thinking of investing in a splitter - what features are most important?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
mesuno

mesuno

Member
Oct 14, 2010
165
UK
www.woodstovewizard.com
Hi folks, I'm thinking of investing in a splitter for the family. 1e have two household who will be, in the next couple of years, moving almost exclusively over to wood heat. We have 12 and a bit acres of our own wood land - mixed sweet chestnut and english oak. We'll probably be felling around half an acre of chestnut coppice per year, with a few of the uglier oaks thrown in to reduce the canopy cover.

What features would be most important in a splitter in these circumstances? Some of the oak would be up to 36inch, must of the chestnut is straight grained and around 12inch. Please start with the basics! I've never had a chance to use one yet, but I'm trying to persude family that a cheap 7ton electic one is a bad idea. Am I right?

Mike
 
For that application, I would agree that a small electric one isn't the proper tool. Not if you are going to be splitting for two households. Neither of the woods you named are too bad to split. A few things to look for are: cycle times, tonnage (for your application a 20+ ton should do the trick), horizontal/vertical.

But really you need to make some decisions. Do you see yourself going vertical with the big stumps, or horizontal with a log lift? Are you going to be towing this thing any distance (road tires/turf tires). Look at available options such as 4 way wedges, log lift, work tables, drink holders ;-) . Do you have a pref when it comes to power plants. I personally won't waste fuel in a Tecumseh engine (just my personal pref, so no flaming). You gonna move it by hand? Garden tractor? ATV? (think weight here).

Anyhow, thats a few things to get you thinking.
 
I have never used an electric splitter, some here have and like them.

For the gas powered, you can research opinions here (see Gear forum) but I'll save you some time - the most popular is the Huskee 22 ton from Tractor Supply (regularly on sale for $999). A year ago I did the research and ended up making the purchase and dont regret it at all.

IMO - 22 ton is plenty powerful for every thing I throw at it and I have gone through 12+ cords on mine.
I would think an electric splitter would struggle on some of those bigger rounds that you will run into...probably handle 70% of what you will run into though (just a guess on my part)
Some talk about cycle time (how long it takes the bar to go all the way down and back. To me, it is not an important feature as I rarely take it go all the way down or back up.
Having it work in vertical mode is a feature I would not do w/o (another topic that invokes conversation here - horizontal vs vertical).... for me its clearly vertical for all I do.

Keep in mind splitters seem to hold their value really well so if you decide to sell it down the road you should be able to recoup a large part of your investment.

I also suggest a visit to your local tractor supply to see if they have any returned units. I lucked out and found one that was returned for a "sitcky lever" and got it for $750.

Good luck
 
I split a couple of cords of wood with an electric. i kinda like it. I wouldn't use it to split more than the 3 cords a year I need. definitely not up to splitting for more than one family who heat ONLY with wood.
 
While the electric is plenty for many homeowners, I think that oak that size will laugh at a 7 ton electric. Splitting by hand will be a killer for the big stuff, but just good exercise for the 12" stuff. You might get by splitting most by hand, and renting for a few days each year for the big stuff- but that depends on where you are in the UK.
 
If you have never used one.
Maybe rent one for a day.
I know that helps me decide on features I'd like on many tools.
On the big stuff, having a vertical splitting option would be important. :)
 
Thanks guys - all good info so far. Re splitting chestnut - I already do quite a lot and am happy doing it mostly. I guess what I want is something that can handle the 20 percent of logs that have knots or other problems. We have a big stack of uglies from previous seasons that have never been split down

The massive oaks would be occassional jobs, but if we do bring one down I can see that a heavy duty splitter would be pretty useful. I can't imagine lifting them by hand to a hortizontal bed!

Please excuse typos - on blackberry!
.
 
Ah yes... Someone suggested renting. It is amazing how inexpensive it is to rent a splitter. The ideal would be to see if a rental company has a splitter for sale. Then you ask them if you can rent it for a weekend with the rental monies going towards purchasing the unit if you like it.

For small amounts of wood I would still look seriously at splitting it as you go with a maul ( super splitter, splitting axe, etc etc) .

We rent splitters and just yesterday I looked at two used ones which should be within my budget but when I look at the hundreds of dollars I would tie up in a depreciating tool I decide that the money is better put into a second stove in our home or an insert.

Others may be tired of me repeating this but I rent a 4000 dollar splitter for 75 dollars for a weekend. I pick it up with a full tank of fuel. They maintain it. They put tires on it when needed. They insure it. I get to use it. Do we work hard over a weekend?

