I actually bought one again this year. About 7 years ago or so I was very big into the firewood business, had me a tw-5 complete with 4 way, log lift and actually went upto the Timberwolf fctory and bought the table grate, was a great addition for not only saving your back but also significantly cut down on time. With the obstinate way I get with an idea in my head, I started to do a ton of research on the processors and with the help of Timberwolf, I actually located a pro mx and picked it up for about 28k if I remember correctly, had already bought a conveyor that was made locally to use with the splitter, just relocated it over to the processor. When I got the processor, it has the Perkins on it, came with both the 6 and 8 way, live deck, etc. Man I got to tell you, that thing would truly hump some wood out, and fun to run, I mean effective lol. The problem I ran into was supplying it regularly, kept running out of material so I liquidated it with the conveyor for around 20k, took a bit of a beating but better than losing the shirt in the divorce. I had also purchased a Kubota articulating loader rs420 full cab wit heat, bought a grapple for it which i still have, but found that the pallet forks were much faster in keeping it loaded. With a guy in the loader and one running the processor, could do between 4 and 5 cords an hour, that top roller is absolutely amazing, it will forward logs itself to the saw if something were to happen to the feed trough chain, miss that machine.
Now this year, got the itch again, bought another tw-5 same set up right out of the dealer, then in the process of researching the processors, I came across the woodbine. Well, here is my experience so far with the woodbine. I bought a PTO model as I traded the articulating Kubota in for a tractor last spring, TN55D, more than enough power to run it, and I had it trailer mounted with the idea that it would be as simple to set up and break down as the timberwolf was, not the case. All together the processor mounted on the trailer, and the 24' hydraulic conveyor (part of the package with the processor w/o additional cost) with the financing comes to about 42k. Now, the woodbine is standard with an 8 way, 35 ton splitter, 30inch saw with 404 and the conveyor - nice addition with no additional cost as mentioned above. Now, my supply this year was all logged in 8/07 and with the exception of the red oak, nice and dry. So here we go. Overall I believe the design has some great points, ie: spring loaded log stop for length of cut, wide hopper for multi block splitting, pieces drop right into the conveyor which has a gap about 15' up roughly 2 inches to allow for the pieces of bark etc to drop out and not into the finished product, the unit has a walk way all the way to the pto pump so if need be you can make relief cuts to the logs if they get hung up. The live deck is 2 strand, logs move to the feed trough, the log stops are not high enough (my opinion) on the out side of the feed trough, actually had a big old cherry log come off the unit onto me, and thought it crushed my leg, but minor addition, with some simple welding to change that. The attachments to the feed trough conveyor are cut pieces of c channel stock not the formed hooks as the tw have, and they tend to snap off at the weld. The biggest problem I have had, and resulted in the unit actually being at a local fabrication shop right now is the wedge. The initial wedge totally self destructed, one wing snapped off at the weld, and another tore off. I called Chris and he provided me with another one for the time being/ I picked that one up, and it was so tight the pieces that came out fired out like a bullet. THe end reslt of that was the toe plate bending - 1" steel, cracks on both sides of the splitter 4x4 box tubing, and the c channel guides not only mushrooming but breaking off. Have had issues with the hydraulic tank leaking and some of the connections as well. The connections leaking were simple fixes, couple pipe wrenches, the hydraulic tank I made a make shift gasket out of an inner tube and that seemed to resolve the issue or atleast significantly reduce it.
All in all, it is a good machine, and with the cost of the processor and the conveyor coming to about 42k with financing, a whole lot easier to swallow than the tw's. which even a pro HD by itself is roughly 70k than add a conveyor for about 14k and your out lay is humongous. For the most part Chris has told me he builds the units himself, except contracts some of it out to outside fabricators - the wedges and hydraulic tanks are actually examples. He includes things like a seat, and the ability to walk done the unit as standard, a seat for example on the tw is like an 800.00 option.
I am particularly fond of the spring loaded log stop, it makes it much easier and faster to maintain precise sizes. Chris has stood right behind the product, each time a wedge issue arose, he backed it right up with ah new one. I am not sure what the unit will produce hourly, as I processed and deliver per load this year, but with a pto until I haven;t found that the speed is 4 plus and hour as the sales man told me, but lets face it, that is a lot of production at 4 plus an hour. The last time I talked to Chris, he was changing the design of the wedge a bit, in attempt to eliminate the problem I dealt with. As mentioned above, all in all I think it is a good machine, I lie alot of the design features he has included and thought of. Unfortunately he has the same issues the rest of us do finding effective, reliable, productive subs. I don;t know for sure, but I tend to believe that though he has sold alot of machines, I may be the one that has really worked it hard, 100 cords in about 2 months, so I uncovered alot of the problems that most probably haven;t had.
Overall, the cost and production, from the research I did including the expo's I think it is one of the best built units on the market, well designed and comfortable to use.
