Hydraulic wood splitter

[Mk42gunner]

I am building (slowly) a small cabin ~500 sq ft, and am contemplating putting a wood stove in it to complement the propane stove. Not for the only heat source; but wood can be a bit cheaper than gas, and well, I want one.

However I realize I'm not 15 anymore and really don't want to split wood with either an axe or a maul anymore.

The local farm store has a couple in stock, a 37 ton unit for $1400 and a 27 ton unit for $1000. Both have the hinge to operate vertically, just one is more powerful than the other.

Is the larger one worth the extra cost?

This isn't something I need to buy right now just looking for info.

Thanks for the advice,

Robert

[metricmonkeywrench]

more power if you can swing it... not a pro with these but there always that log that's bigger or harder than what you got

the reality is need vs wants, are you planning on felling and skidding the big stuff that would require a bigger unit?

Mama has decided after 20 yrs in the house that we should start using the fireplaces now an then. Im on the watch for a used one as it would be infrequently used, and I do not have enough trees on the property (4+ acers) to make it worth a big investment.

[bakerjw]

I rent them when I need one. The rental place has the big vertical and the smaller horizontal which splits in both directions. I always get the horizontal ones and they chew up anything that I ever throw at it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

In 2004, I built one, a BIG Heavy Duty one (13 hp Honda engine) ...and using it these many years, I learned a couple things.

FIRST, I'll never get my money back out of it, probably not even half. I wish I would have just bought a nice used small one.

SECOND, and this is the reason a small one is OK ...99% of firewood is easily split with a small 27 ton splitter. That other 1%, just leave 'em be, they not only will break a small splitter, they'll break a large splitter too. I've busted mine 4 times, I've borrowed it out to a friend, he busted it once. Just leave the 1% be ...Haul that 1% to the city compost site or whatever...don't split 'em.

That's my story !

[Der Gebirgsjager]

What kind of wood are you splitting? I think the small one would work o.k. here, as the wood is mostly straight grained loge pole pine and aspen, so I'm still using the maul and wedges. Probably wouldn't be enough for oak or madrone. Guess you're looking at gasoline powered? They make electric also. Last gas powered one I saw was in front of Bi-Mart for $1,200 -- but that was 2 years ago.

[Gone_rabid]

I had a 37 ton and it was unstoppable for me. It’s worth the extra money. Have used smaller ones that you beat yourself to death when the logs get stuck because it didn’t have enough power.

[dangitgriff]

Eastonmade 12-22 log splitter:
https://youtu.be/nVOnuqsIQYk

[Hossfly]

Got to have the right kind of logs, I’ve tried with a 60 ton that would just drive the wedge in and stop. Took about 30 mins. To beat that log off there, they’re right if it don’t split first few inches stop and haul off to burn pile. Some types of trees just don’t like to split right. The smaller one will be fine and you can use the savings to buy propane.

[alfadan]

I have a TSC 25 ton. It has done just fine even on gnarly elm. If a piece is too tough, well just toss it, its only one piece of wood and you wont encounter that many that are too tough. Dad and I use to drill into the big pieces and blow them apart with pyrodex; mostly for fun though!

[Mal Paso]

If you can, check the cycle times. The 27 ton may be faster and if you're not splitting super tough wood I'd go with that. If the 37 ton has enough engine to cycle faster than the 27 ton I would consider it too. A lot of time is wasted waiting for the ram.

[white eagle]

I have had a 27 ton log splitter for along time now
probably over 10 tears maybe even 15 along time
I have never had or run across any log that would not split
there were some challenging one's but none that didn't split
I would not get a smaller one and would think bigger would be better
cost is the only concern for me I would go with the 27 ton without regard

[Shawlerbrook]

I have been splitting with a 37 ton for over 20 years. The only time it hiccups at all is on some big, knarly crotches of huge sugar maple. Usually a couple moves and it finally pops. I would think either would do for heating a small cabin.

