If price wasn't a factor, what processor would you buy?

[ShaneLogs]

Really helpful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The top line Cord King for me. I like the circle saw blade.

X2 Oldtimer, Thing looks sweet.

 

[KiwiBro]

that's a heck of an idearrr...

and it's possible today with one of these...

Yeah, I'm agreeing with you guys on this. The way I see it, it's either something stationary like an electric cord king or the like (or perhaps multiple electric super splits) where logs automagically appear within 50 yards of the machine on a regular basis (but these sorts of processors still need a loader - equals more supporting expenditure - to keep them fed), or a digger with a grab/feed + (preferably) circular saw + multi way quick attach head on it that can be quickly and easily re-purposed at the felling site to switch from cutting roads and landings in, felling/bunching, loading out log trucks, splitting wood directly at the felling site if access or at least on the landing into the dino mesh firewood bags and loading out firewood onto trucks.

That multi-purpose digger option is getting closer to bush machinery Nirvana for me I think, even if it's nothing I can afford.

 

[zogger]

For the kind of money all these high end firewood processors cost, I think I would rather have a sawmill. Lumber is worth more than firewood, given the same tree, (broadly speaking you know what I mean). Then if you take that lumber and build with it yourself, either on spec or stuff you know you have a market for (a very wide range of products potential there), it is worth MUCH more "per tree" processed.

There's product handling, then there's product handling. Value added manufacturing "handling" is really a profit multiplier.

I will pick numbers out of the aether to illustrate

load of whole logs = $1,000, minimal actual handling, and corresponding not a lot of profit

load of logs made into firewood =$2,000 you've added more handling and turned the logs into a more useful product, you are getting paid for these steps

load of lugs made into lumber, sold as lumber = $5,000

load of lugs made into lumber, then lumber used to make stuff, 5 grand lumber into 10 grand big garage or 50 grand high end custom furniture or several 4 grand custom patio decks or......whole lot of potential there, thousands of products possible

Bulk raw commodity sales is third world colonial exploitation money (but it is still money, so that's cool, work is work I've done it a little, firewood), but the real serious money in wood is in handling it a LOT, many many precision steps, and turning it into finished products(I've done this a whole heaping lot more, both working in factories making stuff and also independent making custom "things"). If you have the resources to start with raw logs, you are getting profit compounded every step of the way from woods to the customers house.

"Value added" works well, just takes more work and planning, but less of the bulk resource is needed to compound the profits. Taking trees to finished products would be an example of what is termed "vertical integration". And if you can find a good use or market for the scraps you generate along the way, heck, that's just frosting on the cake.

So that's what wood processor I would choose, a saw mill and wood working machinery, which I imagine one could put together at the low end for the same 30 grand or so being talked about here, a bandsaw mill, then an assortment of modest but functional wood working gear, the basics anyway, table saw, planer, routers, sanders, and assorted whatnot.

 

[redprospector]

Let me tell you guy's a little story.
About 12 or 15 years ago I had a custom milling business using a Woodmiser LT30 that I had leased from a guy who inherrited it when his dad died. Well, business was good and the owner of the mill saw that I was making money, and decided he wanted the mill back when the lease was up.
I started looking at Band Mills and almost died from sticker shock. Being the "fart smeller" that I am, I decided to build my own mill. Long story short, I kept track of everything I spent on my mill. I kept track of the time I spent too, but I'm not counting that. With the business I lost, the length of time it took to complete it, and what I spent in parts I could have bought a new mill.......and a Bobcat. But I do have the satisfaction of knowing that I can build a real nice band saw mill that is powered by a 1600cc VW engine.
It ain't rocket science, but by the time you're done you may wish it were.

Let me know how all this "re-inventing" the wheel goes for you guy's.

Andy

 

[KiwiBro]

With the business I lost, the length of time it took to complete it, and what I spent in parts I could have bought a new mill.......and a Bobcat.

Could you not leverage that investment to make more than one mill and start selling them? Did it stack up from that angle?

Hey, the wheel might be old hat to you pros but to some of us, figuring out the best bit of kit to make our time fun and profitable is half the battle. Hopefully before I die I'll win the lottery and have six pieces of the puzzle all at the same time:

tractor with winch
digger with normal bucket, felling head or at least a grapple, firewood processing attachment
decent small truck with crane, tilt deck and tilt transport trailer (with removable log bunks)
portable sawmill
Kiln (probably solar and/or wood fired)
Cabinetry workshop.

That is about as close to wood heaven as possible, me thinks.

 

[Dalmatian90]

For me, it would be a shoot-out between Chompers, the Skidsteer units, and the Logrite/Supersplit combination -- because I wouldn't be interested in maintaining a log yard and making deliveries, but doing some evening / weekend custom splitting at the homeowner's location might be fun...get the logs to a landing or driveway and I'll buck and split.

Profitable, maybe not...but you said money is no object

 

[ChipMonger]

For me either cordking or a timberwolf processor. Both with conveyors.

 

[leon]

For me, it would be a shoot-out between Chompers, the Skidsteer units,
and the Logrite/Supersplit combination -- because I wouldn't be interested
in maintaining a log yard and making deliveries, but doing some
evening/weekend custom splitting at the homeowner's location might be
fun...get the logs to a landing or driveway and I'll buck and split.

Profitable, maybe not...but you said money is no object

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Definetly the Chomper Super 16 and a Timberwolf TW5 with the log lift and split wood table.
and the smaller Chomper Hydraulic Powered Wood Conveyor.

The TW5 would be used for the short pieces that are too short to feed
through the chute and any bad or shattered butt ends. In that way a very
small saw is needed for any cleaning up

 

[woodmizer]

I have a 20 30 cordking processor , saw blade model , I do custom cuttind for people , its a good gig , I make a decent living , never get rich , but I get by, the circular saw model is dangerous, blades crack and fly apart in the frost , seen it happen at the sawmill, theres no safety stop on blade why I dont no there should be before i consider buying one,,,only good part they are faster ,but the cost of a blade complete is about 2500 , saw blade and chain 150, which would you rather pay for a screw up, I get two plus full cords (3 face cords in a full cord) an hour depending on the logs , cord king uses an aftermarket disc not a good simmons disc ,not even close to the same quality , so I have to sharpen a chain or two that's what they invented electric sharpeners for, I cut a truck and pup load of logs on two chains even if they are dirty ,chain lasts a really long time if you set your sharpener correctly, I guess I prefer the chainsaw model over the saw blade ,lets face it most people only have a load of logs to process and I couldn't justify another 20 grand for the saw blade model, cordkings warranty is terrible just like everybody elses , its never theyre workmanship , its always your fault, they say one year no haggle , well the service manager will try anything not to send you the parts or make you pay the shipping , now that I own one , if I had the time id build one, got the shop , tools and knowledge just no time , the choice is yours sawchain or rotary blade , look at price, safety , and just what your planning to do (cut firewood or cut every tree on the planet in two weeks or less ) good luck on your choice


9

 

[Timbercreek]

^this guys confused. Theres a world of difference between a sawmill ripping blade, and a carbide crosscutting blade.
Sawmill blades grenade when they hit very large steel, not frost. Used to have to help my father replace teeth on the sawmill if we got into some nails. The blade grenades when it hits big steel, bolts or lags. Sawmill blade isnt designed for a rough life, its designed to fly through clean, debarked wood straight and true.

A carbide slashing blade is designed to be out in the woods cutting logs to length all day long. It will see dirt, mud and rocks in its lifetime.
I see many tcr slashers still in operation with 2" cracks at the tooth holds.
Ive heard 1000 cord sharpenings on the rapido.
Id buy a rapido because i could buy 2 for the price of one multitek and i can fix it.

 

[sb47]

If price wasn't a factor, I'd simply buy firewood from a dealer and have them do all the work, hauling and stacking it.

 

[sam-tip]

If it's really anything over, say, $15K then I'd just fabricate my own. It's not exactly the space shuttle. And I'd LOVE to have one of them on 312 Caterpillar excavator! Swing to the piles instead of bounce around inside the skidsteer like a ping pong ball in a paint shaker.

I have this rough idea in my head about taking a mid-sized harvester head (CTL logging)
and modifying it to be a processor..no splitting ram, the feed wheels would shove the wood through the splitting head with the wood being moved ahead for the next cut....it would be very fast, and use a tree length stick instead of a pre-cut piece like the Hahn.
And it wouldn't need to be mounted on mobile machine..it could be stationary. But it would be better on an excavator.

Now the Hahn is starting at $36300 for the bigger attachment. Starting at $22400 for the compact version. I agree not a space shuttle. Why are they so expensive?

 

[Timbercreek]

Lets see 100% markup for profit, and im sure theres a hefty percentage in there for insurance/product liability/ ******* coverage.

 

[zogger]

Lets see 100% markup for profit, and im sure theres a hefty percentage in there for insurance/product liability/ ******* coverage.

My boss was telling me on new cheap (relatively speaking) airplanes it is something like 40 grand of the price just to help cover them (them the plane manufacturers like cessna) from lawsuits. That's the main reason old airplanes retain decent market value.

 

[A100HVA]

when you consider the cost of workman's comp insurance and the IRS obligations , plus all the "benefits" of employee's doing firewood with chainsaws & hydraulic wood splitter.
it was easy for me after 10 years doing that ,I just went out and bought a cordking after the LAST employee's sob story.
that was in 1986.the learning curve for good operation on both the processor and the skidsteer took about 800 hrs.
preparing the wood is very important,you'll get a much better product out of it.this requires "knot bumpin" and such...but it's worth it!
separating diameters helps also,i found that you would get less debris when you do not multi block split.even though it takes longer,you get better finished load.
now that I got it down pat, I find that getting wood to feed this thing is a roller coaster ride. I've got to the point where I need 3-400 cds of oak on hand to get thru the times I can't get any wood,while waiting to get all the other species of local hardwood.
when wood is going good for me,i can move a tt load a day,that does not happen to much but occasionally. I figure that's a great one man band.i've got over 1,000 cds in between saw bit changes.this machine is very cheap to maintain once you learn how to put wood into it the right way.it's electric over hydraulic.switches are easy to change. it's been back to the factory 3 times over the years.i've always gotten great service at a real reasonable price from them.the last time I was up there gettin' my machine "updated" Robert the owner had just come back from the "shoot-out" and said I should trade my machine for the one he just brought back,so he demo'd it to me.....I said no thanks,that thing is to quick for me,now that I/we got all the bugs out of mine!!!
I get some good compliments on my machine when i'm up there from the guys who work there,they have shown me some of the replacement parts & stories of other guy's machines which I know of here locally that did not last long because of the "employee" thing.i guess when you buy it yourself,break it yourself.you learn how not to break it,and you didn't pay someone to do it for you!
winter operation I did the first year I had it,that was the last year.now I just operate when there's no snow.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Nice Chev you have.


I'm pretty happy with my processor. I'd maybe step up to an 18-20 without the ****** air system. (all hydraulic)

 

[A100HVA]

thanks!

 

[Sandhill Crane]

It is obvious from the photo you keep your equipment and yard up. Thirty years on a processor! Makes me think twice about investing in one. The new cost seems very high, but it probably did in '86 also. Thanks for sharing.

 

[OnTheRoad]

I wouldn't buy a processor because I don't burn straight, small poles.

If the wood fairy dropped a bunch of straight, 12" oak poles at my door every day, I'd own a fantastic processor.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Must have 15,000+ hrs on that 1986 Cord King?
The 18-20 we have at the shop is a 2001 and has almost 8000 hrs.