Log Splitters....

TheTreeWiseMen

Redneck Limey
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
1,862
Location
The land of Rob.
Right, gonna try and do my firewood properly this year!! Already have a back order of 8 cords and I'm sure new orders will be on the way. Who has what (splitter that is), how much? how good? etc. etc. And can anyone tell me where I can find a used Timberwolf TW5 that aint totally knackered or too bloody expensive. Failing a Timberwolf, looking at a new Ramsplitter HV25. Opinions? One more thing....does anyone wrap their smaller bundles of wood? and if so, what with?
 
Try Bargainnews.com for a splitter. It's CT based and I've seen Timberwolfs in there occasionally. Plus if you need, I can check it out for you.
 
The Timber wolf is indeed a heavy duty splitter.Well made etc but has a price tag about like a Rolls -Royce ,cost mucho plenty .

The ones sold by TSC will do just as well and costs about 1/3 of the price .

Actually I'm in the process of building a heavy duty splitter but that's a whole 'nother subject .
 
I wana get an auger attatchment for my mini and put a stickler splitter on it so I can at least quarter the big blocks so we can then split them with the regular splitter..............
 
We did not buy a Commercial splitter here, but then we don't do fire wood for a living. Just bought a Yard Machines 25 ton for under 1400.00 with tax at home depot. We had considered commercial and were looking at the 30 ton through harbor freight with the Subaru engine as we had heard good things about it. We also priced one locally here. Both seemed a bit much for what we do. The one local had a Briggs engine. Support and service is also what we considered. Briggs is bullet proof and easily serviced and we can get parts. Honda etc driven would be a problem in parts and service.
Other selling point of the smaller 25 ton was portability. 1 - 2 guys can about place the thing anywhere, quad can pull it into rough areas, and two guys can also load it into a truck or trailer for transport if you need the trailer too. We split about 8 cord a year total for some of our customers and our home. Like I said, not high volume. Funny thing was we did not think it was going to make a whole lot of money, just make our job easier. At 200-225 a cord of oak delivered, you aint gettin rich buy selling fire wood. But.... we had a large elderly client base that don't split their own wood any more. We make more money getting paid to take their trees down, cut and split and stack it for them. Who wudda figured?? Nice thing about a splitter though, it is generally a one time investment. Not much ever goes wrong with it and requires very little service. Having the 6 hp briggs on it was great as I can get even the air filters from hardware stores here. Let alone warranty service and such. Pricing the motor too, much cheaper replacement if anything does go wrong. But I have never had a Briggs motor that has been properly cared for go bad until they are just plain wore out.
Sorry this is so long ... but you know me... the paragraph guy .. LOL
 
A lot of guys at Hearth forums swear by the ironoak splitters. I don't know much about them.
I like the Timberwolfs, but MAN are they pricey!!!
I built one, I shouldhave just bought the TW and been done! I do nothing but break the damn thing!
I can say the YardMachines will take a beating and work just fine with two to three people you can crank out a lot of wood in a hurry. I tend to stay away from B/S motors anymore, the quality really has gone down hill. Honda, Kohler, Kawasaki and Subaru/Robin are still decent motors for not much more money.
There was a company on ebay selling bundlers, you set the wood in two stakes and band the middle. We looked into, but to sell it around here (Dillons or Quick Trip) you had to take all the stors in the area and we were not large enough to be able to handle that.
Look into the lakes in the area, around here they one source that suplies to the campers and that wouldn't be a bad gig on a medium size lake.
 
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96907
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91839
Loved these and was considering them ... Like I said I had to rely on what engine etc support I had locally and why I went with the B&S engine.

I do like the iron oak and you definitely will like the horizontal and vertical option... works great with the big rounds..
I did really like the kind that if horizontal, have the lift for the rounds. I also like the 4 way splitting wedge..
I do emphasize, look at your warranty, and what support you have for the engine locally... Hydralics and hoses are usually pretty standard industry stuff and can be ordered locally or on line. Its the engine that you really want good support for.... Lets face it .... Down time is always a concern for our business...
 
If you're the type of person who would be concerned about 'dealer support', then perhaps you might not want to be shopping at Harbor Freight.
:roll:

For most purchases, I just assume that once I take the product out the door then I'm on my own with it and I will be 100% responsible for all repairs and upkeep for as long as I own it.

If you plan on paying somebody else to help you maintain or repair the product, then you'd be better off buying the product from that dealer.
 