Absolutely.

If wood heat was easy everyone would do it ;)
 
lowroadacres said:
Ah yes... Someone suggested renting. It is amazing how inexpensive it is to rent a splitter. The ideal would be to see if a rental company has a splitter for sale. Then you ask them if you can rent it for a weekend with the rental monies going towards purchasing the unit if you like it.

For small amounts of wood I would still look seriously at splitting it as you go with a maul ( super splitter, splitting axe, etc etc) .

We rent splitters and just yesterday I looked at two used ones which should be within my budget but when I look at the hundreds of dollars I would tie up in a depreciating tool I decide that the money is better put into a second stove in our home or an insert.

Others may be tired of me repeating this but I rent a 4000 dollar splitter for 75 dollars for a weekend. I pick it up with a full tank of fuel. They maintain it. They put tires on it when needed. They insure it. I get to use it. Do we work hard over a weekend?

Absolutely.

If wood heat was easy everyone would do it ;)
Click to expand...

Your advice to rent certainly works for many and is very logical.

For me, two factors played into buying vs renting:
1) I found that splitters do NOT depreciate much at all around here
2) I LIKE the wood processing work, including splitting and dont want to be limited to 1 wknd a year. I much prefer to work in 1-2 hour sessions and spread it out over time while not killing myself - just keeping busy. I find I run the gas empty (usually dont fill it all the way) and call it quitting time for splitting. If I'm motivated to keep working I stack what I just split.

Laying out the cash and maintaining it were negatives.

I actually prefer splitting by hand but a shoulder injury pushed my to the gas splitter.
 
When I was forced to purchase a hydraulic splitter I was puzzled too on what to get. I lucked out. One day I was looking at splitters and told the manager I really did not know what I needed. Of course he suggested one, which was on sale. I then commented that I was concerned that I'd buy one, get it home and find it just did not do what I wanted it to do. He told me that if that happened I could return it for a full refund. I offered to buy right then if he'd knock off maybe another hundred dollars....and he did.....and I did.

Oh what a happy day when I finally got to split with this thing! Why oh why did I wait so long?! It is amazing how much wood one can split in a little bit of time and not even work up a sweat! We bought the 20 ton model (now they are mostly 22 ton in that model) with a little 5 horse B & S engine. We've had it around 20 years now and have had zero problems. Not only have we split all our own wood but have done so for many others so this thing has split many, many cords of wood.

During all this time we have found exactly one piece of wood that we did not split. Perhaps I could have gotten it split but it was not worth it to me to mess around with it. I threw it on a brush pile. That was a knotty elm too, but in 20 years to have only one is not too bad.

Vertically splitting to me is the only logical way to split wood. If you split in horizontal mode, you then have to lift every log and if you don't have a table, you'll have to lift part of that log more than once. I can sit (I use an old milk crate and put a hot seat on it) and split all day and not have to lift the wood. I simply roll the pieces onto the splitter rather than lift them up.

I also agree that cycle time is a non-issue. You rarely let the ram go all the way back up anyway so the cycle time is meaningless. You would perhaps gain a little time with, say, a 30 ton machine when splitting really hard splitting stuff like elm but the time is minimal. Ours has a two stage pump so if the splitting gets hard, the ram slows, but not for long so the time is a non-issue.

Good luck.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
When I was forced to purchase a hydraulic splitter I was puzzled too on what to get. I lucked out. One day I was looking at splitters and told the manager I really did not know what I needed. Of course he suggested one, which was on sale. I then commented that I was concerned that I'd buy one, get it home and find it just did not do what I wanted it to do. He told me that if that happened I could return it for a full refund. I offered to buy right then if he'd knock off maybe another hundred dollars....and he did.....and I did.

Oh what a happy day when I finally got to split with this thing! Why oh why did I wait so long?! It is amazing how much wood one can split in a little bit of time and not even work up a sweat! We bought the 20 ton model (now they are mostly 22 ton in that model) with a little 5 horse B & S engine. We've had it around 20 years now and have had zero problems. Not only have we split all our own wood but have done so for many others so this thing has split many, many cords of wood.

During all this time we have found exactly one piece of wood that we did not split. Perhaps I could have gotten it split but it was not worth it to me to mess around with it. I threw it on a brush pile. That was a knotty elm too, but in 20 years to have only one is not too bad.

