Not sold on Jimmy Fallon

            I must admit that last night was the first time I was able to stomach a full episode of Jimmy Fallon. My morbid curiosity got the better of me and I watched his show. When he mentioned that it may be the first time certain people may have tuned into watch him, I was one of those he was speaking about. I have caught bits and pieces of his show before, but most of what I’ve seen was too “hipster” for me. I couldn’t change the channel fast enough. The music leans more hip hop than I like. His brand of humor seems too sophomoric for me. Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Kimmel suffer from the same thing, but not as bad. I’m sure Jimmy Fallon is a really nice guy. He hit the nail on the head when he pondered how he ever came to host the Tonight Show.

            It was a fluke. Conan O’Brien was supposed to take over the Tonight Show and odds are, Conan would have had a 15 to 20 year run. During this time, Jimmy Fallon would have paid his dues on Late Night. Older people tend to go to bed earlier. Late Night is the perfect time slot for a young guy like Jimmy. Go watch early Conan episodes from Late Night and you’ll notice how Conan grew up and matured in his Late Night slot. Due to the Leno/O’Brien debacle, Leno got back in, Conan got out, and Jimmy sat there in the successor chair.

            NBC for some reason wasn’t happy with Jay Leno. He was #1 for his time slot and consistently so, but he must have unsettled somebody’s stomach there in management. The decision was made to force Jay Leno into retirement (technically firing an old person) and Voila! Jimmy Fallon, all green and unprepared, fell into the Tonight Show chair.

            It shows. Last night’s episode was certainly aimed at a much younger crowd. Even I felt old watching it. Yes, I grew up with U2 and Will Smith, but that lame ass bit about hip hop dancing? Come on! I tried to imagine my parents watching that and finding any entertainment in it. I doubt many people over my age bracket enjoyed it. It was so “Saturday Night Live”. I don’t think he’ll retain the older crowd that Leno held, you know, the ones who had the money to purchase Mercedes Benzes and other fine items whose advertisers paid big money to flaunt their wares during the Tonight Show. We’ll probably see more commercials for Cheerios and Crest toothpaste during Fallon’s tenure. Oh well, as long as it pays NBC’s bills.

            I saw an article that said that NBC wasn’t too worried about losing the older crowd because Jimmy Kimmel is a young guy as well and David Letterman won’t be around long. How nice. That’s like admitting that your guy sucks, and you don’t care because your viewers have nowhere else to go. Guess what? I’m willing to bet those older people will watch the news, drink their Geritol, and decide to turn in early. They won’t watch any of the garbage. I sure won’t.   

           

Weston Meat Grinder Review

Weston Meat Grinder Review:

Grinder with grey protective covering on yet.

Model # 08-2201-W
Number 22 Commercial Meat Grinder 1HP

Manufacturer: Weston
Country of Manufacture: China

Material: Stainless. The auger and head unit appear to be cast iron but I have been since told otherwise. 

110V/750 Watt

Retailer: One Stop Jerky Shop

onestopjerkyshop.com

Date of Purchase: 2/06/2014

Purchase Price: $549.99 ($544.99 after $5 discount)
Method Shipped: UPS Ground
Shipping Cost: Included

The Lowdown: My wife and I started grinding our own meat a year or two ago. We purchase meat from Sam's Club by the case and save money over our supermarket chain. Plus, the meat we grind tastes so much better than the ground meat that comes from the store. We also have the added benefit of knowing that only one or two animals are in our ground meat as opposed to hundreds, and we can visually inspect the meat that goes into our grind. The risk of contamination is also much lower.

A friend of mine loaned me his grinder a few years back. He drives semi and isn't home a lot, so he said I could hang onto it and take care of it while he was out trucking. It's called a Super Grinder and it's also Chinese made. It's a #12 in size, but the throat is really small and it takes forever to grind meat. It's ground a lot of meat for me the past year or so, but I've spent a lot of time with it doing so. You also have to cut the meat very small to go through the machine and grinding it a second time is a real pain.

