Ryobi Four-Ton Electric Log Splitter Review

I remember a long ago tale I heard about Abe Lincoln splitting logs with an axe outside his log cabin in Illinois. I don’t doubt that Abe split his own firewood, as did thousands of other people before him. America’s pioneers were way ahead of us in using “renewable” resources like wood. Most likely, the early American pioneers were way ahead of us in physical endurance, too. It is a difficult matter to heat your home entirely with firewood you cut and split yourself.. Our relatively modern house has a high-efficiency oil burner and a wood-burning fireplace insert we use as a backup. The backup system is comforting when, due to winter storms, the electric power occasionally goes out.

For several years, I’ve been splitting wood using the Abe Lincoln method: axe, wood chisels, and splitting mauls. It’s great outdoor activity, a favored training exercise for old-time boxers, and back-breaking, hard work. It’s also dangerous, especially when you’re tired, as when wood chips fly or you miss your target with the sledge hammer. You soon realize you’re not Paul Bunyan and that productivity is low.

I finally succumbed to the need for an automatic log-splitter. The local Home Depot has 25 or 27-ton log-splitters in the range of $1200 to $1600. These are large hydraulic machines powered by gasoline engines. They’re capable of just about any wood-splitting task you can imagine but they make noise, emit fumes, require gasoline, maintenance, hearing protection, and a trailer hitch to move them around. Even so, I would have preferred one of those if they were the same price as the Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter.

While looking around in a Home Depot store, I several times passed by these smaller, compact contraptions which looked more like toys than log splitters. After deciding I didn’t want to spend the $1500 for a gasoline-powered log splitter, I returned to Home Depot to have another look at one of the five Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitters on display there. Four of them had been sold within the week and some unknown person had stolen the documentation from the one that remained on display. I took those events as solid clues.

The long and short of it was that I bought the Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter for $299.00from a Home Depot about 30 miles away.

The 94 pound unit doesn’t have to be towed and can be put into your car or truck. It’s already set up, filled with hydraulic fluid. You’ve got to turn the bleeder screw two full turns when you operate the unit, and you’ve got to plug it in. The purpose of the bleeder screw is so as not to blow out the hydraulic seals should the machine encounter a load which exceeds capacity.

An electric cord is a disadvantage in wet weather so I wouldn’t use it during periods of precipitation. The Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter is quiet operating and requires no maintenance except for an occasional check of the hydraulic fluid. The only assembly required when you buy the Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter is to attach two small wheels with cotter pins. The wheels allow you to roll the unit around. But the ultimate question, the one I waited for with bated breath, was how well the splitter could split wood.

The operating manual recommends you don’t exceed a ten-inch limit but that’s general advice. I’ve split wooden rounds larger than ten inches if the wood was brittle, well-seasoned, and dry. At the same time, the Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter had some difficulty with smaller logs when the wood was green, fibrous, knotty and gnarled.

But on the whole, the unit is a highly functional efficient wood-splitter which serves its purpose at a price well below that of its gasoline powered industrial strength competitors. I’ve used it to split wild cherry, red oak, and other fibrous hardwoods which are highly daunting to split manually. When the Ryobi occasionally stalls on a log, you can give it a second try or put the wood aside. This does not happen often enough to make me unhappy with the purchase-just the opposite. The Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter splits well-seasoned hardwoods like maple, black birch, ash, beech, and locust with ease. It will take logs up to 20 inches in length.

It’s important to understand that the Ryobi Electric Log Splitter is geared more to the homeowner than to the lumberjack. It wouldn’t be the machine to buy for commercial use or even for a large-volume outdoor wood-burner. The Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter operates at only one speed but it does that quietly so you don’t need hearing protection. Operation of the Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter is a slower process than the wood processing capabilities of larger gas-powered splitters with huge power. The compromise on speed is mitigated by the fact that electric Ryobi splitter is safer to operate. Another safety feature engineered into the splitter is that you must release the hydraulic “pusher” with one hand while holding down an operating button with the other. This two-handed operation prevents you from inadvertently putting your hand on the splitting table while the unit is operating.

My biggest worry when buying this low-cost Ryobi 4-Ton Electric Log Splitter was whether it could produce sufficiently to justify its $300 cost. Since buying it, I’ve put the unit through extensive use and it exceeds my early expectations. While there is a great deal of difference between the application of a 4-ton pressure and a 25-ton pressure, the 4-ton pressure is considerably more power than even Paul Bunyon can apply to the end of a splitting maul or axe. Now the only thing which remains to be assessed is its long-term durability. After a month of use, and much wood split, I’m so far happy with the purchase.