The $600.00 CountyLine

A few years back my sister had a large oak tree come down in her back garden. It was an old oak and out in the open and had developed a large canopy over the years. The base trunk of the tree was actually hollowed. My sister said she knew it was hollow; if she had told me I would have recommended trying to band the tree, although I am not sure if that would have saved it or not. After the tree went down she contacted me about coming down and helping to remove the tree and in exchange I would get some good oak firewood. My sister lives about 68 miles to the south of me. The firewood never happened although I did spend some days bucking and stacking and dragging the enormous amount of brush the canopy of the tree produced. I am not going to go into details on why I never got a single stick of firewood or the hard feelings that resulted between my sister and I (they are improved I am happy to say).

Some sections of the tree were on the large size, too large to lift. My sister talked about renting a wood splitter to handle the large sections of wood. I had been looking for a bigger wood splitter but every used one I found was old and worn out or the owner wanted the price of a new splitter. One day I stopped by Tractor Supply and noticed a splitter sitting out in the yard. I went out and examined it and one of the first things I noticed was where the starter handle should have been was a wooden stick; like you would break off from a limb. I looked at the splitter and I could see it had been used but the paint was barely scuffed. I went inside and talked to a manager and he told me that a customer had brought the splitter back saying he couldn't start it; evidently he pulled the handle off in the attempt. The customer demanded a new replacement and TSC finally agreed after some discussion (as told to me by the manager). The manager told me that there was nothing wrong with the splitter. I offered to buy the splitter and the manager quoted me $600.00. I countered with $500.00 but the manager said no, $600.00 was as low as he was willing to do. I thought about it for a minute and got my credit card out and purchased it. It was too good of a deal to let go by. My plan was to pay $100.00 per month on the credit card bill until I paid it off. Normally I don't carry balances on my card. Later in the day I stopped by to visit my older sister and told her I had purchased a wood splitter from Tractor Supply. She looked at me a bit funny as if I was crazy. However, I told her the story about the splitter. To my surprise, she handed $200.00 to me to help pay for it. I tried to get her to keep it but she said no; my sister is very generous but I don't always feel comfortable taking money and especially when it is that much.

When the statement for the credit card came, I paid $300.00 of the bill; $200.00 from my sister and $100.00 from my original plan. When I got the next statement and saw the amount of interest the card company had charged me, I drew the remaining balance out of my account; which made it cry out in pain, and paid the splitter off in full. I had gotten a 1% discount using the card but the interest ate that discount and added some as well. Credit card interest rates are nothing but highway robbery. So that is the story of the $600.00 CountyLine wood splitter.

 

See the price on them now? Double, at least...you could probably sell yours for $900 in about an hour...not a bad investment as it turns out...

 

At current prices he could rent it out for $100 a weekend and pay it off twice this winter.

Prices are high for splitters and I think they will go up and not go on sale this spring. When people start receiving heating bills this winter the demand for splitters and firewood is going to go up more.

I keep mine inside the garage to decrease the chance of it being stolen. An observant individual will notice I have 5 cords of firewood split and guess I have a splitter somewhere.

 

Ever notice, when driving through a city, often. the biggest building is a bank...
There's a reason why...

 

Why would you "charge" a family member for helping them out? Expecting to get some of the firewood when they needed help getting rid of a blow down from a "few year back" before you showed up says something about character.

As far as the credit card monthly interest goes, it is exactly what you agreed to once you signed up for the card. No surprises there, right? Welcome to the world....next thing you know, you'll be gainfully employed putting in a 40 hour work week!

Congrats on the splitter, you've been talking about one long enough. I hope you have a grease gun, gas can, and all the necessaries associated with the maintenance of the splitter. Don't wanna hear about those woes....

How nice of your sister to bail you out with the gift of $$. Is that when the "hard feelings" between you and your sister "improved"??

 

The firewood never happened?

 

This is my $800 Countyline. I bought it brand new about this time last year from TSC. I lucked out BIGTIME to get it for that price though.

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A $2600 unit for $800?!?
You switch the tag??

 

He probably expected someone to deliver the wood for him.

 

LOL....no. Back when I bought it it was $1,900 I believe. I got it home and noticed some very minor damage and figured I'd call and see if they could give me a bit off. I also had a $200 off coupon IIRC. The store manager ended up giving it to me for half price and then taking the $200 off of that. She gave me the option of returning it for a new one, I told her I was good with the discounted price.

 

I kinda like the starter handle it gives it a nice look that was a great deal !! JB

 

About the same price on my Champion 23T from about the same time frame...also still running strong.

 

Are you going to sell your electric 5 ton? How does this one compare, in real life workflow?

 

I looked at the Champion splitters, seriously considered the 27 ton, ended up getting the 27 ton DHT.

We have a 4,000 watt Champion Generator, part of the reason that I considered the Champion Splitter.

That Champion Generator has been very reliable. I don’t know how many months it had set, I pulled it out and set it up with a cord run through the garage into the house, in case the power went out, to power my Wife’s oxygen concentrator, it probably sat 8-9 months, started on the third pull. I have been starting it once a week since, first pull every time now.

I sure can’t complain, that generator was $299 about 10 years ago, and I don’t think that I have EVER pulled it more than 3 times, more often than not, it starts on the first pull



Doug

 

Champion 4500 and 6500 watts here and just minor quality problems. They both start usually first pull after sitting for months at a time. I'm very happy with them for the price.
I almost bought a Champion a few years ago as my first splitter but the store they sold them at insisted that they had to put it together and wouldn't sell it to me in the box. That was a deal breaker for me because I wanted it done right and as we all know, you have to do it yourself for that to occur.

 

Mine was assembled and running...I did have to reroute the hydraulic hoses, the one twisted into a pretzel shape when you went vertical with the splitter...yeah...nope. I'm sure a teeny bopper put it together.

 

Shortest distance between two points; assembled in horizontal position of course!

 

There were two main reasons that I bought the DHT instead of the Champion

Lowe’s is closer

Lowe’s Gift cards are available at Fred Meyer’s, Freddy’s is a Kroger brand, and you get 2x fuel points on gift cards. A $1,200 splitter earned me 2,400 points, at $1/ gallon discount for 1,000 points, and my F350 will take the full 35 gallon maximum discount limit, I saved $84 in Diesel fuel, by stopping at Freddy’s across the street from Lowe’s and buying the $1,200 in gift cars before I went across the street to buy the splitter. Unfortunately, it wasn’t during one of the frequent 4X fuel points promotions, or that would have been a $168 savings on fuel

I am the points program KING, I have over 300,000 points on My Choice Hotels Guest Privileges program, enough for more than 10 free nights at some Really nice Hotels, and I will be staying another 5 nights this week in Kennewick, for work. I have over $340 in Pilot/Flying J fuel Rewards Points, working towards a $500 Truck Specific GPS. If there’s a points program, I am on it, and usually know how to Maximize the benefits


Doug

 

Doug, when did you buy your DHT splitter? If recently, I'm surprised they are still out there after going out of business a year ago.