# Firewood Processing, go big or go home.



## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

My brother runs a firewood operation in Upstate NY and I was there last week so I got some pics of the thing. He has a Timberwolf processor that has 26K hours on the clock. It was recently rebuilt because the steel beam for splitting was worn completly through. He also tweaked some other functions and got it running in prime shape. He bought the processor new about 9 years ago. The processor is tucked under a canteleavered roof of a barn so it stays dry while processing. Here is the processor in its position.







Here is a look inside the "sugar shack". This is the brains of the operation and the operator(s) can stand in here out of the weather. In the winter the walls are sealed up so it can be heated to above freezing. Last week he was into big wood so he was running the 6 way wedge on it. He recently also added a single little wood splitter off to the side. That way a helper when not filling the log deck with the tractor can be in the sugar shack splitting the bigger pieces that escape the 6 way wedge. With the `20" logs he was working last week each pass generates some flat pieces that need to be whacked in half. With a helper on the small splitter the operation is about 40-50% faster than just a single operator.






You can see the little splitter in this pic and see how it drops right into the conveyor.






Here is an end view of the barn. There is a place for the tractor but it was currently filled with junk. The processor is on the left under the cantaleavered roof. The tank is the diesel tank and the processor is plumbed right to the tank. Never a need to ever fill the tank on the processor. It just sucks fuel out of the tank and the fuel company fills the tank every few weeks. Bar oil is also plumbed directly out of barrels but that is inside and I did not get pictures of that.






I will continue with more pictures below.


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## Beefie (May 16, 2010)

Keep the pics coming Curly. We like pics. What a awsome setup you guys have.

Beefie


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

There is a "road" next to the process and all the logs that is made out of road grindings. It is about 2' thick and can support any size truck that comes in. He has friends in the town that needed a place to dump the road grindings and so he got a steady supply years ago and now has a great road that is about 1500' long. Here is a view looking North up the road from the processor:






Here is a view looking South. The logs are piled on both sides of the road here to a height of about 30'. The forground pile is new logs just coming in so that pile is not full height yet.






Here is a view looking down from on top of the pile. That is a Kubota 7040 way down there looking kind of small.






Here is a look at the logs from a distance. The front small pile is beach logs that need to be processed quickly because they rot fast if left in log form.


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## komatsuvarna (May 16, 2010)

Beefie said:


> Keep the pics coming Curly. We like pics. What a awsome setup you guys have.
> 
> Beefie



+1 26k hours!!!!!! That baby has split ALOT of wood.


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

The wood comes right out of the sugar shack via conveyor and directly onto the old tired yard truck. This truck has seen better days but it gets the job done.






Here is what two people can generate in 15 minutes not bad for a couple of old geezers.






Here is the boss settling into his favorite spot in the sawdust pile at the beginning of his shift. He curls up there and sleeps the entire shift. If only we could get that job.






Here are the guards of the operation. NOTHING happens on the property without their alert signal going out for the whole world to hear. NOTHING escapes them.


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

So what does it all accomplish. Piles and piles and piles of firewood everywhere. He is selling more than 1500 cords per year but we will not admit how much becuase the town does not want him getting bigger in his operation. So no official number goes out here. He stacks the wood so it will dry with no mold. Views of the piles. I also can't show photos of all of it because the town might do the math and get cranky. You also saw in the North view looking up the road (see above) piles of firewood on both sides of the road. He has a lot of wood around.











So there it is a big operation running full out making firewood, lots and lots of firewood. 

Rep gladly accepted. :greenchainsaw:


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

komatsuvarna said:


> +1 26k hours!!!!!! That baby has split ALOT of wood.



Good maintainence has kept the 40 Hp Deere diesel in good shape. Lots of other stuff has broken over the years and as I said the beam got worn out where the ram travels. 3/4" Of steel worn completely out in 9 years! A local welder cut the top half of the beam out and replaced it with a 1.5" thick top piece and it is solid as a rock and should last 20+ years.


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## komatsuvarna (May 16, 2010)

1500+ cords a year!!!! If you add it all up over 9 years time at 1500 cords a year, that would be 9.91 acres of wood stacked 4 foot high.:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop: Thats alot of firewood. Nice operation.


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## STLfirewood (May 16, 2010)

Very nice thanks for the pictures.

Scott


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## indiansprings (May 16, 2010)

What a fantastic operation, that's a wood business. I can only dream of doing that kind of production. That is impressive, 26K hours on the processor is unreal. Great post, keep the pictures coming.


