I just got a DR flyer in the mail today and it shows free shipping to a depot, $60 for home or business (you need to have something with forks to unload it), and $120 for enhanced home delivery (lift truck). When I bought mine it was $250 for the shipping and I used the forks on my tractor. They show the PRO-XL model for $2299.99 right now. You don't need the electric start. Don't get the 5.5hp model, not enough power. Get the 6hp model, I did. You'll also want the steel work table.

Love mine. already have done 12 cords in 2 years. did some hackberry trunk pieces were 28 to 30 in in diameter. So huge I needed the laoder tractor to get them to the right height. at times you might have to 'hit' and retract the arm a couple of times but it powers through all types of wood, wet or dry. True Beast

Just bought this unit, and can't believe how well it works!!!!! Recommended for anyone who needs a lot of wood!!!!

Starting my 3rd season and I still love it. Just needed to clean up the bearings on the rack gear but other than that, it has no issues.

As you were splitting , I was dreading having to pick up the wood. So I glad you are doing it instead of me. and your review showing the difficulty of splitting the sycamore really showed a complete review. That's good planning on your part

That's gotta be the fastest splitter I ever seen. DR makes some good stuff.

your hand on the log, as it is moving towards the splitting wedge, is UTTER INSANITY

How in the fuck did i get here.

I just got a Rapidfire splitter this past week and tried it out splitting a bunch of Osage Orange (aka hedge, or bodark). It is a pretty tough wood to split, and with the exception of a couple of crotch pieces, the DR went through it no problem. Fast, too!

I appreciate your efforts to educate us on your findings. For what it is, it does quite well. Thanks

I use one extensively at my second job. They are not designed for knotty or crotch pieces. They are dangerous with tricky grain. The tray is good for production as the just split wood pushes earlier pieces off into the pile. It is a flywheel design that is dual belt driven. however, the flywheel is smooth cast without flanges or keepers to retain the belts if they get loose. The belt pulley and flywheel have keys and set screws in some less than obvious places that, if lost or loose allow the parts to slip out of alignment. The older designs have a cowling that is a PITA to secure after taking it off for maintenance. The speed is nice but when it gets caught, it can jerk the shoulder blade with significant force and cause the belts to burn and stretch.

This man takes his time to show people, mainly interested in purchasing a log splitter, his personal experience with the machine. He goes out of his way to make an excellent video and even answer a few valid questions. Why not commend him on his efforts and show some gratitude?? Instead a bunch of bitches are whining and complaining about the wood he chose or how he should be "doing it" correctly. You guys that respond with your own little agenda are not trolls but A FUCKING CANCER! Let the adults comment so if there are real questions for the actual video maker he will be much more likely to respond and help all of us decide if this is a machine we might one day purchase. If the maker of the video doesn't agree please have my comment removed and I apologize if I have not conveyed a message in line with your views.

Thanks for the comment. You're right, it is fast. I was just trying to show that it's NOT like they show in the ad's. It doesn't just blast through every piece of wood. I did let the sycamore rounds sit for a couple more months and then they split a lot better. I like your idea of re-splitting the cedar for kindling. Enjoy.

Awesome review- nice machine! Thanks for sharing! 👍👍👍👍👍

i have a firewood business and own one of these. they are not for commercial use. they are fast when they work but they are broken down more often they not. mine has 50 hours on the meter and ive spent 100 hours fixing it. great for a homeowner

caught me off guard there! didn't expect that much power from that little. machine.

Pretty informative video. I have oak, cherry, hickory, maple, and sometimes cedar. most split pretty easily, but the hickory is more of a challenge. I'm glad you highlighted differences. It still looks pretty capable. Thanks again

You have some great man toys and a super clean looking place there.

Thanks for posting. It was good to see the comparison between the types of wood, Ash and Cedar are so easy to split - even manually that I was hoping someone would have a demonstration with this machine on a tougher, cross grain like sycamore. Some woods split better wet, some dry. Sycamore really does need to set for a year.

I often don't even waste my time splitting elm anymore. We run a tree service and I split most if not all of the firewood we sell during the cold months. We don't generally get a lot of elm but like I said when I see it in the pile I throw it in with the longs and shorts that are taken to greencycle.

