My firewood tools

[cantoo]

Moved the grapple to the back end of the tractor. Works really good and should save some jumping on and off the tractor. Also will work nice for those cold days I can just sit in the cab and pull logs to cut up later. Silver maple is about 26" and 7 feet long and wet as heck. Ash is about 12" and 12' long.

 

[dancan]

That looks to be a winner !!!!

 

[svk]

Slick!

 

[coog]

I wonder why there is no commercial equivalent. Great job.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

stony, the Hotblast works great for us, 2 friends also put them in after seeing our setup. They are real happy to be 90% oil free now. I now have the OWB hooked up to our house so the Hotblast is backup but my wife has it running everyday, mostly so the dogs have a hot register to sit in front of.

My brother uses a Hotblast. He is on #2 in 3 years, first one cracked real bad. Works "meh", firebox is tiny.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I wonder why there is no commercial equivalent. Great job.

There is.

 

[cantoo]

coog, quite a few companies make this type of grapple. They just want more money than I want to give to them is all. I wanted one that would work front or back with a quick change. It would also mount on my backhoe arms too. I plan to hook a 12 volt 2 way pump to it so it can be used on tractors without enough remotes. We have 2 bushes full of tops that we need to drag out, this will save time and possible broken ankles from jumping in and out of the tractor to hook up. I should be able to drag tree length poplar with it too, this will cut down on the amount of work required for the lower btu wood and make it worthwhile to get it. I robbed ideas from a bunch of companies to make mine. Next one will be better, if I ever build it.

 

[cantoo]

Valleywood, Hotblast works but you get what you pay for with it. I hardly ever burnt really good hardwood in it, just asking for trouble with thin steel. Only put a few small pieces in and the rest would be lesser wood to keep temps down. Good heavy ash bed is also a good plan.

 

[cantoo]

If anyone is planning on making one like this don't copy the 90* angle that I used on my beam and vertical part. I made the mistake of using 2 different tractors and didn't realize the 3 pth's were way different in measurement. I had to weld on another set of lower pins to make it fit the other tractor tractor otherwise it would go to high and bend the top link. I plan to do some cutting and reworking so it works better on both sizes of tractors and lifts a little higher. Distance from the bottom pins to the top link pins should have been a little wider. I think next time I would arch the pole to instead of a straight one. This would allow it to be shorter and still lift high enough. I made mine this long so I could reach over stumps or brush to hook onto the trees or tops. A hydraulic top link would be pretty handy too.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

That looks to be nice for cutting rounds. Bring a stick up to the splitter and fire up the saw. No binding or getting in the dirt.

 

[chipper1]

That looks to be nice for cutting rounds. Bring a stick up to the splitter and fire up the saw. No binding or getting in the dirt.

What's up Sandhill, staying busy.
Was thinking about you the other day when I needed a bench for my half splits.
Hope all is well over your way.

 

[chipper1]

That setup looks to do a great job cantoo.
It seems we can always find something to modify of use with a different technique, that's why the learning on AS is so valuable.
Thanks for all the tips on this and my own projects .

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Chipper 1: My kids think I'm nuts! (for wanting the Posch PackFix) Other than that...all is pretty good, no complaints. I let my wooden bench go with the splitter. They were a pair, still are, less than a mile away. Replaced by the SuperSplit with built-in table and a log lift on the TW splitter. Lately, my 'go to' hand tool is a pulp hook for loading the splitter and grabbing pieces to resplit. Build yourself a bench, you'll love it. A pile of splits works as one also, sort of. Built mine out of 4" x 4"s, 2" x 8"s for skirt boards, 2" x 12"s for the top, some bolts and a few screws for the top. It's lasted eight, ten years maybe, and as I say, still going. This is how I did things, more or less still the same, but I want to get away from stacking this year and still provide seasoned wood.

Come visit anytime. Bring your gloves... there are four, twenty cord loads of 8' logs to do. You will love the height of the SuperSplit. I'll have fun watching you have fun running it. That's the Super part of a SuprSplit.

I've been side tracked and starting to process again. Summer deliveries have started as well.

 

[cantoo]

Been working on my rounds table in my spare time. I have wheels to mount on it but want to get slope height right first. At the splitter table side it's 36" high, 8' ( 4 sets of rollers) wide and 10' long. My buddy used it tonight and says it works great. I load it with a 10 tine manure fork or my 7' wide snow bucket. The small scraps and dirt fall down between the rollers and can be cleaned out when needed.

 

[cantoo]

My buddy bought a used Blackscreek 1500 processor with a conveyor. I went over everything and made a few improvements and upgrades. I used a vegetable trailer that I bought 10 years ago and converted it into a deck for logs. My wife was pretty impressed that I already had it on the fenceline of treasures. It has the log lifter but it's way too slow and we have tractors to load anyway. I already have the same conveyor and it works really good so didn't have to do much to it. Spent a little time doing maintenance on the processor. Picture of the air filter after I tapped it on the vice a few times. He's really happy with how it's working out. It'll do up to about an 18" log and has an adjustable 4 way wedge on it. Resplits are pretty easy to do.