What good is a 3 or 5 ton splitter?

Having a real bear of a time with all my cedar and pine.
The shear number of knots...

Anyway, budget of only a couple hundred dollars. Looking at the home depot 3 and 5 ton (homelite)

Will this be adequate for the knotty softwoods and the Y shaped hardwoods?

I will continue to hand split for the exercise, just want the splitter for the tough stuff.

 

I paid $340 for my harbor freight 7 ton, split everything I have processed with it,except a couple of really screwed up hardwood gnarly stuff.
I would be willing to bet if U R hand splittin , you would never regret buying a small electric

 

I'm all about one-time expenses. Figure I could buy something for the cost of several rentals.

 

The 5 ton at home depot is 299.
The 7 ton at harbor freight is 399.

Is the 7 ton work the extra $100??

 

I don't have anything to compare it to but,I think it is worth extra , but with a 25% off coupon it will only cost you $299 , so I see it as a no-brainer .
The HF 7 ton as 2 speeds , fast with less power , and slower with more power , this is something that they do not tell you in the manual , and the four and 5 ton splitters only have one speed , The HF also has nice big wheels making it easier to move around . it also has a larger wedge
All you have to do is go here, http://www.harborfreight.com/20off-coupon912-aff-17549.html# click on the coupon and print it out , if you are buying online you just use the coupon code , coupon expires 10 31 2013

 

Or better yet here is the coupon for you, save and print out, you can use it on any one item, once per day, as many times as you want to print it out

 

I actually just dug out a harbor freight coupon, and sure enough, 25% off. Do they charge a lot for shipping?

 

Really, same coupon, day after day?

 

Apparently you can only buy it in store http://www.harborfreight.com/7-ton-log-splitter-97113.html

 

Yeah, I have printed out a coupon and used it 5 times on different days

 

Think I could fit it in my trunk with the back seat folded down?

 

I have the Speeco 5ton and have split 90+% of everything I've put in it, including rounds up to 20"in diameter. It is not good with knots, but you keep chipping away and you'll get the job done. Much better than swinging a maul, even if it doesn't split everything.

Got the Speeco at TSC on sale for $199. It was originally $299. A super bargain if you can catch it on sale.

 

I think so but is a little happy heavy it's 185 pounds but someone at the store will help you load it, if you ask, sometimes they ask you if you need help loading it

 

It should fit. It's a nice splitter and much easier to move around than the Speeco.

 

Take something to tie the trunk lid down in case it won't close, and you could take it out of the box right in the parking lot , that would make it smaller

 

If you buy one of these electric splitters be sure to loosen the bleed valve before you run it

 

Another thing you will need is a 10 or 12 gauge extension cord, 16gauge is not heavy enough, you will get a voltage drop