Good moderately priced wood splitter?

[Fsonicsmith]

I love my Shirley Fabs Patio but there is no room for debate that the firebox is designed for smaller splits. Here in Central Ohio the wood suppliers I have found will not split the wood beyond eight to ten inch diameter splits.
I bought one of these cast iron manual wood splitters with the wedge and ring-
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kindl...889A-D241-4984-AD68-5D1362D9C3AA?ref_=ast_bln
It is too much work and too many times the piece of wood won't quite fit in the ring on top or it becomes wedged within the ring and won't split.
So, I am in the market for a moderately priced wood splitter ($750 or less) that can handle a half cord or so of wood at a time. I buy the usual-apple, cherry, oak.
Any suggestions?
Right now I have my eye on this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DFQV9FM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

I use full size (16-18”) splits in my Shirley Fab Patio all the time and my kindling cracker is my most used accessory.

What issues are you having with full splits?

I got through cords of cherry, hickory and oak with no issues.

 

[Fsonicsmith]

The wood I get is often too large to fit within the upper ring of the kindling cracker or gets lodged/wedged against it midway through. Other times the log split is too long so that the "bottom" end hits the ground before the piece splits. I also have bad shoulders. The cherry in particular tends to to so fibrous that it won't split cleanly. Bottom line-too much work. It is great when it works and a pain when a piece gets stuck and has to be pounded in reverse out of the thing.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

The wood I get is often too large to fit within the upper ring of the kindling cracker or gets lodged/wedged against it midway through. Other times the log split is too long so that the "bottom" end hits the ground before the piece splits. I also have bad shoulders. The cherry in particular tends to to so fibrous that it won't split cleanly. Bottom line-too much work. It is great when it works and a pain when a piece gets stuck and has to be pounded in reverse out of the thing.

Okay. I see a couple of things that I do a bit differently.

1. My kindling cracker is the XL and the ring is bigger
2. I use a 3lb hammer on the splits
3. The wood I buy are splits, not logs
4. I buy wood that is on the greener side and it splits with no issues. Unless I’m busting a knot, i can split most in 2-3 whacks of the 3lb beater

I suggest buying splits that are fireplace size (16-18”) and buy wood that hasn’t been sitting around for two years. You may find you don’t need a splitter.

Otherwise, I’m no help to your original question, cause I simply don’t have a need for a splitter, cause I buy mine already split and the Cracker works well for my need of smaller stuff

 

[cdhbrad]

I ran into the same issues with wood I was getting for my Shirley 24x36 too and got tired of trying to force knotty splits through my XL Kindlin Cracker. I’ve also stared finding green wood left behind by tree trimmers that need to be split and put in my woodshed to cure.

I bought a Boss 7 Ton Electric Splitter, ES7T20 from Woodsplitters Direct and it will handle anything I’ve put into it. It runs about $700 and I think shipping is included.

We recently had a native Bay Tree die in the yard and the folks that removed it said it was great for smoking. They left me pieces up to 12” in diameter and, because it was very straight grained, I had no problem breaking them down to the “Drink Can” size for my Shirley. It’s curing now and looking forward to using it when moisture content gets to the 15-20% range.

 

[WilliamKY]

I use this one and it works great. The price is comparative to the one you posted which I'm sure will work just as good. They are probably all made by the same company in China. The Kindling Cracker is also a great accessory to fine tune the splits.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074H739NS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Y’all gonna have to explain it to me like I’m 5.

Why are you folks using such small chunks of wood (drink can size) in your Shirley?

I’ve had great results using full size splits in mine

 

[Fsonicsmith]

Y’all gonna have to explain it to me like I’m 5.

Why are you folks using such small chunks of wood (drink can size) in your Shirley?

