ive used a lot of gas wood splitters in my day and finally found the most efficient and best one....I borrowed my friends dirty hands 22 ton wood splitter and I was blown away. It can be used both horizontal and vertically. The wedge travels very fast and works absolutely great and efficient. I would reccommend to anyone.
I bought a Dirty Hand Tools 22-ton splitter in fall 2017 from Lowe’s. I love it. I am not experienced enough to compare to other splitters (my 1st one), but I have yet to meet a log that won’t split. The hardest wood to split I can remember was a green American Elm at about 28” in diameter. I did run into one issue after about 15 hours of run time. The Kohler engine is China made and there was a defect with the electrical system that didn’t allow it to start. Luckily it was still under warranty when it happened and I got the whole electrical system replace. I’ll post pictures of the splitter later.
Mine is a Speeco 22 ton splitter, i bought it used, but, not abused. Had it for about 10 yrs now, maybe a few more. It just has a briggs eng on it. But, i've split some really gnarly oak, that was almost 3 ft on the butt and it never missed a beat. It amazed me, and the guy who was helping me split these big rounds. They were about 18'' in length x 36'', i used the vertical position for those sized rounds worked like a charm. I've thought about upgrading, but, why, this one does it all for me. I let the same guy that helped me with the big oak, use it on some even bigger old growth red fir. Same thing, sliced through it like a hot knife though butter. To me, a 22 ton splitter, works just fine.
Here is only one picture (12 days later). I was in the process of taking a second one with it vertical when my phone died.
dirty hand tools - parent co in bankruptcy ( Frictionless World, filed 9-30-2019) base line story was/is that chi-com mfg suppliers cut them off.
There were 2 or 3 chi-com investment firms involved, from what I could see in a simple scan of the filing. There also is/was a patent infringement suit against Champion concerning the 25 ton splitter units late last summer, I think - might have been earlier than that though. Harder to get info now days as everyone wants you to sign up for something or other - marketing 101.
Looks like a Speeco clone. I could see the likelyhood of a lawsuit if Speeco didn't build or license it.
the law suit was commenced by DHT against Champion. Yep from say 50 ft away those box store units all look like clones of each other. But then how much different can they be 1/2 beam or full, horz or vert. eng. , vert./ horz. operation. most are 11gpm pump , 5hp mill. cylinders might very a bit depending on source used same for valve. Most of the specs seem to be creative marketing.