Laura Kowalski, Senior editor

I'm the senior editor, so the rankings are my responsibility, and so is saying no. No to a splitter that made a list only because it's on sale this week. No to a tonnage figure nobody can trace back to the manual. No to a shortlist that hasn't been opened since the prices moved.

Tonnage is where I spend most of my time. It's the biggest number on every box and the one buyers lean on hardest, yet on its own it tells you very little. I read it next to the things that decide whether your rounds actually split: the log length the beam takes, the cycle time the manufacturer states, the engine or motor behind the pump, and what owners say about knotty oak and elm in their reviews.

I write the guides on choosing a splitter, gas versus electric and tonnage, and I edit most of the others. Before anything goes live I read it the way a buyer would, with the spec sheet open in the next tab.

We don't run these machines ourselves, and I'd rather say so plainly. We read, we compare, and we keep the lists current.