# Timberwolf Processor & a Visit to The Cutting Edge (Pics!)



## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

Two weeks ago, I made the trip from NJ to The Cutting Edge to pick up my new TW3-HD splitter.  I'll do the show & tell about the new splitter in another thread because I don't have any good pics yet. Scott (cuttinscott, an Arboristsite sponsor) met me there on a Sunday, a day they are normally closed, because that was the day that ended up working out best for both of us. 

I got there earlier than I expected to, about 15 minutes before Scott showed up. The store was closed, of course, so while I was waiting for him, I got a good look at this used Timberwolf wood processor that he has for sale. Holy cow! I had to take pictures of this thing for you all. :biggrinbounce2:

Here are some pics of the shop and some of the equipment on the lot. 







Some nice Timberwolf splitters (TW-P1, TW-2, TW-2HD) waiting for a home:






and a TW-5 splitter with Timberwolf conveyor:






This is the firewood processor:






(continued in next post...)


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

Other side of processor:






The operator controls. These are marked as follows: above the red button "Splitter Auto Cycle." To the right of that, "Wedge Lift." On the row below that, "Live Deck," "Feed Trough," "Saw," "Clamp," and "Bar."






The three chamber hydraulic pump:






The feed roller:






(continued...)


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

Chainsaw back:






Chainsaw front:






The push plate:






and the eight way wedge:






Wow, what a nice machine. :biggrinbounce2:


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

Last, here is my TW3-HD sitting on the ground while Scott (that's his left foot on the forklift  goes to get a pallet so that we can load the splitter into the back of my truck:






Between the rainy weather and some very busy weeks at work, I didn't have a chance to give my new splitter a try until a few days ago. After some adjustments to the splitter and the tractor, I got everything working. I had a chance to put some oak crotch pieces through the six-way wedge, and I have to say, this thing is a BEAST! It went through everything I threw at it with ease. I will take some pictures and videos this weekend and post them in another thread.

(If the splitter looks a little strange, it's the four-way and six-wedges that are stacked on top of each other on the main wedge for transport.)

I hope you enjoy the processor pics and thanks Scott!


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## Blowncrewcab (Oct 13, 2010)

Did you put down a deposit? you could be supplying some peeps with wood this weekend 




Edit...... Wow....Yours ain't No Slouch.....Nice Piece....


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## Maplekid (Oct 13, 2010)

If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for it? I'm thinking about getting one. And do you know what a log lift, wedge lift and table grate would cost. What are you running it on for a tractor (hp). Srry for so many questions.


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

Blowncrewcab said:


> Did you put down a deposit? you could be supplying some peeps with wood this weekend



I was afraid to ask the price! Timberwolf's stuff is top-notch, but it is not cheap! If I had the scratch for that thing, you can bet I would have brought it home! 



> Edit...... Wow....Yours ain't No Slouch.....Nice Piece....



Thanks! I went for the extra bucks and got the TW3-HD over the TW-3 and I am glad I did. It's super heavy duty, the build quality is excellent, and it goes through most stuff with the tractor just above idle, even with the multi-way wedges on it. 

I'm very happy with it, and with the decision to go to the HD. I figure I'll only buy a splitter like this once in my life, so I decided to get the best I could... no regrets, no looking back!


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## Sandhill Crane (Oct 13, 2010)

My Christmas list just got bigger...


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## WoodChuck'r (Oct 13, 2010)

Those splitters are sick but I'm liking the Ventrac stuff in the background even better!!


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## BPS. LLC (Oct 13, 2010)

Awesome unit! If I look a little closer I may see, but which model processor was that? I have a TW-5 splitter, that conveyor looked aweful nice...where are they located??


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

Maplekid said:


> If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for it? I'm thinking about getting one. And do you know what a log lift, wedge lift and table grate would cost. What are you running it on for a tractor (hp). Srry for so many questions.



No problem, ask away! The list prices on this stuff are:

TW3-HD splitter, $2,995 (includes four-way wedge)
Six-way wedge, $595
Table grate, $495

The TW3, (non-HD) which is also a very nice PTO splitter, lists for $2,195. It does not include the four-way wedge. 

There is some room to negotiate in the prices, but not as much as you might think. Scott at The Cutting Edge was very knowledgeable about Timberwolf's entire line and was very forthcoming and easy to talk to regarding pricing. (Negotiability also varies by model, btw, as Scott will explain.) You should definitely give him a call if you're thinking about a Timberwolf. 