We decided to make an investment in a real heavy duty grinder that would grind quickly and allow us to spend more time enjoying life instead of pushing meat through a grinder. After a lot of research, I chose this model of Weston. The price was right and it came with stuffing horns. The gentleman at One Stop Jerky Shop is a really nice and helpful guy. When you buy from him, you're buying from a real person with a real business. He told me that he keeps all his items in stock and doesn't drop ship. I had a problem with my payment. PayPal kept rejecting the sale. I was getting errors on his site and I sent him screenshots and he got it all figured out. He took the time to even call me and we visited on the phone for a little while. I highly recommend purchasing from him. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The Review: Well, right off the bat, the 40 mm stuffing tube was cracked lengthwise right out of the box. This should have been caught by QA at the factory. The machine was packaged wonderfully. Out of the box, the body of the machine has a grey protective film on it covering the stainless steel. When you see some sales photos of this machine and the body looks a dull grey, that is why. The grinding plates and the cutting blade are stainless steel. The power switch is on the back of the unit and has a forward and reverse. Reverse doesn't stay in reverse, but springs right back, like it should. Turning it on, you twist the switch and it stays on until you twist it back. Off position is in between forward and reverse. There is a pop out breaker next to the switch.

This grinder is heavy - very heavy. It's not just the power unit that's heavy. The head and auger are very heavy as well. The auger and head unit are both cast stainless. They appear to be cast iron but I have been told that they indeed are stainless. It's the first time I've ever dealt with unfinished stainless like this. The casting on my head unit had some spots inside of it where the metal didn't cast well and left a couple of little pockets. I will have to keep that in mind when cleaning it as that's a good place for meat to hide and bacteria to grow. The unit assembles easily. The metal pan that sits on top of the unit is stainless steel and is much thinner than I would have expected. They even make slight bends in the metal to help strengthen it. Why wouldn't you just go with a heavier guage steel in the first place and be done with it? The ring where the pan sits atop the head unit is sharp. The edges around the pan are also sharper than I'd like. I plan on taking some emery cloth to it and dulling it down some. There are also a couple of sharp areas on the body, at the front of the unit above the feet. Hopefully I can do a video later and show this.

We washed the machine up. It smelled of household oil which we assume they spray the parts with to keep them from rusting while in storage and transit. After we cleaned it up, we ran a little over 20# of pork Boston butt through the machine. The speed at which this machine grinds is amazing. We used the medium grind plate and ran the meat through twice. It took less than 15 minutes to double grind this amount of meat.You'll spend more time cutting and cleaning than you will grinding, which is why we bought this in the first place.

Just a minute or two into the second grind, the machine started making a tremendous rattling noise. I contacted Weston about this and they are currently looking into it. They are also sending out a replacement stuffer to replace the cracked one. When you open the box, you see a big red piece of paper that tells you that if you have any problems, not to contact the seller, but Weston directly. When you call the number, you get an American who speaks English on the other end of the line. You get a name and contact information for this person too. It's not often that you find customer service like this today. From what I've read, Weston stands behind their products and I assume they'll make it right in this case too, or I'll write about it if they don't! I'm not even sure if that rattle is normal or not. It didn't rattle like that out of the box. I'm hoping it's something simple. Otherwise, the machine is quiet.

The Good: It grinds fast. It's a very heavy machine. It seems well built for a Chinese made item. One Stop Jerky Shop is an excellent seller. Weston has a good responsive customer service department and they seem to stand behind their product.

The Bad: The 40MM stuffing funnel was cracked right out of the box. Nothing in the box moved or shifted. It was in the center of the box so it's impossible that it was damaged in transit. It should have been caught at the factory. The motor started rattling just minutes into the grind. The pan that sits on top of the grinder is too thin. The sharp edges need to be sanded more.

Would I recommend it? Yes.

Further thoughts about the TIR rating system......

     As I have been working with this new system to rate tornados, I came across a small dilemma; one I should have anticipated. When we went from the F system to the EF system, wind speeds were adjusted. The whole reason for the switch to the EF system had to do with studies that showed that it took far less wind speed to cause a certain degree of damage. In order to keep apples to apples, they made the EF system where the damage apparent in an F4 was the same as the damage done by an EF4, although the wind speed estimate was different. For my TIR system to work, I need an accurate wind speed, even if estimated. The problem I am running into is that the wind speeds from F scale rated tornados haven't been readjusted.
     The 1999 OKC tornado isn't a problem as that tornado was measured with a Doppler Radar and that is acceptable in my TIR rating. However, as I was attempting to get a TIR rating on the Hallum tornado, I realized that they didn't have a definitive wind speed rating. All they said was that it was an F-4, and that it was only in small pockets. Most of the damage was F-3 or less. In this instance, I would be inclined to say this tornado was on the lower end of the F-4 scale and I would "guesstimate" a wind speed rating. However, when you look at the wind speeds of an F-4 tornado, you notice that the F-4 range is now into the current EF-5 range. That makes the Hallum tornado appear stronger than many EF-5 tornados when you attempt to TIR rate it using F scale wind estimates.
     What I may have to do is just convert from F to EF scale, then "guesstimate" the wind speed rating since damage between F and EF scales are supposed to be relatively the same. If the Hallum tornado had minor F4 damage, then I assume it is safe to say that it had minor EF4 damage, and therefore we can make an estimated wind speed rating based upon this. Until someone goes through and reassesses these old F scale damage surveys and converts them to EF, it seems to be my only option unless there is other information available, like a Doppler reading.

