# Performance Built 27 Ton Splitter from Lowes



## Outlander0311 (Jul 8, 2020)

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the Performance Built log splitters being sold by Lowes, for the price its on par with the county line from Tractor supply. I get a military discount with Lowes and a current sale would make it almost 300 dollars cheaper. any feedback would be appreciated since I wanna buy one splitter and not have a splitting headache from trying to keep it running.... If anyone has a better recommendation I am all ears since hand splitting 5-6 cords a year is taking away from the fishing time haha.


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## andym (Jul 8, 2020)

Outlander0311 said:


> hand splitting 5-6 cords a year is taking away from the fishing time haha.


Right on! The best thing you can do is drive to all local stores that have splitters and look them over in person. I was going to buy one at Menards until I did that very thing. I ended up with a Countyline. Pay close attention to pump size/cylinder size/cycle times. A few seconds quicker is well worth 300 to me, but not to all. 
That said I think I could have been happy with any of the splitters I looked at.


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## Country Living in VA (Jul 9, 2020)

I had just recently posted in another thread about my recent purchase of a log splitter which was from TSC.  Although I cannot tell you whether the Performance Built or the Countyline brand better, I would offer the following:  My Countyline came with a Kohler engine which is a premium.  I have split about 5-6 cords with my 25 ton splitter and so far, I absolutely love it.  The only thing I would like to be different is the size of the bottom platform (in vertical position) that the wood sits on is too small.  I do not know whether other brands have larger platforms, but mine is small enough where it can be difficult to maneuver logs and wood into place and the wood wants to move out of position unless you really get in tight and hold it in place.  In regards to your $300 discount-that is significant and a good incentive, but as I said in my other post, if you ask for a manager at TSC and tell him that you are considering purchasing the one from Lowe's at a cheaper price with the military discount, I would bet you could get the same discount at TSC.


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## blades (Jul 10, 2020)

Try digging your foot plate into the ground a bit so everything is level- stops that walking away deal. personally I do not like the vertical and messing around all bent over . now if it was vertical say about 30 inches up off ground that wood be ok. There some units made that way.  I have all seen one that operates at apx 35deg incline.


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## Montanalocal (Jul 10, 2020)

I put some 2 X lumber out to the sides of the footer so the really big rounds stay level.


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## DodgyNomad (Jul 10, 2020)

I do something similar when vertical, have a quarter sheet of thick plywood I slide under the foot.  Makes it easier to slide the huge rounds on and off the splitter, and keeps the foot up high, out of the dirt.  Real time and energy saver, rounds don't slip out, and can be slid easily on the board.


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## Country Living in VA (Jul 10, 2020)

Those are some good ideas, thanks for the advice.  My outdoor furnace is located behind my house on a hillside.  Its location does well in keeping the smoke from coming close to the house.  The unfortunate part is that I need to get as much wood up next to the stove as possible for storage-storing on a hillside is difficult.  Once it gets snowy, I have no way to get the wood up there (no tractor for me yet).   You cannot stack as they will eventually fall over.  So, in order not to have to load, unload, then load again-unload, I haul as much as I can up the hill to start with and end up having to split it in as level of a spot as I can find.  Fortunately, I have enough wood up there to get me through several months right now.  I just got a load of logs which is in a field next to my house and it is level.  It is a mix of green and dead, but not dry wood, so it will be stacked in the field and used next year.  

Like you guys, I try to split as much as possible with the horizontal setting.  It seems like a lot of what I have been scrounging lately have been 24" and up-mostly green and heavy.  All of the easy stuff had already been taken when I get there.  I can't complain though as long as I am getting free wood or wood on the cheap!


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## DickRussell (Jul 10, 2020)

andym said:


> ... Pay close attention to pump size/cylinder size/cycle times. A few seconds quicker is well worth 300 to me, but not to all.
> ...



I wonder if most folks pay too much attention to cycle time. The need for shorter times often depends on the nature of the wood being split. Tough wood may require a long wedge drive through the round, while straight-grain rounds of wood like oak and ash need just a few inches into the round to pop the thing apart. With a lot of the rounds all cut about the same length, and certainly when making second and more splits off the same round, wedge travel can be just a few inches in either direction.


