Homelite Splitter or DR Rapid-fire K10

[Old Red]

I only know of two folks that bought the DR, both split a fair amount of wood and both had a lot of problems with their splitter.

DR keeps sending them parts because the splitters are near new, so one guy finally sold his, the other guy made changes/improvements in his splitter and is saving up for a Super Split, it's of known quality...

The SS aren't made in china like the DR's...

Perhaps you won't be splitting as much wood as they do and won't have as many problems...

SR

Yes, I am aware of what could potentially be issues. And no doubt these are imported units from china....ugh.... I am taking the chance anyway. If I heated my home with a lot of wood I would probably look at more of a "buy once, cry once" type splitter, but this is more for tinkering with and gets me in the game for not a lot of money. Fairly compact, easy to store, don't have to own yet another engine, and can watch football on sunday in my buddies garage while splitting some rounds....we'll see.....it is more of a toy than anything to be honest. The Fiskars has served me well.

The two main issues I have seen repeatedly are people not using properly sized extension cords and tripping breakers because of it and the ram rod not retracting which seems to be fixed by greasing or even adding a washer on 2 bolts.

But for some reason, crushing rounds....quickly is very appealing to me....

 

[IXLR8]

I faced a similar dilemma, I chose to rent a gas log splitter for $75/day. They deal with the engine and maintenance issues and I don't have to split my wood by hand any more. One day a year takes care of the 2 cords a year I go thru.

 

[Old Red]

I faced a similar dilemma, I chose to rent a gas log splitter for $75/day. They deal with the engine and maintenance issues and I don't have to split my wood by hand any more. One day a year takes care of the 2 cords a year I go thru.

I use that same philosophy on a gas powered power washer. I just rent one for the weekend once a year and power wash everything and take it back. No stinking engine to worry about.

 

[Old Red]

Well, she arrived this week. Very surprising what the little gal will do. Hoping to get a video soon.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Red, were there any pieces it could not split?

 

[Old Red]

What I have ran through it so far is nothing that tough. I know there are pieces it can't split but I just didn't have any to run through it yet. I think they say these little electric home use splitters will do about 90% of the normal cutting that you need to do...the other 10% would need a big hydro or something...but so far I'm batting 100%. And I'll just take the crazy hard stuff and throw in the brush pile I reckon.

But for normal wood man she is FAST! Very fast. 1 second cycle time.

I did have one piece with a big not on it I had to strike it 3 or 4 times to get it to split.

 

[Old Red]

Here is a video.....not what anyone really wants to see without wood...but here is one working the controls. The noticeable benefits are that I am indoors, quick cycle, no engine, and low noise....of course those same benefits can be limitations in some applications...this is probably just made for home use and I would see it very handy for someone who already has a big hydro splitter or someone like me who didn't have anything but a Fiskars....

 

[goeduck]

Sometimes my eyes are not calibrated right when using the hydraulic splitter and my splits are too big for the stove. Some of it will split easy enough with an axe but not all, depending on the species and piece. It would be nice to have something small like that rather than getting out the hydraulic. Or maybe I just need a little manual one.

 

[jbrumberg]

I saw one of those manual splitters years ago and it took forever pumping up the pressure to split the wood. It did provide a good workout for the arm muscles.

That DR is fast in the video. How fast does it cycle splitting wood?

The Homelite is slow. It takes ~ 5 seconds to full cycle loaded with wood, probably still takes ~5 seconds unloaded.

 

[Old Red]

Splits very quick. Much quicker than hydro.