Love the chairs.
I didn't get any replies about the Mighty Ox last fall when I first posted this, so figured no one was interested, but I did end up with the LS-30. I couldn't find anybody that had one, so I went to the factory about an hour from me. They gave me a demo and I was impressed with the quality. I like things that are built to last and this looks like it. It weighs a little over 2,000 pounds, has a lot of steel in it. It is much heaver, with thicker steel than any of the Timberwolf splitters I saw and has a better working height for me. It has twin hydraulic pumps off one Honda engine, and pre-plumbed to add a hydraulic elevator that hitches on the back at the out feed table. I agree that the grate is too small, you can push a lot of wood through this, and without the elevator, cleaning the split wood out of the way is what slows me down now.
Some of the first wood I split with it was 36" knot filled oak and it was a challenge. The lift will pick it up and put it into place, but even with the wedge down and only splitting 4 ways, it wouldn't push it right through, but get stuck on the wedge, which is a real problem. Sometimes you can knock it off the wedges by raising and lowering the wedge to pry i toff, others you just have to keep working at it until you get it through. But, you can also remove the push plate and expose a single wedge mounted right on the ram and that will go through about anything. The only problem is, then you have two huge chunks you have to wrestle out of the the way to keep going. Also, some of the big stuff will split the lower half of the round and then you have to fight to get the top half off the out feed and back to the splitting end. All of that is a pain, but WAY better than the old single wedge splitter I had been using.
If you have a rounds that are 24" diameter or less, this thing is a beast and can process firewood faster than you can feed or clean up after it. Overall I'm very happy with it. The only thing I'd really like to have is a suspension for towing. It has highway tires, but the axles are mounted directly to the frame and towing it not fun at all. Even towing with an F-350, it tends to bounce and push the truck around. It is very expensive for a log splitter, especially for non-commercial use, but probably the last one I'll ever need to buy.
Jim
Hello Jim, I live in Denmark, for daily I set up fence for a security company. In my spare time I work with wood on several fronts, I buy wood on the root of a nearby manor house, it's normal thinning of deciduous trees, as well as selective thinning of larger trees. I have taken some courses at the Danish Forest School, within tree climbing and pruning, lowering of branches and heavier log parts. which subsequently resulted in, on a smaller scale, that I also help a local arborist, primarily for the most part as a ground man, but expects to climb over time.
I have worked with tree felling and reprocessing and sale of firewood for many years. My first log splitter was a MTD model 522. The one I have now are a Troybilt LS-275 with Honda engine.
Excellent wood splitters for the small money, but have their limitations on splitting speed, but the strength lies in the flexibility.
Here in the spring of 2017, I worked up hardwood enough to fill a timber truck with trailer, 18.5 cords, I also replaced my 2 older Echo chainsaws, with a Stihl MS 261 C-M and a Stihl MS 661 C-M-W, so it was a powerful update on the cutting site, I have harvested the logs in 9.85' lengths, it is standard in Denmark, but I sell firewood, where the pieces are 0.82' long, so each log is divided into 12 pieces, after which I split the pieces on my Troy-Bilt LS-275. I can split 1 cords at 3.62 hours, so it's a very slow process, and ruin the profil, If we talk about hourly wages?
Since I only work with firewood in my spare time, I did not think I would invest in a cut / split machine what you in the USA name firewood processor. Here in Europe, most of the firewood processor's which could be economic realistic for me, are intended for work with diameters of about 1 - 1.5 ', they are expensive, the prices are exclusive feeding table, and many of the models need to be driven with a tractor's pto outlet. in order to work optimally, should also have a loader, in order to feed the feeding table.
In order to reduce the splitting time, I have searched the internet, to find alternatives, to the expensive firewood processors. I just fell over the machine that you apparently also found interesting
But I found it a bit expensive, but quality costs and if it's a robust machine, it can hopefully last for many years in addition.
What I notice is that it can be pulled after a passenger car, but there aren't so many details on the conveyor, which is a purchase opportunity, could be nice to know if the conveyor belt could be transported after a car on the public road?
It's hard to evaluate this log splitter from a video, what I noticed, is that the 6-way splitter seems a bit inadequate, or said otherwise, seems to split the wood rather roughly, I like that firewood pieces which I sell, are split quite small, so it dries faster and gives less smoke, better and cleaner combustion.
That's why it would be great if there had been a larger selection of split irons available, but it should be possible to have a Smith to create a splitting wedge head, with more then 6 part iron?. The question is just about the hydraulic cylinder have the power to push the log through to example a 12 part iron, maybe more?
Can you contribute with a little experience so far?
How many cords can you split in one hour average, we talk about average logs with variable diameters and alternating tree species?
What are your previous experience with the machine, are you overall satisfied with the purchase?
Have you had any repairs?
Is there a starter on the engine?
Have you purchased a conveyor for the machine, does it work optimally? able to be towed after a car?
Thanks in advance!
Sincerely Mr. Bendt Kristensen
