Electric Wood Splitter - Long Term Test Verdict

[NeoTrout]

Since you took the photo of me operating the splitter, you would know! 8)

Is it wrong to operate a camera under the influence? :icon_cool

 

[igolf2]

We heat with wood only and I have a small 7-ton Craftsman gas splitter that I bought from a co-worker 11 years ago for $150 - I use the chit out of it and it's never let me down (starts on first pull) - took down 5 big (BIG) wild cherry trees this past summer and the little Farker split it all - Amazing!

 

[landarc]

My BIL heats with wood too, he uses a 12 year old wood splitter to assist him. the 12 year old splitter can be balky at times, and often makes a whining noise, but, the wood gets split, stacked and hauled into the house as needed.

 

[Gore]

Master and I also heat with wood. I've got our neighbor's oak tree that was cut down and sliced into nice 18" sections last summer. It, like most of the others, is about 4' across at the widest. Took an ax to some of the pieces last weekend as we're getting low on wood -- unfortunately, not seasoned enough yet. Always thinking about a splitter, but what does it cost to get (or rent) something to handle these logs? -- I feel like I'm getting too old to be doing this with an ax. Sure would like that Bob Cat for a day!

 

[Teleking]

but what does it cost to get (or rent) something to handle these logs?

Rental on a vertical 26 ton gasser is $50/day in these parts. :wink:

 

[Bogus Chezz Hawg]

wish my garage looked that nice n clean!

Thanks, but that photo was taken 3 months after I moved into my brand new, just-built house. We'll see how it looks in a few more years! :lol::lol:

I still like this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeanPDO-D6M

Chris

I showed this video to my wife... As soon as the first splits fell to the ground she said, "NO FARKIN' WAY, DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT"! :icon_smil
That Bobcat attachment is unbelievably awesome!

Mmmm, Left Hand...

Yep, Left Hand's brewery is about 20 miles from my house. :icon_clown

I used to live in the sticks and burned a lot of wood to keep the house warm. I have this little electric splitter and that big arse gas powered DR in the back.

Very nice collection you have there BBS! :smile:

 

[Bogus Chezz Hawg]

I could operate that thing ALLLLLL day and never get tired!!! That is too cool.........I want one.

This is a great thread. My buddy, Paul, and I will be hitting the pecan groves in the next few weeks as they will begin to trim back the trees in preparation for spring. Most of the farmers and owners will let you enter the property if you ask nicely and promise not to trash their property. In exchange you can have all the pecan you can haul off and you can come back as many times as you want. We haul it back in whole log form and then cut to size a few weeks after. In the end we might collect anywhere from 3-5 cords. We have been looking into sharing the cost of a splitter. Thanks for the info. We saw an electric one at Lowes that we may look at a little closer now.

Thanks Bob! If you are going to split 3-5 cords all at once, I would recommend renting a gasser as some of the brethren have mentioned they do. I use my electric to split what I need for the cook I am doing that day.

Is it wrong to operate a camera under the influence? :icon_cool

It depends...Under the influence of what, may I ask? :icon_clown:shock::lol::lol:

I'm with Skidder and prefer people power. That said, gas or electric splitters are probably more safe/accurate on the smaller logs like those pictured. But that said, there's really no need to split logs of those diameters.

Here's a pic of the 15-pound "monster maul" I use but they're no longer manufactured. Northern Tools has a slightly lighter clone for $30

Mark, that sure is a beautiful maul. You're right about safer and more accurate. I was splitting with people power before I bought the electric splitter. One day a split piece of wood kicked up and hit the tip of my thumb. I was wearing leather gloves at the time. The glove became saturated with blood within a few seconds. The pain I felt was pretty bad. I thought I lost the tip of my thumb. Once I took the glove off, I saw that I only "split" the tip of my thumb wide open. I was sort of relieved, but because of that incident I decided to buy the splitter. I bought nearly a cord of apple (shortly after buying the splitter) for $120. It would have been $200, but the guy gave it to me cheaper when I told him I had a splitter and he didn't need to split it himself. I got several large & dense stumps and a lot of twisted & knotty pieces. You didn't see those pieces in my photo. Most of the end cuts were uneven too, which makes it difficult to stand on end for manual chopping. These were reasons why I thought I should buy the powered splitter. And I am glad I did!

 

[Crazy Tex]

I've only found one rental place that will rent a splitter... and its $80 a day... I need to cut a lot more wood before I pay that much... but I also had back surgery Dec 08.. so swinging a maul still doesn't feel that good.