Thanks for the video and the good and the bad, i hate the wood splitting videos that show nothing but straight perfect birch or poplar at least you had a mix thanks again sir

my fav part was his last line, "now i gotta pick this all up and move it, damn!" lol

The Cedar wood you are cutting is beautiful! 2:42 gave me a woodgasm!

Quick and efficient. Great machine.

Thanks for sharing that with us. I'm in the market for a splitter and I've had my eye on the one you have. I like it's speed and ease of use. I split some large logs, so I might have to season them longer before using this. However, I'm willing to accept that for the speed of use over hydraulics. I appreciate you uploading this.

Sycamore wood is really tough - it's fibers have a spiral growth. I love splitting wood and when I was stationed at Fort Leavenworth (as a student, not an inmate) I had free access to sycamore's pulled from the river bank. I could split them free hand, but would have to cut them into 10 inch logs - no bigger! However - if you want to establish a base log for your splitting project - I suggest cutting a large sycamore for this. It will hold up well over time. As for aspen - pops like fire crackers! A joy to split.

Its good video showing one how this mechanical wood splitter works, I think its real bloody good idea and its fast, the guy has done a good job making the video. In NZ you would be made by the Government controlled NZ ACC" and also by "Work Safe NZ" to use two hands to allow the release of the piston ram in which, intern allows it to split your log of wood, your are not allowed to use your hand holding the wood in place on the I-beam. If you had a 20-30deg section of steel mounted horizontal along the side of your bit of wood, it would intern help you a lot in stopping your log of wood falling off the I-beam, you would then not be required to have your hand holding the log of wood.

Thanks for the information on the sycamore. I did go back and try some rounds that had sat for over a year and they did split much better. Thanks again.

Thank you very much for the information. I did find that if I cut the sycamore into logs and then let it sit for a season, it split much easier.

a tip when you split an airing wood in half way them together and split them again, so it's quicker to split them into four :)

Ran one of these on some black cherry a few weeks ago. One person running the controls and the other loading wood.. as fast as I could load wood on the splitter, it would be split and ready for another log

In all my years of splitting sycamore and other non straight fiber woods you can get it to split a lot easier if you spray pledge on the wedge. Spray wax will help a lot.

Sycamore is a cross grain wood which makes it tough to split. They were common chopping blocks for this quality.

nice toy, all knot free wood like every other add for a splitter

Great video very informative

Really nice set-up... Nice property! Thanks for posting

Another good tip is have a pallet crate waiting and you can fill it and move with pallet fork.

I was splitting red oak today. 27 ton log splitter and had some issues. But once found the sweet spots it would split then shoot away from me. The wood is 10 days old from cut. Dry or wet does not bother me.

Sycamore is like elm, a "cross grain wood." They make good chopping blocks for that reason. The cross grain catches the axe bit for more chopping and less splitting.

thanks for showing this machine.....very interesting... have a great day

great video. ive had my dr rapidsplitter for 5 seasons now. I tow it around were ever im cutting. the wife even uses it. I split around 10 cord a year. everything from red oak, ash, soft and hard maple, lots of cherry. The wood nazis here would shit bricks if they seen how much cherry i burn. Anyways, its a great splitter, but a pain in the ass to move around because its so heavy. So buy the towing attachment.

A million views. Wow. Do you still have the splitter? Has it held up well? Would you buy it again? Thanks for posting.

Nice demo of splitter.

He should get some of that rock hard oak in South Texas. I had a 12 ton log splitter on my tractor and found out it was too small so I traded it back in for a 24 ton splitter. some of those oak logs were tough as steel.

Thanks for the comment. They've changed the design a little on the new models. It has improved towing setup now. Compared to my neighbors hydraulic splitter, this one is much faster and easier to use. I just need to get the wood dried out properly before splitting.

I'm willing to bet it is the grain of the sycamore that is giving it the trouble. I use a 22 ton Huskee from TSC to split our wood. It often gives me a little bit of trouble due to the grain not being very straight.

These splitters do very well, its only those tough woods that give them difficulty. And it did split the sycamore on the second effort, which would have still been faster than hydraulics. I prefer hydraulics because I am not in a hurry, but these can pile wood quick.

