Firewood setups

[Ford's Lawncare]

hello,
I was woundering what you guys have for firewood setups. I cut about 40 cord a year. I cut it to length,then split it on my splitter, after which it drops onto a small conveyor which makes nice, neat piles. I then bucket it into my truck after it drys. What do you guys do? What works well and not so well? I need a a better way of getting it into my truck, preferrably not by hand. When I bucket it, the wood tends to get dirty and it spreads the pile out a lot. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan Ford
Ford's Lawncare

 

[wood4heat]

Holy cr@p, thats quite a set up you got now! I split mine by hand and haul it to the shed in a wheel barrow. Of course I only do 4-5 cords. How about digging a pit to park your truck in and let the conveyor dump it right in the truck. :jester:

 

[STLfirewood]

I have a simlar setup when I go to load the wood I use a root grapple bucket for the skid steer. The open tines on the bottom let the dirt fall out. A couple shakes with the hydraulics help. You might want to try and get some of those big 2500-3000 pound concrete blocks for some thing to push against so the wood doesn't spread out. The blocks around here cost about $35 a piece.

Scott

 

[drmiller100]

build a BIG bucket for the wood. I have a snow bucket. 8.5 feet wide, 4 feet deep, 2 feet tall.
4 scoops is a cord.
make bigger piles. the only thing that gets spread is the last cord or 3 when the pile is almost gone.
saw. i have two dolmar 7900's, both modded. fun to buck wood with a saw that cuts a 14 inch dry round in 4 seconds.
splitter. we use a 8 horse last year. building a 25 horse this year. got the splitter running, it has a 7 second cycle time, now getting hydrualics fixed on the conveyor.
conveyor is 20 feet long.

figure out ways to not touch the wood. the more you touch the wood, the more it costs you.

 

[sloth9669]

saw splitter and my hands. I do 40 cords and yet to get a conveyor. I hand stack the junk on pallets to sit its 6 months. What i need is more land. But from the sounds of what you got going id get the concrete blocks and make bigger piles so push into.

 

[Husky137]

the more you touch the wood, the more it costs you.

The mantra of every successful firewood guy.

 

[Mr. Firewood]

The mantra of every successful firewood guy.

its the truth aswell

 

[treeman82]

If I can... drop the tree, buck the wood, hand split and throw it straight into the truck. Deliver and get paid.

 

[pacman]

im green in the business

I was stacking mine on pipes and grids any thing to keep it off the soil, until I seen how you big boy`s do it . Now I dont stack it too much only for the out sides . I throw pallets on the ground , stack wood perimeter walls around the out sides ( 4' x4' , 6'h ), throw more pallets down the ground and pile the wood on top .This is my first year in this so im in a learning process . I am getting alot of info from you guys . I just have a farm boss stil saw , used log spiltter ( bought from home depot,25-30 ton with 8hp honda ) , and 16 foot trailer I use to haul the wood. I started around march `07 just hitting it a few hours every week end . I think I might have 25- 30 cords now and stil cuttin every week end a few hours . I just started piling it though . I wish I wood have started off piling it then I im sure I wood have 40- 50 cords .Thank you guys for all your advise ! Oh yeah I also know I used those words like I did too, keep choppin !

 

[pacman]

fire wood size pieces ?

I try to buck my logs into 24 inches but I was just wondering is 16 inch pieces better ? What do you guys think ? I think I will make some larger than 6 inches since this is the end of the year so it will have a good curing all next year . I think I have atleast 20 -25 cords for this year to sell .

 

[rmihalek]

I think 16 inches is more versatile. A 24 inch piece might leave some wood stove owners off your customer list because they can't fit that size into their stove. I think most fireplaces can burn 24 inchers.