[10-x]

Buddy and I had a firewood business back in early 80’s. We built a large splitter that ran off a John Deer tractor, about 40 tons IIRC. We cut and split just about all kinds of hard wood( east coast), no problems. Type and how many knots in wood is the key. Look for trees under 3’ in Dia. and/ or cut logs about 2’ long. STAY Away from sweet gum, sorry and will soot up your flue/ chimney. Same with pine . I hurt all over just looking at splitters at Tractor Supply, LOL.

[rancher1913]

I wanted on of the big, fold over models and was getting ready to buy one but my wife decided to get me one for my birthday, it was one that was one sale and a lot smaller than I wanted but it did split both ways. that thing has seriously impressed me, the duel direction split needs two people to take advantage off--one to operate the controls and one to place logs, but it can make a huge stack quick. I have run into some huge elm that it has trouble with and like the other posters have said, I just leave them be. we use about 6 to 10 cords a year so its gotten a work out, about 10 years old now and on its second engine but it just keeps splitting.

[TCFAN]

About 10 years ago I bought a 27 ton Troy built log splitter with a 5hp Honda engine. It has split everything that I have cut with out any problems.
The last tree that I split up was a 200+year old Post Oak that I had a tree service take down that was in my front yard. That tree was 38 inches across at the stump. The old Troybuilt split every piece of that tree.
If I was ever to replace my splitter I would buy a 27 ton again but I would make sure it had a log lift on it and a faster cycle time.
A couple of photos from that Post Oak..

https://i.imgur.com/ahLmVnk.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PWSZwap.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VuC9sSF.jpg

[MrWolf]

I have an electric one. Don't laugh. That suckered does a great job as at the time I couldn't justify the cost of a bigger gas powered. Used to just lift it on my tailgate and go. Now I leave it on the porch and make kindling the easy way. Don't knock em till you tried one. Good luck.

[Mk42gunner]

For what the local rental place wants I'd pay for at least the cheap one in a couple of years.

Checking cycle times makes sense, I'll do that before I lay out the hard earned income.

Right now, I'm not planning to do anything more than a 2' diameter log, and that rarely.

As to the type of wood, a general mix of Missouri hardwoods. There really isn't much softwood grown around here, such as pine or fir. I remember the nasty job trying to split elm with a sledge hammer and wedges 45 years ago, not doing that without something powered now.

Like I said, I have time to think about this purchase. I am also going to shop around, sometimes driving thirty or forty miles will save you a few bucks.

Robert

[10-x]

Elm is totally put for hand splitting, lol. For a real hard time try to split some seasoned sweet gum with a few limbs......

[Mal Paso]

There was a BIG salt stunted Eucalyptus down in front of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park years ago. Lots of people tried to get some and the saw cuts started straight but were getting close to 45 degrees before they gave up. I brought a fresh chain each day and filled the truck on the way home from work. I had a winch in the bed to load rounds. Toughest tree I ever split, the wood almost sank in water but it was some of the longest lasting best heating wood ever.

[GregLaROCHE]

I still use a spinning tapered screw on the back of my tractor. Works fine for me and I don’t feel it’s near as dangerous as a lot of people think. It’s almost as fast as the hydraulic types I’ve used helping friends split their wood.

I figure if I am going to invest in a hydraulic splitter, I would want one that has a blade the can split a log in four pieces with each cycle. The type that instead of a single blade, has a blade like a cross. It should be three times as fast. I have power to spare with the PTO of the tractor, so that’s not a problem. I don’t know if the self contained units you are talking about have the power for a four way blade, but if it is an option, I would strongly recommend it. Splitting wood takes time and gets old fast.

[ascast]

I suggest you rent for a year or two. The flip up kind look great, but you're really never going to lift wood 3-4 ft to split it horizontal. The vertical seems nice, but can be a bear to manhandle in place. Those
I have seen have the pump kinda hangin out the bottom. No good in the woods. I have 4 splitters, 1 the screw type. Avoid those. My old Agway will split anything with 2 or 3 hits. A "fast return valve" with auto stop is REALLY NICE. Adjustable wedge is very nice so you can half, quarter etc. Horizontal stroke, low to the ground is what I have found to work best. You can roll the big section up on easier than to feed a verticle shaft. If you can mount your shaft on the side , even better.

