Thinking About Buying A Splitter.... Questions & Input appreciated.

[Dix]

Or maybe more appropriate title would be "If You Were Me".

I've got alot of trees down, 6 at count right now, 12-20" oaks, 1 2' pine, and insundry other trees, that are in the process/or are already cut into rounds, and more to come down and be split.

I had hoped to have it all split by now, but with the hamstring issue, and a bunch of other crap that life threw at us, we're behind. Way behind. I have 3 cords of wood split in February coming in Sunday PM @ $150 a cord (hardwoods) so I know I'm good to go in November. I also have a cord split in January, just laying low, like broccoli.

In the mean time, I've got all this wood to split. I did have a deal with my former fire wood guy, for him to come in and split @ $50 a cord, but I'm not feeling the love anymore, and he keeps putting me off on getting wood :zip:

I have more trees coming down...alot of oak, pine, spruce. I figure if I can't sell the house and get a horse property, I can take down these trees, and clear it up to be a horse property. I have the land needed to do that. .

Anyways.... buy a mid sized splitter ( I have never worked one before), rent a splitter when I'm ready, buy a bigger/more powerful splitter?

I'd be working it myself, or with the daughter and her posse.

Any input appreciated.

 

[Shipper50]

My suggestion would be to rent one or see if a friend that has one show you the ins and outs of running a splitter. Its much cheaper to rent one and then make a decision, than buy one and find out its not for you.

It would be like me coming and asking to ride your horses before buying one. ;-P

Shipper

 

[Gooserider]

Are you doing your own saw work? If so, then you should find a splitter is no big challenge. If not, you may want to think about how you are at dealing with stuff mechanical in general, and again a splitter isn't terribly bad in that regard.

There is some degree of issue in moving the rounds onto the splitter, and 20" plus rounds are not trivial to deal with, but are no big problem if you have power equipment, and / or a good grasp of how to handle heavy / bulky objects.

IMHO a 20 ton unit gas powered unit - think about a 5-6hp engine, 11 gpm pump, and a 4" cylinder as your basic combination, is a good size, what it won't split probably isn't much worth dealing with. It should certainly handle the size trees you've been mentioning. I am partial to the units that can go both horizontal and vertical, and tend to use vertical exclusively - put a seat (milk crates work good) in front of the units, pile rounds to be split on one side, and throw the splits to the other side... Horizontal units require you to get the rounds up onto the beam, unless they have a log lift, which adds significantly to the cost, and often pick up the finished splits as well if you are doing multiple splits.

Brand seems to be a matter of opinion, there seem to be good and bad units in all the brands. The Husky/Speeco units sold at Tractor Supply seem to be among the better priced units, and have few complaints. I have a Harbor Freight unit that has had some minor issues, but I'm over all pretty happy with it. The HF units have the advantage that because of the way they are designed, you can store them in a smaller area than most other splitters. (I have the 30 ton, but if I had it to do over, I might well have gotten the 20) The HF units are also fairly low cost.

Cost for a new TSC 20 ton is around a grand, so it isn't cheap, but there are worse things to have to purchase. Rental runs $50-80 / day, so the purchase is about equal to a couple weeks rental.

I don't like renting things in general, so I'm biased in favor of purchase, but my feeling is that splitter rental is OK if you have a very small amount to split, but gets problematic as the pile gets bigger - splitting is a lot of work, even with a machine - and if you are "on the clock" there will be a strong temptation to rush, and or / push the fatigue limits, which can lead to accidents. If you own the machine, you can split a bit at a time, and stop when you get tired, without it costing you extra.

Given that you seem to have a lot of wood to split, and it sounds like a potentially ongoing need, I'd strongly suggest a purchase. It is also worth noting that from what I've seen, reasonably maintained splitters in the 20 ton gas class seem to be pretty good at value retention, so you wouldn't have trouble re-selling for close to what you paid, and they don't seem to stay on Craig's list for long...

Gooserider

 

[Tarmsolo60]

I have a unit that does both horizontal and vertical, I use horizontal pretty much exclusively, but what I like about it is the height of the ram is comfortable to work at. some cheaper units are horizontal only and you have to bend over more to use it. I realize I have to lift my rounds a little more, but my back just can't take the crouching with the lower units.

I would like to put a 4 way wedge on the unit but the wedge is on the ram instead of the on the end of the I-Beam so the vertical option can be used. I haven't gotten into that project yet.

