Splitter rental...please help rookie...

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Hi all, I am learning a lot as I am still in my first year of CSS and of course Burning. I have been picking up small loads here and there as well as splitting what I can when I can but now it seems to be piling up a bit, I work a lot of hours so I'm doing hand splitting for exercise and fun. So my question is...If I rent a splitter for 4 hours, How many rounds do you think a person with no experience can split in say a realistic time frame of 3 hours, I'm not talking a fast pace, an average pace for an inexperienced person splitting.i have atleast 80 rounds of various stuff, some gnarly maple etc, so I will need to use a machine sometime. Should I wait to collect more? It's $80 for 4 hours. $115 for all day. I'm thinking the way I'm going, I may need to rent it for 4 more hours in September. as iI find these log loads on the street.
Thanks for all input...

 

[smokinj]

1/2 cord an hour by yourself.....If you have help you could push close to a cord an hour. It all comes down to pulling the lever as often as you can. Someone stacking and feeding you rounds helps quite a bit.

 

[muncybob]

I use to rent a splitter and agree with J on the volume. In the meantime start saving your $$ for your own splitter. It's so nice to split when you want to and at whatever rate you want and not because you have to and be in a hurry to get as much done in the 1 day you have the unit. Remember(since you are a novice splitter) that you don't need to retract the ram all the way...just retract it as far as needed to get the next piece in.

 

[blades]

Rent it for all day, ya lose an hour just trucking it back and forth and such. Take a round with ya when ya go to rent it and have them fire it up and split it at least once that way ya know it is working and get a hands on lesson at the same time. If you are going to go for the 4 hr frame don't bother stacking just toss into a pile out of the way stack it later. Waste to much time payed time other wise if by your self.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Awesome... 3 great answers, I appreciate it. Thank you

 

[gzecc]

I'm in NJ and can rent my splitter. What town are you in? Mine would be less than that cost.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Thank you, but I'm gonna wait til I accumulate some more. I'm thinking now that I don't have enough to make it worth while.besides I would feel bad if something happened with yours. Home Depot I could deal with out a problem. But thank you

 

[PapaDave]

I have been able to do 1/3 cord/hour while splitting.
When I had log loads, 1 hr. bucking, 1 hour splitting, 1 hour stacking for 1/3 cord. That's by myself.
Goes quicker when you have some help. I know you've been getting some wood, but do you have any c/s/s yet?
If not, you might reconsider getting that pile done now to get it drying.

 

[bogydave]

When splitting, 2 people can split close to 3 times as much wood as 1 person doing everything.

Even when my 11 year old granddaughter helps. I split twice as much in an hour.

Getting set up to split helps be faster too.
Have a fuel can ready to fill the tank.
Stack the rounds in a long row,
Start at one end where the lever is on the side of the stacked rounds
split & throw the splits behind the splitter, then pull ahead a few feet etc etc. leaving a trail of splits behind you.
Timed saved feeding the splitter is reduced.

I think you're right to accumulate more before renting.
$35 more for all day vs 4 hours means you don't have to rush.
Find out what "All day" means. 12 hours or pick up in the AM & return the next AM?

Hurrying can lead to mistakes.
Have enough time to enjoy it , at a nice steady pace, without constantly watching the clock.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I have been able to do 1/3 cord/hour while splitting.
When I had log loads, 1 hr. bucking, 1 hour splitting, 1 hour stacking for 1/3 cord. That's by myself.
Goes quicker when you have some help. I know you've been getting some wood, but do you have any c/s/s yet?
If not, you might reconsider getting that pile done now to get it drying.

I've got about 3-4 face cords of maple and mixed so r that is. CSS

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

When splitting, 2 people can split close to 3 times as much wood as 1 person doing everything.

Even when my 11 year old granddaughter helps. I split twice as much in an hour.

Getting set up to split helps be faster too.
Have a fuel can ready to fill the tank.
Stack the rounds in a long row,
Start at one end where the lever is on the side of the stacked rounds
split & throw the splits behind the splitter, then pull ahead a few feet etc etc. leaving a trail of splits behind you.
Timed saved feeding the splitter is reduced.

I think you're right to accumulate more before renting.
$35 more for all day vs 4 hours means you don't have to rush.
Find out what "All day" means. 12 hours or pick up in the AM & return the next AM?

Hurrying can lead to mistakes.
Have enough time to enjoy it , at a nice steady pace, without constantly watching the clock.

Great advice thank you so much!
Thank you everyone for your knowledge and experience...

 

[Ashful]

A big part of how much you can do is dependent on how long you cut your rounds. I think J is right on with 1 face cord per hour, but that translates to 1/3 cord per hour with 16" rounds, or 1/2 cord per hour with 24" rounds.

A helper speeds things up by at least 2x, since that whole trick of catching the ram before it makes a full retraction is typically only achieved when someone is feeding you rounds. Also, if you hang onto small (10" and less) rounds after you split once, you can rotate the two halves 90 degrees together, and re-split = four pieces with two motions, instead of four pieces with three motions.