[dverna]

I had a DR Dual Action (16T IIRC) and it handled everything. You will regret a large splitter. Most are very slow and you hardly ever need that much splitting force.

If you have a huge or very tough round, noodle it or use it as a target backer for a few years.

This year we used a firewood processor and cut and split 12 cords of wood in 15 hours. Sold the splitter. Will be renting the processor for now on. But we heat with wood. My fiancé ran the splitter:
268541

Sorry for the photo being wonky...

I would get a small gas unit for a cabin.

[toallmy]

Honestly how big and how much wood do you think you are going to feel like busting at a time . I used a 27 ton this year to bust 16-17 cords of mixed wood some 3ft or better across and it ( almost held up ) hahaha . I should have left those last couple sections in the woods . I would suggest spending the extra on the saw ...

[Pipefitter]

"I wish I would have bought that smaller log splitter"

Said no one ever...........................

I started out as a young buck splitting wood with a 10# sledgehammer and 2 wedges, (dont get them both stuck in the log at the same time), graduated to the same wedges and a 6#splitting maul. Borrowed smaller 20-24 ton splitters for a few years, and last year broke down and bought a 30 ton from Tractor Supply. This thing is a beast! Vertical for the bigger rounds that are too much to lift, horizontal for the ones that only need to be split once. We go through 5-6 cords of Michigan hardwood a year, cherry, oak, hickory, beech, ash, and maple. This splitter does not even cough when you get a knotty piece of crotchwood.

[Blanket]

Get the larger one, I have had several splitters and one of the nice thigs about it you can split forks and nots sideways

[Alstep]

I've got a 28 ton Agway splitter, bought it used many years ago, and split 8 to 10 cords a year, for a lot of years. I've yet to have a chunk of wood it hasn't gone through. For years I was a slave to the wood stove. No more. 13 years ago I changed over to coal. Handle it once. No more chimney fires. Burns clean. And the ashes are great on snow & ice. I'm done with wood.
Coal burns a lot cleaner than oil too. Spill coal and you just shovel it up. Spill oil and you've got a major environmental problem on your hands, especially if the tank springs a leak.

[rbuck351]

One day I was splitting wood with a splitting maul while the wife went to town. An hour or so later she comes home and says there is a log splitter in the back seat of her chevy cavalier. Yeah right! says I. Upon looking, I found a $300 5 ton HF electric splitter in the back seat. So, says I, what am I supposed to do with that little toy, crack walnuts? Well, after using it for an hour or two, I had totally changed my mind. I only have access to fir, tamarack, spruce, pine and a little birch and I only cut in 14" long rounds, but it has split everything I have put on it. If the rounds are in the 20/25" diameter, sometimes I have to offset the round and take chunks off the edge until it gets smaller. I've had it for 6 or 7 years without issues. Also I keep it in my garage to cut kindling for my garage wood stove and small peices for the wood cook stove. It's quiet and no exhaust fumes. One of the best ideas my wife has come up with.

[.429&H110]

Had a 5hp Didier, had a hatchet in one hand and a hook in the other, went through 40" beech, 12 cord a season. Taught my 4 year old daughter to sit on her little stool to run the lever. The boys would have cut off my hand. Daughter would sit there by the hour and watch my hands. 12 years of firewood, phooey, burn oil. Woodlot burns out saws, tractors, stoves, chimneys, vacations.
Cut split delivered, life is too short. My uncle predicted a beech widowmaker would kill me. They had their chance.

[redneck1]

I have two splitters , both are 27 ton huskee .
I bought one new with a 6.5 HP briggs . the other I got used for next to nothing with a blown engine .
I put a 7.5 HP electric 3ph motor on the one to use at home , I use it the most , its quiet and instant on and off .
I haven't found anything that either won't split ... Itchy crotchy twisted up anything . get it on the splitter and it goes .

I dunno .. Maybe I'm the only one out there who takes a few minutes and sharpens the wedge up a bit every couple years .

