log splitters

[Battis]

I'd rent one but neither of my vehicles has a trailer hitch.
I split quite a bit yesterday and paid for it last night. Splitting wood is like shoveling - there's no exercise that can prepare you for it, other than doing it. I looked out at what has to be split (not much left) and most people would laugh at me for even thinking of buying a splitter. Gotta put my Big Boy pants on and just work at it. I can use the chainsaw on the pieces that are too big to split.

[jmorris]

I built mine years ago with a 4"x 24 cylinder, 8hp BS engine, H beam and 1" plate I had, used a 13 gpm pump. I generally use it with the engine running around half speed.

For one tree, renting or burning it all in a pile would make more sense to me. I don't fight wood though, we have 100's off acres of woods, no shortage of "seasoned" wood to pick from.

Next one I built is going on a QD plate for my front end loader, so I can pick up the big ones with it and at least split them in half to a dump trailer before I have to handle them

[Battis]

I went out to split some more, took a few whacks with the maul, then said out loud, "Screw this." So much for the Big Boy pants. There's more wood than I thought, the logs are bigger than I thought, and I'm hurting from yesterday more than I thought. I've had 4 back surgeries and I need at least one more. Don't want to hurry that along. So, some more research, and I ended up at Harbor Freight (or Harbah Freight as they say around here). I bought a 5 ton electric splitter that should do the trick. My son just got back from a year in Texas, and he said he'd split it when he gets back from Oklahoma. but I'm not waiting until late summer. That wood's going down.

[steve urquell]

I went out to split some more, took a few whacks with the maul, then said out loud, "Screw this." So much for the Big Boy pants. There's more wood than I thought, the logs are bigger than I thought, and I'm hurting from yesterday more than I thought. I've had 4 back surgeries and I need at least one more. Don't want to hurry that along. So, some more research, and I ended up at Harbor Freight (or Harbah Freight as they say around here). I bought a 5 ton electric splitter that should do the trick. My son just got back from a year in Texas, and he said he'd split it when he gets back from Oklahoma. but I'm not waiting until late summer. That wood's going down.

Looking forward to your results with it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

YAY. I always love buying a new tool.

[gc45]

What brand and power is it?

5hp i think, will have to go lood at the brand and get back. Bought it from a splitter shop in Oregon, it came ups. $400. when new but likley more now. Our neighboring farm has the same unit and likes it. It splits wood into kindling easy as pie..

[Battis]

Well, it works and does what they say it should, and won't do the things they say it won't, like cut unround, larger pieces. If I stick to splitting round logs under 10' in diameter, it's great, though a maul would be much faster. If it was a handgun, it'd be a Nagant revolver. I'll probably keep it, and use it for what it was made for.

[MOshooter]

I can't remember the brand, but I use a 28ton horizontal/vertical log splitter that sure makes life easier. I have it mounted to a 3 point frame so I can hook it up behind a tractor and take the splitter to the wood chunks and split them in the vertical position, I can back right up to those oak chunks.

I also have a horizontal only log splitter that Dad and I built years ago, it's stout as all get up, but I need a faster hydraulic pump to keep up with the 28ton splitter.

[steve urquell]

Well, it works and does what they say it should, and won't do the things they say it won't, like cut unround, larger pieces. If I stick to splitting round logs under 10' in diameter, it's great, though a maul would be much faster. If it was a handgun, it'd be a Nagant revolver. I'll probably keep it, and use it for what it was made for.

Seems like it'd be pretty good to split kindling with in the garage. I did a lot of research on electrics awhile back and decided one wouldn't serve me on our AR hardwood.
Attachment 325234

[muskeg13]

The 5T/15A splitter I got at Lowes a few years ago is the second best $350 purchase I've ever made. Only the $350 spent to buy the Husqvarna 455 Rancher to cut wood to split tops that. After splitting wood for decades with an axe, sledgehammer, steel wedges and a splitting maul, I pretty much retired them all and solely use the electric splitter to supply wood stove fuel to get me through long Alaskan winters.

[Battis]

I gave it another try and I gotta say, it's not bad once you figure out its quirks. First off, I put it on a yard cart/wagon to raise it up which makes it much easier to use. It split some pretty big logs, though I had to turn the bigger pieces and split them again. Occasionally, it launches the split pieces forward about 10'-15' feet - do not let anyone stand in front of it. It's fairly quiet - I wish it was louder to annoy the neighbors.

One thing that it does which is good - it debarks the logs.

