hi i have a a small logging operation we do 2500-3000 face cord of firewood per year was wondering how the dr splitter would work in notty hard maple,beech or elm its easy to see in good wood there faster just just wondering if anyone has realy tested one in tough wood thanks for any info
Do yourself a favor and go with Timberwolf
DR makes a couple of different kinds of splitters. Their "Dual Action" splitter looked pretty light duty to me. Their "RapidFire" logsplitter is flywheel-powered. It's basically a clone of the SuperSplit logsplitter, which has been around for years.
If you look in the Logrite sponsor section here on the Forestry forum check out their firewood processor video. The heart of their processor is a SuperSplit logsplitter. One of their videos shows the splitter handling some gnarly wood (without much trouble).
I can't comment on whether the DR unit is built as well as he SuperSplit (it sure LOOKS the same, but beauty is only skin deep). However, the LogRite video does show that the flywheel concept can handle tough wood.
Which DR splitter are you referring to?
My ideal splitter would be a 4 way split-fire but it's out of my budget at this time.
treechopper,welcome to the forum. I'm not really a big fan of DR stuff. I've looked at some of thier stuff a few times,just don't like what I see. But I have never seen thier splitters. If you are doing that much wood,you need something that will last. I have no idea if you are claiming this as taxable income,but a wood splitter can be deducted, I would buy a big,rugged one no matter what.
First i don't like face cord but at 2-3000 you need a processor that can load the truck that, is a lot of wood. I like the dr and supper split rapid fire type, to answer your question in bad wood just pull the handle again. Granted there is some wood that is not ideal for fire wood operations and you may have to sort that out.
lol, let the cubic foot rants begin....rick , rank, cord, face cord..... laugh_at
The rants will cometh. :D I'm more concerned about him buying a homeowner splitter and destroying it in a year. He's splitting some wood. He mentioned he wants one for knotty tough wood. I come across some,but not a steady stream of it.
Serious wood for sure. That kind of production means he's already got it figured out in my book. Wow!
Have looked at my neighbor's SpeeCo. Haven't used it enough to recommend it other then that it seems to be almost completely made by over the shelf parts and pieces, should be easy to repair. I pull it with my ATV and have run a couple of cords through it so far.
Speeco makes a couple of splitter models.
Their flywheel model is (or was?) called the SpeedPro. It seems to have disappeared from TSC's advertising. Possibly related to reports of the teeth shearing off the rack gear. The only SpeedPro I saw was not running (on display at TSC). It did not impress me as something well built enough for anything approaching commercial level firewood production.
I don't know anything about Speeco's more traditional hydraulic splitter models.
Check out the Super Split. I know of three firewood dealers producing 100 to 150 full cords of 16" long wood per year and they use a Super Split.
Randy