What tools and methods do you use for firewood?

[cre10]

I have a tree, a chainsaw, and a metal box to put it in

 

[User Name Here]

I like the idea of having a military trailer to tow behind the truck. I'm afraid I might mess up my 5x10 trailer in the woods, and it's fairly new so I would rather not do that, not to mention it is a little hard to get around in the woods much so I usually don't take it. I would love to have a 1 ton truck dump to haul with.

 

[Bob95065]

I like the idea of having a military trailer to tow behind the truck. I'm afraid I might mess up my 5x10 trailer in the woods, and it's fairly new so I would rather not do that, not to mention it is a little hard to get around in the woods much so I usually don't take it. I would love to have a 1 ton truck dump to haul with.

This is my truck and trailer with a load of eucalyptus:

This is an almost perfect firewood trailer. The clearance is higher than my truck - it can go anywhere the truck can. The pintle hitch allows more articulation than a standard ball hitch. It has hydraulic brakes and a parking brake on each wheel. I take the trailer off and load the truck first. I can leave it anywhere thanks to the brakes.

Mine came with brand new tires, brakes, bearings and the bows and waterproof canvas top. I am very happy with it.

 

[User Name Here]

This is my truck and trailer with a load of eucalyptus:

This is an almost perfect firewood trailer. The clearance is higher than my truck - it can go anywhere the truck can. The pintle hitch allows more articulation than a standard ball hitch. It has hydraulic brakes and a parking brake on each wheel. I take the trailer off and load the truck first. I can leave it anywhere thanks to the brakes.

Mine came with brand new tires, brakes, bearings and the bows and waterproof canvas top. I am very happy with it.

Yeah that is a great setup. I am on a volunteer fire dept and we have the same model trailer for extra equipment on wildfires and I would LOVE to have it for myself, it is awesome. You drive my brand of truck as well, and I'm pretty sure I see the cummins logo - good call

 

[cre10]

They auction the hummer trailers quite a bit and can be had for around $1000.

 

[wood4heat]

I use:
2003 7.3 4X4 F350
Kubota BX2230 with a loader
6X12 trailer with 3' sides and a 6,000lb axle
Ms361 25"ES, and 20"E bars
Ms024 16" bar
Frankenstein hydraulic splitter
A splitting maul of unknown make
And a wedge

About 95% of my firewood work is done with the truck, trailer, 361 and splitting maul. The 024 is mostly for around home but I will bring it as a back up even though it's never been needed.

I use the Kubota around the house if or any neighbors have any cleanup to do. Scored a nice Maple on the neighbors property that I hauled out with the Kubota a couple years ago! Last weekend I found out a piece of property around the corner is going to have a home built on it this summer. I met the owner who has dropped a large area of trees where his home will be built. He told me to cut up and haul out as much of that wood as I want! He plans to start building in May so the Kubota may see some work in the coming weekends!

The Frankensplitter is something a neighbor and I share. We pieced it together from a dead splitter found rotting in a field and an old JD riding mower in similar condition. The hydraulics on the splitter were still functional so we got the JD running and built a cradle to mount the pump under the JD's vertical shaft motor. Built a dash and re-used the JD's ignition switch, throttle, and choke levers/ cables. We also built an elevated mount for the JD's fuel tank and we had a functioning splitter! I rarely use it though. Most of my splitting is done with the maul but if I get a few large pieces or it gets late in the season and I'm in a hurry I go grab the Frankensplitter. My neighbor uses it to split everything!

 

[unclemoustache]

Saws are in my sig.
Got a 16' trailer (and can borrow a buddy's little 8' for small loads) and a 1 ton Ford.
Got some easy silver maple nearby, get about 20 trees a year I'm hired to take out, and I have a backup for hickory and oak if I get desperate ($25/load). I have some ropes and climbing gear, but I'd much rather fall them.

Plus a have a whole pile of energetic kids who like to use chainsaws, but only 2 are allowed to use them without me hovering over them like a mother hen.

