Rapid Fire Log Splitting Technology
Every few years every trade or hobby goes through some kind of renovation.
This decade it is log splitting, with DR Power’s new Rapid Fire Log Splitter. At Midtown Chimney Sweeps Franchise home office we like to research and find new technology and see it applied to the ancient ways of man and fire. We love where the old meets the new, and that is a fantastic intro for today’s subject of splitting hardwoods, soft woods, and fruit woods with steel! Split wood catches fire easier and burns more thoroughly than whole round wood, and this is better for the chimney. A clean hot fire is always better than a slow lazy fire (caused by unsplit round wood). Midtown Chimney always recommends that you cut, split, and stack your firewood one season before using it. While we have heard of some people cutting and splitting and using the wood only months after cutting the tree down, this is largely looked down upon as a poor practice. Too much moisture and sap in the “green” wood and you are a candidate for 3rd degree glazed creosote, and that is a bad thing. We do have a product to remove that, but it is expensive and unnecessary if you burn properly seasoned hard, soft or fruit wood firewood.
So let’s take a look at this mechanized wood splitter this month, and in January we will look at the old way of splitting wood, with a mawl or hatchet or axe!
Outsplits any 22-ton hydraulic splitter at up to 6X the speed! Our K22 uses a hefty 55-lb flywheel to pop open medium to high density logs. Our handy standard work table (included) keeps logs within easy reach for resplitting.
Auto Retraction
With ordinary splitters you have to engage the return lever until the ram is back to its starting position. The RapidFire retracts automatically, leaving your hands free to load the next piece of wood for splitting.
The technology is new, even though the function and job is as old as man and woman trying to stay warm in cold winter’s night with a wood burning fire. This piece of technology utilizes a 55lb flywheel that is spun by either an electric or a gas powered motor, and has a safe two hand control so your hands are away from the splitting action (no more smashed thumbs, thank you!). The flywheel action stores the potential energy required to drive the piston ram forward with the splitting head. This allows less of a “bog down” effect during the wood splitting process.
55-lb. Flywheel
The K22’s cast-iron flywheel has more than double the weight and momentum of our K10 Model’s flywheel — for splitting longer, larger, tougher logs.
Heavy-Duty Steel Work Table
The RapidFire’s steel work table means no more stooping down to pick up split logs. After a log is split, the pieces remain at a comfortable working height, so there’s no need to bend down to retrieve them for a second split.
Priced at a modest $1400 on their website, DR Power seems to have delivered a customer friendly, and wood-serious log splitter for fireplace users across North America.