For all the research I did on the 'net, it was nothing compared to seeing the different models in person and talking to someone who really knows the differences between the models.

I'll put more details and specs in the thread about my own splitter. That will happen some time over the weekend, I hope.

Oh, and my tractor has about 20hp at the PTO and it is not working hard at all to power this splitter, even with tough pieces on the six-way wedge. I think Timberwolf recommends 18hp (PTO) and up.


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

BPS said:


> Awesome unit! If I look a little closer I may see, but which model processor was that? I have a TW-5 splitter, that conveyor looked aweful nice...where are they located??



I'm not sure which model the processor is. I should have asked, but I was too busy drooling over my own TW3-HD and I forgot! 

The Cutting Edge is in Greenwich, NY... an easy, and scenic, half hour north of Albany. (See http://www.fastcutting.com) I have family that lives nearby and I am there pretty often, so one day I stopped in... and you know how that goes.


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

WoodChucker81 said:


> Those splitters are sick but I'm liking the Ventrac stuff in the background even better!!



The PTO powered snow blowers? I noticed those more while posting my photos than I did in person. Nice! My equipment budget is shot for a while, though.  Snow removal will have be done with a rear blade this year.


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## cuttinscott (Oct 13, 2010)

Ed, Thanks for the post and the good words... For those who were interested the Timberwolf Processor is a New TWPROHD IL XL it is powered by a 80hp turbo Deere, Has the 8 way wedge, electric auto cycle splitter valve, Oil Cooler, and operator seat all that comes with the XL series. It is NEW has only seen 2 logs for demonstration purposes. It retails for $53995.00 there is not a lot of room to move but I'm in a dealing mood 


Those Ventrac Snowblowers you saw are designed to Fit the Front of the 4wd Ventrac 4000 series tractor and will also Fit Steiner Tractors. They are 52" swath 2 stage attach via a 2 point quick hitch and a pto drive belt. The 3 pictured are all sold along with more that are headed this way from the Ventrac Factory in Orrville Ohio. I need to get more splitters in, a few of those in your pics are already found new homes 

Im Glad Your Happy with that TW3HD Ed and thanks again for the write up

Scott


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## HillRat (Oct 13, 2010)

cuttinscott said:


> Ed, Thanks for the post and the good words...



You're very welcome. Thanks for all the help with my splitter. 



> For those who were interested the Timberwolf Processor is a New TWPROHD IL XL ... It retails for *$53995.00* there is not a lot of room to move but I'm in a dealing mood



Whoa! :jawdrop:

Allrighty then.  If one of the two lottery tickets I bought tonight is a winner, you can put my name on that thing! 



> Those Ventrac Snowblowers you saw are designed to Fit the Front of the 4wd Ventrac 4000 series tractor



Aha. So they're not three-point units. Got it.



> I need to get more splitters in, a few of those in your pics are already found new homes



Very good! Got to be some very happy people out there with their new Timberwolfs. I had very high expectations of Timberwolf and I have to say that they have exceeded them.



> Im Glad Your Happy with that TW3HD Ed and thanks again for the write up.



Very happy, and thank you again, too. I will do a better write up of my splitter in another thread. The other day when I tried it out, it was just starting to get dark when my neighbor and I were putting the gnarly oak pieces through the six-way wedge, and we were so amazed that we just stood there with our jaws open and no one thought to take pictures! 

This neighbor has a 27 ton MTD splitter (wedge-on-ram) that he has been kind enough to loan me a few times over the last few years. That's a good little machine for the money, but it was my experience with that machine that made me want to go with something more powerful and with multi-way wedge capability.


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## pickwood (Oct 14, 2010)

Hey Hillrat- Thanks for sharing your story and pics. Sweeeet! log splitter, looking forward to some pics when you get it going.


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## Ambull (Oct 14, 2010)

Thanks for the pics. Enjoy your splitter.


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## Ductape (Oct 14, 2010)

Alot of drool-worthy stuff there !

I have wet dreams of one day owning one of the big Timberwolf splitters and conveyor.


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## HillRat (Oct 14, 2010)

Ductape said:


> Alot of drool-worthy stuff there !
> 
> I have wet dreams of one day owning one of the big Timberwolf splitters and conveyor.