 

[Sawdust inspector]

My wife uses her cell phone to call a guy and tell him "my wood rack is empty" and he shows up with wood to fill it as fast as he hangs up. Thsts my excuse to own a 90 hp john Deere with a loader,5 saws and a 4 way adjustable splitter with log lift, 1 flat rack, 1 dump wagon, and a newly aquired 3 point pto driven circle saw that will have a elevator attached to it. After the fireplace is filled I recieve many payments for my equipment rental and labor

 

[Zeus103363]

I have 80 acres we cut on + there is always some scrounging to do, and storm damage to cut up. Plenty of hard wood to cut. Most of my cutting is within 20 miles of my house. I like to take splitter to work sight. cut, split and pile in truck. Haul home and stack as time permits. Then several of the last loads I hauled back in November i used my trailer and hauled the rounds home, bu there were 24" max at the base. I still need to finish splitting.

My wood working tools:
Home made splitter 10 hp, 16gpm, works great!
Ms361; 026
couple ax's and a maul
haul with my 09 Dodge 1/2 ton 4x4
or my 1982 Ford 1700 diesel tractor
Need to finish my tong lift so I can drag some logs!
I even use my Honda Foreman 4x4. it usually pulls the splitter when we cut close to home
And a 9 year old boy and a 8 year old boy....labor!!! They earn there keep!


Thanks

 

[1 stihl nut]

I have a tree, a chainsaw, and a metal box to put it in

Must be a very large box, or a rather small tree.

 

[1 stihl nut]

Our basic equipment and methods haven't changed much over the last 35 years.

Most of our cutting is done within 2 miles of home. We have pickup box trailers, and narrower home built trailers that are more maneuverable in the tight woods areas, as well as a gutted manure spreader and and a 16' x 8' wagon with sides. The spreader and wagon are left with loads on them to be hauled in during the winter months. The smaller trailers are unloaded into a pile for drying.

We have several older Case tractors in standard tread that are narrower and shorter for maneuvering in the woods. I also have some mid eighties Ford F 250 4x4 s as well as an atv.

We have an old Schweiss wood splitter bought about 1980 that just keeps trucking on. Also have 6 and 8 lb maul, just so I can stay in shape.

I have an 029 that I bought new 19 years ago. I also have acquired an 026, 046, some 064's, an 066, a 660, an 044, 036, and a couple more 026's, all pretty much in the last year. I'm not sure how that happened. Or why.

The cutting is usually along treelines cleaning up at the edges of fields, or in the woods cutting deadfall.

The wood is chunked where it lays, the trailer and splitter are brought to it and it is loaded directly. Cutting is typically done on fair weather weekend days, but unloading may be done at any time during the week. We have enough trailer capacity so we don't need to stop and unload while we're in cutting mode.

We don't stack, only pile. Overall we don't like to make any unnecessary effort. In the time we could drag a log out of the woods, we can go in and block, split, load it, and be done with it and heading to the next tree. Don't like to carry wood over 25' at the most at any time. Preferably just a toss.

 

[User Name Here]

This is one of my main problems, since I don't really have any of my own trees to cut, I end up scrounging wherever I can and most of the time I end up with a situation like this year where I can't get my truck any closer than about 40-50 yards. That's the rough part, having to split at least into chunks I can carry that far. I figure if I'm going to split into chunks - might as well split to desired size. I have been thinking about building me side boards for my truck so I can get a good load without having to stack it in the truck. I have held off on getting a splitter for a couple reasons, mainly the money, but also because of it not being practical in situations like that. I have a 2 year old son (birthday is today) that I'm hoping I can get interested in cutting wood like my dad did with me, and I hope to have at least one or two more to grow into firewood cutters too! Thankfully I'm in good enough shape I can split with x27 relatively quick and like the exercise.

 

[SS396driver]

saws are in my sig a BX and TW p-1, Dodge 3500 5.9 cummins and I have a 12 ft ,10k Maxxum dump

 

[Mike-M]

My property is only 70'x90' and I only have 3 trees, so I have to scrounge 100% of my wood. So by far the most important firewood tool to me is the pickup truck. DD is a Ranger and I have an old f350 for anything the ranger cant handle. Most of the wood I find is already cut, and I just throw in in and process it when I get home. I keep a 16 lb hammer and 2 wedges in the back up my truck in case I come across any rounds I cant lift, I quarter them. Most of my scrounge spots are suburban yards, and they dont want a mess, so I rarely cut anything on site.
When the wood gets home, I buck it with my 036. I have a round with an old 16" tire bolted to it for splitting. Rounds that are too big to fit in the tire get quartered with the saw, or hammer/wedge. Depends what I have out at the time. Final splitting I do with a fiskars x27. Pretty much anything that'll fit inside the tire is no problem for the fiskars. I also have an 8 lb maul but I havent used for anything other than a hammer since I got the X27. Oh, also bought my son an X25 so he would stop putting mine into the dirt all the time. I 'want' a splitter, but I only burn 2 cords a year so I really dont need one.