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## Country Living in VA (Jul 10, 2020)

DickRussell said:


> I wonder if most folks pay too much attention to cycle time. The need for shorter times often depends on the nature of the wood being split. Tough wood may require a long wedge drive through the round, while straight-grain rounds of wood like oak and ash need just a few inches into the round to pop the thing apart. With a lot of the rounds all cut about the same length, and certainly when making second and more splits off the same round, wedge travel can be just a few inches in either direction.


When I purchased my splitter, cycle time was not in the equation of my decision.  It does vary quite a bit depending on the wood type and the piece of wood itself whether there are knots or limb cuttings in the log.  I never try to cut or split wood if time is a constraint, typically leads to mishaps.


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## blades (Jul 10, 2020)

big rounds- saw them in half ( what we call noodling) or 1/4's, when no mechanical help is available.   Course when they get into the 4ft dia range it takes a bit longer


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## andym (Jul 10, 2020)

DickRussell said:


> I wonder if most folks pay too much attention to cycle time. The need for shorter times often depends on the nature of the wood being split....


This is true but faster is faster. My splitter is rated 10.5 seconds. A similar splitter I considered was cheaper, but 2.5 seconds slower. Doesn't sound like much but it figures out to 19.2% faster. Every hour you save 15 minutes in theory.  I really enjoy splitting wood, but like to get things done quickly (and safely).


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## triptester (Jul 12, 2020)

Cycle times are about as good as tonnage ratings for most manufacturer advertising. all splitters with a 4" bore and 11 gpm 2-stage pump and 24" stroke will cycle within 1 second of each other. The only way to shorten cycle times are to increase pump size, decrease bore size, shorten stroke, or a regenerative system that will not be found on a consumer machine.


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## blades (Jul 12, 2020)

also internal size of fittings, hoses, hardlines and ports on cylinder.  It's all about how fast you can fill & empty the cylinder.


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## VirginiaIron (Jul 12, 2020)

I was a fan of the Dirty Hands splitters at Lowes up until today.
I stopped by TSC and gazed upon the 40T FAST. She's pretty.


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## JimBear (Jul 12, 2020)

VirginiaIron said:


> I was a fan of the Dirty Hands splitters at Lowes up until today.
> I stopped by TSC and gazed upon the 40T FAST. She's pretty.


I am guessing you are talking about the 40ton DK2 Kinetic splitter? They look pretty  wicked.


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## blades (Jul 13, 2020)

at that price why not talk to the guys in Ohio- Super Split and get the original.


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## Highbeam (Jul 13, 2020)

andym said:


> This is true but faster is faster. My splitter is rated 10.5 seconds. A similar splitter I considered was cheaper, but 2.5 seconds slower. Doesn't sound like much but it figures out to 19.2% faster. Every hour you save 15 minutes in theory.  I really enjoy splitting wood, but like to get things done quickly (and safely).



Whoa now, this just isn't true. Most of the time, you don't run the wedge very far into the round before the split occurs. Then you reverse the wedge while you grab another round or reposition the split. Realistically, the speed of the wedge is only slightly relevant and the full cycle time is essentially worthless. Think about how much time in every hour are you actually waiting for the wedge to fall. Would you be waiting less if the dang thing hadn't retracted so fast? 

All mainstream, modern splitters are plenty fast for regular people. Don't worry so much about cycle time.  

I also recommend you don't worry about the brand of engine. It's just not that important anymore, they're all very good if you take care of them. Look for standard designs, good welds, good paint, a well known brand, and good price.


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## andym (Jul 13, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> Whoa now, this just isn't true. Most of the time, you don't run the wedge very far into the round before the split occurs. Then you reverse the wedge while you grab another round or reposition the split. Realistically, the speed of the wedge is only slightly relevant and the full cycle time is essentially worthless...



I did say "in theory". I've put about two hours on the splitter now and 95% of the time required the full cycle to separate the elm strands. I split my stuff on the small side so indeed I do stand there and watch the wedge return so i can reposition the chunk. However the 19.2% is the same whether moving the wedge 3 inches or 24. I also  mentioned that not everyone will value the slight gain in speed.


