I'm done cutting for this year (woodpile pics)

[Kevin in Ohio]

What a pleasure to read this thread... Makes me want to go out and cut with my father, good times for sure! I hope to some day have a setup like that! Do you have any advice with asking farmers for wood that is close to the fields that they work? Right now I have a line on one farmer that wants some stuff chopped down and he said I could have any dead stuff in his woods that I wanted, but it is so hard to get to... None the less, great pictures!

Max

Your getting kind of late now to do anything major. You don't want to have stuff in the way when they get ready to plant.

I'd start off small and find out EXACTLY what he wants. Whether he wants all the trees cut or just certain ones. We throw all the brush out in the field in rows and leave some breaks so you can get in and push it with a tractor or dozer for burning. Here is a pic of the 3/4 mile long one we did last year. You can make out the brush row on the left:

Tell him you'll help on burn day if he can bring the tractor. That's the easy part. One other thing I'd stress is don't tear up there fields/property. If it's wet, walk in pulling your saws and such in a wagon. For hauling out wait for when the ground dries out or is froze enough. Nothing makes them madder than bouncing over your ruts, especially if they are doing no till. Keep your word and do a good job and you'll get more wood than you'll need as they all go to the coffee shop and swap stories. If if doesn't have enough for you ask him to spread the word you're looking for more. You'll get it if you do a good job, Kevin

 

[maxfior]

Your getting kind of late now to do anything major. You don't want to have stuff in the way when they get ready to plant.

I'd start off small and find out EXACTLY what he wants. Whether he wants all the trees cut or just certain ones. We throw all the brush out in the field in rows and leave some breaks so you can get in and push it with a tractor or dozer for burning. Here is a pic of the 3/4 mile long one we did last year. You can make out the brush row on the left:

Tell him you'll help on burn day if he can bring the tractor. That's the easy part. One other thing I'd stress is don't tear up there fields/property. If it's wet, walk in pulling your saws and such in a wagon. For hauling out wait for when the ground dries out or is froze enough. Nothing makes them madder than bouncing over your ruts, especially if they are doing no till. Keep your word and do a good job and you'll get more wood than you'll need as they all go to the coffee shop and swap stories. If if doesn't have enough for you ask him to spread the word you're looking for more. You'll get it if you do a good job, Kevin

Kevin,

Thank you for taking the time in writing that response. I'm pretty much doing the things that you stated, It was late this winter that I found the farmer that wanted a few trees dropped, I guess they get to close to the top of the combine... There is a nice grass row that I can get my equpiment to, but every time I wanted to get out, there was WAY too much snow to do any work, so now I'm stuck wating for a cold day to freeze the ground. One thing that I've learned over the years is NOT to mess up a farmers field... So, if need be I'll wait till next fall or winter... I also need to find out what is planted, if there is nothing there, I can drop trees and not worry about it. The other farmer I know has a 8 or so acre woods that has lots of standing dead oak and walnut, there is also good access to the woods where I don't need to worry about damaging crops, etc. So, that might be my best bet ATM... I'd love to see pictures of your splitting setup and your dad's wood stove, my father and I built his splitter and we plan on building another one this summer, 16HP, 28GPM... Is it worth checking out ditch banks for wood, I know that is where a majority of my neighbors wood comes from, what do you think? Thanks again!

Max

 

[KD57]

That's awesome, done cutting for the year huh? If that was mine I would be done cutting for a lifetime, mine and my sons.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Kevin,

Thank you for taking the time in writing that response. I'm pretty much doing the things that you stated, It was late this winter that I found the farmer that wanted a few trees dropped, I guess they get to close to the top of the combine... There is a nice grass row that I can get my equpiment to, but every time I wanted to get out, there was WAY too much snow to do any work, so now I'm stuck wating for a cold day to freeze the ground. One thing that I've learned over the years is NOT to mess up a farmers field... So, if need be I'll wait till next fall or winter... I also need to find out what is planted, if there is nothing there, I can drop trees and not worry about it. The other farmer I know has a 8 or so acre woods that has lots of standing dead oak and walnut, there is also good access to the woods where I don't need to worry about damaging crops, etc. So, that might be my best bet ATM... I'd love to see pictures of your splitting setup and your dad's wood stove, my father and I built his splitter and we plan on building another one this summer, 16HP, 28GPM... Is it worth checking out ditch banks for wood, I know that is where a majority of my neighbors wood comes from, what do you think? Thanks again!

Max

We have 2 splitters. One's a 3 point and the other is a fixed horizontal.

We bought the 3 point from someone who made it themselves and the pushram and 3 point attachment have been rebuilt on it. It's really nice for the big stuff as you can lay it on the ground and roll the big stuff up on it with a tiny ramp. Cycle time is slower than the other so it just gets used on the big boys.

Dad made the other originally 25 years ago and I've rebuilt just about everything on it now. No breaks now

Motor is a 2 cylinder Onan he had laying around. I'm gathering parts now for my dream splitter and might start on that next Winter. I've got some ideas I want to try...........


I'll try to get some pics of Dad's homemade stove today and post them later.
He nailed that as it does an incredible job of heating his home and it's been in operation for 30+ years now.

Get wood from whereever you can, lord knows we have over the years till we got our own supply!

 

[maxfior]

We have 2 splitters. One's a 3 point and the other is a fixed horizontal.

We bought the 3 point from someone who made it themselves and the pushram and 3 point attachment have been rebuilt on it. It's really nice for the big stuff as you can lay it on the ground and roll the big stuff up on it with a tiny ramp. Cycle time is slower than the other so it just gets used on the big boys.

Dad made the other originally 25 years ago and I've rebuilt just about everything on it now. No breaks now

Motor is a 2 cylinder Onan he had laying around. I'm gathering parts now for my dream splitter and might start on that next Winter. I've got some ideas I want to try...........


I'll try to get some pics of Dad's homemade stove today and post them later.
He nailed that as it does an incredible job of heating his home and it's been in operation for 30+ years now.

Get wood from whereever you can, lord knows we have over the years till we got our own supply!

Great pics, I'll post some of my Dad working on splitting in a second... I'd be interested to know what your dream splitter would be, maybe we can share ideas and plans if you would like. I know that the beam alone is going to cost $500 or so bones...
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Looking forward to getting ideas for a stove too, VERY interested in your fathers setup, My stove isn't too bad, I've got the larger Magic Heat Reclaimer on it, and it helps quite a bit, but I'd like to build something with a built in heat exchanger. My pops has a double drum setup that burns waste oil, works good in his shop, but too dirty (and maybe even dangerous) for home use... I see you too are in Ohio, where abouts? Thanks again for all the details and insight...
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I live in the country and my dad is still a city dweller... So, his space is limited for wood, but he still tries to get as much as he can from the city and local landscaping people...
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Max

 

[grampakev]

wow, just that round up on the splitter is like a weeks worth of heat for me:jawdrop:

 

[maxfior]

wow, just that round up on the splitter is like a weeks worth of heat for me:jawdrop:

Tell me about it! My dad finds all the huge awesome oak!

M.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Great pics, I'll post some of my Dad working on splitting in a second... I'd be interested to know what your dream splitter would be, maybe we can share ideas and plans if you would like. I know that the beam alone is going to cost $500 or so bones...
---
Looking forward to getting ideas for a stove too, VERY interested in your fathers setup, My stove isn't too bad, I've got the larger Magic Heat Reclaimer on it, and it helps quite a bit, but I'd like to build something with a built in heat exchanger. My pops has a double drum setup that burns waste oil, works good in his shop, but too dirty (and maybe even dangerous) for home use... I see you too are in Ohio, where abouts? Thanks again for all the details and insight...
---
I live in the country and my dad is still a city dweller... So, his space is limited for wood, but he still tries to get as much as he can from the city and local landscaping people...
---
Max

Here is some pics of our stove set ups.

Dads is just a simple double barrel design using thrown out large water heaters. If I recall right they were thrown out by someone in the 70's along our road when he built it. THAT'S recycling He got the door from an old coal furnace and it's a heavy piece too. Close to the block wall but it acts like a huge heat sink as stove is in the basement. He put one register above it which is in the upstairs hallway and works great. No blowers or anything else is needed and easily heats the house pretty evenly.

Notice on the wall there is a door? We dug a rather large hole outside the house and poured a floor and layed rock up for the sides. He gets about 3/4 of a cord in there and wood stays dry and keeps the mess and bugs to a minimum. Works real well for him.

I have a Central Boiler OWB. I built a building for it (20' X 20'). I don't like standing in the rain or my wood getting wet. I can easily get 13 cord in there which is what I've been averaging in use per year.

Layed block on 3 sides and filled the cores with rebar and cement. Stick construction on shown end built in sections all with screws so I can quickly tear it out if stove needs replaced. Cathedral trusses allows lifting out from above. furring strips attached to the block and steel screwed on to match rest of the farm buildings. Building is raised so you can back a truck up and tailgate is basically flush so you can use a cart to unload quickly.(pulling cart into truck or trailer)

Yes, I put a little thought into it

On the splitter I'm going box beam on box beam. Out 3 point is that way and I like it. Planning on a 5 or 6 cylinder so that means at least a 16 horse with 30 gpm pump. Just depends what I gather up. Have a few tricks up my sleave that I don't want to say at this time but I'm looking to make it 'easy" for one person to do it with little effort. I'm just west of Dayton.

 

[maxfior]

Here is some pics of our stove set ups.

Dads is just a simple double barrel design using thrown out large water heaters. If I recall right they were thrown out by someone in the 70's along our road when he built it. THAT'S recycling He got the door from an old coal furnace and it's a heavy piece too. Close to the block wall but it acts like a huge heat sink as stove is in the basement. He put one register above it which is in the upstairs hallway and works great. No blowers or anything else is needed and easily heats the house pretty evenly.

Notice on the wall there is a door? We dug a rather large hole outside the house and poured a floor and layed rock up for the sides. He gets about 3/4 of a cord in there and wood stays dry and keeps the mess and bugs to a minimum. Works real well for him.

I have a Central Boiler OWB. I built a building for it (20' X 20'). I don't like standing in the rain or my wood getting wet. I can easily get 13 cord in there which is what I've been averaging in use per year.

Layed block on 3 sides and filled the cores with rebar and cement. Stick construction on shown end built in sections all with screws so I can quickly tear it out if stove needs replaced. Cathedral trusses allows lifting out from above. furring strips attached to the block and steel screwed on to match rest of the farm buildings. Building is raised so you can back a truck up and tailgate is basically flush so you can use a cart to unload quickly.(pulling cart into truck or trailer)

Yes, I put a little thought into it

On the splitter I'm going box beam on box beam. Out 3 point is that way and I like it. Planning on a 5 or 6 cylinder so that means at least a 16 horse with 30 gpm pump. Just depends what I gather up. Have a few tricks up my sleave that I don't want to say at this time but I'm looking to make it 'easy" for one person to do it with little effort. I'm just west of Dayton.

Awesome setup, you guys really have your stuff together, that's for sure! I like your fathers setup and your OWB setup is REALLY nice, just goes to show that thinking things through works wonders and I see you did some planning...
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That is my ghetto setup, it works okay for an all steel stove. I welded on leg extensions and added the magic heat and then ran duct work to my living room. It made a HUGE difference... It's amazing how much heat goes to waste. I'm actually thinking about drawing up some plans to add more heat exchangers and fins to the stove to get even more out of it...
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Better shot...
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I found that the stock fan on the M.H. was pretty loud and didn't move much air so I removed it and just have a larger room fan behind it, worked wonders...
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Your splitter ideas sound good, we're going with an "H" beam that's .81 thick, 8x8 I believe. We've found that if you go with a larger ram the steel needs to be much thicker to handle the load... I've seem some pretty scary homemade stuff that flexes and bends way too much to be safe... I believe we're aiming around 100 or so inches and the beam is 58lbs. per foot, so it'll be pretty heavy duty... That's one thing I can say for my old man (he's been welding all his life) none of his junk breaks... And he likes to over do things, but I guess that is why his junk lasts so long... I hope you take pictures of your splitter build (should you get around to building it) I'm going to try and do the same... Always fun stuff!

Max

 

[iCreek]

Kevin - Wow, like someone else said, I don't think I have ever seen that much wood in one place for a residential. Awesome work.

Is that a MF 65 ? If so high or low? We have one of each and that sure likes like a high crop 65.

 

[rdbrumfield]

If you are building a splitter with 16 hp and that kind of gallonage, I would consider something like this. could be put on wheels to trailer, mine is on the 3pt. Like it that way for the stability the tractor gives it when picking oversize pieces. Like the rounds the fellow has in the pics above, it just loves that size. Mine just shaves two pieces off the bottom at a time. Keeps the top part in one piece, rotate the block once you have it ate down a couple of pushes. It works quite well.

I have posted this somewhere before, so you might have seen it, just trying get out an easy way to handle larger wood.

 

[flotek]

thats alot of wood right there lol you and your dad must have giant ripped arms like the incredible hulk :greenchainsaw:

 

[maxfior]

If you are building a splitter with 16 hp and that kind of gallonage, I would consider something like this. could be put on wheels to trailer, mine is on the 3pt. Like it that way for the stability the tractor gives it when picking oversize pieces. Like the rounds the fellow has in the pics above, it just loves that size. Mine just shaves two pieces off the bottom at a time. Keeps the top part in one piece, rotate the block once you have it ate down a couple of pushes. It works quite well.

I have posted this somewhere before, so you might have seen it, just trying get out an easy way to handle larger wood.

That's a cool idea!

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Kevin - Wow, like someone else said, I don't think I have ever seen that much wood in one place for a residential. Awesome work.

Is that a MF 65 ? If so high or low? We have one of each and that sure likes like a high crop 65.

Actually it's a MF 35. We use it mainly for bushhogging and dragging a box grader. Tractor in other pic is a MF 175 and also have an old Massey 44 that's a Frankenstein. Has a flathead Dodge 6 in it. Thanks for the compliments too.

 

[Kansas]

Nice pile of wood thats what I call being prepared!

Kansas

 

[Gavman]

Awesome set of pics and thread, nice work