Brian.. I agree... about the dealer support and Harbor freight. Why I did not buy the splitter there. Not so much that the dealer does the work, but can I get the parts to do the work myself and how do I see my warranty through in case of total equipment failure. ie: my chipper... Honda 670GX 24 hp V twin I replaced last year.. No support here. I bought the engine (replaced the original) from Tulsa Engine on line. I installed it myself. Two year commercial warranty. Less than a year after I bought the engine, I had a total failure due to the governor on the carb failing making the RPM too high and thus rods went. I had to take the engine 1 hour away and wait for the whole she bang to get taken care of. At least it only took 4 WEEKS. Two weeks for an appointment, two weeks to fix it. I had a back log that really screwed with my schedual. I do a lot of my own maintenance. But... If failure under warranty, can I get it covered closer and sooner.. I have no Robin dealer near me in any reasonable distance that I know of, so B&S was the way to go "in case". I do like the Robin product for the money however and have heard good about them. Why I posted it ... :)

P.S. Have had really good luck with Subaru products in the past..
 
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Subaru owns Robin now.

I guess I don't worry to much about service. I can get parts withing two days. And I am the guy that people bring their engines to to make them run.

And Brian is right, unless you buy from a dealer, forget about geting service.
 
What do you think of the Robin engine andy??? have you worked on them or any of the Subaru products?

The old Robins were every bit as stout as the Onan's, but a LOT easier to work on. There weren't that many around here other than the Shindiawa gensets I worked on.
I can't imagine Subaru buying them hurt the company much!
 
Buying from Harbor Freight or Northern Tool is sort of like giving money to a televangelist. You will be inundated with junk mail forever in an attempt to suck more money out of you. I'm not telling you not to buy it, just be aware of the unintended consequences of doing business with that type of outfit.

And their products are pure junk. Which is fine if you expect it to be junk, but not fine if you expect it to be strong or durable or well designed.
 
Northern has alot of quality brand name equipment. Not sure what the engine is on that splitter, but alot of their small engines are honda, kohler, etc.
 
Northern is OK but they are P T Barnums when it comes to advertising .

The sales people spend way too much time attempting to talk you in to buying extended warrentees on their products .

Fact is ,in just a few minutes here I'm going to call them up and order a 3/4" detent valve for the splitter I'm building . Big cylinder,high volume pump,takes a big valve to move a lot of oil .
 
firewood is a sinking ship............


Floats pretty good for me. I can't cut enough, fast enough and can name my price.

Love my TW-5, but definitely have to have the hydraulic lift and a conveyor.
 
I have had the Iron and Oak commercial splitters for years. Well built and resonable priced if compared to a TW. Never had any problems with them at all. Iron and Oak also has a log splitter line they sell to the box stores. This line isn't as well built as commercial. You can see the difference if you were to have the cheapie ones right next to the commercial line.

I would stay away from any box store splitter or mail order such as Northern tool. I recently sold off a TW -2 with the 4 way wege and an old farm elavator to a guy who is into firewood pretty heavy. His back was against the wall about a month ago. He bought a splitter from Menards. The back end of the valve blew out, the tires would not hold air. He got his money back some how. He didn't blink an eye when I put my TW-2 with the 4 way up for sale. I was asking almost 2/3rds what a new one would cost but mine was in excellent shape.

Nothing wrong with TW. They also make an excellent machine. We had to make a choice with having two splitters, one a TW and the other a vert.- horz. 30 ton from Iron and Oak. The Iron and Oak won out and was getting used more any way because we are chipping more of the smaller wood now and the Iron and Oak was more practical for the bigger rounds and it was nice to convert some iron back into cash.

Yes, I'll agree firewood is a sinking ship. I am not that hot for firewood as it is but we have jacked up the prices on it as it is getting a little on the expensive side just to cut and process the darn stuff if you figure the cost of bar oil, gas and mix, bars and the chains that need to be constantly sharpened and are worn out faster than they are from regular tree cutting, not to mention the wear and tear on a saw. I won't even get into loading and delivery costs for a truck . Yeah, I know I am whining.

So far this year the phone has been quiet for wood orders and what few have called aren't wanting to pay. Even the lowballers have jacked up prices from the few conversations I have had with a few people. One guy who was a major player last year went bankrupt. I am getting a few of his calls and people think I am some kind of price gouger. I feel like asking these people as to how it came about the other guy went bankrupt selling firewood. Besides, I always like to keep prices higher than the others and let them sell out first. When it really gets cold and supply is low is when we make our money selling firewood. After December is when the money from selling firewood comes in handy. Till that time I concentrate on getting our regular tree work done as firewood is basically working unemployment.
 
Here we consider firewood as house heat and a by product. So yeah a sinking ship... Now small retail bundles pay the money... even after the percentage and split.. I betting you do like we do .. use the by product to make money for the slow or rainy day... then it works. Get payed to put it on the ground, buck it up and remove it.. Then proceed with splitting and delivering... Then it pays. Then it also depends on your geograpical location.. Some cities pay 4-500 per cord... We only get 2-225 per delivered here.
 
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