yetty734 said:
I picked a dozen like that this past weekend.....What's worse; lifting that big :grrr: round or the wife yelling out the door "I'm not taking you to the hospital for being stupid!"
splitter, i'm so confused.....
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I picked a dozen like that this past weekend.....What's worse; lifting that big :grrr: round or the wife yelling out the door "I'm not taking you to the hospital for being stupid!"
Goose,
Thanks for adjusting the terminology.
By the way I have seen both electrically driven Supersplits and electrically driven Supersplit knockoffs.
The electric/mechanical splitters mostly can run on either gas or electric as the only requirement is to turn the main shaft.
Many people have a small generator to run critical home infrastructure (well pump, freezer, beer frig, TV for the kids?!?, etc.) during power outages. For the few times I don’t split near an electrical plug, I use my 2500W (B&S;6 hp) for power. If you don’t have one I guess the gas powered version is better.
Thanks for adjusting the terminology.
By the way I have seen both electrically driven Supersplits and electrically driven Supersplit knockoffs.
The electric/mechanical splitters mostly can run on either gas or electric as the only requirement is to turn the main shaft.
Many people have a small generator to run critical home infrastructure (well pump, freezer, beer frig, TV for the kids?!?, etc.) during power outages. For the few times I don’t split near an electrical plug, I use my 2500W (B&S;6 hp) for power. If you don’t have one I guess the gas powered version is better.
Well my feeling is that hauling a genset is an extra peice of equipment to drag along, but that would work. I just figure gas is more flexible - but it doesn't really make a huge difference if you split closest to home. However I know that even in my yard, I'd be splitting at a distance from the nearest power that would be pushing the power drop limits of a high amperage power cord - unless I was doing welder guage wire which gets expensive really fast...
On another topic, I had my first experience with a super-split yesterday, and it's an impressive machine... (this one used about a 5HP Honda GX engine) It isn't as scary as I thought it would be from the discussion of it that I saw earlier this year. That thread had me thinking that it was like a rat trap - hit the trip and "BANG!" - it wasn't that bad... The cycle time is fast but not scarily so, I found that if you needed to hold a peice in position w/ one hand while tripping the lever, you had plenty of time to get out of the way. I would say it was about a 2-3 second cycle, and most of that was on the extension - the retraction was the fast part, but you wouldn't be in the way of that, and even if you were, it's spring powered not motor driven, so less likely to do serious damage.
Can't really comment on power, seemed like it had plenty, but the wood we were working was not the sort that would have been much of a challenge - it was already partially split down to "all-nighter" size, and we were breaking it down to what I would consider kindling size - about 2x4 max, but that is what the customer had spec'd so that's what we were splitting to... Most of the time the motor would never change pitch, occasionally you'd hit a knot or some such and you'd here the governor kick in and make the motor grunt for a couple seconds, but not really strain.
Gooserider
On another topic, I had my first experience with a super-split yesterday, and it's an impressive machine... (this one used about a 5HP Honda GX engine) It isn't as scary as I thought it would be from the discussion of it that I saw earlier this year. That thread had me thinking that it was like a rat trap - hit the trip and "BANG!" - it wasn't that bad... The cycle time is fast but not scarily so, I found that if you needed to hold a peice in position w/ one hand while tripping the lever, you had plenty of time to get out of the way. I would say it was about a 2-3 second cycle, and most of that was on the extension - the retraction was the fast part, but you wouldn't be in the way of that, and even if you were, it's spring powered not motor driven, so less likely to do serious damage.
Can't really comment on power, seemed like it had plenty, but the wood we were working was not the sort that would have been much of a challenge - it was already partially split down to "all-nighter" size, and we were breaking it down to what I would consider kindling size - about 2x4 max, but that is what the customer had spec'd so that's what we were splitting to... Most of the time the motor would never change pitch, occasionally you'd hit a knot or some such and you'd here the governor kick in and make the motor grunt for a couple seconds, but not really strain.
Gooserider
I can tell you this... I have a 27 ton Honda splitter that I was using for the past 3 years... and yes, it will split everything. It is, however, huge, and takes up a lot of space in the basement. I don't tend to split anything particularly large, mostly 12-18" rounds, so for convenience, I bought a 5 ton DR Splitter last month. It works like a champ, is fast, and splits everything I have. In fact, it splits 95% of the stuff I was splitting with my Honda... and the DR is very small, takes up almost no space in the basement, as it stands up on it's end for storage. The end result is that I will probably get rid of the Honda, just for space reasons.
