Firewood - Wood Splitter - Not Tractor Attached - Whats best?

[gwiley]

I burn 10 cords each year and it is all split with a 22 ton Speeco from TSC. Great splitter. I have wrestled rounds up to it that were well over 24" diameter - the only thing that ever stopped it was a mean white oak crotch that I knew better than to even bother with.

 

[LD1]

Everyone has preferences.

IN a case where you only use a splitter to split nasty pieces and crotch pieces because all the prime stuff is for other than firewood, then yea, I imagine a hydraulic would be the way to go.

But I would guess 90%+ of us that split firewood, those nasty pieces comprise a very small portion of what we actually split. Cutting tree tops, clearing fence rows, storm cleanup, etc all has some quite nice wood that is pretty quick to split with a kinetic design.

A fairer comparison for a shoot-out would have been to pretty much just pick a few similar trees. And split the whole tree. I personally dont like 4-way or 6-way wedges. Always seems to create a larger pile of waste when done, or pieces that are too small or too large. Just hard to get right. In a production environment or on a processor, I am sure the added waste is acceptable for the speed gain. But for 1 guy working a splitter, I prefer without a 4-way

 

[Garandman]

Everyone has preferences.

IN a case where you only use a splitter to split nasty pieces and crotch pieces because all the prime stuff is for other than firewood, then yea, I imagine a hydraulic would be the way to go.

But I would guess 90%+ of us that split firewood, those nasty pieces comprise a very small portion of what we actually split. Cutting tree tops, clearing fence rows, storm cleanup, etc all has some quite nice wood that is pretty quick to split with a kinetic design.//

I just did 100 some-odd splits and only had a couple I had to double-hit.

We have Ash, Birch, Oak and Maple for hardwoods and some big Hemlocks. I'm sure some people have much more ornery species.

 

[Scooby074]

For an off the shelf model, no question, a Splitfire 3255. ITs what all the rental shops offer here. If it can take a rental user it can take anything lol.
Manufacturers of high quality, custom engineered wood splitters, log splitters and wood chippers. | Split-Fire Sales Inc. Quality Built. High Performance. | Split-Fire - Your Best Choice

 

[s219]

I just did 100 some-odd splits and only had a couple I had to double-hit.

We have Ash, Birch, Oak and Maple for hardwoods and some big Hemlocks. I'm sure some people have much more ornery species.

I can send you some Gum that will make you want to tear your hair out. That stuff defies any type of splitter. Luckily, if you mill it, stack, and season properly, it makes awesome looking stair treads:

 

[David P]

I can send you some Gum that will make you want to tear your hair out. That stuff defies any type of splitter. Luckily, if you mill it, stack, and season properly, it makes awesome looking stair treads:

View attachment 428136

That's purrdy!

 

[dave1949]

I can send you some Gum that will make you want to tear your hair out. That stuff defies any type of splitter. Luckily, if you mill it, stack, and season properly, it makes awesome looking stair treads:

View attachment 428136

That's nice wood. Always wondered what gum looks like.

 

[CalG]

I can send you the link to the magazine download ($3) which provides the results etc but nothing else is available. I found a short YouTube clip of a tw-5 v ss but its not the firewood shootout I referred to. I believe in the YouTube clip the guy uses a 4-way wedge and in the competition they were using a 6-way adjustable. I'll send you the link later as I'm on my mobile.

I'm not knocking timberwolf just refuting the claim about super splitters.

Edited to add: search YouTube for a guy running a ss with a wedge. Pretty neat.

Link to a comparison video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNHIXuqHJUM

 

[Sawyer Rob]

aaaaaaw SS owners love to post that vid BUT, comparing a SS WITH a table, to a TW WITHOUT a table, makes for a huge stacked deck for the SS... Especially, with easy to split wood...

SR

 

[Marveltone]

A little off topic, but I find it terribly ironic (and a bit comical) that the people who live in southern climates have the milder winters, but have access to the biggest, heaviest, hardest, highest BTU trees, therefore, needing the bigger, tougher splitters. Meanwhile, up in northern Minnesota and Canada, we have long periods of below zero winters, but have to heat with these mild burning, spindly, stunted excuses for trees. We (or, at least, I) can easily get along with 22-ton machines.

Anyone else notice this? :confused3: