Thinking about an electric splitter? And want some opinions.

Works great for birch, cottonwood and spruce.

I was in the same spot as you a few weeks ago I just bought a Taskforce splitter from Lowes.

I've used it to re-split some red oak, elm and maple pieces (between 16" and 20" long) without issue. I've also used it to split cedar, white oak and maple rounds up to 20" wide and 16"-20" long.

For wood with a clean, straight grain such as oak, it splits great but a Fiskars ax works quicker.

For stringy stuff like elm, it'll split it but you still have to pry it apart. These were pieces that either were not splittable with the Fiskars or just too much work.

I like it and at the new $269 price it was a no brainer.

Hope this helps ...

Berardino

ive got the task force splitter from lowes..ive mainly split red oak and locust with it so far....havent run into one single piece i couldnt split yet.....nothing huge..mostly like 10-16 inch rounds.......ive also split sycamore with it...sycamore is usually super tough to split...what i had was dry sycamore so it split alot easier...ive did some pretty big wet sycamore rounds....the rounds were super tough for me to handle by myself..but the splitter manage to split em...only thing i didnt like about the splitter was the way it sit so low to the ground..i built a table to sit it on..saves my back...but its nice to sit on the ground when u got those bigger rounds...all in all im very happy with my purchase....im sure im gonna run into some stuff this splitter cant handle, but i knew that when i bought it....since ive bought it i have found that i would rather split by hand most of the time...but when im tired and not in the mood to split by hand i have this splitter..sweetgum i seriously doubt it ive seen gum labor the big splitters

baratta has it right: for the small stuff, hand splitting is quicker. But if you want to save your back and shoulders, and don't mind taking your time, an electric is pretty good. You should be able to get the Task Force or Ryobi for less than $300 with a sale or coupon. Both will split most any 16" pieces, save for gnarly crotches. I've split up to 24" diameter 18" oak with no problem--works best when wood is a bit dry or cold, so it pops. Since then, I've moved on to gas because I want to be able to split everything and not have to bend over, run a cord, or wait as long. For the money, though, my electric was pretty solid. I had the Ryobi.

Good luck,

S

I have the task force 5 ton from Lowes. Has trouble with some oak wood that i was splitting but for the most part it works well. Not very quick though.

clemsonfor said:

RORY12553 said:

I have the task force 5 ton from Lowes. Has trouble with some oak wood that i was splitting but for the most part it works well. Not very quick though.

Click to expand...

Just looked at it online. It lists cycle time at 12 or 13 seconds i think. Some of the elecrtrics, i think the homelite at HD said 20 seconds.

A gas splitter is pretty slow to, I would still split all the small straight stuff by hand as its much faster, till im tired then i can power split. The large or stuff thats a pain to hand split is what i want a splitter for. I will split about 2 cords a year as well. I aslo can put in on my tialgate and split as i unload the truck so i dont have to sit down.


I really hate the safty feature thing though hate that you need 2 hands how do you hold the wood on? I guess you dont? My wood cutting buddy found the parts to get his gas back up n running so im not as worried now so i can keep my eye out for a deal on this one.

Click to expand...

It really can't handle anything over 10 inches and even then on some harder oak it had difficulty. I use it for the same stuff that is 10 inches or below or to really get a small split out of the wood. It has a cradle to hold the wood but it still tends to slip off.

I split probably 4 cords of oak and silver maple at 18" with no issue (besides, as mentioned, the gnarly crotches). Stuff had sat for half a year and usually popped.

S

We don't have the hard to split stuff like in the lower 48, I'm not sure how birch compared to others?

I split several birch logs with minimal issues that were somewhere around 24-30" diameter. 16" long.


The 2 hand splitting is a pain. I modified the one I use so that one hand can use the lever and push the button. I have been thinking about using a foot switch and just bypassing the button on the unit. Foot to turn motor on/off and one hand to run the cylinder.

My Homelite 5T "requires" 2 hands, ironically. A milk crate or a bucked round solves that problem.

The only round it has choked on was 20" hickory last week. Curiously, it went right through black locust the same size.

Not the fastest, but for $300 it was worth it.

onsale $389


http://www.harborfreight.com/7-ton-log-splitter-97113.html

You can get it even cheaper by using a 20%-off coupon at the regular price of $450.

I have the 5-ton electric from Tractor Supply. One hand operation. It does 95% of what I split. It was on sale for $250 when I bought it, plus I had a 10% coupon, so I got it for $225.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/speeco-5-ton-electric-log-splitter-2152594

^^ Pretty much was going to say the exact same thing.

I have the 5 ton Speeco electric splitter. I run it off a 10 gauge 100' extension cord and did about 4-5 cords of red oak, white and silver birch, maple and beech with it this year. Its not really much slower than a gas splitter, full cycle time is about a 14 seconds. which is comparable to the Husky 22 ton gasser.

I would say 95% of everything I put in it, the thing popped right down the middle on the first try. Sometimes it does take more than one cycle to split a stubborn piece or you have to rotate it or flip it over and then it goes. A few really knotty pieces were just plain no way and they had to be done by hand or get tossed in the woods to rot or go in the outdoor fire pit.

The bulk of what I had to split was red oak over 12" in diameter and 20" in length. A significant amount of wood was in the 18-20" diameter range. Oak splits really easily generally...elm, not so much. I've never seen nor had anything called sweetgum so I couldn't tell you how it would go.

Is a small electric splitter limited in capability comapred to a big gas powered one? You bet. It will not split everything on the first try, but since its less than a quarter of the price of a gas splitter and only costs about 25 cents an hour to run it, I'll happily deal with those limitations.

I also got the 5 ton Speeco from Tractor Supply. I bought mine for $200 I think--on sale. I split several cords last year and could not have been happier. I really enjoy splitting by hand, but the Speeco helps me keep going when I get fatigued with the maul. Also, it doesn't have the same 2 handed safety features that the other models do. Definitely happy with my purchase.

Just a quick word on my new Lowes Task Force 5 ton electric. Used it for the first time today and I am satisfied, I should have bought one long ago. If it lasts me a few years it will be a great purchase. It split everything I threw at it. Yes it is not as fast as gas splitters that I have used but it isn't that slow, As far as the low to the ground issue, I used it with me sitting on my old chopping block with rounds on one side of me and flipping the splits to a pile on the other side. So far. so good ...

Love my Homelite, splits 28 in. dia. x 17 black oak rounds (if I can get them up on it)



Modified with 2 foot pedals to allow upright operation (my back says thank you) and 2 handed control of splits.