GREENER XL Firewood Log Splitter with Open Top - Solid Cast Steel Kindling Wood Splitter with Wedge, Heavy Duty Manual Log Splitter for Firewood, Wood Splitting Cutter Kindling Cracker Tool, Portable

I ordered this GREENER XXL Firewood Log Splitter with Open Top - Solid Cast Steel Kindling Wood Splitter on VINE because the wood splitter I already have is a closed top (circle top?) and the larger pieces of wood don't always fit inside the diameter of the enclosure.I tried this splitter with one of the large Mesquite logs I have that didn't fit in the other one. Finding a balance for the log took a minute but I finally lined it up and proceeded to split it. The blade felt a little dull and it took me longer than I thought it should to split the log, so I took my grinder and ground down the edge a little bit making it sharper. That did the trick! I was able to stick the next piece of log onto the splitter by jamming the log against the now sharper edge and it only took a couple of whacks to split it. The splitter felt solid as I struck the log with my sledgehammer or the hammer edge of my splitting Axe. The open top allows me to split logs that are oddly shaped or have a bigger circumference.

It is made from decent heavy metal in the rings. It has a nice large base for stability. And even includes screws to firmly install it to a wood base. Assembly was ok, had to use some pressure to get screw holes to line up, but once screws were started it was sturdy. I do question the welds for the wedge as they are not full welds (I am not a professional welder though). But the one thing that stands out is the upper half ring for stabalizing wood to be split. It is so low it's just about useless. A 16" long piece will just tumble out let alone longer wood like 20" or 24". The wedge also did not have a consistant grind across it's entire length. With the bevel larger at one end vs the other. Almost rated it 3 stars.

This splitter was very easy to put together and the instructions were clear. Ideally the whole thing should be bolted down either onto a wooden block or stump with the included screws. This provides stability when using it. It works great for logs 10 inches in diameter or less. Any bigger than that and they don’t really fit into the half round bracket. It also works great for making kindling. I’m using it for Aspen and spruce and I don’t have to pound down very hard to split the logs. I imagine for harder wood you’d have to hit it harder. The tool is very well machined and constructed of thick, powder coated steel. This is a great addition to my wood splitting tools and I would recommend it to anyone who splits their own wood. The blade can also be easily sharpened if it gets dull.

The kindling splitter arrived in a timely manner. It was easy to assemble with only 6 screws to screw into pre-threaded holes.It is made for what its name implies: producing kindling. It is not a wood splitter. It is best suited to using small pieces of wood that you want to split into smaller split pieces of kindling.The current model is slightly changed from previous models. The previous model had a full ring at the top to hold the wood which sometimes caused problems as you drove the wood down to the splitter bar with a hammer. The hammer could hit the upper ring. Now the upper ring has a gap in it (basically a crescent ring) which gives you an opening so that you are not driving the hammer into the ring. A good improvement.If you regularly build fires and need kindling - this is a handy addition to make your fire-building more efficient.

I’m a bonfire junkie, but unfortunately I’m too old to effectively swing an axe. I have a couple of these log splitters, but size of the logs I can use them with is limited by the size of the stabilizing ring. This solves that problem well.It took just a little over five minutes to assemble. The illustration-only instructions were simple and accurate. They provide a decent Allen Wrench and extra bolts and washers, which I didn’t need, but it is a nice touch. The finished frame is nice and solid.The best feature is that open stabilizing collar. I can rest a good-sized log on there, start it with a three-pound short sledge, then finish it off with my twelve-pound full-size sledge hammer. This will be a great tool to make it a lot easier for me reduce fairly big logs to more burnable quarters.

We had a few trees cut down these past few years and saved the wood for both our outdoor pit and indoor fireplace, but we had no efficient way to split them until we got this thing! It works great, and now we can save our backs from using a traditional axe and more effort. My husband actually likes this chore now!

I screwed this down onto a stump to make it stable and raise it up to an easy working height. I split a few 3"-4" diameter pieces of wood that had seasoned for about 3 years. I used an 8lb sledge and the wood split easily on this device. My only complaint is that I wish the top half-ring was adjustable in height. It's pretty low and the 24" wood I was splitting would tumble over until I gave them a small tap to get them seated onto the blade. Then just one good strike with the sledge and they'd split. shorter or wider wood would rest on the blade with more stability