[Rickf1985]

As a teenager all the way up into my 50's I was exceptionally strong and lifting 300 lb. logs up on the splitter was no problem. I actually enjoyed the workouts. Now I am in my 70's the big boy pants have turned into old mans pants!! I can still pick up a log around a hundred lbs. or a little more but I certainly shouldn't. And my back tells me that. I have also had multiple surgeries and the diagnosis is that I will be in a wheelchair soon due to degenerative disc disease. But they have been saying that for 20 years now. It is getting closer, I can feel it. The splitter I got will do horizontal and vertical. Which is nice for the BIG logs. Don't have to pick them up, just roll it in and flip it on end on the splitter and done. BUT, You have to be down there with it which is also hard on the back.

[Battis]

When I first started heating with wood (1984) I used to buy logs cut into 4 foot lengths, then I'd cut them and split them. I was using a Sears electric chainsaw to cut, which was really a joke, and I'd split with a maul. Then the wood seller told me that for an extra $5 per cord, he'd cut and split the wood. DUH. And I probably hemmed and hawed over that $5 for awhile.
When we're young, exercise is good but, at a certain age, that same exercise is destructive to aging bodies. Good for the brain, though.

[timboslice]

I have heard the electric splitters have very little torque and will get caught in knots and won't be able to split anything but straight grain wood. It would be better to invest in a hydraulic splitter that can get through knots and twists. I have a home made 30 ton splitter that can get through most anything I throw at it.

[Adam Helmer]

Battis,

I retired at age 51 in 1996 and came home to my 60-acre farm in Northcentral PA. I put a nice woodstove in my living room and cut trees in my 30-acre woods. I burn 2-4 cords per year. I used to use the maul for the exercise. I now have a Tractor Supply hydraulic splitter that cost $1,000 in 1999. It splits anything I "feed" it very well. I never used a maul since except to make kindling from nice split firewood.

Be well.

Adam

[Battis]

The power company took down a large maple tree next to my house in Nov. 2022. I said to leave the wood. We started cutting it up, then I had a pesky heart attack in Dec 2022. A few months later I cut it up with a chainsaw and hauled the logs to my back yard, where it has sat stacked until now. Probably a half cord. That little Harbor Freight splitter did a pretty good job the past few days. There's maybe 3 logs that are too big for it.
If I had 60 acres and did more splitting, I'd definitely get a larger one.
60 acres...sounds good.

[Nines&Twos]

I realize everyone's budget cannot accommodate this saying ...but...cry now or cry later. I use a 35 ton gas powered splitter. For 99% of what I bust, I run the engine at 30-40% throttle. Ram movement is a bit slower but fuel savings is enormous (for me). About the only time I will throttle it up to governor speed is seasoned oddities like locust, ash and bodock.
A model that allows the ram to be used parallel or perpendicular to the ground will make your back happy. I leave it flat and work standing for small stuff....stand it up for anything too large to lift easily.
A good one ain't cheap but keep it covered and don't loan it...it'll last. I've had this Huskee for almost a decade.

[Rapier]

Our cutters showed up last week, to cut 160 acres, 80 clear and 80 thinned. Had to pull off was too wet. Burn crew showed up today, have a prescription for two days, are supposed to control burn 80. We will see.

Anymore the pine tree cutters do not like to cut hardwoods as they are cutting pines, dulls the cutters too fast.

Working trees is like working live sewer, nothing lasts long, so you get cheap and toss it as it breaks or buy the best and easiest to repair then fix it.

I went from wood burning to Propane gas. Been years since I split a log now. Wood burning comes with hidden costs over the years and they do add up, there ain't no free lunch.
This is how I pick up, stack, break and cut logs today. Is a slightly modified 4x4 Kubota 45 hp, standard trans, low center of gravity, wide track, 6,000# hydraulic lift system, tines on the grapple are 1" thick with double hydraulic rams. If you own acreage of timber, best to have the equipment that is easy on the back, you never get younger with heavy lifting. The 6 Ps.

[Thundarstick]

If I where in the market for a wood splitter today, it'd be a kinetic ram splitter!

[Rickf1985]

I ran a Super Splitter kinetic splitter in the 70's when they first cam out and I will say they are fast. You REALLY need to watch what you are doing or you will be loading logs with less fingers. Once you pull that lever you have a half second to move your hand if you realize it could be in the way. On a hydraulic you will have much more time to think about what is in the way of the blade. On the kinetic you have to be aware of both ends of the log since that ram will smash you fingers to pulp. I still have all my digits and I enjoyed running that machine but I would not have one at my age, I am not as fast as I used to be and I do not need to split wood that fast, I have nothing else to do so I take my time. And then, there is the price! You really have to split a lot of wood to justify the price, even that of the Chinese knockoffs.