Need a recommendation: log splitters

[oosik]

I've always wanted to go back to burning firewood. I have 100% Ponderosa pine here. I did burn firewood for the first ten years we were here. I liked everything about this. Except - the dirt and bugs that came into the house with the firewood.

That was 40 years ago. Now - I would need a larger splitter with log lift/log split catch systems. The pines here are all VERY large and not the easiest to man-handle. That's the reason we got away from firewood.

Ah - it's nice to dream. At least I can go out into any of my pine stands and still get that piney smell.

 

[terraformer]

We got one at tractor supply about 12 years ago. Use it to process about 10 cords a year. It is 28 tons I think we paid an extra 100 for the honda cg engine.
After two years the engine lost compression. I found out that this is common with Hondas that are run on gasohol. One of the valves were stuck and was not a warrantee item. Was able to get the valve unstuck and only run it non alcohol fuel and have had no problems.
Most of our wood is oak and hickory the hickory is the hardest. It has never failed to split.

The design has some compromises with the motor configuration Something that you should look at. For instance the dipstick/oilfill is fairly hidden. It takes a long funnel to fill it. There is a casting on the other side to put them but no cap is in there.

The exhaust blows against the tank. I removed the muffler and welded in a bent pipe and extend the exhaust out well away of our work area. Makes the environment much quieter and less fuel smells.

The motor has run fine since I got the valve freed up.

 

[ultrarunner]

Have a little DUER 22 ton with 3.5 hp Briggs…

Splits all my oak and the vertical option is great.

Only complaint is the Briggs is loud so hearing protection a must.

Over 20 years at 6 cords per year paid $600.

 

[ericm979]

The cheaper units are all horizontal/vertical models. Some people love vertical mode but many including me hate it. I much prefer working with the wood at waist height than on the ground. Moving a round on its end on the ground uses mostly upper body strength. I'm tall and thin so I don't have a lot. But my back and legs are strong so I have no problem dead lifting rounds and putting them on the horizontal splitter. If they're too large (we have some big trees) I "noodle" the rounds with the saw 90% through and split them with a maul to get them into manageable chunks. Noodling along the grain is the fastest cutting orientation so it does not take much time.

A H/V splitter in vertical mode often has the road wheels partly in the way of the space you need to stand while splitting. Mine (an Oregon 34 ton) is a little worse than many since it has larger 14" diameter wheels. So far it's not been too annoying, but it would be nice to have a more open place to stand.

Mine's got a Kohler which has been fine. Starts easy and it has a fuel valve so I can run the carb dry when I am done for the day. I found an exhaust deflector for the muffler which lowers the sound at the operator station a little but it still requires hearing protection.

They pretty much all have return detent valves where you have to push the lever into the detent and it will then return the ram until it bottoms out which kicks the lever out of detent and into neutral.

 

[i7win7]

Several years ago, I too wanted a decent log splitter. The local farm type stores/lumber stores wanted $2k for a hydraulic splitter (no log lift). Splitter with log lift $8k+, order one and wait for it to be built. Kinetic splitter about $3k, what I chose, no lift but a 2 second cycle time. Built a bucking table so I don't have to lift rounds from the ground.

Processing Firewood the Professional Redneck Way

This will be a long assembly post with many photos, you may want to bookmark it and read on a rainy day. You will need a root grapple to lift logs, A miter saw to cut multiple 4x4's and 2x8's to size, plus other wood working tools most home owners all ready have. Let's start...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[beowulf]

Pulled the trigger. Most of the units were very similar re the bottom line of getting the job done. Affecting my choice were these considerations: the relatively small amount of splitting we will be doing; what was available to be sold in California (not all were); what was available locally right now and without shipping costs; units within the 20-30 ton range; those with a few key features I wanted (e.g., auto-return, included side shelves, larger tire size); those with the ergonomically best control locations on a full beam unit (this issue eliminated one brand); my reviews of all the engines offered with each unit; the cost; and perhaps mostly - user demonstrations and reviews in video presentations. I watched at least 25-30 videos of the different units being demonstrated and commented on, and read dozens of reviews posted by users. So, for our approximately 'cord-a-year' need, we went for the Champion 27 ton unit - and will make a modification to that based on a recommendation in one of the videos I watched. Others may make a different choice based on the same criteria, but this seems to be a good fit for us and hit the sweet spot re cost.