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## CWME (May 16, 2010)

That is really cool! Thanks for posting the pictures!! 

Who is the lucky guy that gets to stack 1500 cords of wood a year?? That must take an Army.


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## DJ4wd (May 16, 2010)

Wow thats sweet!
I imagine myself doing that around retirement time, loader and multi step procesor. Something to keep me hopping once my body wants to slow down lol


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## MNGuns (May 16, 2010)

Very impressive setup...


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## ropensaddle (May 16, 2010)

I can easily see how a person could get there,it is the only way to make enough at it. I thought I would make part year income with my TW6 and can but no way is it equal to tree work when busy. I would be one sore sog if I did 1500 cords on my tw6 lmfao I did around 30 last year but got the machine in late summer. I have about ten split but been too busy for firewood!


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## wvlogger (May 16, 2010)

wow what a setup


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## Dalmatian90 (May 16, 2010)

Nice.


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

CWME said:


> That is really cool! Thanks for posting the pictures!!
> 
> Who is the lucky guy that gets to stack 1500 cords of wood a year?? That must take an Army.



Right now my brother has a guy that comes by and spends a few hours per day a few days per week and he is able to keep up pretty good. In past years he had some greedy kids that would get off the school bus at his house and stay until 6 or 7 when their dad or mom would pick them up. Those kids made a lot of money but that was years ago. Now kids are too darn lazy that they do not care to make a buck. They would rather text on their phones all day.


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## stackwood (May 16, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> There is a "road" next to the process and all the logs that is made out of road grindings. It is about 2' thick and can support any size truck that comes in. He has friends in the town that needed a place to dump the road grindings and so he got a steady supply years ago and now has a great road that is about 1500' long. Here is a view looking North up the road from the processor:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That was like looking at a super hot naked chick ,,drool....................


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

stackwood said:


> That was like looking at a super hot naked chick ,,drool....................



Well, let's see, processor cost, two delivery trucks, barn, land, logs, processed firewood, processor chain, 3 conveyors, Kubota RTV, yard truck, tons of accessories to support it all, and all totaled it is about ~$300K+. Hot naked chick would probably cost about the same when all is considered.


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## STLfirewood (May 16, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> Well, let's see, processor cost, two delivery trucks, barn, land, logs, processed firewood, processor chain, 3 conveyors, Kubota RTV, yard truck, tons of accessories to support it all, and all totaled it is about ~$300K+. Hot naked chick would probably cost about the same when all is considered.




I don't know if they cost more but they are more work. At least when a machine breaks down you can just install some new parts. When a hot naked chick talks you have to act interested. The whole time your thinking shut up lets get to it. 

Scott


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## TFPace (May 16, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> So what does it all accomplish. Piles and piles and piles of firewood everywhere. He is selling more than 1500 cords per year but we will not admit how much becuase the town does not want him getting bigger in his operation. So no official number goes out here. He stacks the wood so it will dry with no mold. Views of the piles. I also can't show photos of all of it because the town might do the math and get cranky.QUOTE]
> 
> Your brother has a sharp operation. It sucks that the town he lives in is complaining about his business that appears to be operating in rural farm setting.Bothering no one and contributing to the tax base!
> 
> ...


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## BuddhaKat (May 16, 2010)

Wow, that's the ultimate. I've always dreamed of someone asking me where I want the load of logs to go and telling them "Stack em up down there by my lake."


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## corrupt (May 16, 2010)

26 000h over 9 years is 8h a day 7 days a week, your brother is a hard worker.
May be the town wants to slow down the hours more than the wood output??


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

TFPace said:


> [Your brother has a sharp operation. It sucks that the town he lives in is complaining about his business that appears to be operating in rural farm setting.Bothering no one and contributing to the tax base!
> 
> Big brother is always watching!
> 
> ...



The beef was not started by the town but the guy that wanted to develop the land next door that is slightly higher than my brother's land. Thus they could see the piles and piles of wood and logs if houses were to be built. The town eventually sided with my bro and told the develper to get lost.

The power unit has never been touched internally. Frequent oil changes/maintainence and not running full out rpms makes a big difference. It seems to be sized so that it does not fluctuate in rpms much at all when the hydraulic fluid is called for. The main pump is a tripple pump with three inlets and three outlets going to various parts of the machine. He has gone through a few pumps, and the arm that the hydraulic chainsaw pivots on seems to crack about every 6 months or so. All the stress of the up and down of raising/lowering of the saw bar is what does it.

