Electric log splitters

[harryattshgm]

I know Dirt monkey on YouTube did a comparison of hydraulic/kinetic/axe and found the kinetic to be fast on straight stuff but poor on knotted stuff. I’ve used the smaller electric splitters like linked below and found it faster to split with a good axe.

[Gav73]

Ok looks like I'm sticking with the axes.  Tbh I'm happy with that. It's good exercise and a lot of it is done while I'm minding the kids playing in the garden so neither the work nor the time involved are a big issue currently.  A small electric splitter that I could grab from the garage and plug in clearly isn't worth it and a petrol splitter would probably still be noisy for the kids playing and would have to live in the garden if I could find a way to get it there. 
 
That just leaves..... What about the electric kinetic splitters?  Like the portec. I'm guessing fine on the straight grain stuff but how do they get on with knotty uglies?

I still have my old kinetic - It’s rapid, but lethal. The rack and pinion soon wears out and the rams buckle if you try splitting something too big or gnarly. You really have to have your wits about you when using one.

They are also very low down and back breaking.

If you’re anywhere near me, you could come and have a go with both the kinetic and the rock to see what you think

[scbk]

1 hour ago, neiln said:

I would need to get it through a 2'6" wide doorway to get it into the back garden, and down a couple of steps.  That probably rules out any machine worth having.  B ******s.

My splitter would get in, but the transport to South England would be a bit much 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scbk]

With electric single phase, you only have 13amps to play with. All hydraulics have a compromise between power and speed, you can never really have both. If you're good with an axe it will be faster, but you need more room to work, an electric splitter would be handy inside a shed for a rainy day.

 

I would spend a while watching videos on youtube, maybe even hire an electric splitter if you can

[neiln]

I don't need to work on a rainy day..... My 'honey do' list has plenty of other jobs o can do 🤣

 

Wowsers Scbk, I'm going to have to show my wife that photo.  She complains our back garden isn't normal....ok there aren't many gardens to a semi in zone 3 South London which have ,30m³ of oak firewood stacked and drying no.... But then there aren't many husbands that don't complain about the money spent on clothes she never wears either 🤣 she indulges me, my hobby funds various wastes of money from us both elsewhere!

 

For a bit of context.  Typical residential street in suburban London. I get arb waste from several tree guys I've befriended.  All of this will have come from a similar garden or back garden to my own and the tree will have been dismantled and ringed up small enough to handballed from whatever back garden out to the street. Depending on which guy I've got it from the size varies from easily liftable into the back of my Octavia to groundiebreakinglybigwrestledintoatransittipper and tipped on my drive. If it's easy enough I wheel barrow it to the back garden and deal with it there. The rings that are big but already stove length get axe split to chunks and they get 'barrowed out back. If it's too long it gets the saw, just enough to enable me to get it out back.  Once in the back garden I can cut and split without worry.  This modus operandi sets the constraints.  Splitter if used needs to be in the back garden near the stacks and away from nosey/untrusted eyes.  This makes noise slightly less of an issue then out on the street but means access is restricted.  

 

End result based on the super feedback today... Stick with the axes!  Bit save up for a petrol splitter in time, but something like this one might be viable

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264593465440?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ua4htPRmQxq&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=ouq3u5EnS2m&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

[Dan Maynard]

13 hours ago, scbk said:

With electric single phase, you only have 13amps to play with. All hydraulics have a compromise between power and speed, you can never really have both. If you're good with an axe it will be faster, 

My splitter is single phase 16A so slightly more, runs off blue plug. I came to the same conclusion about speed and power and got a Posch 6T rated. It's two stage pump so its fast but won't do really gnarly bits, I just throw those away - lifes too short to be sawing firewood into blocks.

 

On the easiest to split logs, an axe is probably faster. The splitter wins out on bigger or tougher wood by being incessant, it doesn't take a long drawn in breath when looking at a big log and think about where to hit it. It also doesn't slow down after an hour.

 

The other thing, my splitter is the vertical table type where the ram pulls down from below. This means you do everything at waist height, and after an hour or two that is a great improvement too.

 

But back to the original question, no I wouldn't buy the really cheap splitter.

[neiln]

Thanks Dan, that's useful info.

 

Slowing down after an hour isn't an issue in a way.  Busy life and young family mean I'm rarely doing long stints but rather grabbing 30-60 minutes here and there.

 

I thought about the hire a splitter to do the lot in a day suggestion and also realised that slave constraints drive me to deal with a delivery of arb waste before I get the next, so that isn't such a great option for me.

 

Axe does seem best for me in many ways.

[TuscanPhil]

Neil, definitely consider a small electric splitter - I split and stack 15-20m3 per year - I have a biomass boiler so need seasoned timber logs for that.  more info on this thread 

 but do consider the Handy range, though I'm pretty sure they are all made in the same Chinese factory.  I bought mine as an ex-display model through Handy's eBay outlet - 

mowermarket on eBay

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

---

Follow mowermarket on eBay. Buying, Selling, Collecting on eBay has never been more exciting!

 and have now owned it since Feb 2020 - using it every few weeks for a morning or day's work at a time.

[sandspider]

As I've commented elsewhere before (in fact that's my thread above I see!) electric splitters have their place. I've got a knackered wrist so can't do much axe (X27) splitting any more, so borrowed a 6t forest master duocut. On easy splitting ash the axe (with a tyre to hold the logs) is definitely quicker, but the FM was good - very few things stalled it, including horrible gnarly stuff I couldn't have done with an axe even when my wrist was good.

[Billhook]

I have four levels of wood splitting and they all have their place.  Wrists are bad now so X27 is in retirement (bit like me) so the little electric kinetic Portek hits above its weight for small jobs in the home. Particularly good for the smaller wood needed for the Aduro 9 stove

 

 

Before I built the Lockdown Splitter I borrowed this big vertical splitter on the front linkage of the Fastrac

 

Cone splitter on Matbro seemed like a good idea at the time.......

 

 

Then onto the Lockdown Splitter

 

 

Lockdown again

 

Daisy Etta  Caterpillar D7 was working well until it pushed the static axe out of the ground which was set in a ton of concrete!

 

I just love splitting wood mainly economic but partly therapeutic

Still find a place for the useful Portek electric kinetic though,just handy to have near the stove.