Hydraulic vs Kinetic Splitter?

[Woody5506]

Apologies if this is a redundant topic to any of the veterans around here but for a newbie such as myself, I have researched plenty to know the difference between the two that I'm a bit at my wits end reading online reviews and watching youtube videos so I'm reaching out to you guys.

As of now, all my splitting is done by hand. Next fall I'm thinking that will change. A kinetic splitter such as the DR Rapid Fire looks tempting but I'm not thrilled with them being horizontal only. The cycle time of kinetics is obviously the appeal, for me anyway.

What do you guys prefer?

 

[Ashful]

A kinetic splitter makes a fantastic second splitter. If it's your only splitter, however, you'll still be splitting or noodling anything large or gnarly by hand. In my mind, this large and gnarly stuff is the only reason I bought a splitter. The clean straight stuff was fun to split by hand!

I prefer a very fast hydraulic splitter, but those don't come cheap!

 

[saewoody]

I just recently bought one and love it. I posted nearly the exact same post just a few months ago; practically the same title. I don't think you will find everyone in agreement on this issue. Here is the link to my post. It had over 100 responses, so it should be mostly helpful reading

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/kinetic-vs-hydraulic.161421/

Good luck with your decision.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Woody5506]

Wow not sure how I missed that thread, thanks for the link. Moderators, feel free to delete this!

 

[HItz]

Hydraulic all the way, I like that it is relatively slow - makes it feel far safer. They are also basically unstoppable and can be flipped to be vertical. Up where I live I seem to routinely get 3 foot in diameter rounds that I can barely roll, let alone lift, so I need the vertical orientation on the splitter to whittle those down to size.

The cycle time is misleading for general splitting because I never let it go full cycle. For straight "easy" to split wood I only need maybe 1/3 cycle for each split, sometimes even less since the wood pops open once the wedge hits it. I just split about 2 cords of wood in about 4 hours, including starting with large 3 foot in diameter pieces.

I have the 22 ton tractor supply co model and I think I have only managed to stop it once or twice on real gnarly oak knots.

 

[Hogwildz]

Get yourself a Super Split, you'll love it. Pay no nevermind mind the hydraulic heads.

 

[Bad LP]

Super Split and not one of the knock offs.

 

[Lakeside]

Wow not sure how I missed that thread, thanks for the link. Moderators, feel free to delete this!

This dead horse has already been beaten.