Great looking splitter never heard of cedar for fire wood here in tn. we got a world of it.

appreciate the demo. looks a little underpowered for my needs. Frequently deal with 24 inch or better oak with heavy knots. Thanks for the demo!

That’s how I use me front end loader too! I want a kinetic, so nice!

Sycamore & Elm are hardest to split because grain is intertwined not straight. Good video. Thanks

This is an older post but I think it’s very important to let everyone know it is very dangerous to place one’s hands on the ends of the log, sure the operator has to have a hand on the lever to throw piston but it’s always good practice to never load a splitter with hands on the ends of the log, was difficult to watch his hands in potential danger so often, if your hands are never on the log ends they can never be crushed by machine.

burning that beautiful cedar hard to watch

I am actually impressed that it can split sycamore as easily as it did. As a kid I had to split this junk by hand. The issue with sycamore is very fibrous and stringy. It's tough stuff. As for the video I would like to have seen some knots in the wood to show how it would split.

Thanks for the demonstration. I have four foot diameter poplar logs to split which are still a little wet. I'm guessing that this log splitter would not be appropriate.

The POV is nice for a couple of minutes, but after awhile it starts to cause motion sickness. Would have liked it better with the camera mounted to a fixed location. Otherwise nice to see the DR in motion.

Burned wood all my life, sycamore does not split worth a nickle when green, but if you just holler SPLIT at it when thoroughly dried some of them will happily bust wide open lol. Sycamore grain is very cross woven and stringy, as it dries, the grain starts to release from the inside, so drying it out does most of the splitting work for you.

That sycamore looks like some stuff we used to run into while cutting wood near the James River in South Dakota. We thought it was some sort of river willow. The only way we were able to split it was to let it freeze (-20 or so) and then it split ok, otherwise it was a real bear.

The Rapid Fire comes with a 6 hp Subaru engine and that's the only engine they offer. When I get some other types of wood, I'll add an update. I'm going to try some of the sycamore again that I cut in the spring and left in the woods. Maybe now that it's dried out a bit it will split easier. Thanks for your questions, and I hope you from the video informative.

I welded a t wedge to the existing wedge on my MTD log splitter and it will split pieces into 1/4ths alot more convenient.

I see a lot of people remarking on safety and that it is too fast. I call BS. The machine is as safe as the operator. The human mind and hands are way faster. Most people with at least a modicum of intelligence can see that this is a machine with the potential to injure and will treat it accordingly. We need to start putting some responsibility back on the operator. It's a wonder car doors are not labelled as hazardous areas for the numbers of children's fingers they have damaged yet we all still happily use them every day.

own a 7 ton hydrolic and a 8.5 ton rapid splitter.. main difference . constant 7 ton vs peak of 8.5 ton. when you hit a harder part your tons drop fast with a rapid splitter. i only use my fast splitter for pine wood types. i am busy with a diy splitter. i am using a 7.5kw motor. what is ofcourse really high power. i calculated with a stroke of 2 seconds over 50cm the pure engine power delivers only 2.8 tons.. i am planning to go with a 4 seconds stroke so i have at least 5 (5,6ton) of constant power. i am using a flywheel of a boat to have some extra peak power the idea of the high kw motor is that i can add extra weight on the flywheel.

I want to see it split a big knotty piece of wet pine like we have in CA. some are to big to get up on that deck. pretty cool for that smaller stuff.

I do like the splitter. I've split rounds up to 24". I think the problem with a 30" round would be getting it onto the splitter.

Why don't you position wood FACE DOWN (split side) when splitting after the first split? Would be MORE STABLE.

Oak ought a do fine. Elm not so much. Great video. Sold me on the new design over a hydraulic.

thanks for this video its helped me make my decision on a purchase.

Sycamore has a twisted grain, not as straight of a grain as other trees. This makes it extremely hard to split. I would let it dry out a year or two before splitting or you might wear out your machine prematurely. Check out the splitter with the KZfaq title "Dad's Wood Splitter". The DR is nice but that one is the ultimate. It has a duel action hydraulic system. Very cool but probably more expensive as well.

