I know we've had a few posts about splitters on here this past summer and saw some folks mention an electric one. Some folks like myself had a concern about the durability and strength of the electric ones with our mesquite and oak wood. I was somewhere between tired of swinging a Fiskars splitting axe on a whole pile and not having room to store a large gas powered splitter. When somebody mentioned the electric splitters I started researching and after seeing so many good reviews on a lot of them decided to jump off in it. I decided on the Southland 6 ton SELS60 because of the good reviews, the small footprint it has in upright storage and the $280 sales price at Home Depot that could be delivered to my door for free at the time. There are many of them available and frankly, I think they are like generators. Mostly made at the same place with a few cosmetic changes here and there to differentiate the different "brands". You probably can't go wrong with either of them. After a few cheap mods that include a short wood clamp, a momentary foot pedal from Harbor Freight and an 8' piece of 3/4" PVC, I was ready to attack the two trailer load pile of mesquite with my buddy Nick the Friday before the opener.
This thing worked like a champ....went through mesquite that had been aged for years at the bottom of the pile, stuff that was pushed years ago on our place and the new stuff (seasoned and green) we brought in very easily. I like the fact that it has a simple stroke limiter so the stroke doesn't have to go the full length of the ram each time. Makes for a nice quick split when you logs are cut in similar lengths and a quick easy change for the longer ones if needed. I split the whole finished pile on Friday morning before the opener and it didn't blink on knots, split limbs or large logs. We unstacked the old stuff that needed splitting, the relocated the new stuff that needed splitting and started with a blank pile. The final pile pic is what it sply. Zoom in on the pile. If it is split this thing did it. Anything from 4" to 12-13". The only thing that stopped it was large burl knots... and we just started setting that all to the side to burn in the big fire ring. Over all I'd give it 2 big thumbs up.
The controls on these things are a two switch system (for the lawyers I'm told). One is a momentary motor switch and the other is the lever for the ram. You have to push both at the same time to use them. So to get around the lawyers, we added a few mods so we could have a hand free to keep on top of the log while splitting . It made it nice for the splitting process to have a hand free and to protect yourself from one popping off into your face if that particular log did so. The mods I added were a clamp on the motor switch so that I could add a momentary foot pedal. I could control the motor on/off with my foot and use one hand for the ram lever. That freed up the other hand for the log itself. The other mod was adding a piece of 3/4" PVC to slide over the lever to extend it for easy access while splitting. The actual lever is kinda tucked up under the ram mechanism. The PVC is easily removable too when moving and storing so its doesn't catch on anything. Worked like a champ and made easy work of the pile and stores upright taking up very little space in the shop. Now on to my smoker wood....
This thing worked like a champ....went through mesquite that had been aged for years at the bottom of the pile, stuff that was pushed years ago on our place and the new stuff (seasoned and green) we brought in very easily. I like the fact that it has a simple stroke limiter so the stroke doesn't have to go the full length of the ram each time. Makes for a nice quick split when you logs are cut in similar lengths and a quick easy change for the longer ones if needed. I split the whole finished pile on Friday morning before the opener and it didn't blink on knots, split limbs or large logs. We unstacked the old stuff that needed splitting, the relocated the new stuff that needed splitting and started with a blank pile. The final pile pic is what it sply. Zoom in on the pile. If it is split this thing did it. Anything from 4" to 12-13". The only thing that stopped it was large burl knots... and we just started setting that all to the side to burn in the big fire ring. Over all I'd give it 2 big thumbs up.
The controls on these things are a two switch system (for the lawyers I'm told). One is a momentary motor switch and the other is the lever for the ram. You have to push both at the same time to use them. So to get around the lawyers, we added a few mods so we could have a hand free to keep on top of the log while splitting . It made it nice for the splitting process to have a hand free and to protect yourself from one popping off into your face if that particular log did so. The mods I added were a clamp on the motor switch so that I could add a momentary foot pedal. I could control the motor on/off with my foot and use one hand for the ram lever. That freed up the other hand for the log itself. The other mod was adding a piece of 3/4" PVC to slide over the lever to extend it for easy access while splitting. The actual lever is kinda tucked up under the ram mechanism. The PVC is easily removable too when moving and storing so its doesn't catch on anything. Worked like a champ and made easy work of the pile and stores upright taking up very little space in the shop. Now on to my smoker wood....
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