Good commercial woodsplitter

[ChoppyChoppy]

I can say, owning a processor, I'd never go back to the hard way.
It's almost equal to digging a foundation with a shovel vs an excavator as far as wear and tear on a person.

One thing to do a couple cords a year, but to have a go at it as a business, moving wood is the name of the game.

 

[lknchoppers]

The Eastonmade 12-22 with the 8 way wedge looks really nice @ $9k.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

The Eastonmade 12-22 with the 8 way wedge looks really nice @ $9k.

Looks pretty decent, but I don't see it being $7000+ better than a regular box store splitter.! Priced around 5k would make sense.

 

[jrider]

Looks pretty decent, but I don't see it being $7000+ better than a regular box store splitter.! Priced around 5k would make sense.

Where will you find a box store splitter with a log lift and 8 way w

The is a used PowerSplit on CraigsList: Grand Rapids, MI under log splitters for $14,000.

Can you provide the link? I looked but couldn't find it.

 

[muddstopper]

Only way I think your going to beat those $7-$8-$9000 dollar price tags for a commercial machine is to be a good parts scrounger and know what your doing building your own. It takes a lot of money to build a one off machine using all new parts. Manufacturers have the advantage in being able to buy wholesale and in bulk. A manufacturer can order a run of special designed parts, such as cyl with extra large rods as an ex. If you buy enough of them you can get them as cheap as buying a standard cyl. If you or I want one, we have to pay new price for a cyl and then extra to have someone replace the small rod with a big one. Maybe even to add larger hose ports. If you have a lathe and milling machine, can weld, you might save some money but you would still have a lot of time invested. The easy days of heading to a scrap yard and finding acres of used equipment to scrounge parts off of are gone around here. I dont expect to see anymore easy scroungeing until scrap metal heads back to the $0.20 lb range again. If someone happens to have a good source of used parts, that they can buy at scrap metal prices, then they might be able to build a really super splitter at a decent price. It all boils down to how big a hurry you are, and what you can buy, swap, and trade for.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

jrider: Yeah... I tried but did not work.
Graig'sList, Grand Rapids, MI; for sale; log splitters
I do not think it will come up as 'wood splitters'
so...'log splitters' and it is the last one listed.

I pulled the down load to my desk top but could not get it to load on this post.
It says webloc...Vertical Power Splitter

 

[T. Mainus]

Where will you find a box store splitter with a log lift and 8 way w

Can you provide the link? I looked but couldn't find it.

Jrider,

There is a double split for sale in PA as well if your interested. About the same price. PM me if your interested Ill see if I can find the guys info.

https://centralmich.craigslist.org/hvo/5998641218.html

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Where will you find a box store splitter with a log lift and 8 way w

Can you provide the link? I looked but couldn't find it.

Dunn9, that's not what I said even! I said that unit didn't have 7k of "add ons" over a box store one.

 

[lknchoppers]

Dunn9, that's not what I said even! I said that unit didn't have 7k of "add ons" over a box store one.

It's a different animal than a box store splitter, you really can't compare the two.

 

[jrider]

Dunn9, that's not what I said even! I said that unit didn't have 7k of "add ons" over a box store one.

I started to write my comment then thought I deleted it because I didn't see the sense in wasting my time. Apparently I didn't delete like I had thought. Carry on.

 

[CUCV]

What diameter wood are you dealing with?
What size wood can you lift without bothering your back?
When getting wood off Federal land do you split in the field or bring it home to split?

I think you will be hard pressed getting a commercially available splitter with a multi-wedge that will give you 3" splits in one pass. That is one big problem I have with the 4 and 6 way wedges on my TW-5, I still have to resplit much of the wood to get to the desired size. I built a 4 way for my SS that gets me the size I want.

When I get to logs that I don't want to lift onto the SS I then move to using the log lift on the TW-5. At this point I tend not to use the 4 or 6 way wedge due to the risk of jamming the log. As I get to bigger logs it gets cumbersome to roll them on the log lift or load with tractor as well as the danger of the large halves falling off the splitter so I just noodle them with a saw.

My suggestion would be to build a raised landing area so you can roll logs (or push with your tractor) onto your splitter.

 

[thor97]

The wood I deal with is all sizes, but mostly bigger. I can lift rounds up to 80-100 pounds and am usually ok. The big stuff I pick up with the tractor and roll it onto the ss table. (I sometimes will crack it open with the hydro if its too big). The problem is when I am cutting on the federal land. The permit is until the end of the month, regardless when you purchase during the month, and you can't bring any equipment in except a 4x4 pickup(up to one ton) and your saws. This is good as it keeps the commercial guys out who would just clean up. It is all dead wood, 100% oak, killed from oak wilt which is going nuts here. I cut, cut, cut and haul what I cut everyday or it would be gone the next as it's open to the public(lots of guys cutting). I just dump it at home and then split later at my convenience. I pull a little trailer along and roll the big stuff up the ramp of the trailer and throw the medium and small rounds on the truck. Everybody cuts the small and medium trees first as they are easier to handle. The big trees are really big and a lot of work. I do this all winter and spring and then split to be done by May 1. (I also stack all my wood and it is ready by fall) I think a commercial splitter is the biggest help now. I have all the business I can handle(don't want anymore) so I just need to fine tune what I am doing. A processor won't help me at all.