Negatives with the one I chose: apparently no 4 way splitter attachment that fits; debris can collect on the rail more than on others; not a honda engine.

Sincere thanks to all who opined here - I read everything carefully. And some of the comments sent me off to review the engines offered with the different units -learned a lot there - who makes what and where and performance, etc. Anyway, it arrives on Wednesday.

 

[mcmxi]

All I can add is that I have an Oregon 22 ton log splitter that I bought used for $1,200. It has a Honda engine and has split maple that I couldn't split with axes or with wedges and a sledge hammer. It's not fast, but it works well. I might not be as pleased with it if I'd bought it new for $2,500 or so. It was barely used so a good deal when I bought it in April of 2022. I didn't want one of those full-on Chinesium models that sit outside Home Depot or similar but wasn't keen on spending $3k or more on a really nice US made model.

I do plan on adding some additional protection for the engine, and a rain cover for the hydraulic oil filter and oil fill plug.

 

[ruffdog]

All I can add is that I have an Oregon 22 ton log splitter that I bought used for $1,200. It has a Honda engine and has split maple that I couldn't split with axes or with wedges and a sledge hammer. It's not fast, but it works well. I might not be as pleased with it if I'd bought it new for $2,500 or so. It was barely used so a good deal when I bought it in April of 2022. I didn't want one of those full-on Chinesium models that sit outside Home Depot or similar but wasn't keen on spending $3k or more on a really nice US made model.

I do plan on adding some additional protection for the engine, and a rain cover for the hydraulic oil filter and oil fill plug.

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I see in your vertical position you use a spacer on the ground (middle picture) so the rounds lay flat to make it easier. Out in the woods I can bury the end in a low spot to do the same. Also, it looks like the Oregon is made by the same people that made Speeco splitters. Good to know if you ever need parts.

 

[Skeletor]

Don’t get too wrapped up in how
Many tons a unit is advertised as having. Most of it is b.s. if you do the math the unit usually doesn’t even come close to advertised tonnage. Cycle time is the big one. You definitely want an auto return.auto cycle is a personal choice kinda thing but that’s on higher end splitters.

I bought a ram splitter off eBay over 15 years ago and heavily modded it over the years to make it much better. Two years ago I got a Wolfe ridge pro 28c. Log lift, 4 and 6 way adjustable wedge. Adjustable wedge is a game changer. Didn’t realize how useful it would be till I had it. 9 second cycle time. The new ones are about 6 seconds cycle Time so that makes me sad I missed out on that but it’s still a great splitter.

 

[Farmer495]

Splitfire

 

[ericm979]

My Oregon splitter has one serious drawback that I think a lot of H/V splitters share. Tree debris falls off the rounds on to the splitter. When retracting the ram the back of the wedge pushes them up the beam where they fall off and land on the hot muffler. I once quit a splitting session and then came back later to find that the tree litter on the ground around the splitter was smouldering! I was lucky that it didn't start a fire.

After that I made a shield for the muffler out of a scrap cookie sheet. It's ugly but it works. It catches the litter that falls off the beam and is cool enough that litter on it does not smoulder.

 

[dodge man]

Just curious what modification you are planning on making?

 

[Advil]

We got the Champion 27ton from HD about a year ago. Have split several cord so far. Did a lot of research on affordable splitters before buying. It's enough to split a pretty large log when you need to, and it has a fast enough cycle time (11 sec) you don't wait all day for the cylinder to move. It has auto return or you can throw the handle to stop it closer to the next length log. There's nothing we feel the need to modify right away.

It's a great item to burn some HD gift cards on if you collect points that work there.

 

[beowulf]

Just curious what modification you are planning on making?