Oh yeah, me too! I wasn't kidding when I told Scott about the lottery tickets. I'd buy a 400 acre woodlot, build a house on it, then I'd call up Scott sounding a lot like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack when he's in the pro shop with his friend Wang (No offense!): "Give me one of those, and two of those, and six of those, .... "  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=171FURqSIQc

Then each year I would host the Northeast AS gathering at my place and everyone could come and play with the toys!


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## mooseracing (Oct 14, 2010)

HillRat said:


> Oh, and my tractor has about 20hp at the PTO and it is not working hard at all to power this splitter, even with tough pieces on the six-way wedge. I think Timberwolf recommends 18hp (PTO) and up.




How does it handle the weight? I have a 35hp tractor, but with a 6 ft HD brush hog out back you can feel the front is light. I haven't added any weights to that toy.

I have been thinking of going this route instead of building one, Maybe at tax time.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 14, 2010)

WoodChucker81 said:


> Those splitters are sick but I'm liking the Ventrac stuff in the background even better!!





:agree2:


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 14, 2010)

HillRat said:


> Some nice Timberwolf splitters (TW-P1, TW-2, TW-2HD) waiting for a home:





Those are some nice looking machines in those pictures, Hillrat! 


But I think you must be mistaken about these guys being TWs. They can't be, you see. They have the wheels mounted directly to the hydraulic tank, and there's no way TW would do that. I know that because somebody on another thread told me that mounting the wheels that way was proof that Speeco splitters are junk, so the splitters you are showing can't possibly be TWs, now, can they? 




Kidding aside, those are some nice toys! 

Can you flip that splitter over and grab a round from the top with it? That would be the cat's meow for the big rounds. Forget lifting the wood, just split it where it is.


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## HillRat (Oct 14, 2010)

mooseracing said:


> How does it handle the weight? I have a 35hp tractor, but with a 6 ft HD brush hog out back you can feel the front is light. I haven't added any weights to that toy.



I wondered about the weight, too. The splitter looks like a giant lever that would allow you to lift the front of the tractor off the ground by pressing down on the wedge end of the beam with one hand,  but it doesn't. 

Most of the weight of the splitter is at the 3PH end (tank, pump, steel frame, cylinder). Also, I keep my front loader on the tractor almost all the time, so that serves as a counter weight. At 725lbs wet weight, the splitter is nowhere near the 3PH lift capacity. Pushing down the wedge end of the beam seems only to shift the tractor's weight on its tires slightly.

Putting large, heavy rounds on the beam didn't seem to change the balance of the whole rig either.



> I have been thinking of going this route instead of building one, Maybe at tax time.



I went through the same decision and I have to say that this was definitely the way to go for me.


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## HillRat (Oct 14, 2010)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> Those are some nice looking machines in those pictures, Hillrat!



Thanks. I thought so, too. I've never seen so much Timberwolf stuff in one place. I had to take pics, and pics must be posted. 



> But I think you must be mistaken about these guys being TWs. They can't be, you see. They have the wheels mounted directly to the hydraulic tank, and there's no way TW would do that. I know that because somebody on another thread told me that mounting the wheels that way was proof that Speeco splitters are junk, so the splitters you are showing can't possibly be TWs, now, can they?



Oh. Well, I guess not then. That's the great thing about the Internet, everything you read here is true.   

Those must be cheap Chinese Timberwolf knockoffs. :monkey: No wonder Scott said that price negotiability varies by model!



> Can you flip that splitter over and grab a round from the top with it? That would be the cat's meow for the big rounds. Forget lifting the wood, just split it where it is.



Not without flipping my tractor over, and that's something I try very hard to avoid! What I can do is lower the 3PH to get that beam laying on the ground, then roll a giant round right onto it. 

P.S. I love your sig.  Spelling and grammar are two more great things you can learn about just from reading the Interwebz!


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## deadtrees (Oct 14, 2010)

*pto hyd pump*

I would like some info on how good the hyd pump works on the PTO. Most pto pumps are rated at 2250 psi so that would be lower than a regular engine drive pump. Do you have to run your tractor engine at the pto line on the tach to get good splitter speed? Does the splitter slow down much if you throttle down some. What hp is your tractor? Gas or diesel?
I have heard a diesel gets out of the power band if you throttle down. Can you notice that
in the splitter operation? Does the splitter move around much on the 3 point arms?

Oops! I see your tractor is 20 HP


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## giXXer (Oct 14, 2010)

Drool! Droooool! Droooooooooool!

