PTO log splitter, horizontal or vertical?

[grainboy]

In my opinion horizontal for longer cord or lengths, vertical for rings, rings are time consuming on horizontal,

[Yorkie]

I keep changing my mind. I was leaning towards a horizontal splitter but now im thinking more about vertical . how do you get on big 2foot rings on vertical splitters because I do like the idea of the floating 4 way wedge on the horizontal . I think I would have a single wedge on a vertical.

 

still also unsure on picking between riko and ryetec, I know that both are Italian made and the ryetec is a little bit more expensive I think

[Treemoose]

I keep changing my mind. I was leaning towards a horizontal splitter but now im thinking more about vertical . how do you get on big 2foot rings on vertical splitters because I do like the idea of the floating 4 way wedge on the horizontal . I think I would have a single wedge on a vertical.

 

still also unsure on picking between riko and ryetec, I know that both are Italian made and the ryetec is a little bit more expensive I think

 

You can get ones that do both horizontal and vertical. Does it need to be road towable?

[Treemoose]

.....

[Big Rodders]

Yorkie - my approach to larger diameter wood is to ring it thinner. If I cannot lift rings by myself I leave them to one side until there is another person in the yard and get them to help me lift them onto the splitter bed and split them into 2 or 3 to enable me handle them by myself thereafter. Occasionally, I split them in two on the ground with a wedge and sledge hammer. I should mention that my vertical splitter is an 8 1/2 ton Thor. If I can lift it, it will split it. It has never failed.

[Yorkie]

don't think that I want a dual horizontal &vertical version because I want a larger capacity of 16-18t.

 

l also don't need a road toe because I was thinking of 3pt linkage on a fergie 35 and will only be used at the yard or down in the farm wood.

 

Wood diameter up to around 30inches and 18 inches long

[Logan]

Yorkie, it depends on volume and sizes of wood.

 

Loads of sizes exist labeled vertical or horizontal, the smaller machines for less money are for smaller volumes.

 

If you are looking at more costly pro model 18t+ pto machine, the ones that have a 1.1m stroke on the vertical and a 1.3m stroke on the horizontal, basically the horizontal runs well on straightforward billet length wood, either crane a grab full of logs onto the cradle that go through in one pass, or crane individual log on and split through once and then either throw back over for more (2nd person ideally) or crane logs off again for re splitting later. Such horizontal machines can do rings and bent wood, but are less ergonomic at that. But if you have 300t of straightforward cord and a crane, and 2 people, this works.

The 1.1m vertical is good for everything, but is harder work if doing large volume over many weeks. If you are super fit you might not notice, but we use both types and everyone here finds it slightly harder work. You cannot crane load directly, and billets need lifting out rather than simply sliding off the horizontal tray. However, for rings they are best, smaller liftable rings can be sat on a raised table nice for your back, large rings can flop onto the bottom plate without any table. For a table we use a larger oak crotch cut into a cube, sat so it's cross grain. Vertical is good for bendy wood, and just as quick on straight wood if you have the fitness.

 

I would say the vertical is allrounder esp. if not wanting crane loading, vertical if large volumes of suitable cord. For rings, vertical. Hence, we ended up with both.

 

Cheers, John.

[Yorkie]

thanks logan that was the most helpful reply so

far.

 

planning on going to yams tomorrow to have another look at both of them, hopefully I will then be closer to making a decision

[Mortimer Firewood]

Riko Expert is the machine I would choose for your application

[Yorkie]

Riko Expert is the machine I would choose for your application

 

Do you have a link? can't find it on the alpine tractors website.