That's about 5 hours away, but I have been curious about those. I would love to see a side by side of the electric ones and the manual ones just to see how they rate.
Yeah, I'm a huge youtube fan for checking things out before I buy them. The manual splitter was a mixed bag. Half of the people used it right and had good results and the other half used it wrong and was crapping on it. You just have to know how to weed through the videos I guess.
I dunno about a S X S, but I'm sure there are plenty of vids of both on YT... electric log splitter video - Google Search
Mason city is a lot closer than Council bluffs. Mason city is about 1 hour east and Council bluffs is about 4.5 - 5 hrs south west. Finding something close is not that common. That gives you a decent idea of whats out there in my area though. If you go to Des Moines or Twin Cities, you can find all kinds of things, but I figure if I'm going to put in that kind of time and money, I might as well find either a honey of a deal or a new one. I'll keep my eyes peeled though, you never know.....
Won't try to talk you out of that Isocore, it is great! But my 5 ton electric (Earthquake W1200) is a surprisingly good splitter, that I got new for $212. Noodling works too. All great ideas for tight budgets. What I will try to talk you out of is that blasted manual hydraulic you are thinking about. I have tried to use a similat one (Harbor Freight model, owned by someone else), and yep it works, but I guarantee you will soon be cursing the day you bought it.
My co-worker had a manual pump splitter...he said it was stolen from his campsite...he laughed, said they had no idea what they just got into if they plan on actually using it! Just FYI, he replaced it with a used gas powered splitter... Two different tools IMO...but if you have to choose one, the X27...its the everyday workhorse....the Isocore is just for those toughies...which could just as easily be saved for the electric/hydraulic splitter...the only reason I bought an Isocore was that it is a maul and a sledge hammer...I wanted a maul, but I kinda needed a sledge...2 for 1...
I would eventually like to get one, but my budget is pretty limited right now. I'm mostly focused on improving my process for less than 200 dollars.
I have a monster maul so I was thinking of investing in a lighter splitting axe in addition of future splitters. Your "everyday workhorse" comment is just the type of axe that I think I need. My maul is heavy and goes through a lot, but when I get some nice cherry picked straight grained wood, it really is just overkill. It would be nice to have a lighter swinging one for those. I just wanted to make sure that the Isocore isn't something amazing that I would miss out on if I didn't get one. I guess its kind of the thing where I'm leaning to the X27 but keep hearing good things about the Isocore and I don't want to miss out.... you know.
BOTH! I had just an X27 and it worked well for the most part on nice straight grained easy splitting wood. I have a log blaster maul which works well too. Based on what i heard on here i bought an Isocore in October 2019 and am glad i did. Mostly used to section big rounds and finish with the X27. IMO the two are the perfect pairing for strict hand splitters. I had broke my first X27 and piece of cake warranty claim to get a replacement. My main criteria when i scrounge is ease of splitting. I guess you could say im a snob, but thats okay. I enjoy hand spitting, but hate killing myself doing it! Noodling is better than killing myself. Ill wait until i have several gnarlies accumulated then go to town noodling. Ive been known to leave nuglies behind at a roadside scrounge. Im liking my MS361 (59cc) for noodling. .375 pitch chain seems to work better for noodling than .325. My 261 gets clogged like yours does Sinngetreu
if you are budget minded you are a ways from me but I will be selling a old Likity splitter it has been repowered with a Yamayoko 9 hp engine I still have the original Kohler 8Hp that was on it 300.00 it still works once in a while it will not shift the hyd valve to the low setting you have to push the valve manually but it will split most anything you throw at it it is rough looking but for 1960's vintage machine its good and way better than a maul basically you are buying the new engine JB
