Best wood splitter for the money

[KiwiBro]

May I ask the target volume per season please and upon what that is based?
Then, how are you sourcing the wood to meet that volume?
Also, if not constrained by the volumes you can source, process, season/store or sell (with all the attendant costs of that such as dealing with the public, delivery methods/assets like trucks, trailers, and loading out of such with cranes, tractors, loaders, by hand, with or without conveyor, etc), then is there a maximum budget amount? I ask in order to work out whether splitter xyz that has massive output volume, can be run by yourself or with staff who don't have to be anywhere near anything sharp or complicated, and because of that high output it works out at $2/cord all-up, is worth consideration, even if it costs $20k or more.

As a business, are there any plant investment incentives on offer by the lawmakers in your area? What's the fastest you can legally depreciate any asset purchase?

I'm not trying to overly complicate the matter, honestly, just that sometimes when the final solution is reached, and appears remarkably simple, it was often not simple arriving at that final decision.

There's a similar decision looming in my future too - trying to find that best approach for my needs. The Supersplit has served me very well and will continue to do so, but in big wood it's a PITA manually going back and forward 6 zillion times with big, heavy rounds, even with the low-friction table I have, which makes a big difference.

 

[LD1]

I would never dream of spending 10k on a splitter.

If you truly split enough wood to justify that cost, you are probably in business selling firewood and should consider a processor IMO.

If you are only splitting 10-20 cord per year for personal, its gonna take along time to offset the cost of a $10k splitter to do what a $1500 splitter will do.

 

[crazyal]

There's a local rental place that has a processor for rent, about $400 a day or $1500 a week, that will do 1 cord an hour. I've never rented it but I think for $50 a cord (or less by week) it would be hard to justify tying up $5k or more into a splitter that will require you to maintain. A couple of guys (one at the controls and one dealing with the wood coming off of the conveyor belt) and a tractor to load the logs should be able to get 12 cord a day reducing the cost per cord. That being said if this is a nights/ few hours a weekend second job then renting or buying a processor doesn't seam like a viable option.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

If you can justify $8000 or more for the incremental gain of a monster splitter vs. a basic model it seems like $20,000 for a firewood processor is a no-brainer. As soon as you start paying wages and worrying about safety it's pretty easy to figure out that high production equipment is a bargain.

 

[Parkanzky]

My father-in-law has a Built-Rite 24 HP splitter with hydraulic wedge and log-lift. We've used it to split a lot of wood and it's been awesome.

If I were going to start splitting lots of wood, it's what I'd buy.

 

[KiwiBro]

I would never dream of spending 10k on a splitter.

If you truly split enough wood to justify that cost, you are probably in business selling firewood and should consider a processor IMO.

If you are only splitting 10-20 cord per year for personal, its gonna take along time to offset the cost of a $10k splitter to do what a $1500 splitter will do.

Have pondered this also and if perhaps a neighbourhood co-op of sorts could come together to buy a good splitter and each use it instead of their individual splitters or hiring. So, not a full-on commercial enterprise, just a meeting of a few minds in the community.

Also, of a different scale is whether it might be better for a business to hire a big processor for a few weeks to a month once a year, rather than own it. For example, here, about US$90/hr will get a processor and operator capable of about 4 cords an hr, so about US$23/cord. If you have the space to store a years worth of logs and two years worth of split wood, maybe it's worth paying $23/cord and having no hassles of processor ownership, focussing instead on the delivery and marketting?

 

[Garandman]

Don't know how old your DR Kinetic is, but current models have a safety bale that has to be engaged so that both hands are out of the way. I'm sure someone could figure out a way to hurt themselves but it wouldn't be easy. I've considered jumping mine out but have not done so.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

If you can justify $8000 or more for the incremental gain of a monster splitter vs. a basic model it seems like $20,000 for a firewood processor is a no-brainer. As soon as you start paying wages and worrying about safety it's pretty easy to figure out that high production equipment is a bargain.

I've been reading along and this is exactly the same thought as I had

 

[super55]

I've always liked the idea of the dual directional/2 way splitters. They don't move overly fast for a novice and you don't have to wait for the wedge to cycle back every time. Plus if you have a tractor already they are reasonably inexpensive.

