it's a homemade splitter. Nothing fancy. A 3hp motor, 11 or 13 gallon pump, 4 inch cylinder, 4 way wedge. That's it. We have timed it on several occasions and it comes out to about a face cord every 15 minutes. It comes off the wedge like a small processor and it costs pennies an hour to run it. Two guys running it can split a pile of wood. I have a speeco gas unit as well, and it will drink $20 a day in gas. The electric can run all day for a week and we don't even see it on the electric bill. The speeco would be nice with a 4 way, but the gas is still expensive.
Sounds like a great splitter. The best I think I've done on the SuperSplit was around 1.5 full cords an hour with my brother. We did 11-12 full cords in an 8 hour day, and took a coffee break and a lunch break.I know some people won't believe it, but its true. Most days I can't do that much volume. Things just went real smooth that day.
It's a good day when it just flows. We split ~20 cord a couple years ago. That was a pile of wood! I didn't have a 4 way yet, so it took a while for the first 10-15 cord. Then I made the 4 way and the rest was cake. A bigger kinetic with a 4/6 way would be amazing, but it would have to be a big unit to bust rounds without getting stuck. A stuck piece would be a day ender.
That would be sweet. Theres a fellow on YT who made a 4 way for his SuperSplitter. I think he had a HD model, and he also did some other mods to it. I asked Paul about putting a 4 way or a taller wedge on his machines the day I did the interview and he didn't seem too keen on the idea. Even for the SE. I think he was worried about putting excessive wear on the rack and pinion gears.
I've always wanted to build one (kinetic type) on steroids that has a 30" stroke and a monster flywheel for my 26" boiler wood.
Really good looking set-up DaveGunter ... I like it a lot! That splitter... fast and quiet, me like... ... I have no doubt that your "satisfaction" level is right on cruise now. Enjoy.
Congrats on the Supersplit Dave! I really like mine. I modified the tow bar on mine so it was removable. It’s nice not having that buried under a mountain of wood if I’m not splitting into a truck/trailer. Nice to also have a small tool box on the unit too. Ohio can attest that at Dennis’ gtg this spring this splitter kept up with a hydro unit that cost double. I believe the super split is a good investment. It will handle very large rounds and gnarly wood as well.
Nice set up! And a nice looking place you have there. I have to say, I’ve never been confident enough or careful enough to split wood in sandals!
A big piece tipped over on my bare foot last year and broke two bones in the top of my foot. I was right next to the stove. Always be careful.
I was just thinking about something like this…right after I stubbed my toe on the hitch! Love the ammo can tool box too, hope you didn’t patent that
Nice unit! I watched a YouTube vidya and the electric motor is really quiet. These make a pile of splits really quick. At Backwoods Savage GTG there was one of the most gnarly pieces of wood that got stuck on the wedge, I do not remember how Barcroftb got it off of there. In all fairness I think it would have been the same with a hydraulic splitter. Other than that one piece of wood it made quick work of everything that was thrown at it.
That particular piece would have given any splitter trouble. Twisted knotty piece of white oak. I levered away the ram from where it was stuck to the round with a scrench and rammed it through with a few more whacks. The knife literally cut two bisecting knots in half. I keep a small pry bar in that little tool box I installed. Since I’ve gotten more experience with the machine it hardly ever binds like that. I just needed to learn a new way to read the round. It’s more like hand splitting really. It might happen once every 2-3 full cord now. When it does it always easily pries away from the wood. The super split stood toe to toe with a wolf ridge equipped with a 4 way wedge. Does the wolf ridge have lots of nice features? You bet! It’s got a handy log lift and can push a 6 way wedge. It’s a fantastic splitter. But it’s more than double the price of the super splitter. Id take one of each of money were no object! The middle pile was made by a regular 20 ton hydro. A regular hydro with 4 way wedge would have to be turned up to ludicrous pressure to keep up with a kinetic.
I have a SS and have ran many cords thru it. I have never used a sledgehammer on a stuck round. Another piece to clean the wedge? Sure, but not a sledgehammer.
