hours.
Thanks. The setup is always evolving. We're in a bit of a transition at the moment as we just sold the Hakki Pilke processor we had. We're just going to be running the chainsaw and the vertical splitter, working right at the log pile. The HP took an hour longer to do a cord when you factor in having to sort the logs for what could go through it and what could not. On average only 40% of the logs were suitable enough for the HP. We put a lot of thought into whether to sell the HP or not but once the Split Force arrived, it was an easy decision. A bit more physical work but much less time.

This is very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Edit: Just watched your YouTube video. Very nice.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I like the Arboristsite because of the shared experiences here.
It led me to using a SuperSplit for years now.
YouTube is great too for all kinds of fix-it stuff.
Some of the YouTube firewood bloggers I'm hot/cold on. Don't know how they can afford new stuff so seemingly quickly. Apparently YouTube pays well.
woodchuckcanucks comments here have changed my perspective on processors, as I've really liked the euro style processors.
At 60k it's always a bit down the road, behind the next two 20 cord load of logs, shipping container, the dump trailer, 200 more pallets, etc.
The new vertical splitters are sweet, and can handle all size wood. Some brands have been around for along time. Don't know of any US made ones.
It takes me 4 hours to do a cord, one person, log pile to log deck, super split, PackFix, four pallets staged for seasoning. (Four pallets loose stacks out to one cord every time. A two cord load I may gain a few wheelbarrows full extra.)

 

[husky455rancher]

Wolf ridge 28 pro c here and I love it. I do agree that Timberwolf has crazy low working heights. That’s a deal breaker for me.

 

[Pnoone]

I think they’ve fixed that in recent models. Looking at an Alpha 6 where the levers were 44” off the ground.

 

[cantoo]

I would rather have a lower splitter than one that is too high. It's pretty simple to make a platform to set the splitter on, more difficult to dig a hole to lower it.

 

[Pnoone]

Ha, yes. I screwed up and built my custom platform a little too high but fortunately I could just use the skid steer to dig a hole to drop it in. Now it’s perfect.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

My Timberwolf is adjustable, from ground level, to too high,

I'm very happy with it,

SR