I’ve always been a hand splitting guy (Fiskars tools...love ‘em!).  But this spring I’ve come into a good deal (~9 cords) of wood that’s bigger and more dense than most of what I’ve dealt with up until now (not to mention the fact that I’ll be elegible to start drawing $$$ out of my IRA without penalty in June if I want to).  So...I went splitter shopping.  Last September, I would see row upon row of splitters sitting outside Lowe’s & Home Depot, with more displayed on the floor inside, so I thought I’d just ride on over and pick out the right one for me (was thinking 20-ton).  Well...there weren’t any.  In their stead were row upon row of lawn tractors and B-B-Q grills.  I asked a couple of sales folks about it, and the response was that log splitters are “seasonal” items, and they don’t devote precious retail display space to them until late summer/early fall.  What kind of sense does that make?  Seems to me, the time to be splitting and stacking wood is now.  If I were to wait until September, I’d be burning before I was done processing wood to burn.  At Home Depot, they dug out two splitters locked in a cage in the back lot...a Yard Machines 25-ton with a Briggs engine, and a 27-ton something else with (I think) a Honda.  I bought the 25-ton, and it works just fine, though a bit larger than I think I need...at least it was available when I felt I needed it.  “To everything, turn, turn, turn...there is a season, burn, burn, burn”.  So, I’m splitting & stacking wood (and building a woodshed), and before the log splitters come back into “season”, I should be all set for the next season.  Sometimes I find the retail industry just a bit puzzling.  Rick

Tried to buy a plain electric blanket as a Christmas present . Hit all the local chain stores in early Dec. The were all out and don’t restock because winter is almost over, ya sure. In New England we still have four months left of winter cold. Finally picked one up on the Target web site. Capitalism at its finest.
Ed

It is wierd.  I work for a large southern NH equipment dealership and we just got our first shipment in.  We’ve sold a lot of them too.  It’s going to be a good year for it.  Chainsaws have also been selling like hotcakes.

cmonSTART - 10 May 2008 08:42 PM

...I work for a large southern NH equipment dealership and we just got our first shipment in.  We’ve sold a lot of them too.

Well, I’ve always believed the New Englanders to be more forward-thinking and practical than the reckless pioneers who set off West without a clue as to what they were going to find out here...perhaps just a bit of that lingers on.  I guess I’m s’posed to be mowing and grilling and not worrying about the wood until winter looms again.  (That’s a “rule” I’m gonna break.) Rick

That’s exactly what I found at my local lowes. But I managed to find a couple of splitters still left in early spring. I went to Lowes this weekend and they sold out of their last fall’s supply of Troy Built ones so looks like folks here will have to find them elsewhere.  I spoke to a salesdroid who seemed to just shrug it off. 

Jay