How easy is this to use? It is just my mom and I who would be using it. Does it take a lot of muscle?

ACTUALLY, Victoria, you asked TWO questions... "How easy is this to use?" and "Does it take a lot of muscle?" Two questions with contradictary intents. One begs a YES answer, as in, 'it's easy to use,' while the next begs a NO response, as in, 'No, it doesn't require a lot of muscle.' SO>>>VICTORIA, PAY ATTENTION to what you post and what you're asking before you judge and berate those who are trying to help you.

Sun-Joe/Snow-Joe customer support did not read the question. It was, "How easy is this to use?" and they answered, "Not at all." Not at all easy? Thanks for the warning. I'll keep looking for one that is easy to use or has customer support people that actually pay attention to customers.

The instructions say to use both handles and it ends up looking like you're on an exercise machine. That's a little deceiving. You can use both handles but I've found that the handle on the left side is like a rapid traverse, it puts the ram up against the log quickly and quickly pushes it into the ram. But when you are hitting resistance, the left handle is much more difficult to cycle. That's when you switch to the right side handle. It pushes in much shorter increments, but is much easier to work. Once the log has cracked, switch back to the left handle to rapidly push the pieces apart. Once I figured out this system, it was pretty easy, even on oversized logs.

Dear Victoria, Not at all, you should have no issues using this log splitter. Hope this helps, if you have any other questions please let us know. Thanks Customer Service Team Snow Joe + Sun Joe