I’ve had great results using full size splits in mine

I won't "explain" per se because there is no one way to do things-what follows is opinion . And what follows is admittedly more directed to brisket as for me, brisket is king and pork shoulders and ribs are great but secondary.
I have read and sometimes posted on the Shirley Fabs 24x36 FB page and Paul Shirley has been known to chime in with tips there. I believe I am accurately relaying his advice to use smaller "coke can" sized (diameter) splits. The idea is that smaller fires burn cleaner with the smallish fire box of the SF Patio. Bigger wood smolders before igniting and sometimes it smolders non-stop. Smoldering wood, if it persists for any length of time leads to creosote-like and nasty compounds and flavors.
This concept is supported by Aaron Franklin in his book though his smokers are of course huge and not similar to the Shirley Fabs Patio. But AF advocates for blue smoke. Blue smoke means a clean-burning fire. It has been my experience that if my smoker is putting out blue smoke during 90% or more of the cook I often get the most delicious Q with the flavor of the meat, rub, and smoke all in perfect balance and weirdly, the best smoke ring.
One tip with the SF Patio is to use the V-basket and build a smallish fire at the end closest to the cook chamber and then lay a smaller split or two to rest propped up against he fire box door or basket to heat up near the fire chamber door. Keep rotating new splits in this fashion-the pre-heated ones to burn and two new splits near the door.
Moisture equates to white billowing smoke and off-flavors. Pre-heating the wood drives out moisture and helps achieve blue smoke. Laying coke bottle sized splits on top of the fire box is another method but not as effective as the one described first.
Some folks are not sensitive to the "creosote effect". I am. Not to equate great Q with competition Q but I have no doubt that most highly qualified Comp judges are sensitive to off-flavors caused by dirty fires and down-grade accordingly.
FWIW Aaron Franklin also writes in his book diplomatically that the only style of smoker that can achieve the type of brisket he strives for is an offset stick burner. This is because all other types of smokers rely on smoldering chunks, chips, or worse. I am aware that I am digressing from the main point but if you are going to use a stick burner it is arguably best to prevent smoldering fires.
I would even go so far as to say that in a perfect, ideal, and entirely inconvenient world the best results would be had by using a burn barrel or similar and only adding pre-ignited splits.
There is no doubting that adding larger splits means going much longer between adding wood. I have learned to resist that temptation no matter how late is at night and how tired I might be. When one pays $125 and more for a brisket it just does not make sense to me.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

I won't "explain" per se because there is no one way to do things-what follows is opinion . And what follows is admittedly more directed to brisket as for me, brisket is king and pork shoulders and ribs are great but secondary.
I have read and sometimes posted on the Shirley Fabs 24x36 FB page and Paul Shirley has been known to chime in with tips there. I believe I am accurately relaying his advice to use smaller "coke can" sized (diameter) splits. The idea is that smaller fires burn cleaner with the smallish fire box of the SF Patio. Bigger wood smolders before igniting and sometimes it smolders non-stop. Smoldering wood, if it persists for any length of time leads to creosote-like and nasty compounds and flavors.
This concept is supported by Aaron Franklin in his book though his smokers are of course huge and not similar to the Shirley Fabs Patio. But AF advocates for blue smoke. Blue smoke means a clean-burning fire. It has been my experience that if my smoker is putting out blue smoke during 90% or more of the cook I often get the most delicious Q with the flavor of the meat, rub, and smoke all in perfect balance and weirdly, the best smoke ring.
One tip with the SF Patio is to use the V-basket and build a smallish fire at the end closest to the cook chamber and then lay a smaller split or two to rest propped up against he fire box door or basket to heat up near the fire chamber door. Keep rotating new splits in this fashion-the pre-heated ones to burn and two new splits near the door.
Moisture equates to white billowing smoke and off-flavors. Pre-heating the wood drives out moisture and helps achieve blue smoke. Laying coke bottle sized splits on top of the fire box is another method but not as effective as the one described first.
Some folks are not sensitive to the "creosote effect". I am. Not to equate great Q with competition Q but I have no doubt that most highly qualified Comp judges are sensitive to off-flavors caused by dirty fires and down-grade accordingly.
FWIW Aaron Franklin also writes in his book diplomatically that the only style of smoker that can achieve the type of brisket he strives for is an offset stick burner. This is because all other types of smokers rely on smoldering chunks, chips, or worse. I am aware that I am digressing from the main point but if you are going to use a stick burner it is arguably best to prevent smoldering fires.
I would even go so far as to say that in a perfect, ideal, and entirely inconvenient world the best results would be had by using a burn barrel or similar and only adding pre-ignited splits.
There is no doubting that adding larger splits means going much longer between adding wood. I have learned to resist that temptation no matter how late is at night and how tired I might be. When one pays $125 and more for a brisket it just does not make sense to me.

Thanks for the lengthy “explanation”



Pork is king here (it’s not just a name lol) and I ain’t seeing how any of that should change the way I cook.

I do cook the occasional brisket though (couple of times a year). This was my most recent

Full length splits work fine for me and I prefer green wood.

I still get thin blue smoke and don’t have any of the concerns you post about. Just toss in a couple splits every 45 minutes or so until it’s done.
Most of my splits are cut down on the Cracker to smaller sizes, but they are full length

Many different ways to do things i guess.