 

[Bob95065]

Yeah that is a great setup. I am on a volunteer fire dept and we have the same model trailer for extra equipment on wildfires and I would LOVE to have it for myself, it is awesome. You drive my brand of truck as well, and I'm pretty sure I see the cummins logo - good call

1997 Dodge 2500 Cummins 4x4 with a 5 speed NV4500 transmission. It's a great truck.

 

[autoimage]

100% scrounger here I use 338 372 394 a chevy 2500hd and a 5x10 and homeade hyd splitter. the weakest link is the trailer, I often get large rounds I can roll on to it but it just cant handle weight, my next purchase would be a low dual axle trailer 12'. I use my 394 a lot to noodle and deal with large rounds the average scrounger can handle, heres what a tree guy just dropped off, gonna be 45 today and the 394 is gonna be runnin

 

[wood4heat]

Found a few pictures of my tools!

This was actually a pic of my uncle but after some heavy cropping I got a decent pic of my trailer:

2240 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

And the truck:

2533 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

And here is my 361 wearing the 25" bar the day I cleaned up that maple that fell on the neighbors property. In the first one you can see where a beaver had been working on it:

2525 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

Told you it was a good sized maple!

2526 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

2527 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

And finally hauling those 100 lb wet maple rounds home with the Kubota:

2524 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

Stacked!

2528 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

And the 024:

2202 by wood4heat on Arboristsite.com

 

[greenskeeper]

last 3 years or so my employer's tree guy drops off rounds right at my house. I use the saw occasionally for those extra long rounds. Huskee splitter takes care of the rounds and I stack 'em high.

 

[User Name Here]

That's awesome guys. A lot of cool tools. I'm going to try and get some pics of my stuff soon.

 

[Ambull01]

My property is only 70'x90' and I only have 3 trees, so I have to scrounge 100% of my wood. So by far the most important firewood tool to me is the pickup truck. DD is a Ranger and I have an old f350 for anything the ranger cant handle. Most of the wood I find is already cut, and I just throw in in and process it when I get home. I keep a 16 lb hammer and 2 wedges in the back up my truck in case I come across any rounds I cant lift, I quarter them. Most of my scrounge spots are suburban yards, and they dont want a mess, so I rarely cut anything on site.
When the wood gets home, I buck it with my 036. I have a round with an old 16" tire bolted to it for splitting. Rounds that are too big to fit in the tire get quartered with the saw, or hammer/wedge. Depends what I have out at the time. Final splitting I do with a fiskars x27. Pretty much anything that'll fit inside the tire is no problem for the fiskars. I also have an 8 lb maul but I havent used for anything other than a hammer since I got the X27. Oh, also bought my son an X25 so he would stop putting mine into the dirt all the time. I 'want' a splitter, but I only burn 2 cords a year so I really dont need one.

Was just about to start a new thread to get a list of the bare necessities but decided on doing a search first. Seems as though all my questions have already been answered.

I have you beat by 3 trees lol. There's a big ole oak tree right in the middle of my back yard that I hope will die slow and drop limbs in convenient locations. Pretty ingenious bolting the tire to the round for splitting. I'm sick of my tire moving around. I like the real minimalist approach you take to scrounging. I was just starting to get carried away with scrounging tool dreams. Rope/cable pullers, sleds to drag rounds, multiple chainsaws, Fiskars X27, Council Tool axe/Fiskars chopping axe, trailer, truck, splitter, wedges, chainsaw chains, chainsaw oil, b&c oil, ropes, filing guides, chalk, gloves, chaps, forester helmet, steel toe boots, chain files, specialty chainsaw tools, winches, etc. Holy crap, it's enough to make my head spin.