Oh and he did wear away the metal on the main wedge and had to have that recently filled in. It takes a heck of a lot of wood to wear a wedge down.


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

BuddhaKat said:


> Wow, that's the ultimate. I've always dreamed of someone asking me where I want the load of logs to go and telling them "Stack em up down there by my lake."



The pond was dug a few years ago to provide some habitat for critters and to provide water in case of a fire. 

My brother is peaved that some geese or something brought bullhead eggs into the pond and now he has an explosion of bullheads living in there. He stocked it with some kind of minnow and some sunnies and they have been thriving, but the bullheads are taking over. It is funny to take the Kubota RTV around the pond and watch the water boil from the fish looking for their food handout.


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## BuddhaKat (May 16, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> The pond was dug a few years ago to provide some habitat for critters and to provide water in case of a fire.
> 
> My brother is peaved that some geese or something brought bullhead eggs into the pond and now he has an explosion of bullheads living in there. He stocked it with some kind of minnow and some sunnies and they have been thriving, but the bullheads are taking over. It is funny to take the Kubota RTV around the pond and watch the water boil from the fish looking for their food handout.


Just get a couple of neighborhood grade school kids to go plinking with their BB guns. Oh wait, you're out in the country. Tell em to bring their 22's.


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## woodman6666 (May 16, 2010)

Nice setup, is it completely necessary to hand stack all the wood I would think if they got all the debris out of the wood right away, the wood could remain loosely piled with no chance of mold. But I could be wrong.


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## Curlycherry1 (May 16, 2010)

woodman6666 said:


> Nice setup, is it completely necessary to hand stack all the wood I would think if they got all the debris out of the wood right away, the wood could remain loosely piled with no chance of mold. But I could be wrong.



Over the decades of being in business we have tried heaping the wood many, many times and it never works. CNY is one of the most overcast areas in the US so that leads to mold. By stacking it it provides a nice gray product when dried and no chance of mold. People are paranoid about mold so this makes that problem go away. Oh and by pulling a conveyor along next to the rows it can be loaded into a truck with lightning speed.

Besides, it looks darn cool to see those stacks. Notice how straight they are. He stretches string to get every row straight as an arrow.


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## NeoTree (May 16, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> Over the decades of being in business we have tried heaping the wood many, many times and it never works. CNY is one of the most overcast areas in the US so that leads to mold. By stacking it it provides a nice gray product when dried and no chance of mold. People are paranoid about mold so this makes that problem go away. Oh and by pulling a conveyor along next to the rows it can be loaded into a truck with lightning speed.
> 
> Besides, it looks darn cool to see those stacks. Notice how straight they are. He stretches string to get every row straight as an arrow.



Ya great looking work he does! I wish my stacks came out that straight. 

Today I stacked a 30 foot heap of maple cherry and oak that had been sitting for a year split now and the maple had some mold on it, and I'm wondering if the peices in the middle are seasoned enough too. I like the idea of putting it in rows, then every peice gets a degree of sun and wind , just sucks to have to handle it _one more time _


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## needwood (May 17, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> My brother runs a firewood operation in Upstate NY and I was there last week so I got some pics of the thing. He has a Timberwolf processor that has 26K hours on the clock. It was recently rebuilt because the steel beam for splitting was worn completly through. He also tweaked some other functions and got it running in prime shape. He bought the processor new about 9 years ago. The processor is tucked under a canteleavered roof of a barn so it stays dry while processing. Here is the processor in its position.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Wow! My friends said that i was crazy when i talked about getting one of those Built Right splitters. Yea that is a dream of mine. Now i have bigger dreams"


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## needwood (May 17, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> Right now my brother has a guy that comes by and spends a few hours per day a few days per week and he is able to keep up pretty good. In past years he had some greedy kids that would get off the school bus at his house and stay until 6 or 7 when their dad or mom would pick them up. Those kids made a lot of money but that was years ago. Now kids are too darn lazy that they do not care to make a buck. They would rather text on their phones all day.



Yea,tell me about it. But its not just the kids. I told the 8 year old boy across the street to ask his parents if it was OK to help me carry some pieces of wood from the front to the back of my pickup (just trying to teach the boy the value of the dollar)and i would pay him. They said yes and he did,so i payed him 5$. It was only about 8 or 10 pieces of split soft maple. I told him i might have more next weekend,and he said OK,he would help me. When he started walking away, 3 of my neighbors started yelling about how i was a cheapskate. When i drove in with a load of wood the next weekend, he pointed at me. His parents yelled at him,no and get in the house. I wonder where they get it??""""