YMMV, but that's mine...
-- Mike
YMMV, but that's mine...
-- Mike
yetty734 said:
A second set of hands made a world of difference. The weight was up there, but the bulk of the thing would have made for a miserable one-man lifting experience.
Usually, though, big chunks get blocked up into a size that can be easily lifted. Something like that would probably have been halved or ripped into thirds. With the bigger saws the ripping is far faster than figuring out how to get something big up on the splitter.
Goose,
In your case, if my memory serves me well, you could run a ¾ hp electric motor (15 amp circuit) with a 14 ga cord from your garage to your wood pile. If not a 12 ga would be more than enough.
On the supersplit, you might want to check out this thread.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/7639/
On the safety side, a careful, safety conscious person would be OK with it. Those “accident prone” people should not use it. Also the one I reviewed recently had poor shielding of the flywheels and mechanical components to a point where it was relatively easy to get a hand, finger or clothing in the works. Finally there were a lot of kick outs from wood that was not straight or was cut out of square. The latter two issues could be addressed by a small redesign I believe however the speed issue (2-3 sec cycle max) is likely not addressable.
Many rental guys will not rent these machines because they are too fast for safety. In fact one of the rental guys near me actually has one as his personal splitter and likes it a lot but he will not have them in his rental store.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the machine and if I had not made mine I likely would have bought one. It just needs a bit of fine tuning like most machinery.
In your case, if my memory serves me well, you could run a ¾ hp electric motor (15 amp circuit) with a 14 ga cord from your garage to your wood pile. If not a 12 ga would be more than enough.
On the supersplit, you might want to check out this thread.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/7639/
On the safety side, a careful, safety conscious person would be OK with it. Those “accident prone” people should not use it. Also the one I reviewed recently had poor shielding of the flywheels and mechanical components to a point where it was relatively easy to get a hand, finger or clothing in the works. Finally there were a lot of kick outs from wood that was not straight or was cut out of square. The latter two issues could be addressed by a small redesign I believe however the speed issue (2-3 sec cycle max) is likely not addressable.
Many rental guys will not rent these machines because they are too fast for safety. In fact one of the rental guys near me actually has one as his personal splitter and likes it a lot but he will not have them in his rental store.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the machine and if I had not made mine I likely would have bought one. It just needs a bit of fine tuning like most machinery.
kellog said:
A 3/4 horse motor I might be able to get away with, I'd be pushing it on much larger... I know that I have a 100' 12ga cord, and feel like I'm getting a perceptible performance drop when I'm on the end of it w/ my circ saw or some of my other stronger equipment - and that wouldn't get me quite as far down the fence line where I was putting my log length as I have set up with the gas splitter.
The Supersplit that I was using didn't seem to get many kickouts, and the few that we did have were minor, just angle the log a little bit and make another pass at it. However we had a great many peices that were cut on an angle, so I didn't find it a big issue - maybe with different wood I would have had a different experience.
Same sort of deal with the mechanical components - yes they were where you COULD tangle with them, but IMHO it would have taken a fair bit of effort, or required that you be wearing the sort of clothing that you shouldn't be when working around mechanical stuff...
However I would agree that it takes a bit more care than a standard hydraulic unit - but then so does a chainsaw... I would say that if you aren't safety concious enough to use a SuperSplit, you shouldn't be using a saw either, and vice versa...
Gooserider
kellog said:
Who makes a knockoff of the super split. I like the idea and the speed but the price is a bit much for me.
James
Gas or electric? You just have to decide if your going to split in your yard or in the woods. I split in the woods and when I'm done splitting, I cant believe the mess left behind. Bark, wood splinters, small useless pieces of wood everywhere. I'd sure hate to have to clean up the mess if it was in my yard. I realize some people have no option to split in the woods. I also know this, it seems everytime I need to do something around the yard that requires gas, I have to quick run to the nearest station to fill up some jugs.
Is there a supersplit knock off. ?? I am considering a 5 ton Dr based on some really good feedback.
The supersplit is just too much $$ for me right now.
The supersplit is just too much $$ for me right now.
Don't know if there is anyone doing a SuperSplit knockoff - I've never heard of anyone doing one, and I suspect they might have some interesting patent challenges if they did - the SS is a pretty unique design.
