Electric log splitter

[Mike Davis]

Does anyone here have an electric log splitter? I'm beginning to think I'm not made of steel and could use some help with the firewood. Maybe if we had an easy way to split wood the wife and kids would help...

So, what is a good brand? do they hold up well? Split tough wood easily? What is the minimum size to do a good job? Is 220 volt necessary?

I haven't had great luck with gas powered tools so the electric may work better. I can park it on the patio and stack the wood right there on the pile.

 

[junquecol]

Most of the electric splitters I have seen use a screw drive to activate the ram. This requires a reduction gear box, which at the price point I have seen such splitters tells me it isn't very good. If I didn't own a log splitter and needed one, I would just rent one for the day. The trouble with most log splitters is the height. Back in 1986 when we built ours, we were going to make a stand up splitter, until an older gentleman asked us "How many trees had we cut into firewood that were standing up?" Took his suggestion and built beam as low to ground as we could, plus we let air out of tires to lower splitter even more. (Of course this means we have to carry an air tank.) We even use one of the first pieces to make a ramp to roll logs onto beam. Largest thing we ever split was a white oak about 60" in diameter, that blew over during hurricane Fran. Groan , groan, snap, crack and POP! Because there wasn't a Northern store in Raleigh, we drove to Charlotte to get both pump and mounting bracket. A nice young man helped us. I told him which pump I wanted, and a mounting bracket to fit a six horse power engine. He politely explained to us that we only needed bracket for a five horse power motor as that's all the pump required. Then I explained that we had two ELECTRIC START six horse power motors. We had probably the only electric start log splitter. Talk about lazy! Didn't even have to pull start rope.

 

[Mike Davis]

Bruce,

The one I'm looking at is hydraulic, 16 ton, vertical or horizontal, 1.5 HP 20 amp, says it is equivalent to 5.5 HP gas engine. 12 second cycle time. about $1100

I'm used to standing the logs up to split with a maul so I'd rather stand it up on the ground than lift it several times onto a beam.

 

[junquecol]

Mike, check out RDU CL in tools for "Log Splitter." There is a used D&R for $400, and another at tool outlet store in Tanger Outlet for $249.

 

[FlyingRon]

I have rented the vertical hydraulic kind. All you have to do is roll the log over to it and "walk" it up onto the base plate (sort of like getting it on a hand truck) and run the ram down. Everything was fine except some yahoo replaced the bolt holding the wedge to the end of the ram with something other than the grade 8 bolt it requires. I had to run out to the hardware store for another.