A good quality Log Splitter

[arto98607]

..........................................., but the most important thing for a log splitter wasn't listed. That's a Honda engine..............................................View attachment 622118

Sure Honda deserves lot of credit and has forced their competitors to improve designs!

As a result there are several really good engine options nowadays, as long as the buyer does their homework.

 

[goeduck]

Sure Honda deserves lot of credit and has forced their competitors to improve designs!

As a result there are several really good engine options nowadays, as long as the buyer does their homework.

Unfortunately Subaru was one of them. Even after making a very good engine, it did not help them stay in the small air cooled engine business.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

At least the bigger Subaru's are still available as Yamaha's and Kubota's.

Small ones will be available too, as Subaru's, but made in china...

SR

 

[shooterdon]

I found something better than a good splitter for my needs. I buy my wood in logger cords so I have no need to split huge or gnarly wood.

I have found a guy 25 miles away that rents a processor that will handle 16" dia. logs. Cost is $450 for 16 hours and it will split 20 logger cords in that time. That will produce about 17 full cords of split wood for a cost of $26.50/cord. The cost of the 32 logger cords I have on hand is $1900. I should get about 27 cords of splits for a cost of $70.40/cord. Cost of fuel/maintenance for the tractor should be about $4/cord. Total cost works out to $101/cord.

I can buy wood for $150/cord. Using the processor, a production rate of 1.25 cords per hour saves me over $60/hr for my time. If I saw and split with my equipment, my cost is about $80/cord and I can process about 1 cord every 5 hours for a saving of $14/hr for my time.

Processing the 27 cords will take 22 hours with the processor and 135 hours without. The value of my time comes out to $450/(135-22)?4/hr by manually processing. Even if I buy a splitter that is twice as fast, I will still need at least 3 hours to process a cord. That yields $450/(81-22)?or $9.20/hr saving and 81 hours of my time but with an investment of $3000.

A good splitter will cost me about $3000+. I can rent the processor 6 times for that and process 102 cords of wood. I am 69....about a lifetime supply for me. And the best part of all, I will never need to cut a log into rounds or handle rounds, buy a chain, sharpen it, or wrestle a round onto the splitter or maintain equipment. I can run a tractor and a processor as I get older with about the same production rate. No way I can run a saw and splitter as easily or maybe at all as I get older!

In my case, a good splitter does not make sense.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How big is a "logger cord"? That's a new one on me...

SR

 

[shooterdon]

SB

These are logs that are 100" long. It is slightly larger than a cord which is 48x48x96. The mills here take 100" logs. Not sure why that is, unless to maximize the width that fits on the logging trucks, or if it has to do with the mills. Plus, in my little slice of heaven everyone uses cord to refer to what I call a face cord....16x48x96. Reading about it on this site on other threads, it seems there are locally used measures of firewood that we need to keep in mind.

BTW, when I mentioned to my buddy I was buying that maple for $50 a cord, he kind of shrugged his shoulders...he thought it was a face cord. He wind up getting 6 cords after he realized it was a logger cord.

 

[deezler]

BTW, when I mentioned to my buddy I was buying that maple for $50 a cord, he kind of shrugged his shoulders...he thought it was a face cord. He wind up getting 6 cords after he realized it was a logger cord.

WAT! Going rate is $90-100 for a FACE-cord down here near Ann Arbor. OF dried/split wood, of course. But for $16 in log form... I think I could split my way to a profit. Hmmmmm

 

[shooterdon]

WAT! Going rate is $90-100 for a FACE-cord down here near Ann Arbor. OF dried/split wood, of course. But for $16 in log form... I think I could split my way to a profit. Hmmmmm

I used to live in Wixom. Heating with wood is not cost effective if you have NG , even with "cheap" wood. When I lived downstate, I scrounged free wood and mostly used it for ambience. Using propane at $1.40/gal wood at $210 a cord is breakeven. I do not have NG in my spreadsheet as it is not available where I am.

 

[deminin]

I've got a 22 ton Brave log splitter that I bought new in 2003...when we retired to 40 acres of forestland. It has performed very well with just normal maintenance....fluid, filters, etc. We have a total electric home, which even with our low rural rates, can result in fairly high electric bills in the Winter. After the first Winter, I bought a Bryan outdoor wood furnace, and began to harvest some of the dead trees on our property. I figure I cut/split/burn about 9 or 10 cords per year, which cuts our electric bills in half. Over the past 17 years, I figure I have saved well over $15,000 on our electric bills...which has far more than paid for the furnace, splitter, and a couple of nice Stihl chainsaws. Plus, I get the advantage of gobs of good physical work which helps me maintain my overall health. With all this hardwood forest, and at the rate I am cutting down trees, I figure I'll run out of firewood in about 135 years.

 

[goeduck]

I've got a 22 ton Brave log splitter that I bought new in 2003...when we retired to 40 acres of forestland. It has performed very well with just normal maintenance....fluid, filters, etc. We have a total electric home, which even with our low rural rates, can result in fairly high electric bills in the Winter. After the first Winter, I bought a Bryan outdoor wood furnace, and began to harvest some of the dead trees on our property. I figure I cut/split/burn about 9 or 10 cords per year, which cuts our electric bills in half. Over the past 17 years, I figure I have saved well over $15,000 on our electric bills...which has far more than paid for the furnace, splitter, and a couple of nice Stihl chainsaws. Plus, I get the advantage of gobs of good physical work which helps me maintain my overall health. With all this hardwood forest, and at the rate I am cutting down trees, I figure I'll run out of firewood in about 135 years.

Nice. I also have a Brave 22, a solid basic splitter. I burn about 6 cords but process an additional 3 or 4 for others, about the same as you.