Some TIR Ratings

For fun, I'll be rating some historical tornados. You can find my TIR ratings for them here. Read my post about how the TIR rating system works. The more I use it, the more I like it. It allows me to easily compare tornados by different characteristics. I try and use information readily available from the NWS surveys.

Parkersburg 2008 EF5 Tornado TIR rating 

WSR 2.05

FS .10

W .10

PL .04

D .06

TOD .00

Sub T 2.37

F .02
Total (TIR) 2.39

Moore 2013 EF5 Tornado TIR rating

WSR 2.05

FS .06

W .04

PL .02

D .02

TOD .04

Sub T 2.23

F .07

Total (TIR) 2.30

Note: The best wind speed rating I could get was a range from 200 to 210 so I went with the middle at 205.

A New Way to Rate Tornados - An Amatuer Proposal

Tornado Impact Rating (TIR, pronounced “tier”)

            The old F scale and current EF scale rates tornadoes based upon estimated wind speed alone. There is some controversy using these scales. The biggest concern right now appears to be using information from Doppler radar to rate tornadoes. The F scale and EF scale was meant to rate tornadoes based upon damage alone. If a massive tornado occurs out in the middle of a field and strikes nothing, the tornado is supposed to be rated EF-0, even is a Doppler on Wheels is sitting there taking wind speed measurements. Also, there is currently only 6 tiers of tornado rating; EF-0 through EF-5.

            A great deal of attention has been paid to tornadoes that fall in the EF-5 category, even though many EF-4 tornadoes were just as destructive, or maybe even more so. In 2011, several large tornado outbreaks occurred. Two massive tornadoes hit populated areas. The first was the Tuscaloosa tornado and the second was the Joplin tornado. Both tornadoes seemed just as impressive on film, but the Tuscaloosa tornado was rated EF-4 because the damage assessment team didn’t feel the tornado hit anything with “superior” construction. Had this tornado hit a structure with better construction, the rating may have been higher. Which tornado really had higher winds? According to the NWS, it was the Joplin tornado. We may never know the truth.

            The Tuscaloosa tornado was just as impressive as the Joplin tornado. It was on the ground much longer, in an environment that was being sapped for energy from other surrounding storms, and it had a much longer damage path. However, the Joplin tornado will be remembered for it’s tremendous amount of fatalities. When coming up with this new rating system, I tried to take into consideration that fatalities mean a lot more than the length and width of a tornado. One life lost is too many. I admire those who are out in the line of fire studying these tornadoes in order to help protect us in the future.

            I have written to a few people in the field of tornadoes. I haven’t heard back from any of them. I am only presenting this here as a system designed by an amateur. I hope it whets the appetite for a new system that rates tornadoes in a manner that looks at more than just estimated wind speed. I’m sure there are other factors that could have been considered here. I just took some of the things that I find impressive about tornadoes and arbitrarily came up with ways to rate them. I did it by adjusting the Wind Speed Rating. I hope this is but a seed and out of it I hope to see a new way to rate tornadoes that includes Doppler findings and any other methods that are yet unknown.

            When coming up with adjustments, I searched the tornado records and came up with consensus numbers. I gave arbitrary percentages for adjustments, mostly 10%. There is no upper limit so if a new record is set, the percent of adjustment can exceed 10%. It would be wise to stick to these numbers instead of adjusting for every new record as to keep apples to apples in comparison. Again, it would be nice if someone in the realm of science would pick up the ball and run with it. I’m sure they could do a much better job than me. 

