Disappointed in the Roybi 4 ton.

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timm525

New Member
Sep 25, 2008
18
Florida
Hi gang,

Just bought a Roybi 4 ton splitter based on the great reviews it got on here. I bought it at my Home Depot for 269.00 on clearance. I was very eager to try it out. I split mostly green Oak and was disappointed to see that it did not handle the green Oak at all. I had a few seasoned pieces that I tried and it went thru them like butter.

Great little machine for what it’s worth, just not in the ability to do green Oak.

I guess I’ll be returning it and getting a Ramsplitter or a Huskee 22 ton.

Just my two cents worth.
 
I told you the electric ones in hardware stores are garbage. Should have gotten a Ramsplitter if you wanted to go electric.
 
Yes you did and I didn't listen!

Price was too good not to give it a try.

I kinda had the feeling it wouldn't handle it, but at $269.00...

Tim
 
In the construction world Ryobi is Japanese for crap...
 
Reggie Dunlap said:
In the construction world Ryobi is Japanese for crap...

Amen to that, only one time have I seen a construction company purchase Ryobi tools. It was the 18V drills, now we electricians use drills everyday, all day. We were installing base board heaters in a high rise building. The Foreman brought us two new drills still in the package, we charged the batteries to a full charge and then started mounting the heater units. Now we were using the drills on the exact same amount of screws, into the exact same material. In one drill the battery lasted all day the other went through 4 different fully charged batteries. I will not buy a Ryobi tool to use for construction.

Now with that said, I did purchase the Ryobi splitter from HD last year on clearance for $180, it works and I have a gas splitter to use for stubborn things.

FYI, it did not take very long for me to find some wood that it would not split. Again for the money I paid for it, I'll keep it.

aussieblake
 
I split tons of green oak this summer with my little task force(lowes brand) electric and it did everything up to 25" rounds. The whole thing with these little electrics are ya can not just go at rounds right through knots or right down the middle of a big round. Gotta be more surgeon like and either nibble the edge of a huge round or first split away from a knot. I think out of twenty three whole 22" -25" dia. Oak,maple, hickory, cherry, and elm trees I took down for the new house I ran into 5-6 multi crotch, knotty rounds I just couldn't get to split. I really like the qualities of the little electric. So quiet, almost free to run, no fumes, and light weight. Sorry to hear ya dont like the ryobi, but these little splitters can split green oak and just about any other wood ya want to split. Ya just gotta learn how to use them.
 
“It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got”...Sheryl Crow

Stihl ms180 with easy start...ahhhh
Husky 22 ton gas splitter
taskforce 5 ton electric splitter (Please Sir, no more elm)Now relegated to kindling duty
Kumma vapor fire 100 wood furnace...pending
10 acres of michigan hardwoods

"Gonna buy me a mule, one can take the place of you..." Koko Taylor
 
I think the Ryobi is great for kindling duty and resplitting dry pieces in the basement. I tried using it as my main firewood splitter but
that is not realistic with a splitter this small and slow. I rent a gas powered one for the main splitting.
 
Today I split 3/4 cord if 8 to 15 inch pine with the Task Force electric splitter. Absolutely no problems. When splitting big pieces always make the first split along a crack and it goes very smoothly. As in most things in life, brute force isn't everything - technique makes a big difference.
 
I've had my task force for 2 yrs. I've always been impressed with the way it split almost anything within reason. If it died today I got my $279 worth.
 
OK. Update to my original post.

I've been using the Roybi for a little while now and today I split 1/2 cord of green oak with it. It does go through the smaller stuff with no problem but the bigger stuff just stalls it out. However, I found that if I take my chain saw and cut down into one end about three inches or so, it is enough of a crack to get the wedge in and get it to "split" the wood.

I have split some very large rounds like this and am impressed with the way it is handling.

All in all, for the money, it is worth it's price and more.

As others on here has said, you have to know how to use it to get the most out of what it can do.

Thanks for the replies,

Tim
 
Tim M said:
However, I found that if I take my chain saw and cut down into one end about three inches or so, it is enough of a crack to get the wedge in and get it to "split" the wood.
Sounds like alot of work just to use the splitter. Maybe just maul the first split on the big ones.
 
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