 

[Fsonicsmith]

Thanks for the lengthy “explanation”

Friendly jab noted.
It's a rainy Sunday afternoon so I felt wordy.
I said there is no one way.
But it should be noted that no photo can convey or prove how that black bark tastes.
You evidently like it. I might too.
I would never burn green splits but that is just me.
You say you cut it down with the kindling cracker and yet you call them "full spits".
You stated "I use full size (16-18”) splits in my Shirley Fab Patio". Length has nothing to do with it (though your wife might say otherwise). It is the diameter that counts (same joke). Sorry.
What kind of wood are you getting? You appear to be only an hour and half away in Columbiana County so I would guess you are getting the same types of wood I get.
Also, and please take no offense, but your pic is of thick chunks of brisket. Thinner slices that drape over the finger without breaking and demonstrate moisture are far more telling. And again, no pic can tell someone else if there are off-flavors on the bark and penetrating into the meat.

 

[jeffshoaf]

Full length splits work fine for me and I prefer green wood.

I still get thin blue smoke and don’t have any of the concerns you post about. Just toss in a couple splits every 45 minutes or so until it’s done.
Most of my splits are cut down on the Cracker to smaller sizes, but they are full length

Many different ways to do things i guess.

Are y'all talking about different things? Seems like one of you is talking about the length of the splits and the other is talking about the diameter of the splits.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Are y'all talking about different things? Seems like one of you is talking about the length of the splits and the other is talking about the diameter of the splits.

Maybe? Lmao

 

[Fsonicsmith]

Are y'all talking about different things? Seems like one of you is talking about the length of the splits and the other is talking about the diameter of the splits.

Exactly my conclusion. I should have been tipped off when he said;

Why are you folks using such small chunks of wood (drink can size) in your Shirley?

I’ve had great results using full size splits in mine

It's all good. Maybe some wasted time pontificating when we were talking past each other but I have wasted time on worse.

Thanks WilliamKY for your helpful response.

 

[cdhbrad]

Mine are about 15” long x Coke Can / Brew Can in Diameter. Here’s a pic of my Shirley with a few splits that work best for me.
PS: It was running at 275 when I took the pic

 

[Fsonicsmith]

Mine are about 15” long x Coke Can / Brew Can in Diameter. Here’s a pic of my Shirley with a few splits that work best for me.
PS: It was running at 275 when I took the pic

Huh. Your firebox door tells me that it is virtually brand new. I am pretty meticulous about keeping mine clean and it shows much more carbon build up than yours. Second, sorry but based on lots of cooks with mine I am hard-pressed how you can maintain 275 with the air vent 95% closed like that. I am not saying you are not telling you the truth, just that something is not stacking up with reality. I would venture a pretty good guess you had the damper much more open and then closed it up in reaction to rising temps. That is referred to as "chasing the temp" and ought to be avoided. Either that or you are burning pine or something similarly resinous.

 

[cdhbrad]

Oak only and that is where mine runs when up to to temps. I usually cook at 275ish. If I get a temp spike, which seldom happens, I’ll close the top damper a bit. Here are more pics from the same day.
If you doubt what I’m saying, not much I can do about that.

 

[Fsonicsmith]

I don't. Just strange. Must be your ambient temp, humidity, and wood.
Many SF Patio users run the firebox vent nearly wide open with a small fire in order to get the cleanest burning fire.

 

[gcs]

To answer your original question, pretty much any electric hydraulic splitter will work, and they're not that expensive. You can split some big gnarly pieces if you read the wood and take your time.

 

[cdhbrad]

I live in FL, on the banks of a natural Bayou off the Manatee River just South of Tampa Bay on the West Coast, so High Temps and, except in Winter, High Humidity.

When I took that photo in 2020, I'd had my Shirley for less than 6 months and it was my first real Offset Cooker. I found that, after I got the fire going with the pinwheel fully opened and Cook Chamber Doors open too, I could start closing down the pinwheel, etc. as the Pit warmed up and fire burned cleaner. I just found that having that Pinwheel open between 3/4 - 1" with the exhaust fully open will maintain temps for me.

After I start a Fire with a chimney full of lit Lump Charcoal, I only run Oak that has a moisture content of between 15-20%. Because we get lots of Rain in FL, 3.5" over the last three days, I keep two plastic milk crates full of Splits in my Garage so I always have dry wood to work with.

We all deal with different cooking conditions depending on where we are and that is one of the great things about cooking with live Fire......you find out what works where you are and go from there.

 

[mchar69]

So how much wood are you guys using for an 8 hour cook? 2 milk crates worth or a little more? I got a free OK Joe but never used it yet.