Fast is not always the answer. You won't have a second chance if you get your hand caught. Works well in straight grain wood but how does it work in knotty oak or elm?

it's called a mechanical flywheel splitter, the technology has been around forever. It uses The momentum of a heavy spinning flywheel to drive the ram forward. When splitting tougher wood the momentum will be lost before the wood is split, requiring another strike. Far faster than a hydraulic on certain types of wood.

I just read a DR Rapidfire ad that says "Split dense hardwoods up to 30" in diameter." So, I guess that answers it, straight from DR.

Sicamore or however you spell it, grows slower so it tends to be harder than most thats why its falled a hardwood

I'd have to agree with the comment about the camera moving around. Maybe a helmet cam isn't the bast choice. Also, it was hard to hear at times. Now, I have used the older non-DR version of this machine, (Super Split), and it was awesome! It was kinda worn out, but still split some tough, knotty oak. My one complaint is they should make them towable.

great video. Add in a 4 way cross [splitting] wedge and you'll save time doing the 1/4 splits.

Good looking splitter, I think sycamore dried out it'd do better. But, its a dense hardwood. That cedar is pretty wood.

OK, glad I watched because if anyone offers me a sycamore tree for firewood I will decline. I’ve never seen a log so small that gives so much resistance to splitting. Obviously, this would be challenging to a large hydraulic splitter as well. The true test of any purchase is whether you would purchase it again after using it and I have had this splitter for Many years and I would definitely purchase it again. Having the large table area is a definite asset.

Splitters with a fixed wedge have an inherent issue with efficiency. The wood is pushed away from you and the larger pieces have to be retrieved and reset. A moving wedge splitter never moves the log, it splits it in place. Simply knock slabs off the far side and rotate the log until finished.

thx for vid. i don't get these splitter vids, though....always pre-dried wood with no knots. I cut down trees, buck and split on same day/week, let it dry in pile. I can't see that splitter dealing with fairly wet oak.

Get out of the habit of grabbing the ends of the log while splitting. Grab the sides and you will never get injured

Those look like "ideal" logs to me. Somehow mine end up gnarly, stringy, or plain BIG (I use vertical splitter). Was thinking about a DR for quick splitting after big ones are quartered.

I can't believe you're using that for firewood! I'll send you all the pine I can get and you send me some of that beautiful wood. Man it's a pity.. such big logs.

I will still use my axe, maul, and wedge. I have a log splitter for the really big knotty stuff but I haven't been able to stay it in 2 years.

With no doubt in my mind, I will own one of these!

nice machine, wery nice

So this is gasoline right? have you tried any electrical ones? I have an electrical but yours seem to have no issues whatsoever compared to mine.

Nice machine. That cedar must smell great, shame to burn it.

Very nice, cant wait to sell my house in the city and buy some property so I can justify to the old lady it's worth getting a log splitter lol

Thanks for the video - ignore the idiots of the internet please

Well, it had trouble with the sycamore, but it did get through it without having to hand-split it.

when sickamore is wet it's really stringy but when it's dry it makes you sneeze but it splits a lot easier

i like my hydrulic, it use a 3ph 7.5 hp electric motor, that wat no one can borrow it . that splitter looks pretty nice as long as the woods mostly not knotty

Red oak? Hickory?? White oak????

it seems to me that you would put the flat side down when cutting the logs..... safer Maybe

Sounds pretty much like it splits what my little WEN Electric 6.5 ton does. But like with that one, there are problem woods, esp anything with knots or odd things like that. I do have to say I hate splitting elm.

I used the GoPro head strap mount.

even if it takes a couple whacks its still faster than a hydraulic great for small stuff, ive heard of mods being done to them bigger flywheel and they make great machines. i want one that's for sure, and save on fuel for the shorter run times

It sounds like something is rattling like crazy before you pull on the handle. Is that the housing or something internal?

Why after the first split do you not put the halves back together and split it into 4 in one shot?

That difficult timber, looks and acts the same as bloody scribbly gum, eucalyptus here in Australia, I have broken axe handles trying to split that shit.( dry not green)

Thanks for the video. Buy a hookaroon to help save your back when picking up all the wood off the ground.