Logistics of firewood hauling and splitting?

[crazyal]

I use a UTV with a 3x6 trailer. I don't have to leave my property though. I block it in the woods and then bring it down to where I'll stack it (I split and stack it in the same location). I find my Honda can go through much tighter and steeper spots and can travel at a much faster speed. Plus it's fun to drive. I can get about 1/3 of a cord into the trailer and back of the UTV per load. My old trailer didn't have springs and without springs it was a much slower process.

 

[Johnbro]

My neighbor and I usually double-team. We buck the logs and drag them to a pile. Cut into rounds and split, then hauled either in the bed of a pickup or in the tractor bucket back to the wood shed. Best is to split right at the woodshed, but not always practical.

I have a TPH-mounted vertical log splitter. Runs off a rear hydraulic remote. I back the tractor up to a pile or rounds, drop the splitter, run up the revs to get plenty of oomph, sit on a round and start splitting. I throw them off to the side and keep moving backwards until the pile is done. with the vertical splitter I can just roll the rounds onto the foot and it them with the wedge. Easier than picking them up and setting them on a horizontal splitter and the TPH mount means I can get into tighter spots than a towed splitter.

Probably burn about 3 cords a year. I have two small wood sheds, try to have wood that's seasoned for 2 summers so it's nice and dry. My goal every year is to get my wood done by Memorial Day, but I don't always make it happen.

 

[LD1]

Everything we cut gets cut to length in the field/woods. We haul the rounds home and split on a later date.

We have no way to haul the logs home cause out cutting is in fencerows and logged out woods which involves a little road travel.

So our logic for hauling the rounds home instead of splitting on the site is based on a few reasons.
1. We have a large old barn where the splitting and storing is done. If it is a nice enough day to cut, we dont want to waste it splitting when we can do that in the barn on a rainy day.
2. Splitters just arent that manuverable and with the two tractors we use, we would rather haul the two trailers instead of one trailer and a splitter.
3. There are only two of us cutting. We have enough saws to keep us busy without having to worry about splitting.

On a good day, we can start at 8 or 9 in the morning and be done by 2 or 3 and have about 5-6 cords of rounds at home in the barn ready to split. Which we usually do a little at a time. If we only have an hour, we can split for a little bit. VS needing a whole day free to be able to go to the woods and do anything.

My post #4 in this thread shows some of the pics or our trailers http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/175749-fire-wood-trailer.html

I am not on my home computer now so I cant post the pics in this thread yet.

 

[grnspot110]

Sometimes I use the Mule & cut up in the timber. Sometimes use the JD 420 w/log arch & bring the poles to the pile to cut up. This year I have the JD 790 & pallet forks, I can bring the poles to the pile & use the forks as a sawbuck!

I store my wood at the farm through the summer, then bring it home to split, stack & cover. ~~ grnspot110

 

[BeeferMan]

Depends on the situation...

If I got a crew (that's anything more than just me), I'll usually drop, cut to length and split on-site, into the pickup with the loader, then haul out and stack from the pickup.

If the access isn't good or it's just me, I'll drop and skid to a landing area where I'll split right into the loader bucket and stack from there. A lot of times I'll have other wood waiting to be split at the landing area that I've picked up elsewhere, from tree trimming or storm damage, etc.

As someone else said, no matter how you do it, it's still a lot of work. But what's wrong with that? What else you got to do? Sox are done, so the baseball season is over...

 

[Gordon Gould]

I am like you. I have some long hilly trails. But I find it most efficient for me to skid the logs to a landing where I can get my 1 ton truck. I cut and split there, then truck to the shed. I try to skid when it is dry or frozen to minimize mud on the logs. If I rut up the trails I just fix them when I am done.
My shed has two bays so I am a year ahead. Cleaning up the landing is a pain but I think it is worth it.

 

[Gordon Gould]

here are a few pictures

 

[knightrider955]

My FEL,3 point splitter and my chain saw is all I need. Cut and split on site then toss it in the loader and dump it in the wood shed. Dont bother stacking, thats a waste of time. Dries just as fast in a pile.

 

[Mousefield]

I do it several different ways depending on the tree's location. Most of our land, except the creek area, is fairly flat. Sometime I take the wood splitter right to the tree, then haul out the wood with my garden tractor trailer. Sometimes I cut the tree up and take the rounds out in the loader or in the backhoe, depending on the size of the round and split near where I am going to stack the wood. As well I have taken 8-14 foot logs out and stacked them for cutting/splitting.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Wow, lots of responses to this and lots of good info. I think I might try cutting the trees into rounds, loading them on the trailer, then hauling it back and splitting it at the shed. I hate the mess that piles up from splitting, but hauling rounds seems more efficient than hauling spilt wood. Any thing that is too big to load I might just skid back to the shed whole when the ground is frozen. Keep the info and pics coming, I'll try to post up some pics when I start cutting for the year.