Spoiled rotten... Feeding the VC. This is about four days worth for two stoves.
100 cord by Christmas (?)
- Thread starter Sandhill Crane
- Start date
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I cant see how you snowbirds can sell any wood with all that snow. What do you do when your wood is covered in a foot of snow and a customer calls wanting a load of wood.
I sold out of seasoned before Labor Day. Every call this year I pushed for them buy a year a head. Early summer calls were mostly to call and save them X-number of cords, which I told them I no longer do. First come first serve. Otherwise I would be out there right now fighting conditions from start to finish getting in their narrowly plowed driveways, and getting stuck on a flat spot when unloaded, to deliver their one-third cord. I'm closed up now... even if they want ten cord of green. I fought it several winters. Not doing that again. What is the saying? "Your lack of planning is not my crisis." And absolutely no more huge tarps as shown here.
Edit:
Next project is to get conveyor sorted out.
The first photo shows the issue, which is a tube in tube hinge with no zerks to grease it. Nine years after the build, it is no longer functioning as a hinge, and needed a come-a-long to barely budge it. Emailed Built-Rite last summer and they were unaware of any other similar issues with their conveyors. I would be interested to know if they now add zerks. I priced their add-on hydraulic lift package at $450. Presently there is a hand crank with limited travel. To increase travel the elevator needs to be supported and a pin pulled and adjusted in the slip tube. That is a easily done with the lift supporting the conveyor if (if?) in an open space, and... the hinge works properly. So, I may do the hydraulic lift package. A couple weeks ago I loaded out a one ton dump. To do so I had to pick the conveyor top end and put blocks under the wheels for clearance. I have been using it in a lowered position to fill the PackFix drums.
First order is to drill/tap and add some zerk fitting. Actually second. First is to borrow a generator to do so.
Edit: I called Built-Rite to get a current cost for the upgrade. Waiting on an email...
Edit #2: They have not added zerks to their conveyor builds for this particular problem. Of course mine is the only one with this issue.
The first photo shows the issue, which is a tube in tube hinge with no zerks to grease it. Nine years after the build, it is no longer functioning as a hinge, and needed a come-a-long to barely budge it. Emailed Built-Rite last summer and they were unaware of any other similar issues with their conveyors. I would be interested to know if they now add zerks. I priced their add-on hydraulic lift package at $450. Presently there is a hand crank with limited travel. To increase travel the elevator needs to be supported and a pin pulled and adjusted in the slip tube. That is a easily done with the lift supporting the conveyor if (if?) in an open space, and... the hinge works properly. So, I may do the hydraulic lift package. A couple weeks ago I loaded out a one ton dump. To do so I had to pick the conveyor top end and put blocks under the wheels for clearance. I have been using it in a lowered position to fill the PackFix drums.
First order is to drill/tap and add some zerk fitting. Actually second. First is to borrow a generator to do so.
Edit: I called Built-Rite to get a current cost for the upgrade. Waiting on an email...
Edit #2: They have not added zerks to their conveyor builds for this particular problem. Of course mine is the only one with this issue.
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Sandhill, I'm a fix it myself kind of guy. I would cut out that tube on the wheel support side and install one that is 1/8" smaller in diameter. And the grease zerks too. That's the trouble with tight fits like that, sooner or later you don't move it enough and it seizes. I hate tight hitch receivers too.
Muddstopper, I sell some wood after the snow falls. I handload by conveyor so little snow goes in the load. Then I leave the trailer in my heated shop overnight. I don't charge any extra for this but it doesn't happen very often either. I also keep 3 or 4 cords of 216" splits in the barn for dumb azzes that I feel sorry for. We get several good days here and the snow melts off abit.
Muddstopper, I sell some wood after the snow falls. I handload by conveyor so little snow goes in the load. Then I leave the trailer in my heated shop overnight. I don't charge any extra for this but it doesn't happen very often either. I also keep 3 or 4 cords of 216" splits in the barn for dumb azzes that I feel sorry for. We get several good days here and the snow melts off abit.
Charge double. Price of procrastination.