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## Curlycherry1 (May 17, 2010)

needwood said:


> Yea,tell me about it. But its not just the kids. I told the 8 year old boy across the street to ask his parents if it was OK to help me carry some pieces of wood from the front to the back of my pickup (just trying to teach the boy the value of the dollar)and i would pay him. They said yes and he did,so i payed him 5$. It was only about 8 or 10 pieces of split soft maple. I told him i might have more next weekend,and he said OK,he would help me. When he started walking away, 3 of my neighbors started yelling about how i was a cheapskate. When i drove in with a load of wood the next weekend, he pointed at me. His parents yelled at him,no and get in the house. I wonder where they get it??""""



Yeah it is the parents. A few years ago my brother (when I was visiting) saw a group of pop-warner football kids washing cars. He went over to the coach and said he had a deal piling firewood where they could make far more money. He told them about firewood piling and gave his card and said to set something up. My brother figured with an army of 10-15 kids he could really get the wood piled.

A month later the coach made arrangements to do a Saturday piling. Only 5 Kids showed up! The rest had "other arrangements" to take care of that day. Those five kids worked from 9 until 3 and they did not work like crazy, but they put up a good pace. Those 5 kids and their coach earned over 900 for that amount of work. That is far more money than they ever could make in a day washing cars. Yet they never came back and when my brother called to ask why the coach said it was too much work.

These are the same brats that grow up expecting $19/hour (starting) at the local brewerys or $16/hour at the Carrier factory.


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## ropensaddle (May 17, 2010)

STLfirewood said:


> I don't know if they cost more but they are more work. At least when a machine breaks down you can just install some new parts. When a hot naked chick talks you have to act interested. The whole time your thinking shut up lets get to it.
> 
> Scott


Lmfao I got in trouble with the wifey last night for that very thing. I said, I have no idea what I could have said about what your asking me about so, just told her I have confidence in her ability. This made her mad lol, I don't know nothing about the subject but am supposed to give advice It will be ok I think but I find no stone rougher than the one surrounding a woman's heart.


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## Steve NW WI (May 17, 2010)

corrupt said:


> 26 000h over 9 years is 8h a day 7 days a week, your brother is a hard worker.
> May be the town wants to slow down the hours more than the wood output??



55 hours a week, every week, over nine years, even at a cord an hour, your "over 1500 cords" is under half of what it's production should be. Don't worry about the town finding out his actual numbers. Tax records, aerial photos, someone counting log trucks, etc is much more likely to be used as evidence than an internet post.

Is that Deere motor 3 or 4 cyl? Either one is not noted for living that long without some work. I have run a 7600 tractor that's at 17,000 hours with only an injection pump and new turbo on the motor, but that's a 6.8L six.

It is a heck of a setup though. What does he do with sawdust, splitter trash, bark, etc? It must be a heck of a compost pile!


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## Curlycherry1 (May 17, 2010)

Steve NW WI said:


> 55 hours a week, every week, over nine years, even at a cord an hour, your "over 1500 cords" is under half of what it's production should be. Don't worry about the town finding out his actual numbers. Tax records, aerial photos, someone counting log trucks, etc is much more likely to be used as evidence than an internet post.
> 
> Is that Deere motor 3 or 4 cyl? Either one is not noted for living that long without some work. I have run a 7600 tractor that's at 17,000 hours with only an injection pump and new turbo on the motor, but that's a 6.8L six.
> 
> It is a heck of a setup though. What does he do with sawdust, splitter trash, bark, etc? It must be a heck of a compost pile!



Official decision from the town was that "he cannot get any bigger" than at the time of the settlement. So he is not getting bigger. Wink, wink. The town does not care one way or another about what he does specifically, they just needed to shut the jerk up that wanted to develop the land next door. The town has actually been fed up with people moving there and then complaining about tractors working the fields at midnight during harvest/planting times and the smell of cows. So the town has put in place some rules that if you move there you cannot complain about what is next to you. Also note, the town gave him all those road grindings to make his processor road. He is in good with the town.

He sells the sawdust to horse people and gets a few pennies for the dust. The chips get burned in a burn pile. The butts go into his OWB along with a lot of the chips. 

