We heat exclusively with wood and over the course of the average winter we can go through several cords.Haven't wanted to spend the money on a regular gas powered splitter so we had been borrowing one from a neighbor which can be inconvenient. Three years back we bought a small cheap electric splitter from Harbor Freight on a whim, I didn't really think it would perform well or last very long. It has actually worked great! Never any problems at all. It is slower than a reg splitter but no gas to deal with and definitely quieter. Some rounds that one can blow through with a gas machine might need to be studied for a second to pick the weak spots to attack first, but no big deal. We burn mostly black oak and several varieties of pine and by picking the spots to hit first we split up to 18" rounds no big deal. If someone is used to muscling through rounds whilly-nilly they will have to adjust their technique some but given the cost and no gas etc it isn't a big sacrifice.Once in a blue moon will I buy from HF, all my chain saws are Stihls.all my weedeaters are all Stihls, I try to always buy quality first, but this was an experiment that worked out fine.Bob.

A wedge with a larger included angle should split faster, but would also require more force.