I got one similar used, in very nice shape. The guy I got it from said the handle would not stay in the return position. So he wanted to get rid of it. $200. All I did was adjust the handle. It's just a lock nut and small bolt under a plastic cap on the valve. Now it works great. It is a Forrest King, made in China. Oh Well.
My feelings about these machines is they need a large tray to work on, at least three times bigger than the one you have. A lager tray would make it easier to handle wood and also protect the engine. I’ve seen some of these splitters have a hydraulic lift where the lift is the tray.
The tray I am working with came with the splitter, but they could have made it better simply by putting a lip on it to keep the vibrations from sliding the wood off. I am thinking about dusting off the welder just for fun and adding a lip to it.
Yes a table is good or a stack of rounds and a ramp.....but the best way to use these splitters is to pop the grain many times with shallow splitts....eventually the round will crumble like a diced onion when you throw it....carving off a piece at a time is so slow and pointless.... I can break down an 8 inch round in 6 pieces in under 12 seconds
Do you find the carburetor smokes a lot? I just picked the same one up and started it up, the carburetor began smoking. I didn't see anything in the owner's manual about any factory burn off from the engine.
Curious as to know which big box store you purchased it from and how you rated the discount. I've not seen anything like that locally -- but it could be regional. Thanks
The shelf is very nice to have. I will be modifying my shelf to extend over the engine in some way eventually. I bet you could add a shelf to your machine fairly easily.
Just checked the oil and added fuel. In the video it appears to start hard, but through the magic of editing i was able to leave out the part where I forgot to turn the on/off switch to the on position. 😁
Most folks dont use hydraulic splitters smart....the idea is to fracture the round or chunk of wood with many 2 inch penetrations and then cross over the splits then.....the first thing i would do to that machine is weld a 3/4 round protrusion in the center of the base so the machine can tear the round apart....going all the way through and back wastes alot of time that could be spent fracturing the mass until it crumbles.....i process wood 3 times faster than the methods here....it took me a whole season to realize wood will fall apart if you just keep stabbing it in a new spot......i usually dont go down middle i hit it 4 inches from outside edge this way as i turn in i can cross over the split and get a free split through the entire round