As to the mess from splitting - I've been just raking it up and using it for kindling / firestarter mix. It dries fairly quickly, and catches easily off a bit of newspaper, then burns fairly long and hot, more than enough to get the larger stuff going well. The mix of small wood bits and bark gives it a range of easy starting and fairly long burning that I think makes it ideal as a fire starter, and it's easier than some kindling, since I don't have to cut to size, just pour a few handfuls out of a bucket into the stove and I'm set.
Of course I've found that this year I'm using a lot less of that stuff as the Encore burns so long on a load that it almost never goes out to the point where I need to worry about re-lighting. However I can also use the splitter scrap as mulch around the garden patch.
Gooserider
As to the mess from splitting - I've been just raking it up and using it for kindling / firestarter mix. It dries fairly quickly, and catches easily off a bit of newspaper, then burns fairly long and hot, more than enough to get the larger stuff going well. The mix of small wood bits and bark gives it a range of easy starting and fairly long burning that I think makes it ideal as a fire starter, and it's easier than some kindling, since I don't have to cut to size, just pour a few handfuls out of a bucket into the stove and I'm set.
Of course I've found that this year I'm using a lot less of that stuff as the Encore burns so long on a load that it almost never goes out to the point where I need to worry about re-lighting. However I can also use the splitter scrap as mulch around the garden patch.
Gooserider
Goose,
If I am correct, the original Supersplit patent has run out therefore anybody can make the design.
I have seen two knock offs. One was done by a guy who made a half dozen of them in the mid/late 70’s supported by a clandestine operation out of the machine shop of a major corporation which I will not mention. I believe these were made even before the Supersplit was patented.
The second is a Canadian company that I believe started making them a few years ago (likely when the patent ran out). It is almost a bolt for bolt copy as far as I can see. I forget the exact name but it is something like Groppo or Gruppo. I’ll bet it was much cheaper a few years ago but with the rise in the Canadian $ over the past two years it may not be such a good deal. I’ll see if I can locate a website.
If I am correct, the original Supersplit patent has run out therefore anybody can make the design.
I have seen two knock offs. One was done by a guy who made a half dozen of them in the mid/late 70’s supported by a clandestine operation out of the machine shop of a major corporation which I will not mention. I believe these were made even before the Supersplit was patented.
The second is a Canadian company that I believe started making them a few years ago (likely when the patent ran out). It is almost a bolt for bolt copy as far as I can see. I forget the exact name but it is something like Groppo or Gruppo. I’ll bet it was much cheaper a few years ago but with the rise in the Canadian $ over the past two years it may not be such a good deal. I’ll see if I can locate a website.
Goose,
the original Super Split patent was granted in 1978 so it has definitely run out probably in the 1990's.
The knockoff I was thinking about is the Gripo. I could not find a website for the company but I did find one for a power equipment dealer that is selling them in Canada. The supersplit knockoff is the third one down.
(broken link removed to http://www.sos-power-sales.com/OtherEquip/logsplitters.aspx)
the original Super Split patent was granted in 1978 so it has definitely run out probably in the 1990's.
The knockoff I was thinking about is the Gripo. I could not find a website for the company but I did find one for a power equipment dealer that is selling them in Canada. The supersplit knockoff is the third one down.
(broken link removed to http://www.sos-power-sales.com/OtherEquip/logsplitters.aspx)
"Or just get a splitter than can be used vertically as well."
I've got a 27 ton Huskee that can go verticle....i'd rather pick something heavy up and set it on the cradle than bend over and wrestle the cut around on the ground. It's really hard on the back.
I've got a 27 ton Huskee that can go verticle....i'd rather pick something heavy up and set it on the cradle than bend over and wrestle the cut around on the ground. It's really hard on the back.
I tend to prefer getting something that can go vertical, I think that is a much more versatile approach. I enjoyed using the super-split, but it seemed far more specialized than the hydraulics - the guy that owns the Supersplit also owns several hydraulics as well, and I think they get more use.
My feeling is that while there are good things to be said about the alternatives, I think the overall most useful splitter - what one should get if only getting one machine - is a 20-30 ton, hydraulic unit that can be run vertical, and using a gas engine....
BTW, while I agree that moving a large round on the ground can be tough on the back, I can get a larger round into place on a vertical splitter and take it down to size, than I can pick up to get onto the rail of a Horizontal unit.
