home depot here is $69 for 4 hours, $99 full day sometimes it makes more sense to rent a car rather than buy one too
Then there is the cost of getting and returning the splitter. Here, it would mean a total of around 140 miles. Gas prices are down now but how long before they are back to $4.00. This cost has to be considered. Still, I like that 2 guys are doing it together. Hope it works out well for you.
I am well aware that renting a splitter is not for everyone. It is a Mathematical calculation. If you don't have a friend to do with and if you have to drive long distance to rent the machine then my system might not work for you. But, I think we are burning wood to beat "the man" and buying gear like there is no tomorrow sometimes is not practical. The other guy that needs a splitter is one that has a wood only system. That guy needs to CSS wood in the most efficient manner. He has got to put up 3 times the wood Andy and I put up. Each of us right now have about 5 cords up a various stages but each of us use wood as supplement to our in-floor natural gas condensing boilers. This year I only burned about 1 1/2 cords and last year the house was under construction. I have noticed on real cold days the zero clearance fireplace is really an aid to the condensing boiler. Now I realize that a man's worth is measured by the cylinders under his control. A local talk radio guy here calls it your CI (cylinder index). And of course more the better. So, I don't want to branded some Anti-splitter Nazi. Because I did own one for 20+ years and it was great and I heated my shop and office solely on wood and my house supplementally in those days. But, since space has become a premiun I had to come up with an alternative. Finally, there is always hand splitting. I picked up a small score today on the way home of some nice birch. Probably 25 pcs. Now because it is birch I will just hand split those pcs. tomorrow with my wedges and the small sledge. Just for the hell of it I am going to time it how long it is going to take me to split up 1/3 of a pickup load.
If you only burn a cord and a half a year, I see how you could get by renting and hand splitting. What works for each of us, isn't always what's best for others. (And this site always leans us to the excess side as well) Once I get an efficient wood burner in place of my fireplace, I should use a lot less wood and make more heat from it. It's just getting ahead at least a year or 2 is needing me to CSS more than I typically would, or will. It's just a necessary evil.
If $ and space were no issue I wood like to have a gas splitter. In reality that is years off. However are those little electric no name splitters worth it or since they are only $200 do you get whatcha pay for and they are weak flimsy junk?
my 7 ton electric does a real good job getting it done yes they are definitely worth the money here is a video from MrWhoopee with his 5 ton the 5 ton splitters are all about the same no matter what brand
I have a little electric/hydro splitter. 5 ton I think it is rated It's no speed demon I'm sure if it could talk it would swear like a Tourette's patient with coprolalia when I rolled 30 inch oak rounds on it while it was gruntingly splitting it. Or maybe that was me trying to balance a 30 inch round on top of it. Either way I've been impressed with what it would split. I still get the 20 ton gasser out to work on a big pile.
watching the video, made me think, if my partnership with the splitter rental falls by the wayside, that might be an option for me. Right now miscellaneous splitting, I can do by hand and it is part of the exercise program as I posted earlier. I got to make a run to Northern Tool or HF for some miscellaneous supplies this afternoon so, I'm going to take a gander at the electric splitters. Thanks, guys.
Hey Marty, we split by hand for many, many moons before going to hydraulics. Even then, the only reason we bought the hydraulic splitter is because of an injury that put my hand splitting at an end. I would not mind going back to hand splitting if I could but it is just out of the question.
