Sun Joe Cordless Manual Hydraulic Steel Beam Log Splitter, Portable and Compact, 10 Ton Capacity - Wood Splitting Machine and Equipment for Fireplace, Firewood, & Fire Stove Logs, LJ10M

I don't understand why some reviews say this splitter is underpowered or that it won't split anything an axe won't split. Maybe those folks have He-Man super strength and are used to splitting redwoods with a giant axe or something, I don't know. But for us normal folks with normal sized trees this thing absolutely gets it done. The description states "logs 8 inches in diameter", and at risk of jeopardizing my warranty I don't want to say exactly how large the logs are I've been splitting, so let me put it this way - I wouldn't even bother getting this beast out of the garage for an 8 inch diamter long. The pros: -Super easy to use -No engines to fail or hoses to wear out. This thing is basically an I beam, a heavy metal wedge and a bottle jack, so I'm expecting years of use. -Small storage footprint The cons: -The wheels are tiny and kinda suck -It's great for a homeowner who has 1-2 trees per year come down during storms, but I would NOT want to try to split enough wood to, say, heat my house all winter I think the biggest concern folks should have when considering this splitter isn't size of logs to split but rather volume. I think thr average homeowner would be hard pressed to find a tree this hoss couldn't process. That being said, if your aim is to heat your house all winter with wood, the manual nature of this splitter wouldn't make it a viable option (unless you want Popeye forearms). Bottom line: I've only used it twice so far on a hardwood a storm took down approx. 1 month ago, but those two uses yielded roughly 2 pickup truck loads of firewood. I've not had any issues yet, but will certainly update this review if I do. Based on my experience so far, I think this is a perfect splitter for a homeowner with up to a couple of acres who wants something for storm cleanup or to keep the summer fire pit fed.

We've got a couple of maple trees that I cut into approximately 15" logs, 14" in diameter on average. They're a little short; I should have made them 18 or 20" but too late now. This splitter works great, though. For the shorter logs, I use a good, straight piece of wood as a spacer and it's worked great. You have to be careful that the spacer doesn't cause the log to pop out and become a flying projectile. In fact Snow Joe doesn't recommend this approach, so do this at your own risk! I've done about 5 logs so far, and will finish these trees in a few days. It's easy to use and doesn't hurt my back the way swinging an axe does. The satisfying sound of the log cracking in half is music to my ears. I just go ahead and split a log down to 6-8 pieces suitable for use in my small wood stove. Takes about 5-10 minutes per log. I think for the price, this machine is pretty good. The electric and gasoline splitters are way more expensive and inconvenient. If you're doing large scale splitting, like to produce several cords of wood, this might be insufficient and you need to consider shelling out $300-$500 for a motorized heavy duty splitter, but for casual use like chopping up a single tree, the Snow Joe is pretty close to ideal. The worrisome thing is that several of the reviewers report defective units, like the knobs breaking off or the piston suddenly failing to work. But so far, my unit has worked great. It stores upright in the garage and takes up very little space. It does have wheels, and you have to be somewhat in shape to haul this thing around, but it's not that hard, not harder than pulling a heavy mower around for example. I don't try to take it down to where the wood is at the rear of the yard; the wheels seem too small and it seems like it would end up just getting dragged through the soft dirt and mud, and then I have to drag it back up the hill to the garage. So I just wheel it out onto the driveway, and wheelbarrow my logs back and forth. For the amount I have, this works out great. If you have a pretty big pile of logs, though, you may need to load this thing onto a hand cart to wheel it to where the wood is, and maybe lay it down on a 2-by-4 or a plank of plywood for stability. I've noticed it will rock back and forth while you are working the levers, if it's set on an uneven surface, so you do need to make sure it's on a flat, level surface. Not much else to say about this. In a couple of months I'll probably add more oil, if the instructions are accurate, and if that is problematic, I'll add a note about that here. Otherwise... it's time to "make like a banana and split"!!!

this is a solid but weighty piece of equipment. It took longer to get off the porch and unpacked than to set up and start splitting the seasoned mesquite I had been unsuccessful in splitting by other means. Super easy to use, all my logs were in specs suggested but I suspect larger diameter logs would be handled just as easily. Money well spent for me. This is a substantial piece of equipment both in weight and space required for use. It does stand up after use to a small footprint for storage.

This Log Splitter makes splitting logs so easy. After years of using an ax to split wood my wife got me this for Christmas. I had no idea it would be so easy to use. It takes no strength to split even very large logs. If you are thinking about a manual log splitter you can count on this one doing the job.

This is my second winter and have no problems at all. Works every time. It's slower than the gas powered one but I don't have any maintenance issues with this one. And I can use it at night without waking up anyone. I'm actually impressed with this little splitter it'll do more than I thought it would. And my wife can even use it.

works great. saves my shoulders from hand splitting, and is portable and..fun to use. I keep it in my wood shed right near the wood pile.

This splitter is awful. You have to have the logs cut to within a very certain size for it to even try to work. The biggest problem though is that this is supposed to make splitting easy with little effort. Im 6 foot 250 and pretty strong. The amount of force needed to split decent size logs us absolutely ridiculous. There were plenty of times while attempting to use it where I would have to put all my strength and weight behind it to get the piston to move. Other times it would creak really loud and fail to move after applying extreme force. I finally gave up after an hour or so and maybe 8 logs. I felt like I just did a double day at the gym and my arms were sore for a few days. I would not recommend this thing to anyone!

The splitter works as advertised. It is a convenient, low-cost option for splitting small to medium sized logs. However, I found that the cylinder seals leak the hydraulic fluid and the handles cannot support the splitting of very hard logs. One of my handles bent slightly (still usable) while trying to split a very hard log.