Gooserider
My feeling is that while there are good things to be said about the alternatives, I think the overall most useful splitter - what one should get if only getting one machine - is a 20-30 ton, hydraulic unit that can be run vertical, and using a gas engine....
BTW, while I agree that moving a large round on the ground can be tough on the back, I can get a larger round into place on a vertical splitter and take it down to size, than I can pick up to get onto the rail of a Horizontal unit.
Gooserider
Goose,
I think this is one of those topics like Taxes or choice or the color of money. There are two sides and everybody has their arguments for and against. I don't think there is any right answer to the horizontal/vertical splitter question.
I prefer a horizontal (with a log lift for rounds over 15 " diameter). That way you are always standing straight up instead of bending over for longer periods of time. My back just cannot take being in the bent position for a long time (I've had too many 39th birthdays).
A log lift adds a little to the cost of the splitter but if it is a manual log lift it is not that much. If powered it can add more.
There are good arguments for the vertical type also. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.
I think this is one of those topics like Taxes or choice or the color of money. There are two sides and everybody has their arguments for and against. I don't think there is any right answer to the horizontal/vertical splitter question.
I prefer a horizontal (with a log lift for rounds over 15 " diameter). That way you are always standing straight up instead of bending over for longer periods of time. My back just cannot take being in the bent position for a long time (I've had too many 39th birthdays).
A log lift adds a little to the cost of the splitter but if it is a manual log lift it is not that much. If powered it can add more.
There are good arguments for the vertical type also. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.
I've always split vertically, though this summer I tried horizontally and it was easier on the back. However, that was after 5 hrs of splitting really big rounds, too heavy to lift. My method for vertical splitting is to have one person sitting on an 18-20" log 'seat' at the splitter and two people feeding the logs to the person at the splitter and stacking the wood as it gets split. We get a lot of work done this way.
To be honest though, that's also because we are on the rental clock still and want to return the splitter at the end of the day. I'll have to look at log lifts. Maybe I could become a convert. What are some good log lifts out there?
To be honest though, that's also because we are on the rental clock still and want to return the splitter at the end of the day. I'll have to look at log lifts. Maybe I could become a convert. What are some good log lifts out there?
Begreen,
I'm not up on the log lift market because I build my own accesories when i want them but Timberwolf has a nice manual unit.
http://www.timberwolfcorp.com/log_splitters/default.asp?id=5
Northern used to have a similar one but i did not see it in their latest catalog. They only seem to have the powered ones which are expensive.
A guy from another forum built one using an electric winch. Could just as easily been a manual winch like a boat trailer winch. Pretty slick. PM me if you want the link (don't want to upset Web linking to another forum).
If you are renting I not sure you will get a log lift unless you rent a monster splitter if they are even readily available. You may have to break down and buy a splitter if you want that feature.
I'm not up on the log lift market because I build my own accesories when i want them but Timberwolf has a nice manual unit.
http://www.timberwolfcorp.com/log_splitters/default.asp?id=5
Northern used to have a similar one but i did not see it in their latest catalog. They only seem to have the powered ones which are expensive.
A guy from another forum built one using an electric winch. Could just as easily been a manual winch like a boat trailer winch. Pretty slick. PM me if you want the link (don't want to upset Web linking to another forum).
If you are renting I not sure you will get a log lift unless you rent a monster splitter if they are even readily available. You may have to break down and buy a splitter if you want that feature.
Thanks Kellog. So one just rolls a log onto the platform at ground level, then pushes down on the lever to raise the log and roll it into place? Is that correct? Nice idea.
What kind of weight can a rig like this handle? Do they stand up well? We have some wet 18-20" rounds that are pretty heavy.
What kind of weight can a rig like this handle? Do they stand up well? We have some wet 18-20" rounds that are pretty heavy.
I work for a very large dealer which sells Timberwolf splitters, and while I haven't TRIED to lift a large wet round with that lift, I don't doubt that it would. It's a very solid, well built unit.
I have the log lift on my tw2-hd. This option makes a great splitter even better. I have rolled some 40" Red Oak on it and it lifted it! It is rated for 500lbs. The nice thing about it is that it acts as a table to put pieces on while your splitting others. Once you split one of those potatoes you son't want to have to lift it to put back on the splitter. Saves an enormous amount of wear and tear on the back.
Larry D
Larry D
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