The splitter that still has the gas engine I only use if i have to cut something bigger then I want to man handle around .
I think in the next year or so I'm going to make a lifter arm for that big stuff .
I also tend to rip the realy big stuff in half or quarters with the saw , twenty years ago I'd pick up about anything I could get ahold of .
The vertical splitting seems like a good idea ...
Not so much in practice

[Three44s]

I like a splitter with a two stage pump and a large diameter cylinder.

The first stage is a volume pump that produces less pressure but moves the cylinder faster for light work. As the splitter encounters more resistance the smaller volume high pressure takes over and breaks a particularly tough piece.

My unit is a home made a fair and after a couple of hand me down engines we bought a 13 hp from HF. Two thirds throttle and a 4” diameter cylinder and it keeps you humping right along to keep up.

The trouble with wood is that it is plenty of work besides the splitting. We solved much of that with a 4 wheel drive Kubota with a loader. It is my wife’s tractor, New last year. She wanted her very own and it had to be new or very low hours!

She was looking for snow removal and other all around work.

She added a front mounted quick attach blade and grapple.

The grapple is a wonder! Wonder how you ever got along without it! We have some wood land several miles from our home and trailer the tractor to the work and a pair of commercial log bunks we modified to fit the goose neck equipment trailer. We skid and load the logs trailer length in the hills and then unload at home with a separate loader with forks here. Two trips and we have enough wood for a year and a half.

We get the Kubota home and use the grapple to help process. No more stooping over to cut the logs to stove length.

You get your rounds 3-5 at a time and grapple them and deliver to the splitter set up in vertical mode. We have enough white oak here at home to supplement the pine etc. The oak that die would be more than enough but it is so hot it would run us out of the house except in the really coldest weather.

A 70 hp tractor would never pay for home heating alone but with a long driveway and a 200’ vertical climb and unpredictable PNW winters that six way front quick attach blade is real sweet!

The modern cab and heat and AC round out a very pleasant tool. The moving of rocks and dirt, doing compost and manure. Getting the sage brush away so we reduce fire danger, giving the coyotes a bigger open space for me to give them a dirt nap before they can snag our cats.

My wife did quite a bit of her growing up in NE Oregon and spent summers haying loose hay on an uncles 300 cow ranch. The tractors were as old as in the 1930’s running buck rakes and stacking with an overshot.

Being a long working super saver, she splurged on one thing, that tractor!

I even get to drive it!

Three44s

[redneck1]

I've been plotting a new tractor for a few years , not quite 70hp though .
A little b series would suit my needs quite nicely. Heck even a bx would tickle me pink and be enough tractor .

I do 8-12 cord a year so cutting and splitting wood isn't a huge burden
I try to keep a year ahead and get most of my wood threw the winter when its at its lowest moisture level .

[Three44s]

Yeah, the dirt work on nearly clay soil is what got us looking at 50+ hp. Loading whole logs in the mountains clinched the larger tractor.

My wife first drove a 34 hp Hydrostatic with a loader in a Kubota but for all our jobs it was not enough tractor. She will retire in a few very years and wanted a tractor she would feel good with for the rest of her life. Hence she bought a M4-071.

After a year, she is pleased no end and not regretting that decision.

Three44s

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve heated my homes all my life almost exclusively with wood I cut and split myself. Now I’m looking into an oil furnace and supplementing with wood. The older you get, the longer it takes to get your winter wood in. As before mentioned, life is getting too short to spend it on cutting and splitting wood. I used to enjoy it, but now those days are gone.

[redneck1]

I can understand the work getting to be to much as you get older .

I'll do it as long as I physically can , i also try not to make a huge chore of it .
I have a ford ranger with a 6ft bed , I'll usually go out for an hour or so
Cut as much as I can fit in the truck then split and stack it .
Start to finish is typically under three hours and I don't have to work all that hard to do it .
If I do that three times a month when I'm heating I can keep pretty even .