As for hours of use there is almost always a person running it during the day and many nights a week he puts in one load himself. That is 7 face cords/load on the yard truck.

Part of the reason the drive system has held up so well is right down the street is the best diesel mechanic in the state. Seriously the guy grew up on a farm doing nothing but fixing equipment and he left the farm at 18 to start his own business. When he was about 14 he was rebuilding other farmer's tractors for money and raking it in. Now he and his two kids are cleaning up fixing stuff that somebody else has given up on. He and his kids are also the best welders around to, so if something needs fixing, they are the guys that will do it. It is nothing to see the local Cat or Deere service center pull in with something on their truck that they need him to fix. At $80/hour he and his kids had better be good. So the neighbor helps maintain the diesel engine and he is darn good at anticipating problems and preventing them from growing. I took a pic of the hour clock but it is too fuzzy to read in the pic. 

I think the drive system is 4 cyl. 40 Hp if I remember correctly. The big thing is that it runs a fast idle and does not struggle under load. That can really make a motor last a long time. Slow steady rpms and good maintainence.


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## Curlycherry1 (Aug 17, 2010)

Just a quick update. Last week I took the kiddies and we were up to my Bro's for vacation. Got to help process some wood and run the tractor lifting logs onto the processor deck. Good testosterone inducing fun!

Anyway a diner brawl broke out about how much wood was stacked on my brother's property so I took a few hours (yes, it takes hours to total that much wood) and I got a hard number. Not counting what he has dumped in windrows waiting to be piled, he has 1437 face cords stacked. He has many hundreds of other face cords waiting to be stacked, but I did not tally them because it is hard to get an accurate number on dumped wood.

For those that need a new measurement system for firewood, how about by the mile? That 1437 face cords makes a pile 4' high by ~2.2 miles long.


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## adam32 (Aug 17, 2010)

Dang, 1500 cords a year @ $160 a cord is some serious money for a firewood business!! Hard work pays off!!


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## banshee67 (Aug 17, 2010)

WHAT THE HELL IS A FACE CORD? lol
my understanding is that its one row of wood, 8 feet long and 4 feet high? how long does he cut his pieces? how many face cords in a cord?

what im getting at here is, how many CORDS he got stacked!?
(no i dont work for the town)


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## Curlycherry1 (Aug 17, 2010)

banshee67 said:


> WHAT THE HELL IS A FACE CORD? lol
> my understanding is that its one row of wood, 8 feet long and 4 feet high? how long does he cut his pieces? how many face cords in a cord?
> 
> what im getting at here is, how many CORDS he got stacked!?
> (no i dont work for the town)



16" Pieces so 1437/3=479 full cords. $85/face cord or $255/full cord plus a $15 delivery charge. It works out to about $120,000 worth of wood. Keep in mind this is not all of what he sells. The total amount is top secret. The town only allows him up to 2000 cords per year so that is all he sells. 

He will sell and deliver all of that and more between September 1st and mid December. That is the "dash for the cash" as he calls it. Things slow down late December and then just dribble along until about March. By dribble I mean 20-30 face cords per week as compared to a few hundred per week in the fall/early winter.

As for the measurment Nazis, in CNY where he is located nobody but nobody buys or sells wood by the full cord. It is unheard of in that area. Any attempt to get customers to understand and buy by the full cord is a total waste of energy. You sell what the customer expects. Face cords.


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## ropensaddle (Aug 17, 2010)

banshee67 said:


> WHAT THE HELL IS A FACE CORD? lol
> my understanding is that its one row of wood, 8 feet long and 4 feet high? how long does he cut his pieces? how many face cords in a cord?
> 
> what im getting at here is, how many CORDS he got stacked!?
> (no i dont work for the town)



My guess is divide by 3 here its illegal measurement only cords and fractions of a cord or cubic feet / meter applies.


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## ropensaddle (Aug 17, 2010)

ropensaddle said:


> My guess is divide by 3 here its illegal measurement only cords and fractions of a cord or cubic feet / meter applies.



PS: I may be wrong but its the bureau of standards which I believe makes it federal so should be the same in all states.


