# Cord King Firewood Processor Review



## cunningtonwood (Dec 8, 2012)

hey guys i am new to these fourms, I am 20 years old from Huntsville, Ontario, Canada i recently just bought a Cord King Firewood processor with a 60'' circular blade, the machine is approximatly 12 years old, it was comeplety rebuilt in 2007. so i say to all of you guys looking to buy a Cord King to buy a USED one, no need to buy a brand new one and spend over $60,000 extra when parts dont even come close to 15,000 to rebuilt or put new parts on it. the machine its self is very very great it has a 12 way fixed wedge on it and it DOES have quite a bit of debris altho i have a seperator on the converyor so it does help 75%, you will need the small conveyor to go under the splitter as it does built up fast after about 5 facecords its full of debris under it. the machine is excellent on fuel running it at 3200rpm. i put new teeth on it for around $500 and the guy says it should last me a full year of steady cutting. The machine is quick and fast and the ONLY DOWNFALL with this machine is you need to have a skid steer or loader at all times and if your going to be heavy cutting you'll need a full time guy in the skid steer or loader and sometimes the logs to get stuck in the indeed trough and sometimes also it puts 2 logs in at once so make sure you have a chain  so to sum it up if your going to be doing a firewood business you need to have a machine with a circular saw even if it is homebuilt, messing around with chains and always sharpening them just is to much time and messing around :msp_tongue:

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## El Quachito (Dec 8, 2012)

Good write up. I have been concerned about one that cut with a chain, for the reasons you mentioned.


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## KiwiBro (Dec 8, 2012)

Welcome aboard, thanks for posting and the pictures.

If I may ask few questions:

Do you have a reliable source of logs to feed the beast?
apart from a loader/SS, any other machinery needed to support the operation?
Do you have a ready market for the split wood and if so, is it bulk wholesale or individual retail sales and deliveries?
What did it cost you?
How long have to had it?
what's a realistic, non-heroic, average day's production for one and for two people?
Are you gathering your own wood or parking it on a landing somewhere where they've left you tops or the like, or are you buying in logs and having them delivered to your yard, or something else entirely?


thanks again.


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## cunningtonwood (Dec 9, 2012)

yes 

1.yes i do i have been working out a deal with a guy i have known for a few years who supplys me with the perfect wood
2.No it is very good set up. all you need is these two peices of machines, aside i have a few metal bins i use for the debris and sawdust
3.right now i have just been doing it locally but i am looking to get wood selling down to Greater Toronto Area etc. 
4. i found the right person and the right machine. i am renting to own it for $70,000 3 years or a buyout of $54,000 if i can come up with the cash sooner
5. i got it the middle of October
6. one day 50-80 cord 1 person, if i have another man helping over 100 face cord in an 8 hour work day
7. right now i am buying the logs, it costs me $1700 for a load 45-50 face cords in a load. so its not to bad since now i can cut it pretty quick its just all on how fast i can sell the wood.


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## Snotrocket (Dec 9, 2012)

Nice processor.


Please don't use face cords as a unit of measurement. It's cords. A face cord doesn't mean anything.


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## allstihl (Dec 9, 2012)

round here the only cords are face cords


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## Snotrocket (Dec 9, 2012)

Here in Maine the ONLY legal way to sell is by the cord.

A face cord, a rick, whatever other measurement you're using is just a way to get ripped off.


A face cord is meaningless because you're missing the third measurement to know exactly how much wood you're getting.


If someone just bought a $60,000 processor they should know better.


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## KiwiBro (Dec 9, 2012)

Snotrocket said:


> Here in Maine the ONLY legal way to sell is by the cord.
> 
> A face cord, a rick, whatever other measurement you're using is just a way to get ripped off.
> 
> ...


A bit harsh. It's a tough one in some cases because a local market may have settled on a preference that whilst not strictly legal, has a history of preference that ensures people have a fair and reasonable idea and expectation of how much wood they are going to get in, for example, the 'face cord' they order. It may be the local market knows or expects a face cord to be all 12" long lengths for example. Is selling by face cord legal in Canada? No, it's not strictly legal, but if confusing a customer with a percentage of a cord or stacked cubic metre is going to lose the seller business, then as long as the seller actually puts on their invoice the cord or cubic metre equivalent they actually sold to that customer as a face cord, for example, I can't see too many people worrying about it.


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## cantoo (Dec 9, 2012)

cunningtonwood, sounds like you have lots of work lined up, getting it to Toronto will get you some money back. You have some pretty big competition though, everyone is trying to get it to TO. 
I agree with snotrocket though, any wood you are trucking down to Maine you better make sure you sell it by the cord ( not face cord). Around here (Ontario) you can use facecord seeing as 99% of wood here is sold that way but for the export market you'll have to get on board with the full cord or fraction of full cord.