My unit came from Lowe's, it's a 27 ton, I think it's a Troy-bilt. I can't be sure because its at my brother in laws right now :-S

 

[hoot gibson]

i have burnt wood for years and finaly decided to buy a splitter . i looked and looked , ran a few that people have and decided on the husky 22 ton model from tsc . seemed to be the best buy. i have no complaints . it is as good of splitter as you will need for home use . burning only hard woods it has never failed to split anything i have ran through it . my rounds are cut 16 to 20 inches .hoot

 

[John_M]

My recommendation is to purchse your own splitter rather than be at the mercy of availability and price at the rental agency. As GooseRider says, you can split at your own leisure and not have to battle the dollars associated with the ticking rental clock.

My recommendation is for a horizontal/vertical splitter with a bolt-on log cradle. And because I usually adhere to a philosophy of "bigger is better", would suggest one in the 20 t to 27 ton range. Unless you are getting younger each day, I would strongly suggest an electric start option if it is available. When the air temp is cold and/or you have shoulder problems, the electric start option is a god send.

I hope to have my new 27 ton horizontal/vertical unit with Honda 9 hp, GX 270 engine w/electric start, log cradle and log dislodger within a month. Much of my wood is already piled and ready for splitting. Hope to start building the wood storage shed within the month.

Best wishes and good luck with your decision, Eileen.

John_M

 

[smokinj]

If your going to burn wood say for the next 10 years than buy a splitter!

 

[Shipper50]

Since I am the only one so far that suggested renting a splitter to try it out,I will put 2 more cents in. You buy a splitter for say $1000, then you have to get a gas can, have oil for it, keep hydraulic fluid for it. You will have to store it or get a tarp unless you want to just keep it out in the weather.

Now comes the good part, I am not saying your old, but what happens when you get older and your bones wont let you lift those logs onto the beam to be split? What happens when the oil needs changing? Are you going to get on your back and have the tools to change the oil? What happens when a bolt comes loose and you have to have the right wrench or socket to tighten them up?

I am thinking like a man, and I am not saying your not woman enough to handle a splitter, but thought I would put in a few thoughts to ponder. :roll:

Shipper

 

[smokinj]

Since I am the only one so far that suggested renting a splitter to try it out,I will put 2 more cents in. You buy a splitter for say $1000, then you have to get a gas can, have oil for it, keep hydraulic fluid for it. You will have to store it or get a tarp unless you want to just keep it out in the weather.

Now comes the good part, I am not saying your old, but what happens when you get older and your bones wont let you lift those logs onto the beam to be split? What happens when the oil needs changing? Are you going to get on your back and have the tools to change the oil? What happens when a bolt comes loose and you have to have the right wrench or socket to tighten them up?

I am thinking like a man, and I am not saying your not woman enough to handle a splitter, but thought I would put in a few thoughts to ponder. :roll:

Shipper

splitters are an eazy sell, heck all wood equiment is easy to sell. You can recoup most of your money if ever need be, but thats just me

 

[Arlo]

I will eventually buy one but for know. 6-7 chords a year is what I do. I have limited space here in the suburbs so therefore I will continue to rent one once a year for the rounds that my maul can't handle. When I have some land in the future, I will definetly buy one but as somone said before; you need space to store it, you need to change the fluids yearly, etc etc...... so for some us renting just makes more sense. Just my 2 cents

 

[Dix]

After reading you replies (thank you all) I did some pondering.

I decided that I had the wood coming Sunday, which will get me through next year with leftovers (barring a 2 month Artic freeze), I had some time to see what happened, keep an eye on Craigs list (good idea !! I hadn't come up with that one !!), watch the sales, and if worse came to worse, rent one in the fall, and just split for a weekend if need be. Kinda let the chips fall where they may

I'm at the barn, run by Lynn, who I have known for 20 years..she's got trees to come down, would I want the wood? I said sure. Conversation continues, and I explain my splitting issue, she looks at me and says "We've got one out in one of the buildings, it's 3 years old, use that one." (ME at this point =

)

"Take it home when you can, use it, and bring it back when you're done" (me =

)

It tows :coolsmile: Hook that puppy up to the truck and bring her home ;-)

Now to git 'er done ! But atleast it can be at my pace, which is good.

We are taking down our own trees, maintaing the saws, quad, etc, and I kept up the lawn mower with oil changes, plugs, etc, and we've got quite a few tool boxes and cases around, which get used often, so I think we'll be good to go !!

I'll keep ya posted, and come back if I have any questions about running this thing, etc

Thanks again !!

 

[Gooserider]

Sounds like a really great deal, everyone comes out in good shape, and you now have plenty of time to look for your own splitter if you decide you want one...

Gooserider

 

[Dix]

It's the best of the best

My friends ARE my family !! And what a "pull through" !!