 

[namesray]

May I ask the target volume per season please and upon what that is based?
Then, how are you sourcing the wood to meet that volume?
Also, if not constrained by the volumes you can source, process, season/store or sell (with all the attendant costs of that such as dealing with the public, delivery methods/assets like trucks, trailers, and loading out of such with cranes, tractors, loaders, by hand, with or without conveyor, etc), then is there a maximum budget amount? I ask in order to work out whether splitter xyz that has massive output volume, can be run by yourself or with staff who don't have to be anywhere near anything sharp or complicated, and because of that high output it works out at $2/cord all-up, is worth consideration, even if it costs $20k or more.

As a business, are there any plant investment incentives on offer by the lawmakers in your area? What's the fastest you can legally depreciate any asset purchase?

I'm not trying to overly complicate the matter, honestly, just that sometimes when the final solution is reached, and appears remarkably simple, it was often not simple arriving at that final decision.

There's a similar decision looming in my future too - trying to find that best approach for my needs. The Supersplit has served me very well and will continue to do so, but in big wood it's a PITA manually going back and forward 6 zillion times with big, heavy rounds, even with the low-friction table I have, which makes a big difference.

This is where my thoughts are as well. I am calculating the numbers to see if it iscost effective. My mind doesn't seem as sharp as it used to be and I am stuck a little here.

My firewood out put is 300 face cord at the lowest to 447 face cord last year. Thats 100 full cord to 150 full cord last year. If I had the wood, I could have easily sold 100 more face cord. We deal in face cord here so that is how I will refer.

The other local dealer that is moving away was a 400 face cord volume seller. I plan on trying to get some of those customers.

Firewood in this area is going $55 per face cord to $65 per face cord.

I do tree tops left by timber harvests. I don't feel I get enough straight sections to make a processor worth it or else I'd get one. I have a grapple trailer I use to save my back on blocking up and piling. I think with the crookedness of the tops, the grapple is faster and less monking around then sectioning straight sections and getting them to a processor. I have all but ruled a processor out for me.

I pulled the tw6 price per fc at $5 by totaling buy up cost, divided by 10 years, then what I spend in fuel, maintenance/repairs and insurance on the thing each year. Fuel at $4 per gallon. Of course this is a guestimate on my part, but I don't think I underestimated. Actually it comes out to $4.67/ fc, but I round it up to $5. All based on 400fc per year. Thats $3.77 more cost per fc then my dr kinetic splitter (at .90 cents per fc). These numbers are equipment only, and do not include paying helpers.

I can not store much wood any where, at my place or landings. Landings seem to be small here and property owners don't want large areas tore back up after timber company has moved out. There is no rental stores close by that have processors. The people who do are competing firewood dealers and have some connection to getting straight logs for their processors. I don't get too many opertunites to get straight logs. Tri axel load of poles is going between $750 to $1000 here lately. That would net about 20 face cords. Mills are paying close to $40 / ton.

I pay property owners $5 per fc I remove. I skid it out, block up, haul blocks home on way home from my main job, yes I do this fire wood as side business. Split and load into truck when customers call. Sometimes I will haul splitter to landing and 2 of us will block up and split sametime and make deliveries from there. Now I make 54% profit at $55/ fc. With tw6 that would drop me to 47% profit at $55 / fc. But I would gain speed and higher production, so those numb be rs would change. It is so hard telling not knowing!

I have run the basic 22 ton splitters like tractor supply has and the two way split like the split fires. I hate them. Way too slow. Most of my customers like pieces a little smaller, so I want speed. My dr kinetic splitter is fast and I like it, but it is a little dangerous and actually too slow compared to what I feel a tw splitter would do with a 6 way wedge. The 6 way at 10 second cycle is 33% faster then the dr kinetic 1 split at 3 seconds and that does not factor in all the time on each piece of wood to realign and resplit every split with the single wedge dr kinetic. A 6 way would be split once and throw 6 pieces into the truck. Less handeling for the most part.

I feel with my process of blocking up with the grapple, with a tw6 with 6 way wedge 8 second cycle, sitting next to the grapple, my helper could keep up with me splitting and throwing into truck. No kinetic splitter is going to come close to tht.

I am leaning towards timber wolf because I want a well known company that parts availability will be there in the future and durability will be a given. I plan on doing this firewood for quite a while longer. I also want a no nonsence splitter that will split what I put on the edge the first time.

I know my profit margins run thin for all the hard work firewood is, but I do make money and I enjoy it. Worse comes to worse, I still need firewood for my personal needs or I could sell off the equipment to bail me out.

What do you all think? I already know I am crazy. (Ha ha!)