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## CWME (Dec 9, 2012)

If new machine was $60,000 why would you be renting to own it for $70,000? Confused


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## smokee (Dec 9, 2012)

CWME said:


> If new machine was $60,000 why would you be renting to own it for $70,000? Confused




Up front money?


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## PEKS (Dec 9, 2012)

In Southern Ontario, Face Cords is all they know..


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## cunningtonwood (Dec 9, 2012)

CWME said:


> If new machine was $60,000 why would you be renting to own it for $70,000? Confused





Only 6% interest :msp_smile:


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## woodmizer (Feb 12, 2014)

cunningtonwood said:


> hey guys i am new to these fourms, I am 20 years old from Huntsville, Ontario, Canada i recently just bought a Cord King Firewood processor with a 60'' circular blade, the machine is approximatly 12 years old, it was comeplety rebuilt in 2007. so i say to all of you guys looking to buy a Cord King to buy a USED one, no need to buy a brand new one and spend over $60,000 extra when parts dont even come close to 15,000 to rebuilt or put new parts on it. the machine its self is very very great it has a 12 way fixed wedge on it and it DOES have quite a bit of debris altho i have a seperator on the converyor so it does help 75%, you will need the small conveyor to go under the splitter as it does built up fast after about 5 facecords its full of debris under it. the machine is excellent on fuel running it at 3200rpm. i put new teeth on it for around $500 and the guy says it should last me a full year of steady cutting. The machine is quick and fast and the ONLY DOWNFALL with this machine is you need to have a skid steer or loader at all times and if your going to be heavy cutting you'll need a full time guy in the skid steer or loader and sometimes the logs to get stuck in the indeed trough and sometimes also it puts 2 logs in at once so make sure you have a chain  so to sum it up if your going to be doing a firewood business you need to have a machine with a circular saw even if it is homebuilt, messing around with chains and always sharpening them just is to much time and messing around :msp_tongue:
> 
> View attachment 266328
> View attachment 266329


you say chains are no good ,well I have a cord king of a smaller version and I cut all day without sharpening it,unless I get a really dirty log,circulars are ok but one wrong move and your new disk cost 2000 plus the teeth ,my chain 19 dollars and a bar 125 big difference,plus cord king uses an aftermarket disk ,not a simmons big difference in price and quality,they just use simmons teeth,ever seen one fly apart I can show you holes in a roof from those blades and they don't have an e brake on them if something happens ask crd metalworks theyre in a classaction suit because it happened ,someone was severly hurt, now they put it on all their machines,if u ever get checked by the labour board and dont have emergency stops on look out you wont be cuttting any wood till ya do ,after you pay the fines and its inspected again at their leisure,no circular saw for me thanks,not mention service at cord king at best is a joke if you deal with the shop foreman,deal directly with bob the owner you will be more satisfied and appreciated


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## Pelorus (Feb 12, 2014)

Up here, a 16" face cord is how wood gets sold. = 3 face cords to a bush cord / full cord / whatever youse Southeners want to call it.
Welcome to Arboristsite, cunningtonwood! I'm a Huntsville guy too. Small world!


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## cantoo (Feb 12, 2014)

woodmizer, you're talking into the wind. Cunningtonwood got caught selling face cords of wood and the wood police took him and locked him up, they don't got no internet in wood prison up here in Canada.


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## woodmizer (Feb 12, 2014)

sooner or later your gonna get caught even up here in Canada,ive seen his machine just off hwy 60 in Huntsville ,hes not in the woods that far so just keep telling yourself that your invisible and youll believe it before to long ,,you can only duck the radar so long and when you think your home free bam gotya


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## UpOnTheHill (Feb 13, 2014)

Its sold by the face cord mostly around here also. A FC here is 4ft x 8ft x usually 16 or 18 inch length. I was in a pinch last winter and bought a couple loads from 2 different suppliers and the amounts were correct as I stacked it right away and would have known. 3 face cord makes a cord. I don't get why some people have an issue with using face cord as a measurement. You ask what length it's cut to when you call and then ya know what yer getting. Not rocket science.


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## farmer steve (Feb 13, 2014)

can't view the pics. must be all the hot air about face cords vs. cords.