Dave - I watched a lot of videos of all the units that I was considering. It was an interesting journey. Anyway, based on one of many videos I watched, a guy built a 'guard' of sorts to protect parts of the unit which were somewhat below the rack where split wood was above and could fall from - he did that to prevent wood from falling onto those parts and causing damage. It made sense and is a simple modification. This is the video I watched regarding that:

champion log splitter video re modification - Search Videos

Watch videos instantly on Bing—enjoy direct playback, discover related clips, and dive into trending content all in one place.

www.bing.com

 

[dodge man]

Not a bad idea, I have had pieces bounce off my engine. No damage yet other than a dent in the gas tank.

 

[Locoweed]

I see that one of the other responders did not like using a splitter in the vertical mode, something that I share. If you fit into that category also I strongly recommend a splitter that is big enough that you can comfortably work with it while standing erect, not having to bend over a bit because it is too low.

 

[EddieWalker]

One of my future projects is to build a log cutting table. I want to put the logs on the table with my grapple, then cut them into rounds on that table, and then be able to pick them up from the table and put them on the log splitter without ever having to bend over. If they are too big for that, I'm just putting the entire log in the burn pile and not messing with it for firewood.

In my opinion, the hardest part of splitting firewood is picking up the rounds from the ground and putting them on the splitter. Turning the splitter so you can split the rounds on the ground isn't much better. I want to be standing straight up when splitting wood.

 

[Duds13]

One of my future projects is to build a log cutting table. I want to put the logs on the table with my grapple, then cut them into rounds on that table, and then be able to pick them up from the table and put them on the log splitter without ever having to bend over. If they are too big for that, I'm just putting the entire log in the burn pile and not messing with it for firewood.

In my opinion, the hardest part of splitting firewood is picking up the rounds from the ground and putting them on the splitter. Turning the splitter so you can split the rounds on the ground isn't much better. I want to be standing straight up when splitting wood.

Not sure when you plan on completing your project, but until then you should look at getting a Log Ox for picking up rounds off the ground.

 

[ericm979]

Once you have placed a giant round on the splitter, you still have to wrestle with it as part of the splitting process. If it splits cleanly then you have two giant chunks to deal with. I have gotten good at pulling the closer one off and letting it fall on the ground. But a lot of times a giant round does not split cleanly. If it's huge and the wedge is only splitting one side, the other side may not split. This depends a lot on the wood species. A couple if the species I split are stringy and resist splitting.

If you have a half-split round you'll find out why there are strippers next to the cylinder. That will get it un stuck from the wedge. But then you still have to finish the split. If the round is not too big I flip it over and line it up so the wedge can split the other side of the first split. If it's really big you're kind of stuck.

This is one reason why I prefer to make big rounds smaller before they even get on the splitter rather than engineering a way to get big rounds on the splitter.

One thing that this reminds me of is that you really need a log rest or shelf on the splitter. At least on the off side from the one you stand on.

Also I'll second the poster above who said that the working height of the splitter is important.

 

[Advil]

Yes, as part of our splitting system we put a small table on the far side from the operator that's at the bottom of a rolling conveyor. That helps protect the engine from debris falling.

It's based on what these guys did in this video, same general setup as this:

I load the log rack with the tractor.
Instead of what these guys do, loading the wood into a custom bucket to move again (they process commercially), I put one of our IBC totes right next to the operating position of the splitter. Split wood, stack piece in tote. That's the last time it has to be touched before burning in the stove. The tractor moves a full tote into the garage as needed and takes the empties out.

The system keeps it so that you don't have to pick anything up off the ground once the processing begins.

It's both fast and insanely simple with not much to maintain mechanically. Just an ordinary chainsaw with a hole machined in the bar and simple metal square tube and bolt to safely hold it just like the video, and the splitter which works just as it is.

To head off the questions at the pass, we got the conveyor tables from Ultimation. Way cheaper than Uline. Had them shipped to our local freight terminal and picked the box up there. They loaded the box on our trailer.