New woodsplitter

[archerynut]

I am definitely leaning towards the Honda engines from all of the responses here so far. Are there any negative reviews of any logsplitters? Any to avoid?

 

[MiserableOldFart]

I own only one Honda motor. It's on a very expensive rotary mower, and it's been a PITA since I"ve owned it. Not to be overly argumentative, but the briggs engine on my Huskee splitter does a remarkable job at half throttle on normal wood. And for splitting four or five cords a year, it should be adequate for a good many years. Also cheap to replace and easier to get parts than Honda. If I were splitting 20 or more cords a year, I would be looking for something heavier duty than the vertical briggs, but for comparsion, I have an approximately 13 years old DR powerwagon with (of all things) a Techumseh engine and it's as good as new (has the original plug in it too.)

A friend has co-owned a Huskee with the vertical Briggs for several years now, and recommended it to me, and I have not been disappointed in its performance. There was an issue with leaking gas, but it was just a matter or taking off the float bowl and resetting the gasket. The red Hondas are great engines, I'm sure, but for four or five cords a year, my whole splitter costs not much more than a good sized Honda engine. Unless there are big surprises (bad ones) in the future with the machine, I'd say it's the right machine for the home user who heats with wood. The extra $500 can buy a pretty nice chainsaw or a very big truckload of log length wood to split..

 

[MiserableOldFart]

I'd like to add that I split a lot of hemlock, which is a soft wood and not too difficult to split IF you can season it first, which is a pain in the butt to do with unsplit logs. When trying to split green hemlock with a maul, the thing usually just gooshes into the wood all the way to the end (after many sledgehammer blows) and just gets stuck with water oozing out around it. I had a lot of windfall hemlock in the past end up rotting before I got around to splitting it.

These horrendous hemlock logs go through the Huskee like swiss cheese, even when it gets to rock hard knots perpendicular to the grain. This impressed me even more than the excellent job it did with some very tough sugar maple last fall.

 

[irvingj]

Speaking of splitters-- I've never used a vertical splitter; Johndeere3720, what are the advantages/disadvantages? Do you raise up the rail once in position? (Does it lower for towing/storage?) How does that work?

I'm still at the point where I have to borrow one from my brother, but I always think about that line in the song (Blood, Sweat & Tears) "God bless the child that's got his own..."

Really don't like to be in a position where I have to borrow stuff. I think it's only a matter of time before I convince myself I need a splitter...:laughing:

 

[94BULLITT]

Speaking of splitters-- I've never used a vertical splitter; Johndeere3720, what are the advantages/disadvantages? Do you raise up the rail once in position? (Does it lower for towing/storage?) How does that work?

I'm still at the point where I have to borrow one from my brother, but I always think about that line in the song (Blood, Sweat & Tears) "God bless the child that's got his own..."

Really don't like to be in a position where I have to borrow stuff. I think it's only a matter of time before I convince myself I need a splitter...:laughing:

Some splitters can be switch from a horizontal position to a vertical position. It is handy if you run in to some real big wood that you can not lift on to the splitter. I think the majority of today small engine splitters are horizontal and vertical. The only one I can think of that is only horizontal is the powerhorse bidirectional splitter from northern tool.

 

[955er]

I am definitely leaning towards the Honda engines from all of the responses here so far. Are there any negative reviews of any logsplitters? Any to avoid?

I believe the TSC huskee 22 ton you mentioned at the beginning of the thread has a Honda engine. Anyone?

 

[northwind318]

I,ve owned a Northern tool logsplitter for over 35 years and never had a problem.At the time I upgraded to a Wisconsin Eng and It was worth every cent.They make a great product with high Quality control.For the money you can,t beat them

 

[94BULLITT]

I believe the TSC huskee 22 ton you mentioned at the beginning of the thread has a Honda engine. Anyone?

The only honda powered splitter tsc sells is the 25 ton. Lowes sells a troybilt and homedepot sells a cub cadet that both have honda motors. They are both about the same.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

The Huskee 22 ton definitely is Briggs. Can anyone tell me if the Powerhorse stuff (esp. the engine) is Chinese?

 

[MiserableOldFart]

The Huskee is horizontal/vertical, and the vertical is best only for very large pieces that you can't lift, unless you're a midget and wouldn't have to bend over much to use it that way..

Some of the bigger jobs I've seen, including the inertia/screw driven ones (much faster than the hydraulic) are horizontal only, but I'd guess 90% of the machines on the market now can be used either/or.

You might take a look at logsplittersdirect.com for comparison among different brands out there. For those that have a nice warm and dry garage to work in with 230 volt power available, you might even want to go electric. You can work inside with the doors closed in the nasty weather!