I don't burn any green wood , I use a elcheapo moisture meter , if its not under 19% I stays in the stack

[MrWolf]

I've been plotting a new tractor for a few years , not quite 70hp though .
A little b series would suit my needs quite nicely. Heck even a bx would tickle me pink and be enough tractor .

I do 8-12 cord a year so cutting and splitting wood isn't a huge burden
I try to keep a year ahead and get most of my wood threw the winter when its at its lowest moisture level .

Get more hp. I have the bx. Nice but could reuse more power a lot if the time. Of course money is always the deciding factor.

[redneck1]

I don't plan on a new tractor for a few more years , I have a ford garden size tractor right now , I think its 21hp ( diesel ) its more then adequate power wise .
I don't want or need a backhoe , I won't be running tillers or brush hogs .

I do need it to be small enough to still be easy to mow with and have a mid mount deck . and I want a loader , the loader doesn't need to be all that powerful either .
Mowing grass will be the main chore .

My ford is close to 30 years old now , the tractor is still in tip top condition .
But the mower deck is nearing the end of its life .
I'm hoping to get 5 more years out it , I'll be happy with three .

[panhed65]

I have been heating with wood for most of my life, now at 72, I have been using my 25 ton splitter for the last 4 years, as its not so much fun to split with a maul anymore. I get lots of white oak, with plenty of knots. my splitter works well, does it all. I have done close to 10 cords this year so far, not done yet. so lots of good advise here, only thing I would add, I like a machine with an I beam to split on, most I see now have some sort of pressed steel channel type thing, my buddy has one, as I expected, it collects all the debris and needs cleaning. my I beam stays clean.
Barry

[Three44s]

A couple of years ago I switched the tube steel beam out for an I beam on our splitter as well.

I added a hydraulic cylinder to raise the I beam up to vertical because I bought on long enough for moving the splitting point high enough that I can split four foot long wood for my shop stove or even split fence posts hydraulically if desired.

It’s a moose!

Three44s

[dangitgriff]

Anybody use their log splitter for cutting up chunks of lead?

[Mal Paso]

Anybody use their log splitter for cutting up chunks of lead?

Yes, pure lead. It helps to cut against some bar stock to elevate the pinch point and give the lead a place to go.

[pastera]

I use an old 20 ton splitter - Splits 90% without even looking at the round. If it doesn't want to split a piece, rotating to take advantage of a crack or taking chunks off the side work. For the 1% that just wont split, noodle them or toss in the woods.

As others have mentioned, cycle time is the prime concern once you are over a 20 ton unit.

As far as pine - that it will cause chimney fires is an old wives tale. Wet wood causes chimney fires. Dry your wood to under 20% moisture and it won't happen.

I have been burning pine for years without issue - the difference is that I dry my firewood for at least two full years.

People who drop a tree in the spring and burn it the next winter are the ones who hate modern reburn stoves and push the pine myth (but it's not a myth to them because they burn WET wood)

[toallmy]

A 500 square foot cabin shouldn't take a lot to keep warm , but when choosing a woodstove think about how much it will hold , as well as the size of firewood to be used feeding it .
Be safe - chimney fires burn down houses every year .

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Anybody use their log splitter for cutting up chunks of lead?

Yep.
A few years back, my local recycler got 450lbs of dimensional lead from a manufacturer of some sort. He sold it to me. It was all clean, like steel drops from a welding shop. So instead of melting and casting ingot, I used my wood splitter to cut it all into 1 lb ingot sided pieces, it took about 2 hours to do that 450 lbs...lots faster than melting and pouring :)

[Mk42gunner]

A 500 square foot cabin shouldn't take a lot to keep warm , but when choosing a woodstove think about how much it will hold , as well as the size of firewood to be used feeding it .
Be safe - chimney fires burn down houses every year .

Its actually 438 square feet on the inside and well insulated. After living in this drafty old farmhouse since I retired in 2004, I think a birthday candle would keep it warm.

I will be going with a new stove and a new chimney kit double or triple insulated, the best that I can find.

It will be a safe setup or I will forget it and just use gas.

