What ideas have you come up with?

[Sandhill Crane]

We all know firewood is labor very intensive.

My idea has to do with a firewood processor.
I presently do not have a processor, but if I did I think this would work out well for me working alone.
I buy 100" long logs which is typically considered very short for optimal processor production.
So the idea would be to extend the in-feed trough, if need be, and add a fourth log deck support. Then add a hydraulic control valve to run the two pair of log deck chain feeds separately, creating parallel log decks for the 8' log lengths. What this would accomplish is longer run times on the diesel engines of a processor and forklift. Another idea along similar lines would be to add a log deck on both sides of a processor.

What ideas have you had this winter?

 

[svk]

Nothing fancy or earth shaking but I finally learned that skidding logs onto a roadway and processing there is much easier than carrying rounds out of the woods. Do not know why I was so stubborn for so many years. I have hundreds of feet of cable and chains I could have been using to save my back.

 

[MechanicMatt]

Definitely thinking of following my arborist fella around this summer to grab as much free wood as possible. Gonna have a couple teenage boys that owe me big time running my splitter non stop. Also thinking that a bigger oil tank on said splitter will add volume and reduce temperatures.

 

[cantoo]

Sandhill, check about 8:34 on the video.

Also look at this for 100" logs, 6 blades would do it.

 

[rarefish383]

Nothing fancy or earth shaking but I finally learned that skidding logs onto a roadway and processing there is much easier than carrying rounds out of the woods. Do not know why I was so stubborn for so many years. I have hundreds of feet of cable and chains I could have been using to save my back.

Now, get rid of the cable and buy a 150' roll of 17,000 pound bull line. It will last the rest of your life, is much easier to roll up and store, and will rip your truck in half before it fails.OOPS you already did that.. 2-3 snatch blocks and you can snake 30-40 foot logs out of the woods. I'll hang a snatch block to the side of a tree and lift the whole log up to waste height to buck. When it starts to shift weight I put a couple blocks under it.

 

[SS396driver]

@rarefish383 never heard of bull line ,is it synthetic rope for a winch ? I opted for steel on both my winches being in the woods it's hard on them dragging logs. You end up hitting rocks and other obstacles with the rope . Replaced one so far.

 

[MechanicMatt]

Ya see that rope? That’s my definition of a bull rope. My buddy gets it in 100ft length, they use it to hoist the phone poles up.

I have cables, chains and ropes. Honestly thinking a bigger truck and dump trailer along with a grain elevator and then just getting it done.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Building a log arch for behind the atv for getting logs out of the woods for cutting.

 

[SS396driver]

Ya see that rope? That’s my definition of a bull rope. My buddy gets it in 100ft length, they use it to hoist the phone poles up.

I have cables, chains and ropes. Honestly thinking a bigger truck and dump trailer along with a grain elevator and then just getting it done.

Ok thought it was something like that

Ya then you will putting a winch on the trailer then an arch then you'll decide you need a bigger trailer.

I noticed you changed your avatar

 

[MechanicMatt]

Ok thought it was something like that

Ya then you will putting a winch on the trailer then an arch then you'll decide you need a bigger trailer

since I want a FEL this year, how long until I decide it’s not big enough??

 

[SS396driver]

My brain isn't working well tonight FEL?

 

[sundance]

My brain isn't working well tonight FEL?

Front End Loader

 

[SS396driver]

Front End Loader

Doh ....

 

[SS396driver]

since I want a FEL this year, how long until I decide it’s not big enough??

Now that I know what your talking about it usually happens the first time you use it for something it wasnt designed to do. I really like the bota but wish I had gotten bigger

 

[unclemoustache]

Ran out of room to store wood (or had a tree to remove that I didn't want to burn myself).
So I advertised it as split firewood, you pick up from the jobsite. I had my sons splitting it as I was taking it down, and a customer showed up and took it that next day. Of course, I told him it needed to wait until the following winter to burn it. He was happy, and I didn't have to move it at all.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I've been thinking about a medium size processor again, something diesel, and also about bar oil, as I just bought ten gallons of it.
Do processors use hydraulic oil or bar oil to lube the cutting chain?
Either way, then I was thinking of a conveniently located larger oil tank with hand pump, and a permanently attached hose to fill the smaller reservoir.

 

[blakey]

Last year I had my woods logged, they would normally take both sawlogs and firewood logs. I got thinking "why would I let firewood logs go out the driveway?" I asked if we could make a deal where they would bring the firewood logs to my yard as I have an owb. They said no problem and figured out a price. We were both happy with the deal and I have enough logs for a couple years plus the tops still in the woods. Saved me a lot of work.

 

[nathan4104]

I've been thinking about a medium size processor again, something diesel, and also about bar oil, as I just bought ten gallons of it.
Do processors use hydraulic oil or bar oil to lube the cutting chain?
Either way, then I was thinking of a conveniently located larger oil tank with hand pump, and a permanently attached hose to fill the smaller reservoir.

my small processor has a gravity feed oil tank. i use bar oil. i find anything else sprays all over and with the bar facing the operator you get covered in it. bar oil is sticky and does not spray as bad. i'm in the process of adding a grease gun, that will be filled with oil, and pumped when the bar comes down. one pump will be lots of oil per cut if not too much so an adjustable length arm to change the pump stroke will be made too this should save me quite a bunch of oil, as i forget to turn it off or a stubborn piece takes longer to load/split, cleaning something and oil is dripping.....

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

We all know firewood is labor very intensive.

My idea has to do with a firewood processor.
I presently do not have a processor, but if I did I think this would work out well for me working alone.
I buy 100" long logs which is typically considered very short for optimal processor production.
So the idea would be to extend the in-feed trough, if need be, and add a fourth log deck support. Then add a hydraulic control valve to run the two pair of log deck chain feeds separately, creating parallel log decks for the 8' log lengths. What this would accomplish is longer run times on the diesel engines of a processor and forklift. Another idea along similar lines would be to add a log deck on both sides of a processor.

What ideas have you had this winter?

That is an option that already exists with most processors.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I've been thinking about a medium size processor again, something diesel, and also about bar oil, as I just bought ten gallons of it.
Do processors use hydraulic oil or bar oil to lube the cutting chain?
Either way, then I was thinking of a conveniently located larger oil tank with hand pump, and a permanently attached hose to fill the smaller reservoir.

You are going to base a $40-100k purchase over 10 gallons of bar oil?

Some use bar oil, some hydraulic oil.

Mine uses hydraulic oil, never been an issue. I get about 1000 hours on a bar, so probably ~800 cords or so.