Hass said:
I'm debating what splitter to get.
I believe I'm going to get the Huskee 22 ton from TSC.
But I may move up to the 35 ton, I'm not sure.
I've made bad mistakes in the past, by being cheap and not going big enough from the start.
What requires more power than this splitter can provide? I can't say for certain what I'll be splitting, because I really don't know.
Right now I have some 3' willow, some 2' oak, and a bunch of 1-2' pine and catalpa to split. (maybe 4-5 cords total)
I'm fairly certain the splitter can handle that easily. But I scrounge whatever I can, and if I scrounge something fairly large... I don't want to run in to problems of not being able to get it split.
Or if I end up just buying log loads of wood, may come with some larger/knotty stuff.
So what are the limits of a 22 ton splitter?
Also, a bit off topic but what are the things to check when purchasing a 22 ton Huskee from TSC?
I remember a few problems about bolts not being tightened, fluids not topped off... But aside from that I heard they're great machines.
Hass, you remind me of myself! Over 20 years ago we were in the same boat. Due to an injury we had to get a splitter if we were going to continue burning wood. I was really at a loss and oh how I wished we'd had hearth.com then. But we didn't. Please allow me to tell the story of how we got ours.
One evening we were in the Quality Farm and Fleet store (much like TSC and was bought out by TSC). They had several splitters set up right (vertically) and we were looking at them. As we (wife and I) stood there discussing them the manager walked up and started talking. He guided us towards the 20 ton unit. Eventually I made the statement that, "One fear I have is that we'll get this thing home and then find that it won't do the job we needed done." His reply was, "Buy it, take it home and if it does not meet your expectations, bring it back for a full refund." Well, that about sold me so I told him if he'd knock a few more dollars off that I'd buy it right on the spot. He did and I did but I had to put the thing together which was pretty simple.
So we brought it home and put it together the next day. Then I moved the tiller to the wood pile and started splitting wood. It took me 2 or 3 logs to decide that we made the right decision. I was amazed at how easy and how fast this splitting went. Later I learned that I could make things even easier and faster, all while sitting down to do the splitting. Naturally the book says you are supposed to put the log on the butt plate and then move around behind the control before lowering the wedge. That would be foolish but is printed only to cover their self against any law suits.
So after I split some cherry, maple and ash I decided to cut some elm to really give it a workout. To my astonishment this thing made it look like child's play for most of it. Yet, there were a few pieces where it did fully use the 2-stage pump, but it did split the wood. We were sold. Since that time we have split over 200 cord of wood for ourselves and others and in that time I have had one piece that, rather than splitting I threw it on the brush pile. That one was really knotty and twisted. I tried and the ram stalled. I flipped it upside down and it did the same.
Perhaps if I'd have toyed with it the thing may have split but that one ugly thing was not worth it to me so I just threw it away. I would not say that is too bad with over 200 cord split. Perhaps it would have split had I bought a bigger splitter but it might not have too. I do know that with a larger splitter I would have burned a lot more wood and used more oil and with the price of gas now I do not want to run too many large engines or drive too much.
The point is, the 20 ton had done all we needed done and could do even more. The splitter has been trouble free up until last week when I made the first repair on it. I had to fix the rope for starting. I did not replace the rope but just shortened it. Easy fix; cost zero.
Good luck and I hope you get a really nice splitter that will hold up and do a good job for you. Just don't let the bigger is better idea get to you. Remember that you are not going to do this commercially.....I think. If you want to do it commercially, then indeed go big.