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## woodmizer (Feb 13, 2014)

I have to say uponthehill is right ,if you do your homework,,it all depends on your measurements for a cord , go by the standards and your all right , wood 12" is 12x4x12 for a face, 16" is 16"x4'x8' for a face , afull cord of 12" has 4 rows 4'x4'x8',16" has 3 rows 4'x4'x8' as long as it works out to 128ft its a full cord, most people these days only buy face cord because that's all they can afford at a time when you live in a represed area,see it every day


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## UpOnTheHill (Feb 13, 2014)

I guess it's just too complicated for some . All that math and what not.


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## jimbojango (Feb 13, 2014)

They should only sell wheat by the loaf so you people can understand it eh... wheat isn't sold by the loaf, its sold by the bushel, but guess what you don't load a semi or grain car by the bushel, you load it by weight and do some math and figure out how many bushel you have on. Wood is the same way. If you know the moisture of your wood you can get within 2% of a cord based off weight, its not hard if you made it through elementary school AFTER the slide rule was out of date. Face cords and cord arguements are so beyond stupid simply because you sell TO YOUR LOCAL MARKET. We've called weights and measures here in kansas and they say "if you agree on a deal then the contract can be done" even though they say "you SHOULD Only buy wood in cords or fractions thereof" and if anyone ever asked me i could simply tell them 1/3 cord. 1/2 cord ect. ect.

I can sell a rick, a truckload, a thrown truckload, by weight, or whatever. So long as two parties agree on what it is then its a legal deal in MY state.


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## woodmizer (Feb 14, 2014)

jimbojango said:


> They should only sell wheat by the loaf so you people can understand it eh... wheat isn't sold by the loaf, its sold by the bushel, but guess what you don't load a semi or grain car by the bushel, you load it by weight and do some math and figure out how many bushel you have on. Wood is the same way. If you know the moisture of your wood you can get within 2% of a cord based off weight, its not hard if you made it through elementary school AFTER the slide rule was out of date. Face cords and cord arguements are so beyond stupid simply because you sell TO YOUR LOCAL MARKET. We've called weights and measures here in kansas and they say "if you agree on a deal then the contract can be done" even though they say "you SHOULD Only buy wood in cords or fractions thereof" and if anyone ever asked me i could simply tell them 1/3 cord. 1/2 cord ect. ect.
> 
> I can sell a rick, a truckload, a thrown truckload, by weight, or whatever. So long as two parties agree on what it is then its a legal deal in MY state.


oh great now we all got to go out and invest in a set of scales to weigh our wood because nobody can read a measuring tape or figure simple math anymore,is that sad or what?


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## jimbojango (Feb 14, 2014)

woodmizer said:


> oh great now we all got to go out and invest in a set of scales to weigh our wood because nobody can read a measuring tape or figure simple math anymore,is that sad or what?



See why the retards always provoking the "wood in cords" only argument is beyond stupid? If 2 parties agree you can sell widgets for naked midget strippers.


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## Hddnis (Feb 14, 2014)

jimbojango said:


> ....If 2 parties agree you can sell_ widgets for naked midget strippers_.


 
I have a friend that told me they do sell those already.



Mr. HE


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## blackdogon57 (Feb 14, 2014)

No doubt that you can process a crap load of wood with a cord king. I hired a guy with one last year to process for me. We did 55-60 full 128 cubic foot cords in two days ( approx 20 working hours ). He had one guy to help run he processor and I loaded with my own machine. I found the wastage factor to be a real issue. I also noticed that the guys running the processor often had their hands way to close to the blade. No way I would run one. IMO chains are much safer. I've heard of two guys who have lost one or both hands here in Ontario in the last few years with circular blades.


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## woodmizer (Feb 14, 2014)

blackdogon57 said:


> No doubt that you can process a crap load of wood with a cord king. I hired a guy with one last year to process for me. We did 55-60 full 128 cubic foot cords in two days ( approx 20 working hours ). He had one guy to help run he processor and I loaded with my own machine. I found the wastage factor to be a real issue. I also noticed that the guys running the processor often had their hands way to close to the blade. No way I would run one. IMO chains are much safer. I've heard of two guys who have lost one or both hands here in Ontario in the last few years with circular blades.


I own a cord king with sawchain on it,if you set the wedge properly you don't get near the waste as the high production guy with a multiple wedge who just slams her thru as fast as he can to make the fast bucks,theres always some waste its inevitable with these things but you can reduce it by slowing down and doing it right,the little shards are good kindling but you only need so much of that


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## UpOnTheHill (Feb 14, 2014)

jimbojango said:


> See why the retards always provoking the "wood in cords" only argument is beyond stupid? If 2 parties agree you can sell widgets for naked midget strippers.


I didn't know those existed in Kansas. I thought they were only in California.


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