Robert

[Mal Paso]

I like metalbestos or whatever it's called now over tripple wall. Very little cleaning and holds up to chimney fires.

I had a potbelly in a well insulated small cabin. It took 8 inch "logs" but 1/4 cord would cover the whole winter. Overheated the cabin a couple times in the first few weeks.

[redneck1]

I have a modern stove , it burns hot and clean .
Outside the house I have a masonry chimney , every three or four years i feel guilty enough to sweep it .
I might get two or three cups of soot , there is no hard cresoate build up .

Inside the house i have a triple wall stainless thimble threw the wall
But I use single wall pipe from the stove to the thimble . I don't clean it .
It costs a whopping $30 or so for two pieces of pipe , elbow and a slip joint . so I just replace it every year for piece of mind .

Seasoned wood and a good stove ... Enough said .
Never had a chimney fire or even thought ive come close to one .

I also use single wall pipe because I go threw the work for heat and I want every bit of it I can squeeze out of it .
Single wall is perfectly safe if used properly . when I'm done with it you could do chin ups on my pipe .

I'll throw this out there to ...
A lot of people forget the stove needs maintenance to ... I change the door seals every year . some times more then once if I suspect an air leak .
I also replace any cracked bricks ... It happens to be very easy to do in my stove so why not ... Fire bricks are cheap enough .
Once that's done I take a wire brush and clean up the door latches and add a bit of high temp never seize to them and the hinges so everything works nice and free all winter .

[mattw]

Years ago, dad an I built one that we ran off of our tractor hydraulics. We split hedge, enough said. I have no idea how many tons, was build on an 8 inch I beam and had an 8 inch wedge and nothing made it quit. The cylinder was somewhere between 4 and 5 inch bore with a 1.5 inch ram. It was not real fast in the stroke, but OMG power at the ram. I am not sure how I would go nowdays, but I do not have a fireplace or wood furnace in my life now. At that time we used it to heat an un-insulated machine shed in the winter along with a 135k btu diesel fired torpedo to break the morning cold.

[farmbif]

on the wood stove thing. I was convinced on a new high efficiency englander stove, well fact be told it is so air tight wood will not burn in it unless wood is absolutely dry, not just seasoned but cut stacked stored inside for a year dry. If money were no object this thing would be down the road into the hands of some tree huggers and a new big regular ole wood stove would be replacing it. and I rely on wood for heat all winter unless I want to watch the electric meter spin off the wall with space heater use.
on wood splitter, being an old phart with back problems my old 5hp splitter with 4"x24 cylinder that tilts from horizontal to vertical splits everything I put under the wedge with the exception of old knotted elm I think it was. goes right through any oak or hickory, walnut, sycamore or whatever else I feed it.

[Mal Paso]

One of the former local legends here build a splitter that many of us borrowed over the years. He said he spent $68 dollars building it, everything else was donated. 53HP it was powered by a 1600 SP VW engine. It was horizontal with a powered log lift. Roll a 3' round on the lift and hit the lever, up goes the log. The ram was off a D6 with a looong throw. It must not have been centered because when you had a really tough piece the ram would bow something awful. Scary to see a 2 inch steel shaft bend like that but it never let go.

The fellow I worked for at the time sent me over to replace the muffler and tune the splitter up as thanks for using it. I pointed out to the owner about all the splitter didn't have was a heater for cold weather but I could run one from the heater boxes still on the engine. He said any !@%$ who was splitting in cold weather could $%^#*@/&%$(^$ (deal with it).

[Geezer in NH]

Rent!!

Unless you cut wood every week.

[Win94ae]

The local farm store has a couple in stock, a 37 ton unit for $1400 and a 27 ton unit for $1000. Both have the hinge to operate vertically, just one is more powerful than the other.

Is the larger one worth the extra cost?

We have the 27 ton one, and it has split every log I've tried, and I've had some pretty gnarly ones.

[Mk42gunner]

Thinking about it, it seems to me that just a few years ago a 27 ton log splitter was the big one. Maybe I'm over thinking this.