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## johneh (Jul 13, 2020)

I don't care what your cycle time is Elm is time-consuming 
to split. It is the biggest reason I bought a splitter


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## blades (Jul 15, 2020)

on the other side of the coin is the round or split that just keeps absorbing the building pressure- when/if you wake  up wondering what just happened.


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## DodgyNomad (Jul 15, 2020)

blades said:


> on the other side of the coin is the round or split that just keeps absorbing the building pressure- when/if you wake  up wondering what just happened.



Never seen anything like that when splitting typical wood.  What circumstances would create that scenario, and what have you seen happen?


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## kevin j (Jul 17, 2020)

I did mostly elm here and it has to cycle ALL the way to the last fibers. Also multiple cycles per round. Even the oak which. is rare for me has to do full stroke. Cycle speed drives me crazy waiting. I have a 4 inch with log lift but don’t use it much anymore. I built a 3 inch x 20 inch with Honda 160 and 13/3 gpm Haldex pump. Love it. Calculated 3 seconds extend, 2.8 seconds retract, and it runs very close to that.  Takes about 1.5 hr/cord for me working alone off a trailer, but with one person keeping the table full and one person taking it away, I’ve gotten a full cord in less than one hour.
This pic was yesterday. I was working alone, throwing into the trailer. Output table is much smaller, on far side by trailerdoesn’t show.
Anything bigger than about 16 inches gets noodled into smaller chunks as I can’t wrestle big pieces. This was about a 36 inch oak tree, beautiful but died.

With tough elm, ,any splitter no matter how slow, is better than a maul. But I really like the speed !


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## brenndatomu (Jul 17, 2020)

DodgyNomad said:


> Never seen anything like that when splitting typical wood.  What circumstances would create that scenario, and what have you seen happen?


You've never had a piece that made the splitter shift to low, and then it suddenly explodes apart landing 10' away?
Ruin a perfectly good set of drawers it will...


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## DodgyNomad (Jul 17, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> You've never had a piece that made the splitter shift to low, and then it suddenly explodes apart landing 10' away?
> Ruin a perfectly good set of drawers it will...



Have not seen that.  I'm lucky that I mostly have split maple, ash, and oak.  I've seen some  bends and twisty splits start to load up, but nothing ever exploded out of the splitter, thankfully.  We don't have much elm around here.  Most of my stuff splits fully within the first 5 inches of the wedge cycle.


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## VirginiaIron (Jul 18, 2020)

Maybe two or three sessions ago I had a 18" +- round pop just that way. One half went away from me and the other end flew somewhere and bounced off of something in the blink of my eye. I experienced somewhat violent splits before but this was almost like an explosion. I was somewhat startled.
 I am glad my hand wasnt resting on the round and I'm glad I finally had my log stop installed.


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## baseroom (Jul 22, 2020)

That has happened to me with smaller4-6' EAB ash rounds.  They have gone 6-8 feet easy!


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## WiscWoody (Jul 30, 2020)

blades said:


> Try digging your foot plate into the ground a bit so everything is level- stops that walking away deal. personally I do not like the vertical and messing around all bent over . now if it was vertical say about 30 inches up off ground that wood be ok. There some units made that way.  I have all seen one that operates at apx 35deg incline.


I don’t care for using my splitter in the vertical position either and I’ve never used it that way i end up hoisting some heavy rounds because of it lol.


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## WiscWoody (Jul 30, 2020)

I like my 37 ton splitter I got from Menards two years ago. I split a lot of scrounge elm and it will often stop the wedge for a moment then when stage two kicks in it will jerk its way through the round grunting all the way. It has a sharp wedge and it will sorta cut through some of knots and narlies. I bought the splitter on Black Friday for $900, I thought that wasn’t too bad but no, it isn’t real fast.


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## blades (Aug 3, 2020)

speed is overrated- from my perspective- lot of snow on the mountain - hasn't thinned out though.  if something goes south it just does it faster. course i would like a bit faster return stroke-  easy fix, but the darn oem pump hasn't worn out yet ( knock on wood).


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## kennyp2339 (Aug 3, 2020)

Cycle time is very important to me, my splitter has about an 8 1/2sec cycle, with that said, that 8 1/2 sec's is just a hair faster then my typical working speed on most wood splitting that I do. The second most important thing is 2 stage tonnage, generally speaking mine is a 20 ton unit and I've never had an issue yet.