I can pretty much guarantee if it snowed like that here I wouldnt be out in it. Now if some widow woman was out of heat, I would make an exception, but thats about it.
sirbuildalot
Addicted to ArboristSite
What a guy! Giving the widows some hard wood. Lol
Last year I sold six cord of three year aged Oak out of the our wood shed.
In my opinion, that just taught the procrastinators they were special.
It was also extra work for me stacking into racks, and one guy never picked up the second half of what he said he wanted, being as mild a winter as it was. Someone else bought it a month later, covered in snow. One has to expect a bit of bull **** from time to time, but the more you put up with the more your going to get.
We used to have a saying at work, "You make your own conditions." An example: (as carpenters) it meant if you don't keep your work area picked up as you go thru the day or week, your soon stumbling over stuff, especially in the winter. Habits will eventually reward you, whether they are good habits or bad habits, is up to you.
I'm still getting calls/emails almost daily. One woman this week called at 3:45 pm and said she needed wood now, she had six kids... When I said check Craig's List she said I'm putting my husband on. Okay... I think she may need one of those too.
I've never been much of a people person. So I let my wood sell itself by word of mouth, and use a web site. I have met some really great people, and a few different ones too. If I can fill their needs and my needs, fine. If I'm filling their needs at my expense, what's the point?
In my opinion, that just taught the procrastinators they were special.
It was also extra work for me stacking into racks, and one guy never picked up the second half of what he said he wanted, being as mild a winter as it was. Someone else bought it a month later, covered in snow. One has to expect a bit of bull **** from time to time, but the more you put up with the more your going to get.
We used to have a saying at work, "You make your own conditions." An example: (as carpenters) it meant if you don't keep your work area picked up as you go thru the day or week, your soon stumbling over stuff, especially in the winter. Habits will eventually reward you, whether they are good habits or bad habits, is up to you.
I'm still getting calls/emails almost daily. One woman this week called at 3:45 pm and said she needed wood now, she had six kids... When I said check Craig's List she said I'm putting my husband on. Okay... I think she may need one of those too.
I've never been much of a people person. So I let my wood sell itself by word of mouth, and use a web site. I have met some really great people, and a few different ones too. If I can fill their needs and my needs, fine. If I'm filling their needs at my expense, what's the point?
I think you and I would get along famously.
I have a similar saying.... you teach people how to treat you.
sent from a field
I have a similar saying.... you teach people how to treat you.
sent from a field
lknchoppers
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I do my piles like this below and have nice dry firewood to sell, I hand load into my front end loader then dump into the trucks. Pushing firewood around without a concrete pad or those heavy rubber mats results in dirt getting into the wood and just isn't worth it. I'm in a very hot area much hotter than the mountains, it really beats stacking when you have to move large quantities of firewood every year. This works for me.
No email reply as yet from Built-Rite with cost estimate. I called about 3:00 pm yesterday. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings.
Don't know about you, but I'm thinking of offering to split Jeffbrib's wood in Sydney, Australia in trade for a place to stay for a week or two. (What the heck is Gum anyway?)
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Most of the snow shakes off the logs by the time they are moved around and processed.
Most folks clean their driveways, and worst case I put tire chains on.
Conveyor update:
Nothing to update. No word from Built-Rite since talking to them Monday afternoon to get a price on parts.
Not sure exactly what I need to change out the crank lift for a hydraulic lift. Obviously a valve and cylinder, but what valve I'm not sure. I don't know if the present detent valve for the top drive drum has power beyond or not, or if the cylinder will bleed down without a check valve or something similar. I need to pull the crank jack and slip tubing to figure a proper cylinder size. I suspect the longer the rod stroke the larger the rod diameter should be. Not sure how much side force it would carry.
Anyone have a 28' Built-Rite with hydraulic lift?
Nothing to update. No word from Built-Rite since talking to them Monday afternoon to get a price on parts.
Not sure exactly what I need to change out the crank lift for a hydraulic lift. Obviously a valve and cylinder, but what valve I'm not sure. I don't know if the present detent valve for the top drive drum has power beyond or not, or if the cylinder will bleed down without a check valve or something similar. I need to pull the crank jack and slip tubing to figure a proper cylinder size. I suspect the longer the rod stroke the larger the rod diameter should be. Not sure how much side force it would carry.
Anyone have a 28' Built-Rite with hydraulic lift?