Vertically splitting to me is the only logical way to split wood. If you split in horizontal mode, you then have to lift every log and if you don't have a table, you'll have to lift part of that log more than once. I can sit (I use an old milk crate and put a hot seat on it) and split all day and not have to lift the wood. I simply roll the pieces onto the splitter rather than lift them up.

I also agree that cycle time is a non-issue. You rarely let the ram go all the way back up anyway so the cycle time is meaningless. You would perhaps gain a little time with, say, a 30 ton machine when splitting really hard splitting stuff like elm but the time is minimal. Ours has a two stage pump so if the splitting gets hard, the ram slows, but not for long so the time is a non-issue.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I think I may have discovered why I like using my splitter horizontally vs. vertically . . . I have a table . . . which means if my wood isn't on my trailer and I have to stoop over and pick up the round (oftentimes I just pivot around and can grab the round from my trailer with just a slight bending action) I only need to bend over once since the table holds the split wood for me . . . I'm thinking if I didn't have that table I would not enjoy splitting wood horizontally quite so much after having to bend over for the 769th time to pick up yet another too-large split from the ground.
 
And you still have to pick up every piece to put it onto the table.... Of course one can get a log lifter....much added un-necessary expense there for sure. Besides, I can sit and relax while splitting rather than stand.
 
Random thoughts . . .

Grew up with hydraulic splitters . . . when I decided to heat with wood myself as an adult I didn't even consider splitting my hand . . . I honestly wouldn't be heating with wood if I had to split by hand.

Gasoline vs. electric: Some folks have had success with smaller electric splitters . . . me . . . I would go with a gasoline-powered model based on the size of wood you plan to split and the fact that you're splitting wood for two households.

Size: Most folks here will tell you that a 22 ton splitter is fine for most everything . . . I went a bit bigger myself . . . but it was only because it was a good deal . . . and being an American male we always tend to think bigger is better.

Vertical vs. horizontal: As much as I poke fun at Backwoods and his love for splitting vertically while I split horizontally I made sure to pick a splitter that could split in either mode . . . while I split most of my wood horizontally, some folks find splitting vertically easier . . . and if nothing else . . . if you have a monster split it's so much easier to roll the split over to the splitter set up in the vertical mode and split it up vs. wrestling it to the beam on a horizontal splitter . . . of course you could also invest in a log lifter to achieve the same desired result.

Engine: I was in quite the quandry . . . I was determined to get a splitter with a Honda engine . . . ended up getting one with a Briggs engine . . . and to be quite honest I've been happy . . . the little Briggs is still going strong after two years and I can't complain since it has fired right up . . . besides I figure parts are cheap and if I do have to re-power it some day I should be able to get a new engine pretty affordably . . . or could get a Honda engine then.

Features: I like having a cradle or work table . . . as mentioned it keeps the larger split rounds from dropping on the ground. To me this is an essential feature. Other folks may not feel the same way -- they may think having a four way wedge is crucially important (not so important for me though -- a lot of my wood is gnarly, crooked stuff) or fast cycle times (again, not so important to me . . . the splitter often works faster than me and my splitter is not an especially fast splitter.)

Final thought . . . folks keep mentioning the Huskee splitter from Tractor Supply . . . do you guys even have a Tractor Supply in the UK?
 
Thanks guys - that is really helpful and gives me a place to start. I'm not sure where I'd be purchasing from here, as we have different shops and suppliers than you guys in America. I guess time to do some more specific research.

One mre question for you guys who do a lot of processing - do you find it better to buck and split in the woods, or bring larger pieces home and split them there? Our woods are 20 minutes away by car and I'm concerned about moving a splitter around. They look pretty heavy to lift to get in a vehicle!
 
i have a 5 ton electric from lowes. i have split in the area of 5 cords so far this year. it does the job well. i have put some large rounds upwards of 24 inch +. if they are in the 30's i first split with wedge or noodle then put on the splitter. but for $300 i would recommend to anyone starting out. in my opinion if it lasts 2 or 3 years i.ve gotten my monies worth.
 
Mesuno said:
Thanks guys - that is really helpful and gives me a place to start. I'm not sure where I'd be purchasing from here, as we have different shops and suppliers than you guys in America. I guess time to do some more specific research.

One mre question for you guys who do a lot of processing - do you find it better to buck and split in the woods, or bring larger pieces home and split them there? Our woods are 20 minutes away by car and I'm concerned about moving a splitter around. They look pretty heavy to lift to get in a vehicle!
Click to expand...

I don't like hauling my splitter around on the road . . . it doesn't really have any type of suspension and the tires aren't all that large . . . seems to me that a lot of jostling around on bumpy, pot-hole strewn roads cannot be good for the splitter.