Robert

[toallmy]

Thinking about it, it seems to me that just a few years ago a 27 ton log splitter was the big one. Maybe I'm over thinking this.

Robert

Any nasty twisted sections can be cut into shorter length pieces to split , or pie cut the huge rounds so they can be handled . Spend the extra money on the saw keep it sharp and oiling the bar good so not to over heat the bar and chain . A extra bar and chain can cut you out of a pinch .
Pace yourself

[Elroy]

I would just buy wood already split. Most people around here sell it at about $60- $65 dollars for an 8ft bed load delivered within the area.

[Mk42gunner]

Any nasty twisted sections can be cut into shorter length pieces to split , or pie cut the huge rounds so they can be handled . Spend the extra money on the saw keep it sharp and oiling the bar good so not to over heat the bar and chain . A extra bar and chain can cut you out of a pinch .
Pace yourself

One of my saws, ironically the one I bought brand new, doesn't quite pump enough oil to keep the sprocket tip lubed. The manual says you don't need to grease to tip, the oiler will take care of it. Yeah right.

It is a sinking feeling in your gut when a chainsaw starts slowing down for no reason, then finding out the bar is hot enough to fry an egg.

After getting that mess freed up, I went to town and bought one of the super cheap tip grease guns, no more problems.

Yes the oil path from the pump outlet to the bar was clear, just not enough oil.

I miss the old Craftsman (rebadged Echo) we had when I was a kid. It had an adjustable automatic oiler and a manual pump. Didn't have a chain brake though.

Robert

[KCSO]

I have used both and the 37 ton will cut through anything even cross grain and the 27 will grunt and groan going through our narley urine elm. Mine is a 27 ton now as i just dont split any of the really bad stuff. If you can stick to shorter pieces or skip the stuff iwth real twisted grain the 27 will do the job for you just fine.

[toallmy]

I need to pull my bar every tank or 2 and clean out the little hole in the bar that the oil goes though
This is my second saw that has had the same problem but it cuts good so it’s worth it .

[toallmy]

Another thought just sit aside all the nasty stuff until you have a good days work - worth And go rent a bigger splitter for a day.

[dangitgriff]

Get a Manuel splitter...
A Mexican with a maul.
[emoji106]

[.429&H110]

Yo se Manual, es mio.
No, I don't speak Spanglish,
everybody else does, though.

A Vermonter taught me how to split wood.
You stand all the rounds on end packed together in a circle. Tie a piece of clothesline two wraps around the middles and tie it tight. Walk around the circle with a maul, split the outer ones. It's a marvel, the pieces don't fly! Untie it, kids stack it, retie it. Was faster than my Dad and daughter on the splitter.
Vermonter's maul:
4 pound sharp maul and
hammer a six foot piece of 1 1/4" pipe kinda flattened a little and pound it down the maul handle to the maul. Now you have a six foot unbreakable handle that will never hit your feet. The thing starts ten feet in the air and comes down MVsquared.
Would that hammer ever split wood!
Ran it for years, never broke it.
Vermonters are an odd bunch, stuck between the Brits Indians and French, still want to be their own nation, Bernie for President.
Vermont Casting makes the best stoves, they'd pay me for split cast iron boilers, radiators, engine blocks.
Easy or awful customers.
Glad to see me coming and glad to see me go
A poor Vermonter has exactly two dogs.
One of them bites.

[.429&H110]

Yo se Manual, es mio.
No, I don't speak Spanglish,
everybody else does.

A Vermonter taught me how to split word.
You stand all the rounds on end packed together in a circle. Tie a piece of clothesline two wraps around the middles and pull it tight. Walk around the circle with a maul, split the outer ones. It's a marvel, the pieces don't fly! Untie it, kids stack it, retie it. Was faster than my Dad and daughter on the splitter.

[elmacgyver0]

I always just used a hand mall for my firewood.
Always enjoyed the old fashioned way of splitting firewood, good exercise too!
Got tired of dragging the wood inside, plus the mess.
Got to the point of not using the woodstove insert.
Ripped out the woodstove and installed gas logs.
Now we use the fireplace again.