Yes. It was made by mt Rainer Hydraulics, by my memory. It was a real machine.
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Can a hydraulic splitter be to fast
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KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Was limited to about 16", some users experienced cracking of the shear blade.
But it's another example where a slow splitter doesn't have to mean low or inefficient production.
There was something about the guys daughter or grand daughter or daughter in law or the like doing a number on him and the company having to fold.
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If you do a search for the name "leon" on here you will get some info on the Chomper. He was keen on them to say the least.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
What was the problem with the birch, crush it to much?
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Yes, made tons of waste. Like a cord of waste for 3 cords of wood.
Was even worse if the wood was frozen or not very green.
Judging by the Igland web site the WR6 is no longer offered.
The problem with the WR6 is the same for most of those European splitters. They are made for small, short wood. They have different types of wood and burn smaller lenghts than us Mericans. I wouldnt have a WR6 or a Splitta 400 the way they are built. Now grow one of those machines up and I might consider one.
google Posch product catalog.
Interesting stuff.
Interesting stuff.
Sadly, most of us on here dont have the market, money, or time to justify such a operation, but that doesnt stop us from wanting the biggest, baddest splitter money can buy.
Mud it is not often that something is better stated. You are exactly correct in this observation. Back in the 80's I signed a USDA contract on about 750 cords of wood like many contracts there are not stated or stipulations not originally agreed upon, but proceeded ahead anyway. The first year of the program went so so then the following year the lows were in the 40's and my biggest customer was in San Diego which was experiencing a consistent 70's. So I had wood that was cut ready to go, but no market. Then we had a couple of great years and prices were high, but was uncomfortable in investing $50,000 for extra inventory. Then I met another supplier who processed more wood than I could imagine. Up to 9,000 cords per year. So I worked for him a few years to actually pay my debts off. He had 50 people working full time at his project producing 50 cords a day. He told me over and over again how he had companies bring their processors to his site for demonstrations. Where as they all failed miserably. Especially live Oak is great wood, but very inconsistent. I attended a few processor demonstrations, but none that I have seen can go from a 60'' Pine with 16'' limbs to a 18'' Pine with out skipping a beat. So you need the right weather the right supply the right customers at the right time to justify spending from 30,000 to $100,000 in processing equipment. Thanks
Mud it is not often that something is better stated. You are exactly correct in this observation. Back in the 80's I signed a USDA contract on about 750 cords of wood like many contracts there are not stated or stipulations not originally agreed upon, but proceeded ahead anyway. The first year of the program went so so then the following year the lows were in the 40's and my biggest customer was in San Diego which was experiencing a consistent 70's. So I had wood that was cut ready to go, but no market. Then we had a couple of great years and prices were high, but was uncomfortable in investing $50,000 for extra inventory. Then I met another supplier who processed more wood than I could imagine. Up to 9,000 cords per year. So I worked for him a few years to actually pay my debts off. He had 50 people working full time at his project producing 50 cords a day. He told me over and over again how he had companies bring their processors to his site for demonstrations. Where as they all failed miserably. Especially live Oak is great wood, but very inconsistent. I attended a few processor demonstrations, but none that I have seen can go from a 60'' Pine with 16'' limbs to a 18'' Pine with out skipping a beat. So you need the right weather the right supply the right customers at the right time to justify spending from 30,000 to $100,000 in processing equipment. Thanks
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Dang, what market could handle 9000 cords a year?! We do around 700, could maybe do 1000 if were bigger.
I have seen videos of processors that use electric sensors to judge the size of the wood and adjust the splitting wedge for best size splits. So it can be done. I still think it would be hard to make every split the same size with any consistency.
9000 cords a year is a lot of wood. The labor cost of 50+ employees would have to be in the $hundreds of thousands a year.. Cutting just that cost in half by using automation could prove very profitable and would justify a very high production processor. I could probably get a contract with my county to provide firewood for their heating programs. Probably be around a 100 cords a year. Certainly not enough wood to justify a large splitting operation, yet to much for a one man production company. This old man isnt interested in trying to do it.
In the 80's I started working out of Fort Tejon where there were long horn cattle running around wild. The director told me one day watch for the cows and I thought Gee Wizz cows do not scare me. That after noon I see this fellow trotting up to my work site he looked to be close to a 1000 LBS of trouble. Got inside my cab with my golden retriever and read something for awhile.
The Fort Tejon was a few million acres of rolling hills with no development. You could guess how many Oak trees you could take off that property every year. I helped deliver to people all over Southern Cal from San Diego to Santa Barbara. At least 10 to 15 million people live in that area so 9,000 cords is nothing. After a few years we scaled to 5,500 50 6,000 cords a year. Mostly I just drove my dump truck around loading and unloading wood to customers. Thanks
I am sure there are great advancements in wood processors that can accomplish great things. The maintenance initial cost and the amount of space needed for such an operation is staggering. Then there are other established businesses that might not want the competition that could start a turf war. A little competing is good, but do not want to go through a war just to prove a point.
Right now I have potential orders for 500 cord of bulk and bundled wood with great mark up. I have been contacted by some companies that want 2,000 cords which I have available, but what if. If next year is like last year then it would be easy to go bankrupt and loose every thing. Not so excited about that possibility. Thanks
Well I m fairly sure I wont be opening up any kind of large scale firewood operation. I dont even want to go small scale. In my area, every Joe Smoe with a chainsaw and a truck sales firewood. It isnt a problem looking on the facebook yard sale sites and see lots of folks looking for a load of wood. It also isnt uncommon to see somebody complaining about a load of wood that wont burn. Those complainer also like to tell who they bought their wood from. There are a few tree companies around here that keep their wood and process it into firewood. If you buy from them, its going to be green. I think if someone wanted to start a full time firewood business, they could do well in this area. I dont think they can let firewood be their only source of income. Competeing against the Joe Smoe's and their pickup loads isnt going to allow prices to rise much above $200 a cord. A 100cords ayear would be easy enough to sell, but thats only $20k a year, before expenses. Starvation in the summer months and trying to break even in the winter. For now, the part time wood sellers have the market to themselfs, and I dont see that changing anytime soon. Pickup loads of wood prices have also dropped from $75 load to $50 per load in the last few weeks. It drops any lower and I might even buy a load or two myself.
For that last couple of months I have been selling pickup loads of std Oak for 260 to $400 which is just under a half cord. For the past three weeks a pickup load of Pine has been selling for $450 and a pickup load of Oak at least $650. I can not begin to keep up with the demand as I am getting on average 10 calls a day with out , but one request for prices. I have met several one man one pickup one saw OP selling 1/4 cords of junk for $500. Today I told several callers do not ask the price because you can not afford to buy wood. I continued in that whatever they want could cost $1000 if they want a whole cord as it will depend on how I feel. So far nobody has hung up. If this trend stays and do not see how, but $1200 a cord is certainly around the corner. We will see. I know that spring can not be but a couple of months away where most people will say wow how beautiful it is today. Thanks
1000$@cord?Why would anyone buy firewood for that price?
Wouldn't it be cheaper to heat with only electricity at that point,old fashioned heat strips?Or am I missing something?
Wouldn't it be cheaper to heat with only electricity at that point,old fashioned heat strips?Or am I missing something?
NSMaple1
Addicted to ArboristSite
Anything should be cheaper than $1000 cord wood.
Wood Hound
ArboristSite Operative
This thread,is getting kinda stupid...
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