OT (used log splitter)

[steve19438]

thinking of buying this. never owned one before so what do I need to look for ???

thanks.
Untitled URL Link

 

[old]

12.5 ton is a very small splitter and would not be likely to do much so for the price I would keep looking for a real splitter. I would want at least a 20 ton

 

[D beatty]

Take Olds advice and buy a larger log splitter.

 

[Jimmyjack]

If you can try it! Take a knarly chunk and see how it does. Tonnage quotes are worth about as much as the paper that they are written on.

 

[steve19438]

they cost a 1000 bucks or more. I don't have that kind of dough.

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 19:00:51 03/24/16) If you can try it! Take a knarly chunk and see how it does. Tonnage quotes are worth about as much as the paper that they are written on.

It is a small splitter but plus one on that. Unless you are trying to split 30" twisty grain logs a "12T" splitter will easily split 90+% of the logs you load on it and $450 is a pretty good price for a machine that size with a good engine and hydraulics. For larger "forked" pieces you may have to play with the position of the log in the splitter. Unless it is really nasty wood even that can be split with some planning and educated placement of the piece. I have run into very little my 12T splitter won't at least partially split and the few pieces that it can't are usually burned whole....

TOH

 

[old]

Ya they do new but if you look a bit more I am sure you will find a good used one for $500 or so I see them all the time

 

[Bob Harvey]

I've got a 5 ton electric/hydraulic pump splitter and it will do 'almost' anything I want it to. I don't bother with gnarly, knotted chunks - leave them for the neighbor to take or to keep the burn pile up to hot dogs and marshmallows. We burn mostly Fir (delivered in 1/4's of 30+" rounds and smaller rounds), Wild Cherry and Maple. No point for me to waste time on apcray. We only use about 3.5 Cords per year. Burn from mid Sept. - April (pretty much every day).

 

[old]

Where I live we have a lot of hard wood so nothing less then a 20 ton is worth owning.

 

[wellmax99]

I have had one similar for many years, 1984 model Brave.
8hp B&S engine, 11 gallon per minute hydraulic pump.

many improvements have been made to splitters over the years, but almost anything is better than having to split tough wood with a maul and wedges. (as we get older)

if you want it, get it,

sure bigger is better for the tough blocks of wood, my old splitter will tear the wood apart if it will not split. but sometimes those pieces slow you down and can be dangerous, as they can pop out.

always wondered how they still allow wood splitters to be sold, as they do not have a enclosed guard, if in a industrial plant, you would have to have this thing in a steel cage each time it made a stroke.

be very careful with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 16:15:03 03/24/16) thinking of buying this. never owned one before so what do I need to look for ???

thanks.
Untitled URL Link

riend has that one & he & I have split an awful lot of oak & hickory with it since 1971. amazing little machine!

 

[bentwrench54]

here is our log splitter. it's an old flowtron that my in-laws bought sometime in the late 70's or early 80's

i've repowered it with a 3.75 briggs after the 5.5 harbor freight clone broke a bone in my hand last year.

splits anything i put on it within reason. no idea how many tons it is.

 

[bentwrench54]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_fuuKyHDsGYZDRDX1dFdFJCRjA/view?usp=sharing

picture didn't upload.

 

[4play]

That one needs a foot or a stand to put it on after disconnecting from tow vehicle. There are opinions or pros/cons to which end the wedge is mounted and most of that matters to where they want the splits to fall or how deal with stuck pieces.

If you are splitting hard woods or green especially 18" and up you probably will want a bigger machine, maybe at least 20 tons or more.

 

[D beatty]

I would try to find a used 20 -28 ton. Unless you have a good back you are going to be tired of bending over at the end of day as low to the ground as that splitter is. That splitter also limits you to how big of diameter wood you split. I have a family member that has a 6 HP 22 ton and it works the daylight out of the 6 HP and has trouble pushing head through snarly maple or oak and has knots it can't split. After see how it handled wood I went with a 35 ton.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 02:24:09 03/25/16) I would try to find a used 20 -28 ton. Unless you have a good back you are going to be tired of bending over at the end of day as low to the ground as that splitter is. That splitter also limits you to how big of diameter wood you split. I have a family member that has a 6 HP 22 ton and it works the daylight out of the 6 HP and has trouble pushing head through snarly maple or oak and has knots it can't split. After see how it handled wood I went with a 35 ton.

beatty, quit messing around & move up to a real man's splitter!

 

[steve19438]

I have been "shopping" for more than a year. around here you can't touch a decent large splitter for less than 800/900 bucks and for my usage I really don't need a big one.

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 06:29:52 03/25/16) I have been "shopping" for more than a year. around here you can't touch a decent large splitter for less than 800/900 bucks and for my usage I really don't need a big one.

There ya go - you knew the answer all along ;-)

TOH

 

[64frd4000ind]

We burn wood in two houses here every year. Have went through 2 splitters, both were the type that pivot and put the base plate on the ground so that you are not lifting every log up onto the splitter.

You just pick out one nice piece and use it for a stool, and then roll the logs over onto the base and split them, doesn't take long that way to fill a truck load.

At times we have had one of the kids bringing me logs to split, and grandma or grandpa on the controls while I was on the stool.(Don't recommend this unless you have worked together a while, fingers are worth more than a load of wood) And then the kids were using two of the garden tractors and trailers to keep one moving, we filled 4 racks in one day, and had more to stack the next day.

 

[Jimmyjack]

Way too small for Mo wood!

 

[D beatty]

My dad built one not quite as big as that one many many years ago. The splitter would split any thing you put in it. The only thing wrong with it was it slow , heavy to move around and took up a lot of room in building to store when not in use. With a good splitting axe I could at that time out split a splitter in straight grain wood. My new splitter will split larger diameter pieces of wood than those old home made splitters did because the bed of the new splitter can be stood up. I sold by dads home made splitter years ago and bought the 35 ton which can be move around by hand in work shop and takes up very little space compared to the old splitter.

 

[old]

I know in this area I see them form time to time one just has to keep an eye out. Saw one not long ago in this area 25 ton unit for $595

 

[ASEguy]

Now that's a beast! Splitting Hickory sideways? Looks like that would split rolled steel. Ok I'm done. You should google "ultimate chainsaw" and watch the reporter describe those chainsaws.

 

[HFJ]

for ash or maple, i still prefer to split by hand - axe if it's smaller pieces, maul for the larger ones.

but elm is another matter entirely.

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 12:03:52 03/26/16) for ash or maple, i still prefer to split by hand - axe if it's smaller pieces, maul for the larger ones.

but elm is another matter entirely.

I have split a good bit of red elm. After my one and only try with a wedge and maul it was all with the splitter. That stuff is so twisty and tough a termite would get lost inside :lol:

TOH