It splits wood fast. It has only gotten better the more I use
it. When it’s shipped to you, it has paint on everything and that creates drag.
Now that the paint has worn off of the moving parts, it allows the moving parts
to move easier, with less drag. That matters on a rack and pinion style
splitter. I would also surmise that the engine has broken in and engines
generally gain a little power after a break in period. I did change the oil
after running the machine about 10-15 hours. I think the manual said to change
it after the first five hours. My oil still looked good, but I changed it
anyhow.
I split approximately 20 to 30 full sized pickup loads of
hardwood this past year. I don’t sell firewood, but I like to have a decent
pile of it. Almost everything I split is hickory, elm, or oak. I do split some
other hardwoods like mulberry, horn hopbeam, etc, but the first three I
mentioned are the main ones. This splitter splits oak like nobody’s business.
Elm and hickory, especially hickory, are entirely different matters.
Oak splits nicely with the machine. Many times the piece splits
in two before the blade is halfway through the piece. Elm and hickory by their
nature are stringy woods. The RapidFire splits elm fairly well, but if you get
a larger piece on the table, it starts to have trouble. Elm is generally pretty
heavy, especially if fresh cut. I have found it is better to split a large
round of elm by taking pieces off around the perimeter of the piece as opposed
to trying to split down the middle. Smaller pieces aren’t a problem for the
RapidFire except for knotted pieces and areas where you find a “crotch”, an
area where one branch grew off of the main branch. It is these crotch areas
where the wood grain goes in different directions that you have trouble mainly
with elm and hickory. It will power through most oak knots and crotches if not
too large. Elm and hickory knots and crotches will bring the RapidFire nearly
to it’s knees. Many a time we’ve had to beat a piece of firewood off of the
splitting wedge on the RapidFire. Well, it’s mainly my stepson who runs into
this problem. I do pretty well by looking at the wood and splitting around
trouble areas, especially if visible.
Hickory is about the most difficult wood that I have split with
the RapidFire and it’s the wood that it has the toughest time with. The hickory
that I am cutting and splitting is shellbark, shagbark, and pignut hickory.
Hickory has been used historically for tool handles and is known as one of the
toughest woods out there. Andrew Jackson was nicknamed “Old Hickory” because of
his perceived toughness and unbending nature. The hickory that I split is full
of small knots throughout the wood and they will nearly stop the machine. You
can’t see all of the knots that are in the wood. The DR RapidFire sure finds
them! We manage to get along well though. You just need to pay attention to
what you’re doing and when splitting hickory or elm, try splitting around the
perimeter and be prepared to retract the ram should you hit a knot.
I had some constructive criticism for DR in my initial review. I
see DR has made changes to this splitter. The engine is mounted different, the
logo is now smaller and looks much better, and most of all, it is road towable.
I wish I had the current model instead of the one I have, but that is life. It’s
customers like me who have made it possible for people today to get a better
machine.
I have two complaints after one year of using the machine. The
first is belt squeal. I get a lot of it, even with the belts taught. I wonder
if small belt slips over an extended period of time don't glaze the belt and
reduce it’s friction ability? It has only been one year and I think I need a
new set of belts. The other complaint is that my handle fell off. It’s two
pieces and the weld was bad. I took it to our local welder who put it back on
for $10. He even said that the weld was poor and didn’t burn in properly from
the factory. Other than that, it has been a faithful machine. You have to learn
how to use it as it’s a different beast than a hydraulic splitter. If this one
blew away in a tornado, I’d be in the market to purchase another one,
especially now that it can be towed down the road!
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