Looking back, and problem solving along the way.

[Sandhill Crane]

Cash flow is a toughie. I've taken out small, fairly short term loans for the forklift and the PackFix. I've heard it said both ways, business fail because they borrow too much money. And, business fail because they don't borrow enough money. Some people are more at ease with risk than others.
Up to a point, it has not been about making money, as I've enjoyed the work and the process. I've always commuted to job sites 30-200 miles. Working at home in the wood lot is great. The investment in equipment makes it easier and more productive. As far as equipment, I do have much more than most home owners, but as compared to other AS contributors that make a living, or partial living, from firewood my equipment is pretty bare bones. A splitter; conveyor; forklift; and bundler. Some of these guys have processors, skid steers, log trucks, full shops; and employees, family or partners, or some form of those. Some farm and use equipment or land not entirely supported by firewood. Everyone is different. I would never think of hiring someone, even a neighbor kid, because of liability. I've considered renting a processor, but I could not make the numbers work out without working for free.
Also, my age is becoming a factor, especially when I think about a loan for a processor. The 85k dream machine is nice, in that there is no re-splits, but I'm not taking a home equity loan for firewood, and a ten year equipment loan seems ridiculous at my age. This years physical impairments attest to that. A 30-50k machine would be a substantial payment, re-quire re-splitting, and make cash flow tight to feed it. In the end, I think what I'm doing is good for a year or two, or possibly an Eastonmade box wedge with pull back arm, which would be a 85k dream machine without the bells and whistles, and leave wobble room for other things. As far as the PackFix, it should have more resale value than a pile of bulk bags.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I'm not understanding why you'd need to resplit with a processor?

I have never used a processor. I helped a couple guys for four or five hours running a Dyna 16. They were ill prepared. Poorly trimmed and extra long logs, no cant hook or peeve. Their dads drove a couple trucks with dump trailers, which did make that part go pretty smooth. It still went fairly well, shearing the wedge hold down pin twice, and jamming the machine. The second time they used a hardened bolt. No sure if the original was a sacrificial shear pin or not.
They were running a four-way, and the splits were large for boiler wood.

I'm also judging from the split piles I saw at the Paul Bunyan show this year.
I could be wrong about resplitting but I don't think so.

I would say 80% of my orders are from women. If a woman can not pick up a split with one hand it is too big. Most of my customers burn in fireplaces, and less so in wood stoves. I have three customers that heat with wood, one of which just switched to pellets. They do ask for larger splits for overnighters.

I have two customers that re-splits after I deliver.
One is a summer art school with an outdoor ceramic kiln. They typically re-split to 1"x2". The reason is to increase the burn temperature significantly, and they will burn from two to three days non stop, working in shifts and loading the fire chamber hourly or even more often.
The other customer has a european stove that requires smaller wood to get multiple pieces in it. Apparently it burns a small hot fire as well.

In addition, smaller splits season more quickly.

 

[cantoo]

Sandhill, my Wallenstein came with a 6 way head and for me using 14" ash logs I think they are too small. There are smaller less expensive processors that would work good with the size logs you are getting. My age is also the reason I've been building equipment to make firewooding easier. Today my wife said I have to realize that some day soon we need to switch to oil. I'm too stubborn to burn oil.

 

[bayard]

wow, you are burning some calories.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I have never used a processor. I helped a couple guys for four or five hours running a Dyna 16. They were ill prepared. Poorly trimmed and extra long logs, no cant hook or peeve. Their dads drove a couple trucks with dump trailers, which did make that part go pretty smooth. It still went fairly well, shearing the wedge hold down pin
I could be wrong about resplitting but I don't think so.

I would say 80% of my orders are from women. If a woman can not pick up a split with one hand it is too big. Most of my customers burn in fireplaces, and less so in wood stoves. I have three customers that heat with wood, one of which just switched to pellets. They do ask for larger splits for overnighters.

I have two customers that re-splits after I deliver.
One is a summer art school with an outdoor ceramic kiln. They typically re-split to 1"x2". The reason is to increase the burn temperature significantly, and they will burn from two to three days non stop, working in shifts and loading the fire chamber hourly or even more often.
The other customer has a european stove that requires smaller wood to get multiple pieces in it. Apparently it burns a small hot fire as well.

In addition, smaller splits season more quickly.

It all depends how to setup the machine and what you feed it. If you put in 24" diameter log and a 4 way knife, it'll make big pieces. If you put a 16 way knife, it'd make small pieces.
I have a 6 way for mine. If I'm running logs that just barely fit in the machine I might have to resplit a few with each block of wood, but with small logs there's no issue.

I just ordered in some T1 steel to make an 8 way for doing bundle wood. I keep those splits on the smaller end, maybe 4" max, so that ends up being a decent amount of replitting.

If you want to make popsicle sticks, a processor isn't going to do that. Pouche makes one for that purpose. I'm sure it's underbuilt and overpriced like the rest of their stuff though. Certainly not logger proof!

The dyna machines I've seen are homeowner sized. Expect to spend at least in the 50-60k area for a decent sized processor and conveyor that will hold up to commercial use. I looked hard at the Brute Force. Have talked to Clayton (owner) quite a bit and saw once in person. Well setup in design and the hydraulics are done well too.
Their bigger machine will handle 30" logs and runs about 75k.

