GAS/HYDRAULIC LOG SPLITTER PURCHASE ?

[1slow]

I live in the woods and use a chainsaw a bit to cut dead trees for firewood. Saws include Stihl 090T, MS200, 440, MS660.

I can rent a splitter for about $225 per week, the rental ones do not seem very powerful. Some of my hardwood is 25"-30" most is about 18" .

I want vertical and horizontal splitting.

I am open to suggestion. Northern tool is close and has a NorthStar 37ton/Honda GX270cc engine, 13ft/lb torque, splitter at $1999.

Tractor supply has CountyLine 40 ton / Kohler Command Pro 440 (429cc) 14 hp, at $1999.

Any thoughts, too much , too little, better choices, better deals ?

Thanks.

[Tensaw]

My suggestion would be to head over to aboristsite.com and check out the splitter discussions in the firewood sub-forum. Those guys geek out on that sort of stuff. There is a really good discussion (that I cannot locate) regarding the size of the hydraulic ram and power vs. cycle time. Seems like I remember that ~20 tons was sufficient for all but the biggest, gnarliest logs, and had a decently short cycle time. Bigger wasn’t necessarily better. But there were other factors and variables as well. Good luck.

[Cookie Monster]

I did a bunch of research and ended up with a Timberwolf HD-2 out of New York. Thing is amazing, the 6 month wait and dealing with freight shipping sucked balls.

I wanted something in the low end commercial range for splitters due to wanting last purchase item, a Honda motor on it, a table grate to reduce bending over, a 4 way wedge, and a low cycle time. Also the machine is set-up for commercial workflow. I have a small fantasy of selling a small volume of firewood or producing extra for fun. I can invest in a conveyor and split directly into a dump trailer.

I would think you only need the vertical split if you are looking at rounds over 20 inches. I found this summer my solo lift limit for Doug Fir was 25 inches but I only cut standing dead off the local National Forest. I started to rip anything over 20 inches with the saw.

It seemed like all the splitters I looked at in the range you were looking were really similar. I think @Tensaw has a great suggestion of looking at arborsite or some of the firewood forums although it might be kinda of a rabbit hole.