Best wood splitter for the money

[namesray]

Just conducting a inquiry into which is the best and fastest self contained wood splitter for the cost.

My vote goes to the DR rapid fire kinetic splitter. It has a 3 second cycle time, will split fairly knotty wood, and features and maintenance are good on it for a cost around $2500. But you need to pay attention with this splitter and know what you are doing.

I am looking at maybe getting another splitter for firewood business, one that is cost effective, fast, and user friendly. The DR can be a little dangerous for new users and I don't need an employee getting hurt.

I plan on keeping the DR for me and more advance users, but want a safer one for others.

The split fire 4490 looks great, but at $5500 is abit pricey.

The timberwolf tw5 also looks good, but at $9000 is way too much for me to spend to be cost effective.

So is there a splitter out there that is all fast, safe and cost effective, say under $3300?

 

[TJP89]

I recently bought a Country Line 22 Ton splitter from TSC. I used it to split about 16 facecords of wood this spring. No issue with even the 2ft dia trunk sections. Very fuel efficient too. Might not be the highest quality, but I worked it pretty hard and had zero issues. It does rotate both hortizontally and vertically. I got it on sale for about $1000. Very happy with it.

 

[arrow]

For speed you want a narrower cylinder with increased gpm at the pump. This company Twister Industries, custom builds splitters to your needs. They are in and around the 3K range depending on how you want to outfit the splitter (4 -8 way wedges, tables, log lifts, etc.). They offer a 20 ton splitter (24 -36" stroke) with 16 gpm and a 9hp Honda engine for less than 3K. A 4way wedge makes a 5 second splitter pretty fast.. I have a 7 second splitter and by the time I turn around to place another log on, the splitter is back.
Also, many times one does not have to go through a full stroke cycle to split straight grained wood. Usually 3 inches in is enough to split a clean grained red oak for instance reducing cycle times even more. It is not just fast cycle times that make wood splitting go faster. It is the energy level of the person splitting along with the amount of people helping, along with the feeding ease of the wood rounds. (tables,tables everywhere....for horizontal spitters that is)

 

[Sawyer Rob]

IF you have a 30hp tractor to run it, the absolute baddestassed, best buy on a splitter you can get, is a Timber Wolf TW3HD, at about $3,400.00...

For that price, you will also get a super HD 4-way, easily removable/reversible wedge, that this badaassed splitter will push everything through that 4-way wedge, cutting way down on your splitting time, and I mean everything.

For that money, you also should get the table grate too...I did.

This is a splitter that will last you the rest of your life and will have a good resale IF you ever want to sell it.

AND it's made in the USA!

SR

 

[LD1]

Nothing beats a kinetic/inertia for speed.

If not splitting a lot though, it's hard to beat a tsc huskee 22t for $999

I built mine. 4" cylinder and 22gpm with 16.5hp. Out and back in 7.5-8 seconds.

If you want a fast hydraulic unit, you either have to build yourself, spend $5k, or put a larger pump and resivoir on a boxstore unit.

Those tsc huskee 22t units have an 11 gpm pump. Mine is basically the same with 2x's the pump, thus double the speed

 

[namesray]

IF you have a 30hp tractor to run it, the absolute baddestassed, best buy on a splitter you can get, is a Timber Wolf TW3HD, at about $3,400.00...

For that price, you will also get a super HD 4-way, easily removable/reversible wedge, that this badaassed splitter will push everything through that 4-way wedge, cutting way down on your splitting time, and I mean everything.

For that money, you also should get the table grate too...I did.

This is a splitter that will last you the rest of your life and will have a good resale IF you ever want to sell it.

AND it's made in the USA!

SR

Hey, sorry I been away. I am still contiplating.

Nice splitter rob. After checking, I am more interested in the timber wolf models.

How many "face cord" can your tw3hd do in an hour? I am looking for speed and easy.

I am figuring the numbers/cost between tw3hd and tw5. The tw3hd at 3500 is ok price, but I hate to put those extra hours on tractor and don't really wany to tie tractor up. The 9000+ for tw5 is alot, but...

I am thinking on 6 way wedge. Think the tw3hd could handle a 6 way as good?

At 10 seconds cycle, getting 6 pieces of wood, the tw3hd/tw5 is faster and easier then my kinetic splitters 3 second cycle time giving only a single split.

Thinking 4 face cord (small split) an hour with the timber wolfs is not out of the question.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I have no idea how many ricks an hour, as I work at my own speed and take breaks... A full cycle is 10sec or less, but I don't run the pump at 540 as for me, that's faster than I want to go!

The 6 way is optional on the 3HD, and I think the 3HD "splits" faster than the 5, I've never stopped the ram on my 3HD.....not even one time!

I don't have a 6 way, my 4 way turns out the size splits I like... Seems like guys on line that have 6 ways, also like their 4 ways and use them more......so I'm good to go with what I have.

What's wrong with putting hrs on your tractor? Isn't that what it's for?? If it's a decent tractor and you take care of it, it should last MANY thousands of hrs!! I never worry about splitter hrs on my tractor, as they are easy hours for a tractor...

SR

 

[KiwiBro]

Too many competing desires:

cheap
fast
safe and simple for employees. For that reason too better add in sturdy.
self-contained

Something second hand may just sneak in under your budget.

That said, why employ an unsafe, simpleton who can't look after themselves or your gear? You may have to compromise on some of your desires or just forget about the hassle of employing anyone else, flick the DR and/or spend the proceeds combined with the additional money on a more automated splitter or process you can do yourself.

It might be a good idea to take a real, hard, honest look at your entire process, because there may be far more productive ways to spend the extra $ you have improving your system.

On a slightly different note, I don't give a hoot if the cycle time is 1 second or 10. That in itself is not the key metric for many. In my case, with the varied wood I see I'd rather a 10 second cycle time on a splitter that creates splits I don't have to touch/re-split again and again and again, than a 2 second cycle time. But finding one in a small budget may not be possible.

For disclosure, I own a supersplit kinetic, love it, and will never part with it unless handing it down the family line when I'm too old to use it.

 

[namesray]

Called timber wolf today. Tw3hd, fully out fitted, table, 4 and 6 way wedge, hyd wedge lift and log lift, over $6000. Tw5 fully out fitted as above, $8550. Tw6 fully out fitted, $10,550. At those prices, the tw3hd is ruled out. Its too close in buy up cost to the tw5 to make it cost effective on my tractor. So between tw5 and tw6.

The issue with running off tractor is this. First, I limit myself to just splitting with tractor and not helper splitting and me still skidding out logs with tractor. Second, thatsa heavy unit to move to remote wood plot just to split wood and all the switching of bush hog, winch, and splitter on 3 pt. I switch jobs alot depending on weather and customers. Third, tractor running and splitter running. Putting hours on 2 hyd oils and systems instead of just one, and now splitting costs me the cost of tractor AND splitter per face cord, just to split. I am not saying 3pt splitters aaren't good, but at these costs it is not what I want in my situation.

As for all my initial wants, I agree they conflict. Not going to get a super fast, safe, powerful splitter for little money. After giving this some more thought, and crunching some numbers and costs, I think one of these timber wolf splitters, tw5 or tw6, is best for what I want, speed and safety. And I lots of both!

As for quality of helpers, yes you don't want an unknowldgeable, unsafe worker, but I can't afford much to pay high skilled help, or I outta just sit on the couch. And to tell you the truth, that kinetic splitter has almost gotten me in the chin or hip area. It has shotpieces 8ft away before on me! You really have to watch the grains and knots in the wood and know what to expect, but at high speeds for hours on end, it gets easy to slip up.

As for the tw5, cost would be about $4 per face cord to operate. Tw6 is approx $5 per face cord to operate. That is at my current production levels. With those amounts I will admit it is borderline if it is worth it, but I plan on upping production as another major firewood producer in the area is moving away next season, so that leaves a lot of customers up for grabs.

The tw6, I was told is about same as tw5, just about 20% faster and more powerful. 20% is quite a bit. It cost 20% more too, but Ireally am all about that 6 way wedge and speed, so seems like if I do this, the tw6 would be the prudent choice over the tw5. What do you think?

 

[crazyal]

You could get box store splitter (I have the 27 ton Troy built) and replace the motor and pump with something much larger. The typical 5hp(ish) splitter will have an 11 GPM pump. Replace that with a 13hp engine and a 22 gpm pump and you cut the cycle time in half. Plus the small pumps are extremely slow, something like 2 GPM when they kick into high pressure stage. A 22 GPM is, if I remember correctly, something like 7 or 8 gpm. I've looked into doing this to mine once either the pump or the engine dies. If it's a new splitter you could sell the small pump and motor offsetting the cost. For me I think it would come close to tripling the speed when doing wood like yellow birch. Of course when it comes to red maple it splits so easy that I don't think it would speed things up much without also going to a 4 way wedge.