Rented a Spitfire 2265 Hydraulic Gas Powered 18 ton, Log Splitter for the weekend. And I wanted to review it for my readers benefit.
I had 12 ash trees to split and I was tired of swinging my maul.
So I rented this log splitter, it came on its own integrated small trailer with a 2″ hitch.
Some of the ash logs that I was splitting were as large as 48″ in diameter. The unit I rented did not have a log lifter, which some do. So there were some logs I was just not able to split.
I split more than 5 full cord or wood this weekend with this splitter.
Specs:
- Engine – Honda
- Fuel type – regular gasoline
- Manufacturer – Spitfire out of Canada
- 18 ton- Hydraulic
- Ease of use – very easy. But they could add a way to lower the deck so large wood is easier to load. (But I guess I needed a larger splitter.)
- Safety issues – regular gasoline, hydraulic-powered slow moving blade. Even my 7-year old was splitting wood with me.
Things I liked about this splitter:
- It was light enough for me (with effort) to pull around my yard by hand.
- I was able to split ~4 full cords of wood in ~3 hours with the help of my teen son.
- It split most of the logs with ease (ash and cherry), even logs as large as 24″ in diameter.
- It took regular gasoline.
- It was relatively safe, the blade travels very slowly making it easy to avoid injury. As long as the operator recognizes potential safety hazards operation seems safe. I felt comfortable allowng my 14-year old son to split wood without me around.
Things I did not like about this splitter:
- It could not split my massive 36″-48″ logs as it would get stuck in the wood. This suprised me given the extreme strength of this splitter. The distance that that crack in the wood had to travel was too far and the splitter blade would get stuck in the log. Requiring me to cut the log out of the splitter with a chainsaw or beat it out with a sledge hammer. One of the biggest reasons I rented this splitter was to split these specific logs. They are massive and are in the way in my yard and I wanted them to become firewood for the upcoming winter. I was able to split about half of these massive logs, the others I left for difficult chainsaw cuts and/ or bonfires, or perhaps as raised garden beds.
- I did wish the blade was larger than it was because of these logs. However, there was a larger splitter available for rent that I chose not to rent. My mistake. And if I had done that I’d have struggled moving it around my yard like I did.
- It was expensive, I paid about $380 for 5 days, this included a delivery fee. I think I paid too much, but I do have now about 5 full cord of ash wood ready for the winter. And the rental fee had nothing to do with the splitter itself.
Overall I would rent this again for normal sized logs. And I do recommend anyone do the same. But since some of my logs were so large > 36” diameter I have regrets.