Rating the Tornado:

            We start with the wind speed rating in MPH. Unlike the current system, it doesn’t matter how the wind speed is obtained. It can be either by the EF scale rating, or by Doppler on Wheels, or by any other method that may come in the future. We take the speed and move the decimal point two places to the left. This gives us our initial score, or Wind Speed Rating (WSR). It’s from this score that all adjustments will be made with the exception of Fatalities (F) adjustment. For instance, a tornado with a wind speed determined or estimated to be 95 MPH will be given an initial rating of .95 before adjustments. A tornado with wind speeds of 250 MPH will be given a rating of 2.50. There is no upper limit to this. 

I decided to rate a tornado based on the following factors; 

1. Wind Speed (WSR)

2. Width (W)

3. Path Length (PL)

4. Duration (D)

5. Time of Day (TOD)

6. Fatalities (F)           

          I know there are other factors that can play into determining how powerful a tornado is. My overall goal is to gauge a tornado’s overall impact. Of course, wind speed is the measure that we use today. We determine it based upon damage using the EF scale. When no damage has occurred, we currently assign it an EF-0 rating no matter how wide the tornado is, nor how long the path is, etc. We know why wind speed is important, but here is why I feel the other categories are important too. 

Width – While a wide tornado doesn’t necessarily indicate a strong tornado, it does indicate that a larger area has been affected by the circulatory winds. Since this adjustment is based upon the WSR, the adjustment will be lower with lower wind speeds. The greater the wind speed, the greater the adjustment. While not perfect, it is a start. 

Path Length – The average tornado has a path length of 1 mile. Some tornados have tremendous path lengths. It is generally understood that only powerful tornados can achieve long path lengths. Some tornados are nearly stationary. Depending on the duration of the tornado and the strength of the winds, a short path may not actually indicate worse impact for any one point. Again, it’s not perfect, but I am open to ways of improving this adjustment. 

Duration – The average tornado lasts for 15 minutes. The longer the tornado is on the ground, the greater the impact is upon people and property.  

Time of Day – I thought of adding time of year as well, but that would depend on where the tornado touched down. Dixie Alley has a lot of tornados when there’s still snow on the ground in the Midwest. So for that reason, I stuck to time of day only. The least frequent time for a tornado is between 4 and 5 a.m. For that reason, I chose 4:30 as the median time. The most frequent occurrence of a tornado occurring happens between 5 and 6 p.m. I chose 5:30 p.m. as the median time. That makes 11 hours between the median high point and median low occurrence point in the hours after median high point. There are 13 hours between the two points before median high occurrence. It takes special dynamics to fuel a storm at 4:30 a.m. without the help of the sun. For that reason, I choose to use this as a factor in determining strength and overall impact of the storm. Many people are sleeping at 4:30 in the morning and less apt to be tornado aware at that point.  

Fatalities – This is the hardest adjustment for me. No greater impact can a tornado have than taking someone’s life. Homes can be rebuilt. Property can be replaced. For that reason, I went with a 100% adjustment for extreme as opposed to a 10%. I also decided to figure the fatality adjustment by using the WSR with all other adjustments added. If you look at my ratings for the Joplin tornado vs. the Tuscaloosa tornado of 2011, you’ll see the fatality rating is what made the major difference in the score. The wind speeds were very similar. The Tuscaloosa tornado was on the ground longer and had a much longer path length. In those regards, the Tuscaloosa tornado scored much higher. However, the fatalities that occurred with the Joplin tornado meant that it had a much higher impact than the Tuscaloosa tornado. The EF scale alone cannot point those differences out to you while mine does.  

             I did not add injuries to my scale. I did this because injuries haven’t always been reported historically, and in many cases, injuries are approximated. I didn’t add a category for financial damage because the value of money changes all the time. I wanted to keep this apples to apples as much as possible. Again, it’s not perfect, but I’m hoping it’s the start of a discussion to scrap the current system for rating tornados and move to a system that rates a tornado on more than wind speed based upon damage alone.

            Also note, I got my information on tornado extremes and averages from several different sources, but mainly from the NWS sites themselves. I chose to put everything into feet and minutes. For forward speed, I divide the number of feet in the path length by the duration of the tornado. I have added some notes where the NWS gives different numbers for forward speed, but in many cases, forward speed is not included in NWS surveys. For that purpose, I choose to stick with my method of using the average.