 

[muddstopper]

Thor, I can think of two things I think would help you more than buying another splitter. First i would make a small boom with a winch to mount on your dump trailer, It would allow you to load trailer long logs on the trailer to dump and buck later. It will speed up the gathering of wood a lot as you would only have to make one or two cuts per tree instead of bucking everything into stove wood lengths, not to mention the boom would do all the heavy lifting. You can buck at home when you not under the end of the month time restraint. The second thing I would do is mount a second boom and winch on your splitter. I have a boom on my splitter and I use it for loading everything I dont feel like picking up by hand. I can use a set of log dogs to hook up a large round 20ft away from the splitter and load it without breaking a sweat, or my back. You can use the boom to hold up one half of a big split while you do the resplits on the other half of the round. This saves a ton of wrassling heavy wood and speeds things up a bunch without working harder.

I use my 6x10 homemade dump trailer to get logs in 10ft lengths, I have bucked before loading exactly one tree in my trailer in the last 3 or 4 years. I dump my logs close to my wood shed and buck when I dont have anything else to do. I pull my splitter up to my pile of rounds and use my boom to load the logs. Sometimes i back my trailer up under the splitter and let the splitter just push the splits back onto the trailer to be back under the wood shed and stacked, and sometimes I just let the splits pile up and use the tractor to scoop the wood and haul to the shed. I do very little manual lifting of my wood, and when I do it usually only after the wood has been reduced to splits that will fit in my stove.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

If you can drive to the wood, get a lift gate for your pickup.
My old truck had one. It was old and looked like crap, but what a tool for scrounging firewood.
You can use the lift gate as a table next to the splitter as well when unloading.
Maybe you can find a used one on CraigsList, or an old beater truck with one already on it.
The one I got, I got from a friend that bought an old Pepsi pickup truck to haul tools when refurbishing his 44' sailboat. He didn't have a use for the lift, and gave it to me.
Used it for many years, and hauled a lot of big rounds with it, from a landscape farm down the road that pushed out five acres of Oaks into windrows.
No digital pictures of that one.

 

[thor97]

mudstopper and Sandhill Crane- both excellent ideas! Love the idea of loading logs with a crane, mudstopper, and I've seen the lift gate trucks for sale used, but never gave them a second thought! Great ideas, guys!

 

[WoodTick007]

Does anyone know of a good commercial woodsplitter that is capable of splitting big rounds in one crunch? I'm getting older and don't want to handle the wood any more than I have to. My splits have to be on the small side(3" or less) and I don't want to have to run the splitter more than one pass per round. Therefore it has to have automatic return, the ability to make many splits in one pass(maybe a 8 or 10), log lift, and plenty of hydraulic power. My back has been giving me fits and I don't want to give up my wood. I have a supersplit and it is wonderful, but would like to find something a little more back friendly. Hopefully 10k or less.

 

[WoodTick007]

For that kinda money if for personal use.you might as well buy pre split firewood. It can be had cheap if you buy 15-30 cord. I was gonna buy 15 cord and it was gonna be $22 per facecord bulk loaded by weight.

 

[cantoo]

WoodTick007, so $66 or $88 a bush cord? How can the guy even break even?

 

[muddstopper]

heres a pic of my boom on the splitter. Its an old mechanic crane I found in the scrap yard. It will pick up a 24"long x 48"dia round and place on the splitter. It would pick up bigger, but I didnt mount it high enough to clear bigger wood. I made the control cable 20ft long, but the winch will probably hold 50ft of cable. If i have to drag a round more than 20ft, I just move the splitter closer to the wood.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Yes you can buy a lot of firewood for nine K. Or, you can buy a good machine, if that's what you enjoy doing, and sell it down the road. If you keep it five years or more your probably not going to lose too terrible much.
A good piece of equipment, of any kind, is a pleasure to use.
Below: Some photos from last winter ('15/'16) for fun! 066 w/25" bar.
The absolute best ticket (easiest and cheapest) for reducing work is running a sharp chain and using plastic wedges in the kerf if needed. I have found Stihls 3 in 1 works great, and touch up often.

Sometimes the rounds still fall off. Before the wedge mod...almost everyone of these would have fallen off both sides with the first split. The mod could have been an inch or two wider on each side.

Edit: This was mostly straight grain Oak and split easily. The largest was 32" at the butt, a piece of which can be seen leaning against a tree in the forth photo.