DSW
Addicted to ArboristSite
I processed 40-45 cord this year, all split by hand. I didn't work the entire year so it was almost exactly 1 cord per week.
I think 100 is possible but very uncommon.
I have the advantage of cutting on my own land, enough saws to never be down, fit enough to swing an axe for hours.
Things that really add up: wet weather not letting you bring out wood, 95° and high humidity means you won't spend 10 hours swinging an axe, real job work schedule, family obligations, saws that never run right, commuting to the wood lot, trees getting hung up, chains hitting the dirt, etc...
I think a guy could produce 50-150 cords but the situation would have to really be ideal and it would come at a cost.
I could have/should have put in more time and effort. I started this thread Sept.25. with 22 cord done, ending with 50 cord Dec. 8th when I dropped the mast of the PackFix, the machine to palletize wood.
From the log pile to finish I have about four man hours per cord, maybe a bit more considering clean up and weather protection. More still if you consider acquiring pallets, delivery time, and equipment maintenance.
From the log pile to finish I have about four man hours per cord, maybe a bit more considering clean up and weather protection. More still if you consider acquiring pallets, delivery time, and equipment maintenance.
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Loving the real-world, no BS 4 hrs per cord figure, thanks. This is where too many people get way too hung up on splitter stroke times, tonnage, etc. I mean, who gives a rat's if a home-built hydraulic takes 30 seconds per stroke, if you don't have any resplits, or you haven't got anything to deal with the logs or lifting rounds onto the splitter or it takes forever to load the truck for deliveries, etc, etc. The whole system is key and only ever as good as the weakest link.
This is where I am keen to see if you end up with a processor, and how much time in the real world, it takes out of the log to cord of firewood figure. I keep coming back to the Japa435 if you are buying-in logs and have some sort of control over the size of them, because your splits seem small (by what I have seen in USA anyway) and clean.
This is where I am keen to see if you end up with a processor, and how much time in the real world, it takes out of the log to cord of firewood figure. I keep coming back to the Japa435 if you are buying-in logs and have some sort of control over the size of them, because your splits seem small (by what I have seen in USA anyway) and clean.
It takes time to load the log deck. Time to cut and stage a half cord. What that is real world is rolling a log to the front of the deck. Then it to has to be pulled pushed to the end stop with a peavy, to index it with the cut markings on the table. Once cut, the six pieces are staged on the trailer/bench, which holds one half cord. Splitting takes fifteen to twenty minutes per 1/4 cord, which is what the PackFix holds. The next part takes up to ten minutes, and that is leveling the top of the PackFix drum. Wrapping takes ten minutes. The process is once leveled, the drum turntable rotates the drum under the mast tripod. It is connected to the top of the full drum and the netting is tied off to the pallet. Two and a half wraps, stop and staple the netting to the pallet. Continue wrapping and lifting the drum. Cut netting and tie off end. PackFix engine is still running. Start forklift and remove pallet from turntable. Get off lift, load new pallet, lower drum, turn off engine. Get on lift and stage full pallet. Load log deck on the way back (every two pallets). Stage lift at PackFix turn table. Split another quarter cord. Repeat leveling PackFix... Cut logs on deck and stage another half cord of rounds.
The PackFix is not fast with a one man crew. But...I do not have to stack!!! The wood is easily moved with equipment. It seems to be seasoning great. No mold...that I can tell. However only have of the fifty cords is covered.
I will still be unloading by hand next summer.
A processor would speed things up and is on my mind, as is a larger truck to carry the forklift for deliveries. In the back of my mind is selling the TW-6 to do one or the other. No sure which would be the first choice, which would save the most work. Deliveries have always taken me too long. Processor log decks are too small. ????
The PackFix is not fast with a one man crew. But...I do not have to stack!!! The wood is easily moved with equipment. It seems to be seasoning great. No mold...that I can tell. However only have of the fifty cords is covered.
I will still be unloading by hand next summer.
A processor would speed things up and is on my mind, as is a larger truck to carry the forklift for deliveries. In the back of my mind is selling the TW-6 to do one or the other. No sure which would be the first choice, which would save the most work. Deliveries have always taken me too long. Processor log decks are too small. ????