Adjustments: 

Forward Speed – 10% for extreme. [6424-352(average)=6072/10=607.2]

To adjust, take forward speed in feet, subtract 352 and divide by 607.2. Move your decimal place two places to the left. Round to nearest hundredth. Multiply this by wind speed rating. This is your adjustment. Less than 352 ft/m = No Adjustment

           I would eventually like to see an adjustment for nearly stationary tornadoes as I believe a stationary tornado is capable of tremendous damage. This is one area where expert input and guidance would be most helpful.

Width – 10% for extreme [13728-250(average)=13478/10=1347.8]

To adjust, take width in feet, subtract 250 and divide by 1347.8. Move your decimal place two places to the left. Round to the nearest hundredth. Multiply this by the wind speed rating. This is your adjustment. Less than 250 ft.= No Adjustment

Path Length – 10% for extreme [1156320-5280(average)=1151040/10=115104]

To adjust, take width in feet, subtract 5280 and divide by 115104. Move your decimal point two places to the left. Round to the nearest hundredth. Multiply this by the wind speed rating. This is your adjustment. Less than 5280 ft. = No Adjustment

Duration - 10% for extreme [210-15(average)=195/10=19.5]

To adjust, take time in minutes, subtract 15 and divide by 19.5. Move your decimal point over two places to the left. Round to the nearest hundredth. Multiply this by the wind speed rating. This is your adjustment. Less than 15 minutes = No Adjustment

Time of Day adjustment – 10% for 4:30 a.m. target. Tornadoes are rarest from 4-5 a.m. They are most common from 5-6 p.m. I go from 5:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. That is 13 hours before and 11 hours after. To determine the adjustment, one needs to determine the median time that the tornado was on the ground. Take the times given for the start and end of the tornado and find the time exactly in the middle (+/- 1 minute). Use the following guidelines to adjust.

Take the median time of the tornado. Determine the number of minutes before or after 5:30 p.m.

If the median time is before 5:30 PM and after 4:30 AM, divide the minutes by 78. Move the decimal point two places to the left and round to the nearest hundredth. Multiply this by the wind speed rating. This is your adjustment for mean time before 5:30. 

If the median time is after 5:30 PM and before 4:30 AM, divide by 66. Move the decimal point to places to the left and round to the nearest hundredth. Multiply this by the wind speed rating. This is your adjustment for mean time after 5:30. 

Fatalities – 100% for extreme with adjustment added to final tally. [695-0=695/25=6.95]

To adjust, take fatalities divide by 6.95. Move your decimal point over two places to the left. Round to the nearest hundredth. Multiply by the wind speed sub-total with all other adjustments added. This is your adjustment to add to that number.

Some notes and facts

Average Tornado

Wind Speed: 110 mph
Forward Speed: 352 ft. per minute (average 4 mph)

Widest Width: 250 ft.

Path Length: 5280 ft.

Duration: 15 minutes

Time of day: 5-6 P.M.

Fatalities: Less than 1 

Extreme Tornado

Wind Speed: 301 mph 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore Tornado

Forward Speed:  6424 ft. per minute (73 Mph) Tri-State Tornado

Widest Width:  13728 ft. (2.6 Miles) May 31, 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado

Path Length:  1156320 ft. (219 miles) Tri-State Tornado

Duration:  210 minutes (Tri-State Tornado)

Time of day:  None really 4-5 a.m. is the rarest timeframe.

Fatalities: 695 Tri-State Tornado 

Joplin

Wind Speed: 200+

Forward Speed: 3070.74 ft. per minute (average 34.89 mph)

Widest Width: 3960 ft.

Path Length: 116688 ft.

Duration: 38 minutes

Time of day: 5-6 P.M.

Fatalities: 158 

TIR

Wind Speed Rating (WSR) 2.00

Adjustments

Forward Speed (FS) .08

Widest Width (W) .06

Path Length (P) .02

Duration (D) .02

Time of Day (TOD) .00

Sub-total: 2.18

Fatalities (F) .50

___________________________________________________________

Total (TIR): 2.68

TIR: 2.68

Notes from NWS: The forward speed of the tornado through most of Joplin was about 20 to 25 miles per hour 

Tuscaloosa

Wind Speed: 190 mph

Forward Speed: 1681.21 ft. per minute (average 19.10 mph)

Widest Width: 7800 ft.

Path Length: 425990.4 ft.

Duration: 91 minutes

Time of day: 4-6 P.M.