My Blockbuster had HORRIBLE hydraulics when I bought it. I redid a bunch of stuff and reduced the cycle time almost in half as well as reduced fuel usage and hydraulic oil temps.
None of what I did was overly expensive and certainly wouldn't be much more when building the machine.
Just stuff like putting the correct sized hoses vs nearly everything is -8 or -6... I guess they buy just 2 sizes of hose and make it work, dunno!

 

[Firewood MB]

I have been thrilled with the Posch unit. The machine is well designed and finished, and after a short learning curve a delight to use.
Initially I tried double stacking. It took a little more time to do that, on and off the lift to level the base row. In the spring 95% was good, but some lower row bundles settled and shifted, making it very difficult to get forks in some of the top bundles. Most of the time I could one fork the lower side, block it up, and then access it. Tipping one over makes a bit of a mess. I stacked those in the 1/3 cord racks I had at the time, and got a really good idea how the bundles stacked out cu. ft. wise. Then I would run it back up the conveyor to re-bundle.View attachment 782343 View attachment 782344
One learning curve was using pallets. I have been using 4'x4' pallets. Hardwood pallets are best of course for outside, ground contact use. Many of mine are pine, and the worst have only three cross pieces on the bottom. After a year or two they become water soaked and bend or break. I used a car jack to lift the pallet enough to connect the drum lifting tripod to the top of the drum.View attachment 782345
As my system lacks a heavy duty enough truck with a piggyback forklift mount, unloading by hand is piece by piece work. Aside from lifting cut rounds from the cut table to the splitter, unloading is only the second touch. It is way too time consuming unload each and every piece by hand, as mentioned previously.View attachment 782347
I have considered a dump trailer, loading it in the wood lot would be much easier. I could use the conveyor, and have considered a platform to place pallets on, back trailer under, and cut bundles. Unwrapping actually works better, as the netting catches on splits when cut, like a gill net. At one point a dump trailer was not an option for lack of a pickup. We now have a truck for towing an older rv trailer Margaret bought when she retired. She bought a pop up that we towed with a mini van, which wasn't ideal. It rained a few times camping and the pop up got sold. She had talked about a pop-up for years. I had used them before and was not onboard, so she went halves with our son. She bought a 2005 27' bumper pull. Nice, older, one owner unit, no carpet and blond interior. It was nice, and she has never asked for much despite making more money than me all these years. I said I'd go halves on a truck, and she bought the trailer. Great for two, but now we needed a pickup. That TW-6 money, went towards a pickup instead of a heavy duty 52,000 gvw. The whole rv thing never appealed to me until she got me in that trailer, and got me to try it along Lake Michigans in state parks on several three and four day weekends that summer, some with the kids and grand kids. I found out in February that my brother, nine years older then me, had a mild heart attach in January. Mid March we hooked up the trailer and headed southwest to CA. Visited friends in New Mexico on the way, and my oldest sister in CA. A friend was house sitting for us and looking after the animals. We planned three weeks, were gone seven weeks, and visited as many national parks and monuments. The honeymoon we never had. After leaving Santa Fe on the way out, we avoided freeways, with few exceptions. In late fall we visited friends in New Jersy, headed northeast into NY state. My moms folks lived in Delhi, NY. Hooked up with cousins, and headed north to Lake Placid, then east to Acadia National Park. We were at the horse barns there in late afternoon, the last day of the season, when they fed them in the pasture. The fall colors were prime, and few campgrounds were open when we headed home. Anyway, no big truck for deliveries, and no regrets. We had gone coast to coast, folding paper stars, called German stars, that we gave to people we met along the way.
Cash flow has always been an issue, and that was the motivation to go with the TW-6, and get away from paying, or paying as much for logs. But things come up and we have to make choices.
This year we did not camp as much of course. For one thing the trailer took a beating on the roads, especially on freeways when we got on them. We bought a 2011 Chevy 3500. I knew Margaret would be doing considerable driving, and wanted a truck that was firm, with adequate tires and brakes. We originally looked at older trucks, and less frills work trucks. We soon discovered power mirrors were a given is we both drove. We found this one with 102,000 in Kentucky, hoping to get a more solid, rust free body. It's a dually and I didn't have much thought pro or con at the time about that. I learned later that duallies sit lower and are considered more stable. Anyway, I did some work on the trailer this spring. Margaret took it for a week to a fiber arts festival near here. She spins wool and alpaca, and knits. And we took it to the Paul Bunyan Show and stayed two nights before heading to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, and Turkey Run State Park in Indiana on the way home.
This fall I expected to get caught up. In the spring I had had skin cancer and reconstructive surgery on my nose. Doc said keep your head above your heart for two-three weeks. This fall pneumonia snuck up on me. Six weeks of coughing spells, then again when I transitioned inside to out, or vice versa. Cold air irritated it. A friend helped again with some cutting/splitting to fill a partially filled drum. The next day Margaret and I dropped the mast and put the PackFix in the container. Previously I had built shelves for the netting, which had been stored in the garage.View attachment 782369 View attachment 782370
to be continued...

This is my first post on this forum but I'm a firm believer one of the best tools we have for firewood processing is the internet and the knowledge of all the folks that take the time to post on forums such as Arborist Site. Sandhill, I don't know if you're still processing or won the lottery and retired (again) or just haven't posted for a while but thank you very much for the time you took to make all these posts and document your firewood journey...stay warm.