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## WiscWoody (Aug 3, 2020)

kennyp2339 said:


> Cycle time is very important to me, my splitter has about an 8 1/2sec cycle, with that said, that 8 1/2 sec's is just a hair faster then my typical working speed on most wood splitting that I do. The second most important thing is 2 stage tonnage, generally speaking mine is a 20 ton unit and I've never had an issue yet.


Have you split any tough elm? Most elm isn’t too bad to split but I get some that my newer 37 ton machine  has a hard time spitting. I know some on here say to just throw it to the side and get rid of it if it won’t split but I can’t throw good wood away. It’s kinda like I have to stop and pick up wood that has fallen off peoples trailers up here lol. This round I took a photo of stopped my big splitter then the 2nd stage kicked in but it still had a hard time with this one.


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## WiscWoody (Aug 3, 2020)

blades said:


> big rounds- saw them in half ( what we call noodling) or 1/4's, when no mechanical help is available.   Course when they get into the 4ft dia range it takes a bit longer
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Or get out the skid and inverted splitter and cut them down to size for your other splitter. I did it that way for awhile but the skid steer had to go since I hardly used it anymore and I gave the buyer a very good deal on the splitter just to get it out of my yard. It kinda stunk really but I can live without it.


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## blades (Aug 4, 2020)

Elm and the like is why I have a thin wedge with a spreader located behind it.Shears its way through rather than blunt force.


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## WiscWoody (Aug 15, 2020)

blades said:


> Elm and the like is why I have a thin wedge with a spreader located behind it.Shears its way through rather than blunt force.


Yes right. You can see the edge on my wedge in the photo above, it’s pretty sharp and that’s the way it came from the factory. It will kinda cut through knots and narlies.


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## begreen (Aug 16, 2020)

WiscWoody said:


> I don’t care for using my splitter in the vertical position either and I’ve never used it that way i end up hoisting some heavy rounds because of it lol.


I've used ours about 75% vertical and 25% horizontal. A lot of our splitting has been seriously large doug fir rounds. Like 30-40" diameter. I can whale on them with wedges and a maul for 10-15 minutes, or the two of us can move it to the spitter and start breaking it up in a minute. My back won't tolerate lifting the heavy chunks for hours, but I can work for quite a while on big pieces splitting vertically with a helper. If the rounds are 16" or less than I split horizontally. 

Actually, though, at my age I am splitting a whole lot less. Sons have grown up and my wife is pretty petite, so unless I hire someone to help, the splitter stays idle.


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## blades (Aug 18, 2020)

couple ways to get around lifting, a ramp to  roll them up and on, you can add a come -a -long, ratchet strap, boat winch to pull them up the ramp. most of the time i work alone and have to get creative to move or lift things.


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## Mr. Jones (Nov 2, 2020)

I'm also wondering about this model from lowes. It's the only splitter around me in stock and assembled at any hardware store. They also have a wen lumberjack 22 ton and 30 ton half beam. I think that's the sizes. Anyways they're like 40 percent off selling for 850 ish. They're still 1500 at home Depot.  Not in stock though and there's like no reviews.


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## Nealm66 (Nov 2, 2020)

Is anyone familiar with the Oregon splitter? My local saw shop sells them and they usually sell good quality stuff. The owner is  a good guy and likely put one through the ringer before selling it out of his store. I think they’re kind of spendy but maybe worth the extra?


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## VirginiaIron (Nov 3, 2020)

I looked at it and I think it is a hoss. I like it, but for the short time I observed it some of the hoses did not look like they would hold up. The hoses looked soft and like they would collapse or pinch in a way that would cause a leak. If you find one at $850, I would purchase it. For the size it appears to be a better built unit.


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## PASmoker (Nov 4, 2020)

I purchased a Cub Cadet 25ton 2yrs ago, mainly because of the Honda motor, starts 1st pull every time no matter how long it sits.  Never had an issue splitting anything, not the fastest or cheapest but I'm not in a hurry and don't need headaches just to save a few $'s .


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## walhondingnashua (Feb 20, 2021)

I just bought a the Performance Built Splitter you are talking about.  For a guy that cuts wood just for himself (nothing commercially) its seems just right.  If its a good price, I don't think you will have any issues.


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