My dad and myself have been looking for a large ONE PASS wood splitter. We have a speedco flywheel type with a single wedge. It is fast but also dangerous (I had a piece of wood to fly back into my face knocking me to the ground and causing a concussion). So we do not use that machine much anymore still using a 30 plus year old hydraulic which is super slow and lots of split and re splitting. We have been searching the internet and youtube for different models that will one pass split. The Rabuad Fendeuse 80 tonnes is what type of machine we are looking for but after calling finding out the price 31000 euros plus 5000 euros for shipping which is in the firewood processor price range. We can't use a processor for the wood we get, it is from a local tree service company and it is free as most of it is 3/4 foot long and of large diameter. The long and straight wood is taken to a saw mill. I can't find an American company that builds a large unit like the Rabaud, and I would like to keep the money in the US. We looked at the Timberwolf, Built-rite, and many others, but after watching youtube videos it seems you have to split and re split into smaller pieces which is very time consuming. Most videos from the dealer show perfect sized wood long and straight. If anyone knows of a company that builds a unit like the Fendeuse 80 please send me a link or contact info.
We are looking to sell about 40-60 cords a year plus burn about 10 ourselves.
Most of the wood we get is large Oak.
Here is a model that looks to be a perfect fit but we cant find out the MFG.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecjzn7-VG_0
here is the Rabuad which is 31000 plus 5000 shipping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsCLubs2EjY
I think finding the perfect splitter is like trying to find one piece of equipment to handle all of your handling needs.......this animal does'nt exsist.
Unless you have logs that are always the same diameter, you'll have to resplit some of the bigger pieces no matter what size wedge you use.
Those are really nice processors, would save alot of labor splitting huge rounds into smaller pieces by hand.
Nice, But they make too many small pieces .
Peter I would say the same thing myself but when you look at bagged wood or wood that is sold in a city you might need to resplit some of the bigger pieces. ( which I would call small )
crd did make a machine called the green monster for $18,000 like that.
I really like the CRD Metalworks looks like a real beast going to call them tomorrow to find out some prices.
Thanks guys, this is the info I am seeking.
This is smaller than what you are looking at but still faster than a regular splitter with a single wedge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbYp0bVn4pI
what does the tempest splitter go for ?didn't see prices on their web site
Ed
In one of their videos they have a price posted. I'm thinking it was around $10,000 but I'm not sure.
If you are only selling 40 to 60 cords a year the pay back time seems like it would be forever. The one built overseas you would have roughly 50000 tied up in it
that would be a heck of a lot of firewood for me. :P
That Rabuad splitter has one design fault. It needs a feed elevator. Heres a NZ made machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8UKPUUCFUw