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How many tons does my wood splitter need to be?
Mr. Perfect
Member, Moderator Posts: 66,381 ******
Anyone here know?
Some will die in hot pursuit
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Comments
How much wood are you planning to split, what species, and what general dimensions (DxL)
I have the electric 7-ton Boss from Home Depot, cost $635. Highly recommended.
Ive got a tree farm and use a 26 ton unit. I havent found anything it wont split yet. I split oak, Elm, Maple, and anything else that comes along. I bought it at Fleet farm or Tractor supply, cant remember for sure where. I burn wood at home and I think anything bigger is overkill. Your dime. I think mine was about $1200
As many tons as you can afford to buy! A min of 20 tons. Nothing worse than buying a splitter and finding out that it won't split what you need it to! Pecan is the worst, hickory(green) is hard too!
Also get one that can do vertical splitting for those large logs that you can't pick up to load on a horizontal splitter!
Same here with a tree farm. I have a 28 ton from DR Equipment. It goes vertical so if you are going to split large logs the vertical is nice to do the first few splits so that you can lift the split pieces on the splitter in the horizontal position.
Yeah, wow. From what you describe I'd say several minimum. These aren't pumpkins you're gonna be wedging!!!!
Hope this helps!! @Mr. Perfect
It's mostly pine. 12" to 48" dia. I have 6+ 4' piles of uncut logs 12' to 20' long to slice up and then split. And that's just what's on the ground currently.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
With pieces that size I'd do like Mike said, minimum of 20 tons. Anything much smaller and you'll be there 'till this time next year.
I have a 25 ton splitter. Vertical/horizontal operation. It will split anything can lift and vertical much more. If you start talking 24+ dia logs, just don't split them in half. Split in steps. Mine also has an auto retract. Yes, you need to be careful with that feature (it speeds up the job) but if you aren't careful you shouldn't be using a splitter anyway.
How long is it going to take to split this much?
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
More than a few cases of beer I'd reckon!
😃
I made one and ran it off the tractor hydraulics. I loved it because I could still hear the radio. I ran the tractor at 1400 RPM and it split everything I put in front of it while I sang the country songs playing on the radio.
48 inch pine. Forget what I said about the 7-ton Boss.
So, I'll be done in 5 minutes?
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
I only have 2 or 3 that are that large. Most are between 2 and 3 foot dia.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Monster maul
Depends on how hard you go at it. I had four us split about three cords in 13 hours, almost non stop. I like to try to stay about two years ahead. I think we have somewhere between 8 to 10 cords split. Back breaking work. The guys that hunt out of our mountain house, help split for three days every summer.
4 foot diameter! WOW. What kinda chainsaw are you gonna use? Prob take longer to cut it all to length than to split!
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Hey..........I still have mine from the early 1980's............in the deep dark recesses of the back of my garage.
Still with the grip-tape on the handle. Don't know where the splitting "tire" got off to.
Are the logs in good shape, Randy? 48" Pine logs might be worth more sold as is than split up and burned. For what you get out of the logs you could probably have some guy haul you in some good tamarack and doug/red fir for burning. Pine is one of the least desirable woods in our part of the country for heating.
But with pine you get a good coating for your chimney. Don
The very most you can afford, 28 Hp +
You fellers ain't never got a hold of a big ole sweet gum.😣
Pine splits very easy, need the horizontal option for that size. Dont need much HP on a 26 ton unit, the hydraulics make up the difference. 28 is overkill.
Same saying as a Big Block Chevy, "no replacement for displacement".
Randy that depends on whether you buy the 24 or 30 pack cases... I buy the 30's so it will take at least 10 cases for me by myself to get it done in a week.🤣
I would say they are in good shape but I wouldn't have the foggiest how/where to market them or for how much. To me, it's just fairly hassle free -free- firewood. Pine is crap to burn, but if you burn hot, clean the pipe and maybe even use a CSL or two here and there it should be no problem.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
As JimmyJack said, Pine is easy to split. You won't need a big HP splitter if that's all you have. I would still go for 20+ hp. As for the time for your stack, if they are all cut to length (we are talking splitting here) It would take me about 24 hours even when I was younger. I can say that if you have one helper the splitting time goes way down. You need to get the splitter to be working almost non-stop. You need to bring the logs and then after splitting carry them off and stack or load in your trailer. 2 helpers are ideal but just one makes a big difference. I live on 5+ heavily wooded acres and have 200+ white pines lining the property line in back. I don't burn them for heat in the house - just too dirty. I use oak, walnut, locust, and other hardwood as they die every year. I flew an friend here from SD about 15 years ago to pickup a car I gave her. First thing she said was "wow - real trees!
Sheet, i meant 28 ton, not HP
My splitter is 28 tons. It will push through a log crossways so is overkill. A 15 ton would be plenty. I split mostly elm and maple. Seems like I am always splitting stumps or a tree crotch with 5 limbs growing together.
In my experience tons is not so important for firewood splitting, the tone rating is a marketing gimmick. What was important to me was cycle time. I had a splitter with a slow cycle time and I spent all day standing there waiting for the ram to go back and forth.
I found an online calculator that told how to calculate the cycle time, it is based on the pump and the cylinder bore. Some log splitters will also advertise their cycle time.
So I bought a fast log splitter not the most powerful and I get a lot more work done with it.
4" diameter cylinder powered by a 2250 PSI hydraulic pump. You figure out the force applied. I already know the answer.
Right JasonV. A 2 stage pump is a big help with cycle time.
"Pine" - Seems like a awful lot of "Pine" for the Camp Fire Girls.😀
Can't remember the whole story as Dad told it. Pin Oak on my property, Fluvanna County, Virginia. One of 16 i think to celebrate the founding of Fluvanna, County. I think I counted over 240 rings on trunk. Somewhere there I think Tom Jefferson and Lafayette were involved. I think maybe Lafayette brought the seeds over and gave them to Jefferson.
Yep, its a Stihl.-------------------------------Ray
Appreciate all the feedback gents! I went down to the local Costco and grabbed up one of their 27 ton units. I spent some of last night uncrating and assembling it, as well as some time this morning with final assembly. Now, just need to run to town to get some hydraulic fluid and oil. Then the work can commence. I have about 12 more trees coming down today and tomorrow so I gots some work to keep me busy for a while... a couple beer cases anyway.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
What oil should you use?
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Wear gloves...pine tar is terrible to get off your hands.
Put the splitter next to where you wanna store the split wood. It's easier to move once!
PI()*2"*2"=12.57
12.57 * 2250 = 28282 lbs
28282.5/2000 = 14.14 Tons
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain