Log Splitters, any recommendations?

[Trashy]

This was new, it’s a little sun faded now. Still fires on 2nd pull

 

[ferniesnow]

We have a similar model. Love it. 35 ton. One thing to remember is the faster it is the quicker a finger can disappear.

Are you speaking from actual finger losing experience Mike?

 

[skid]

What is everyone’s need for having to split firewood? As long as it’s dry and properly seasoned a full log will burn much longer and yield better heat overall compared to the same log that is split in half or quarters. Unless it’s for a small aesthetic fireplace, a stove big enough for actually heating a house or building should be able to fit atleast 12-14” diameter logs. Sure there’s some logs that are larger and need to be split, but from personally having relied almost exclusively on wood heat for many decades now, I’ve never had trouble finding enough logs smaller than this and typically spend less than a few hours a year splitting wood with an axe just to make use of the few bigger ends occasionally.

Skip the $$ for a splitter and get a stove with a bigger door I’d say. Leave the logs whole.


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I completely agree with this, whether it’s in my outdoor boiler or my wood stove at the cabin, as long as the log fits through the door it’s staying whole. The only time I split is for kindling or if I’m away and the wife can’t lift the larger logs into the boiler. However there is some fireplaces and stoves where split wood is required because of a smaller firebox and some of us know those smaller boxes have a hard time accepting big wood

 

[Lightningmike]

Are you speaking from actual finger losing experience Mike?

My brother's wife didn't quite lose hers but it wasn't pretty.

 

[pano-dude]

What is everyone’s need for having to split firewood? As long as it’s dry and properly seasoned a full log will burn much longer and yield better heat overall compared to the same log that is split in half or quarters. Unless it’s for a small aesthetic fireplace, a stove big enough for actually heating a house or building should be able to fit atleast 12-14” diameter logs. Sure there’s some logs that are larger and need to be split, but from personally having relied almost exclusively on wood heat for many decades now, I’ve never had trouble finding enough logs smaller than this and typically spend less than a few hours a year splitting wood with an axe just to make use of the few bigger ends occasionally.

Skip the $$ for a splitter and get a stove with a bigger door I’d say. Leave the logs whole.


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Bigger stove does not mean more heat, the new catalytic stoves are smaller, burn cleaner and produce more heat over a longer period of time.
Alot of the firewood I get is way bigger than 12".

 

[S.W.A.T.]

What is everyone’s need for having to split firewood? As long as it’s dry and properly seasoned a full log will burn much longer and yield better heat overall compared to the same log that is split in half or quarters. Unless it’s for a small aesthetic fireplace, a stove big enough for actually heating a house or building should be able to fit atleast 12-14” diameter logs. Sure there’s some logs that are larger and need to be split, but from personally having relied almost exclusively on wood heat for many decades now, I’ve never had trouble finding enough logs smaller than this and typically spend less than a few hours a year splitting wood with an axe just to make use of the few bigger ends occasionally.

Skip the $$ for a splitter and get a stove with a bigger door I’d say. Leave the logs whole.


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We get whole length trees, some 30" at the but and cut 40" long, ends up being a pretty big chunk of wood to get through the door plus pieces that big wont dry properly and it ends up taking 3 days to burn. you burn more wood trying to get the big stuff to burn than you recover in heat. Anything over 8" across gets split at least once

 

[ABMax24]

Lots of moving parts in the Kinetic ones id refer to the KISS method, Keep it simple stupid. If I was buying a kinetic one dont splurge with a cheap one or it will be parts in the back 40 in no time.

Doing further research on Kinetic splitters it appears there are really only 2 quality brands to choose; Super Splitter, and Gripo. Both are around $4k. Definitely lots of poor reviews on the other brands, stripped rack and pinions among them.

A hydraulic with a 4-way knife is probably the ticket for our situation.

Bigger stove does not mean more heat, the new catalytic stoves are smaller, burn cleaner and produce more heat over a longer period of time.
Alot of the firewood I get is way bigger than 12".

I agree. I have a non-cat, but meets the 2015 EPA standards. It's 2.4 cuft, and although it doesn't burn forever it does burn much cleaner than the older stoves. It's effective for our house, although there are days I wish it was 3 cuft.

We had a couple different houses with wood stoves growing up, decent sized things. They'd burn dry wood, wet wood, small wood, big wood, even rotten wood, the only consistency was the continuous plume of blue smoke from the chimney. I like my cleaner stove, most of the visible plume from the chimney is water vapor, not smoke.

 

[lilduke]

I ❤natural gas. Lol

Wood heat is a PITA.

 

[Tchetek]

I like big outside fires.

 

[Tchetek]

25 tonne with a Honda in the UFA flyer I got today $2g

I have a unit similar with a Koehler from peavey mart that was $1000 a couple years ago.

Does it’s job.

 

[lilduke]

I like big outside fires.

Pallets buddy

 

[lilduke]

Pallets buddy

And full size trees. Ive had some monster fires. A real life barn burner one time...

 

[Tchetek]

Pallets buddy

Too many nails for the yard! Real wood lasts longer after she going good!

I have shat poplar. Gotta split that shat to dry or it rots.

 

[lilduke]

Too many nails for the yard! Real wood lasts longer after she going good!

I have shat poplar. Gotta split that shat to dry or it rots.

Yeah the nails suck if its your property. If you can stand 30ft away from it with out burning your face, its not a bomb fire imo. Though haha

 

[lilduke]

We have some big popular, its like giant cedar almost.

 

[pano-dude]

Doing further research on Kinetic splitters it appears there are really only 2 quality brands to choose; Super Splitter, and Gripo. Both are around $4k. Definitely lots of poor reviews on the other brands, stripped rack and pinions among them.

A hydraulic with a 4-way knife is probably the ticket for our situation.



I agree. I have a non-cat, but meets the 2015 EPA standards. It's 2.4 cuft, and although it doesn't burn forever it does burn much cleaner than the older stoves. It's effective for our house, although there are days I wish it was 3 cuft.

We had a couple different houses with wood stoves growing up, decent sized things. They'd burn dry wood, wet wood, small wood, big wood, even rotten wood, the only consistency was the continuous plume of blue smoke from the chimney. I like my cleaner stove, most of the visible plume from the chimney is water vapor, not smoke.

I upgraded to a cat stove last year and the difference is huge. Old stove would maybe burn 7hrs if loaded up and closed damper, new stove will do 12hrs easily of consistent temperature. Manual says it should burn 30hrs at minimum temp setting.
My chimney is a couple feet short of recommended height for optimal burn time so I'm adding another 3 feet this year.

 

[sirkdev]

I am pretty happy with our blaze king catalyst as well.

 

[ABMax24]

I upgraded to a cat stove last year and the difference is huge. Old stove would maybe burn 7hrs if loaded up and closed damper, new stove will do 12hrs easily of consistent temperature. Manual says it should burn 30hrs at minimum temp setting.
My chimney is a couple feet short of recommended height for optimal burn time so I'm adding another 3 feet this year.

When we bought our stove I wanted a BlazeKing as well, but got a good deal on the one we have now though. If I could go back I'd have bought a BK though.

 

[pano-dude]

When we bought our stove I wanted a BlazeKing as well, but got a good deal on the one we have now though. If I could go back I'd have bought a BK though.

They are pricey but worth it imo.

 

[Bnorth]

Blaze Kings for sure are the way to go. My BIL had a Blaze Princess and it was very nice as well for an avg sized place in Revy, didn't need the big one in that climate.