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## banshee67 (Aug 17, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> 16" Pieces so 1437/3=479 full cords. $85/face cord or $255/full cord plus a $15 delivery charge. It works out to about $120,000 worth of wood. Keep in mind this is not all of what he sells. The total amount is top secret. The town only allows him up to 2000 cords per year so that is all he sells.
> 
> He will sell and deliver all of that and more between September 1st and mid December. That is the "dash for the cash" as he calls it. Things slow down late December and then just dribble along until about March. By dribble I mean 20-30 face cords per week as compared to a few hundred per week in the fall/early winter.
> 
> As for the measurment Nazis, in CNY where he is located nobody but nobody buys or sells wood by the full cord. It is unheard of in that area. Any attempt to get customers to understand and buy by the full cord is a total waste of energy. You sell what the customer expects. Face cords.



well damn, thats a lot of wood, even for the conservative number you are feeding us for legal purposes. 
man he must be running deliveries all day long till after dark huh?
around here NO ONE has a clue what a "face cord" is, i dont think ive ever heard the term till joining AS
i have dealt with 2 types of people, one is the kind that calls and immediately gets into "do you know what a cord is..cause i do" BS with me, ive had people tell me a cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' stack.. to which i respond "i dont stack them, but its 128cu.ft. of wood". they usually go quiet for a second while doing the math in their head, its funny
the other type, has no idea what a cord is,they try to act like they do, with the old "4by4by8" line, but then cant believe how much wood is there once its delivered


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## WidowMaker (Aug 17, 2010)

How many people working this operation...sounds like a least a full time crew of 4 or 5 people...


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## ropensaddle (Aug 17, 2010)

banshee67 said:


> well damn, thats a lot of wood, even for the conservative number you are feeding us for legal purposes.
> man he must be running deliveries all day long till after dark huh?
> around here NO ONE has a clue what a "face cord" is, i dont think ive ever heard the term till joining AS
> i have dealt with 2 types of people, one is the kind that calls and immediately gets into "do you know what a cord is..cause i do" BS with me, ive had people tell me a cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' stack.. to which i respond "i dont stack them, but its 128cu.ft. of wood". they usually go quiet for a second while doing the math in their head, its funny
> the other type, has no idea what a cord is,they try to act like they do, with the old "4by4by8" line, but then cant believe how much wood is there once its delivered



Your lucky I always get the line, that's more than twice the amount the last guy delivered. Here cords vary so much it makes me sick. The advertising price has been 150 delivered and stacked for at least ten years because most are not selling true cords of wood. I feel it is almost a better result to burn it for that price. I sell a few to some of my tree customers but I have thought of buying a cord just to see what is delivered


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## banshee67 (Aug 17, 2010)

ropensaddle said:


> but I have thought of buying a cord just to see what is delivered



ive had the same idea... some guys advertise $120 a cord around here. when the average is $180-200 ($200-250 from a reputable tree service).. at that price i should call one of the guys up with a $120 cord, and have him deliver it... right into the back of my trailer for me to go sell 

i picked up a retired guy as a long time customer this spring, sold him about 10 cords so far, before i came with the first cord, he had another guy off crraigslist deliver him a cord before i returned his call. he said he would like to see what i have, and asked me to bring one over.. i got there and looked at the cord he had delivered the day before that was "100% oak" he was told .. it was probably about 2/3 of a cord total, a lot of it dry rotted junk, SOME oak.. and many pieces of 2" kindling, not all splits like it should be. i guess you get what you pay for, i didnt ask him what he paid for it, but needless to say he never called the other guy back and i sold him another 10 cords so far.


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## Walt41 (Aug 17, 2010)

Great setup, I love the use of Geese as guards, I have eight roaming my 13 acres and can attest to their aggressive behavior, next time you are there, throw them a head of iceberg lettuce and they will love you.


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## Curlycherry1 (Aug 17, 2010)

WidowMaker said:


> How many people working this operation...sounds like a least a full time crew of 4 or 5 people...



Nope, my brother doing a few 7 cord loads per week, and a helper working a few days a week cranking out a few loads per day. The helper also does construction with my brother when he has work. On rainy days or cold winter days when there is no construction to do then they pound out the wood working together.

Delivery time there can be up to 4-5 people loading and making deliveries. He has 3 trucks on the road, the smallest of which is a F350 and the biggest is an F550.


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## Hugenpoet (Aug 17, 2010)

ropensaddle said:


> My guess is divide by 3 here its illegal measurement only cords and fractions of a cord or cubic feet / meter applies.



For some reason NY is "face cord" country-I lived there for 16 years and just got used to that being the deal. Here in Mass a cord must be 128 c.f. or you can't call it a cord.