Fatalities: 65 

TIR

Wind Speed Rating (WSR) 1.90

Adjustments

Forward Speed (FS) .04

Widest Width (W) .11

Path Length (P) .08

Duration (D) .08

Time of Day (TOD) .00

Sub-total: 2.21

Fatalities (F) .20

___________________________________________________________

Total (TIR): 2.41

TIR: 2.41

Notes from NWS: The storm traveled approximately 500 km in 8.5 hours, at an average forward speed of 59 km/hr (36 mph)  

Greensburg

Wind Speed: 205 mph

Forward Speed: 2339.45 ft. per minute

Widest Width: 8976 ft.

Path Length: 152064 ft.

Duration: 65 minutes

Time of day: 9:32 P.M. Median Time

Fatalities: 11 

TIR

Wind Speed Rating (WSR) 2.05

Adjustments

Forward Speed (FS) .06

Widest Width (W) .12

Path Length (P) .02

Duration (D) .06

Time of Day (TOD) .08

Sub-total: 2.39

Fatalities (F) .05

___________________________________________________________

Total (TIR): 2.44

TIR: 2.44

Notice how the Greensburg tornado is actually three hundredths of a point higher than the Tuscaloosa tornado. 

Bridge Creek-Moore 1999 

Wind Speed: 301 mph (Doppler)

Forward Speed: 2360.47 ft. per minute

Widest Width: 5280 ft.

Path Length: 200640 ft.

Duration: 85 minutes

Time of day: 7:05 P.M. Median Time

Fatalities: 36

TIR

Wind Speed Rating (WSR) 3.01

Adjustments

Forward Speed (FS) .09

Widest Width (W) .12

Path Length (P) .06

Duration (D) .12

Time of Day (TOD) .03

Sub-total: 3.43

Fatalities (F) .17

___________________________________________________________

Total (TIR): 3.60

My 2013 was pretty shitty.

            Years that end in “3” just seem to stink for me. In 1983, my sister died. In 1993, I grew to hate school and dropped out of high school. I grew tired of my job and quit it. I became extremely broke and I remember by the time December of 1993 rolled around, I was destitute with very little positive outlook. It wasn’t until February of 1994 when I found a decent job that I stuck at for any length of time. It paid well. 1993 sucked though. 2003 was the year that we had to adjust to losing KinDee’s boys in a bitter custody battle. Work became slow and it became very hard to pay bills. I had a full time job, but after child support, there wasn’t much left because there just wasn’t much work to be had. Now I have just gone through 2013 and it has been a really trying year.

            First, let me start by saying that I feel blessed that I have a roof over my head and my kids are healthy. Those two things are the most important. However, this is a year that I lost a lot of things. First, I lost our school. In February they voted to end Valley and join with North Fayette and I opposed it vehemently. I had to take nerve pills to help me sleep. In March, my final remaining grandparent passed away, Grandpa Kane. That made me feel like crap. His generation is nearly gone and it feels lonely. Shortly thereafter, I watched as my neighbor moved out. The people who moved in are not like the guy who moved out. I got along well with my old neighbor. These new people just aren’t the type of people that I am friendly with. I don’t drink, I don’t ride motorcycles, and I don’t believe in letting your dog shit in another’s yard.

            I’ve had vehicle troubles left and right. My wood furnace took a dump on me. I got both of them fixed, but at a considerable expense. Everything has just been a giant struggle this year. Even this Christmas wasn’t as enjoyable as I would have hoped. It was just chaotic as hell. Both KinDee and I have had fights with our exes which have caused considerable stress. My health is still failing which depresses me. Our garden didn’t do for shit. Our beloved cat disappeared in August. I had my bathroom remodeled in August, but it wasn’t done the way I had hoped and I had a lot of stress from that. It has just been one thing after another this year.

            I know I’m missing quite a few things that went to hell this year as I quickly write this tonight. News stations like to take a look back at the year that was right about now. I’m doing the same here in written fashion. 2013 has been a crappy year. It could have been worse, but it sure as hell could have been better. 2012 wasn’t nearly as bad. I’m hoping 2014 is much better. I don’t seem to do too bad in years that end in “4”, but in a couple of those years, 1994 and 2004, big changes came to my life. I left home and moved to this area in 1994 and I bought my home here in Wadena in 2004. I really could use a good 2014 after the shitty 2013 I had.

My DR RapidFire, one year later……..

Well, I’ve now owned my RapidFire for a little over a year now and I have put it through it’s paces. I’m happy with certain aspects of it, and had some minor issues elsewhere. First, the good news;

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!