Another PTO pump question for you. I noticed the pump attached to the hydraulic lines in your pics. Was that included with the HD model or was that an add-on for more $?

Very nice machine, BTW. Congrats!


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## HillRat (Oct 14, 2010)

deadtrees said:


> I would like some info on how good the hyd pump works on the PTO. Most pto pumps are rated at 2250 psi so that would be lower than a regular engine drive pump. Do you have to run your tractor engine at the pto line on the tach to get good splitter speed? Does the splitter slow down much if you throttle down some. What hp is your tractor? Gas or diesel?



I was thinking that I'd talk about all of this stuff in a new thread about the splitter itself, but that's not the way it seems to be going  so here goes...

You are correct that the Prince HC-PTO-1A pump is rated for 2,250 psi. Plugging that psi into the formula for splitter tonnage gives me the 22 ton rating that Timberwolf specifies.

Tractor is a Ford 3 cyl. diesel, 23HP engine, ~20HP PTO. 



> I have heard a diesel gets out of the power band if you throttle down. Can you notice that in the splitter operation? Does the splitter move around much on the 3 point arms?



There is a difference in power when running at 50% of 540 PTO rpm vs. full PTO rpm, but full PTO rpm power was not needed to push rounds through the multi-way wedges. 

I didn't notice a difference in cycle time, but there was so much to pay attention to running a new splitter on the 3PH that I can't say if there was or wasn't. I will take cycle times at 50% and 100% of PTO rpm this weekend and post them. 

The splitter is very stable on the lift arms. The lift arms on my tractor are braced with turnbuckles. I lock them in place to center the splitter between the rear tires (a pretty close fit!) when I first hitch up. After that, the splitter does not move on its pins at all during use. It also didn't move when I drove the tractor down my driveway, across the road, and over to my neighbors to do some splitting there, and that was a lot more jostling around than you would see in stationary splitting.


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## HillRat (Oct 14, 2010)

giXXer said:


> Drool! Droooool! Droooooooooool!



Yeah, seriously.  This splitter is nicer in person than it looks in the pics. I'm sure I was drooling the morning I picked it up from Scott. Waiting two weeks to actually split wood with it after I got it home wasn't easy!

I figure it cost about twice what a so-called "37 ton" wedge-on-ram unit would cost at a big box store. It's easily twice the machine with more than twice the production capacity. Not to slam those machines, they are well made, and are a good value as well. I seriously considered a Speeco before deciding on the T'wolf. My neighbor's MTD does a great job and shows no signs of wear or strain after six or seven years of use and he works that thing hard on all the gnarly, crotchy pieces that I wouldn't split by maul.



> Another PTO pump question for you. I noticed the pump attached to the hydraulic lines in your pics. Was that included with the HD model or was that an add-on for more $?



The base price of the TW3-HD includes the splitter, four-way wedge, pump, torque arm/anti-rotation bracket and chain, hoses, hydraulic fluid, and a thorough greasing and testing out by Scott. 

I added only the six-way wedge and the table grate.



> Very nice machine, BTW. Congrats!



Thanks! I'm looking forward to really cranking out some cords with it this weekend. More pics to come...


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## mooseracing (Oct 14, 2010)

deadtrees said:


> Does the splitter move around much on the 3 point arms?



Use the three point stabilizer arms and you won't have barely any more movement than putting big rounds on a regular splitter.


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## Curlycherry1 (Oct 14, 2010)

cuttinscott said:


> Ed, Thanks for the post and the good words... For those who were interested the Timberwolf Processor is a New TWPROHD IL XL it is powered by a 80hp turbo Deere, Has the 8 way wedge, electric auto cycle splitter valve, Oil Cooler, and operator seat all that comes with the XL series. It is NEW has only seen 2 logs for demonstration purposes. It retails for $53995.00 there is not a lot of room to move but I'm in a dealing mood
> Scott



That's the newfangled model of the processor my brother is running. His is not in-line but offset. My brother's is 9/10? years old and is a beast. I think he paid ~$45-47 for his back then. Worth every penny and then some. 25K hours on the motor and still no problems. He did wear out the main beam and he had that rebuilt. 2000+ face cords of wood per year will do that when metal on metal is happening on the beam.


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## ptabaka (Oct 14, 2010)

*splitter*

my buddy and me came from ct to get tw2 and 2 7900 dolmars best price and best guy you could meet good luck scott keep up the good work god bless


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