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## LAH (Aug 17, 2010)

Nice business there. Nothing like working wood.............Creeker


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## BlueRidgeMark (Aug 17, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> S... we will not admit how much becuase the town does not want him getting bigger in his operation. So no official number goes out here. .... I also can't show photos of all of it because the town might do the math and get cranky.






Smarter than a lot of folks, Curly. It amazes me how so many people think they can post just anything on the Internet and nobody will ever see it!


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## cuttinscott (Aug 17, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> Official decision from the town was that "he cannot get any bigger" than at the time of the settlement. So he is not getting bigger. Wink, wink. The town does not care one way or another about what he does specifically, they just needed to shut the jerk up that wanted to develop the land next door. The town has actually been fed up with people moving there and then complaining about tractors working the fields at midnight during harvest/planting times and the smell of cows. So the town has put in place some rules that if you move there you cannot complain about what is next to you. Also note, the town gave him all those road grindings to make his processor road. He is in good with the town.
> 
> He sells the sawdust to horse people and gets a few pennies for the dust. The chips get burned in a burn pile. The butts go into his OWB along with a lot of the chips.
> 
> ...



That is a TimberWolf TWPROHD it is Powered by a Deere 4.5L 80Hp Engine. I have sold many of that model and it has been a Great Processor. Gots a new one in my yard right now for sale lol except they stopped making the offset model now they are all inline and use a thin wedge design.








Scott


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## Curlycherry1 (Aug 17, 2010)

cuttinscott said:


> That is a TimberWolf TWPROHD it is Powered by a Deere 4.5L 80Hp Engine. I have sold many of that model and it has been a Great Processor. Gots a new one in my yard right now for sale lol except they stopped making the offset model now they are all inline and use a thin wedge design.
> Scott



You guys keep trying to get him to buy a new model but you seem to neglect that you build your machines too darn well. 10+ Years of use and it is still going strong. He did have to rebuild/replace the main splitter beam because the top plate wore away to almost nothing. A few tens of thousands of face cords of wood will do that to a splitter beam. 

Other than a few other wear items his machine has been a money making beast. So you ain't gonna get him into a new machine because you got it right the first time. Sorry.


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## 1 woodpile (Aug 18, 2010)

wow i'm jealous real nice set up there...


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## Iska3 (Aug 19, 2010)

Great Pics. Thanks for posting. Looks like a nice operation.


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## LumberjkChamp (Aug 22, 2010)

Steve NW WI said:


> Is that Deere motor 3 or 4 cyl? Either one is not noted for living that long without some work. I have run a 7600 tractor that's at 17,000 hours with only an injection pump and new turbo on the motor, but that's a 6.8L six.



17,000 hours is amazing. I was wondering what some of the problems that occur with the little 4 cyl. 4.5L Deere engines you were refering to are. I might soon be in the market for a bigger tractor and the top end of the 5000 series Deeres run that same engine. Looking to buy used at somewhere around 3,000- 7,000 hours. I've never heard of any issues myself so it would be good to know what I'm geting into.


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## fatjoe (Aug 22, 2010)

I ran a processor in the late 80`s.If I recall, I was able to cut, split and load four cord in about 2 1/2-3 hours.That was with me loading the deck with a skid steer.My boss bought it new out of New Hampshire or VT.I beleve he paid 22 grand back then.I remember the service guy staying over for a day or two untill all the kinks were out.Nice units.


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## pintopaul (Oct 20, 2010)

*firewood processor*

very nice set up where in central ny? i live in the adirondacks


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## Curlycherry1 (Oct 20, 2010)

pintopaul said:


> very nice set up where in central ny? i live in the adirondacks



North of Syracuse slightly.

My brother says the dash for the cash is in full swing. He has orders for ~20+ face cords to be delivered per day for at least 21 days. He and his wife and working like dogs this time of year loading and delivering wood all over CNY.


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## fast firewood (Oct 5, 2011)

Curlycherry1 said:


> So what does it all accomplish. Piles and piles and piles of firewood everywhere. He is selling more than 1500 cords per year but we will not admit how much becuase the town does not want him getting bigger in his operation. So no official number goes out here. He stacks the wood so it will dry with no mold. Views of the piles. I also can't show photos of all of it because the town might do the math and get cranky. You also saw in the North view looking up the road (see above) piles of firewood on both sides of the road. He has a lot of wood around.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Sum firewood there nice pictures


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