For this reason I tend to load up my bucked rounds on my trailer and haul them home . . . then I pull the splitter next to my trailer and then easily slide the bucked rounds off the trailer and on to the splitter . . . which also minimizes the amount of time I am bending over.
 
Mesuno said:
Thanks guys - that is really helpful and gives me a place to start. I'm not sure where I'd be purchasing from here, as we have different shops and suppliers than you guys in America. I guess time to do some more specific research.

One mre question for you guys who do a lot of processing - do you find it better to buck and split in the woods, or bring larger pieces home and split them there? Our woods are 20 minutes away by car and I'm concerned about moving a splitter around. They look pretty heavy to lift to get in a vehicle!
Click to expand...

Probably most folks take the splitter to the woods. I don't. I do all the cutting and hauling to the splitting area during the winter months. Then come March or April (when the weather moderates) I do the splitting and then the stacking. It works out well for me. I can remember only twice taking the splitter to the woods because of some big stuff but it was more of a pain in the butt than what it was worth so I don't do that any more.

One more thing to consider is most splitters start pretty hard during the cold of winter. That is because not only the oil in the engine gets a bit stiff but the hydraulic pump is also running and you have that much more still oil. Very hard to pull that rope to get it started. If electric start that would not be a problem but I'd still cut during winter and then do all the splitting all at one time.

btw, one of my neighbors has a splitter and he takes his to the woods all the time. I also know of 4 times he has tipped it over in the woods. I'd rather not have to deal with the fixing after tipping things over.
 
If I lived closer to the woods I'd definitely split there. I'd love to leave all that mess in the timber. Because I live so far away, I need to maximize the amount of wood I can fit into/onto the truck/trailer. rounds take up less space than split. Also, because I'm a busy family man, my time in the timber is often limited, but it's easy to sneak in 30 minutes here and there splitting wood out in the driveway.
 
I have gone to my brother in laws field when he owned it and splitting in the woods is great, no mess! Now I scrounge so its not like I have the splitter on the pickup where ever I go :lol: I also load pretty quick to try and beat the other guys back for another load...
 
lowroadacres said:
Ah yes... Someone suggested renting. It is amazing how inexpensive it is to rent a splitter. The ideal would be to see if a rental company has a splitter for sale. Then you ask them if you can rent it for a weekend with the rental monies going towards purchasing the unit if you like it.

For small amounts of wood I would still look seriously at splitting it as you go with a maul ( super splitter, splitting axe, etc etc) .

We rent splitters and just yesterday I looked at two used ones which should be within my budget but when I look at the hundreds of dollars I would tie up in a depreciating tool I decide that the money is better put into a second stove in our home or an insert.

Others may be tired of me repeating this but I rent a 4000 dollar splitter for 75 dollars for a weekend. I pick it up with a full tank of fuel. They maintain it. They put tires on it when needed. They insure it. I get to use it. Do we work hard over a weekend?

Absolutely.

If wood heat was easy everyone would do it ;)
Click to expand...


around here splitters rent for $55 for a half day or $80 for a full day ,prices are + sales tax.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Vertically splitting to me is the only logical way to split wood. If you split in horizontal mode, you then have to lift every log and if you don't have a table, you'll have to lift part of that log more than once. I can sit (I use an old milk crate and put a hot seat on it) and split all day and not have to lift the wood. I simply roll the pieces onto the splitter rather than lift them up.
Click to expand...

Even Dennis splits Horizontal! :)
 

Attachments

  • avatar_2270.jpg
    avatar_2270.jpg
    6 KB · Views: 293
Did anyone notice this guy is from the UK, as in Britain? Lowes, Tractor Supply, etc don't exist over there.

Don't get an electric for your needs. Get a motor powered hydraulic and diesel would be cheaper to operate over there. No less than 15 ton and with a 2 stage pump. The higher tonnage rated spiltter just seem to be mostly marketing and have faster cycle times. I use a 15+ yr old 15ton splitter and it works faster than I do at a little over half speed. It will cut oak cross grain against the knife. Those big 36" across rounds will be tough to manhandle no matter whether you opt for a vertical or horizontal splitter. I like a horizontal splitter with a table, but then I lift the big rounds up using the loader on the tractor.

With how expensive things are in the UK and the Pound being strong right now you might do better buying parts and shipping over. If you're at all handy assembling one yourself isn't that difficult if you can weld or know someone who can.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back