 

[mikefrommaine]

Getting set up to split helps be faster too. Have a fuel can ready to fill the tank. Stack the rounds in a long row, Start at one end where the lever is on the side of the stacked rounds split & throw the splits behind the splitter, then pull ahead a few feet etc etc. leaving a trail of splits behind you. Timed saved feeding the splitter is reduced.

That's great advice and how I try to set things up.

I'll add a couple points,

Try to make the row of rounds parallel and about 8' away from where you want to stack the firewood. That way the wood falls off the splitter right about where you want to stack.

Put the smaller rounds on the bottom of the pile and the bigger rounds on top. That way you don't get tired as fast moving the big rounds to the splitter.

Make sure your chainsaw is ready to trim the odd round to length.

And if possible rent a splitter with a four way wedge.

Personally, with this setup, I don't find it any faster to have a second person helping. A second person just gets in my way. All I have to do is turn around, grab a round, cycle the splitter and repeat. By the time the splits get to high on the back side of the splitter it's time to pull ahead a few feet so your not having to take more than one step to get to the next round. I come back later to stack. With 12-14" rounds and a four way you can do more than 1/2 cord an hour.

 

[BrotherBart]

Line'em up and rock and roll.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I think i only paid about $60 for a 30 ton for a day and a half. I had my day laborer deliver the rounds to me (some more than 100-lbs ) and stack the wood till i needed more rounds. NIce machine except whoever designed it didnt think of everything, the damn thing blew the engine exhaust right in my face. I had to use a piece of plywood to direct it away from me.

 

[PapaDave]

If you didn't need to rush, you'd save some time by throwing the splits right into a trailer if you were stacking elsewhere.
Two trailers and a helper or 2, and you'd have a production line going.
I like BB's setup.
I used to split a trailer load, then move the trailer to the stacking area and do that. After that, I was usually done.
I setup similar to what Dave mentioned (pretty sure Dennis does same), but we're on mostly flat ground here.
Someone feeding rounds to the pile would be helpful, but you could do that before getting the splitter.

 

[arbutus]

In a full day I split 12 full cords with a rental splitter, working steadily by myself.
Don't worry about stacking your splits while you have the rental, do that after you return it.

Get the rounds laid out or in reasonable size piles where you can toss the splits right at the end of the splitter and wheel the splitter to the next pile or just down the line when you run out of rounds.

 

[WES999]

I had a large amount of rounds so I rented a splitter for for 1 day, cost about $100.
This is what I split by myself in one day.
It was a somewhat rundown 13 ton splitter. It worked OK and got the job done.
I would say wait until you have enough wood to rent for the whole day.
Had to make a gas run because I did not have enough gas on hand.
Make sure you enough gas.

 

[greg13]

Call around and see if there are any weekend deals. We rent from Friday afternoon to Monday for a 1 day rate.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

How much wood you can split in an hour really depends mostly on the type of wood you are splitting and the size of the logs. For example, many times you can split the wood by just pushing the wedge in a couple inches while other times you need to put it all the way down. Another big time saver is to not let the wedge go all the way back up. Just bring it up as high as needed to get the next log in place. And unless you are taking the wood off a truck or trailer, split vertically. It saves a lot of sweat and hard lifting.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

How much wood you can split in an hour really depends mostly on the type of wood you are splitting and the size of the logs. For example, many times you can split the wood by just pushing the wedge in a couple inches while other times you need to put it all the way down. Another big time saver is to not let the wedge go all the way back up. Just bring it up as high as needed to get the next log in place. And unless you are taking the wood off a truck or trailer, split vertically. It saves a lot of sweat and hard lifting.

Wow great stuff guys, I can almost write a book from the knowledge that you are all giving to me.
Thank you very much, I will have this list with me before I rent. You guys are great....

 

[WellSeasoned]

Ive seen local woodburners like us renting them out on craigslist for around $50/day. I'd say you could split a cord per 2-3 hours

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I had a large amount of rounds so I rented a splitter for for 1 day, cost about $100.
This is what I split by myself in one day.
It was a somewhat rundown 13 ton splitter. It worked OK and got the job done.
I would say wait until you have enough wood to rent for the whole day.
Had to make a gas run because I did not have enough gas on hand.
Make sure you enough gas.


View attachment 102080
View attachment 102081

You got all that wood from just that rows?

 

[midwestcoast]

Wait 'till you have more. Line-up a buddy who will work for beer & food if you can, even for a couple hours. Often renting on a Saturday will give you extra time on the rental since the dealer is closed on Sunday. A common way is to pick-up at say 3-4pm Saturday & you have it 'till first thing Monday morning.
This obviously isn't going to happen with the Big Box rentals, those places practically never close. Look for construction equipment rental places nearby the prices should be similar.

 

[Beer Belly]

Call around and see if there are any weekend deals. We rent from Friday afternoon to Monday for a 1 day rate.

When I rented I always tried to time it on a pick up Saturday about 12noon, they are closed on Sunday, so a return on Monday morning for a one day charge......works even better if Monday was a national holiday and they were closed....another free day