Logistics of firewood hauling and splitting?

[dave1949]

I have never heard of a cordwood saw how does it work? I get my wood fro a tree cutting co and most is 25" to 40". It is not easy to move stuff around that big.

Here's some info and pics:
Vermont Woodsman Cordwood Saw

25" - 40" that's way too big for a hand operated cordwood saw. They are best for stuff under 12" I think. People used to coppice trees like maple and continued to harvest small diameter logs off of a much older stump. The old stump has a big root system and is already growing in a 'happy' place. They will grow small logs quickly. They didn't have chain saws, so the cordwood saw was a great improvement over a buck saw.

If you have the right sized trees, I think they can still be useful.
Dave.

 

[beenthere]

The cordwood saw is often known as a buzz saw.

 

[jimmysisson]

D7 I like your trailer setup. The second lift cylinder is disconnected - so it will hoist faster? Looks like the body has been shifted rearward so the lift load is not so much? I also like the narrow rear tires on the Massey - must go good in the snowy woods. Does look like lots of hand work...
Jim

 

[woodgrub]

hi,do u have a truck mounted splitter/ i have,it,s the way to go for me,saves so much work.when ur back home ur ready to sell it.done deal.

 

[woodgrub]

:thumbsup::cool2:

hi,do u have a truck mounted splitter/ i have,it,s the way to go for me,saves so much work.when ur back home ur ready to sell it.done deal.

Understood.

I am a retired corporate puke and I love the farm work, especially wood cutting......... so I do it when ever I can. It is a pleasant break from mowing, which I have learned to loath.....

The best part is it keeps my body in shape and my mind busy.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Update:

Still working out the best methods, with an outdoor wood boiler in our future I decided to ramp things up a bit. We brought one of the big tractors down from the other farm and hooked up my little log arch seen here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/164138-building-small-3pt-hitch-logging.html I designed it with my B3200 in mind, but I guess it's plenty heavy duty holding up to the 2550 and some big logs:


Anyone want to guess what that weighed? It was 30" on the big end and 24" on the small end, 30' long, fresh Red Oak.

Got it all cut up and split into loadable pieces, including the crown that tree will be three heaping truck loads.



I'm guessing I'll need between 8-10 cords of wood for next winter which is what I'm working on now. To increase production further I'm thinking about making an inverted splitter to go on my B3200 loader to bust up the big pieces. Then I'll try to find an old hay elevator to convert into a log elevator which will dump directly into the C60 dump truck. Process will eventually be as follows:

-Skid logs in as long of lengths as reasonable to a landing
-Limb and buck logs there
-Split big pieces with inverted splitter, smaller stuff on standard horizontal splitter
-Toss split pieces onto elevator which will dump them into truck (14' bed with 4' high sides)
-Haul to house, dump split wood in front of shed that houses OWB
-Hand stack into shed where it can be thrown into boiler

Still have a few parts of the puzzle to work out (build), but I think it will be a good system.

 

[davel8257]

I have an OWB. I use the 40/40 rule when cutting or splitting: 40" long or 40 lbs (which is all that I want to lift and put into the furnace door). The door is 26x26 square (another factor that I sometimes forget). I don't split anything that doesn't need to be split. I've pondered the elevator idea. It seems to me that it could get jammed up with odd sized pieces. Are you going to power it from the tractor's PTO? What about using the tractor's loader and filling the truck? How far do you have to haul the wood? Would a farm wagon work as well?

My system consumes roughly 5 cords a year. I'd like to have 2-3 decent farm wagons with wood loaded on them and no wood sitting on the ground during the winter. I pull a wagon up to the OWB, burn the wood, then pull the next one up. They could sit anywhere (instead of having all of the wood crowded around the OWB). (I worry a bit about sparks flying into some leaves and then setting the wood pile on fire.).

Your mileage may vary.... there's no single correct answer (which I think is what makes wood cutting so much fun/interesting/challenging/recreational.

 

[Morning Wood]

Between limbing and bucking and tossing pieces onto the conveyor you are potentially going to be handling the pieces twice over. If you are going for 10 cords a year, I would just keep your eyes out for a used processor so you can load long
lengths onto it with a tractor and cut to length and split and convey without handling the wood. You will still have to stack it once you dump it out of the truck.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Mostly I'm trying to work with what I've got. I figure the inverted splitter and converted elevator should cost me less than $2000 to build. Not sure how much wood processors are, but I'm guessing well north of 10K, especially something that would handle wood that big. The elevator will use a small 2-3hp gas motor. I'll also use the elevator during haying season for putting square bales in the barn.

As for the splitting, I'm trying to split everything that is bigger than 8" across to make sure it is well dry. I know OWB's will burn almost anything, but it's I like to use good well seasoned wood regardless.

The dump truck can haul 9 tons, so that would be about 3 full cords of wood if my calculations are correct. However, I'm not sure you could get that much on each load without stacking it in there.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Update:

Still working out the best methods, with an outdoor wood boiler in our future I decided to ramp things up a bit. We brought one of the big tractors down from the other farm and hooked up my little log arch seen here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/164138-building-small-3pt-hitch-logging.html I designed it with my B3200 in mind, but I guess it's plenty heavy duty holding up to the 2550 and some big logs:
View attachment 295678View attachment 295680

Anyone want to guess what that weighed? It was 30" on the big end and 24" on the small end, 30' long, fresh Red Oak.

Got it all cut up and split into loadable pieces, including the crown that tree will be three heaping truck loads.
View attachment 295681


I'm guessing I'll need between 8-10 cords of wood for next winter which is what I'm working on now. To increase production further I'm thinking about making an inverted splitter to go on my B3200 loader to bust up the big pieces. Then I'll try to find an old hay elevator to convert into a log elevator which will dump directly into the C60 dump truck. Process will eventually be as follows:

-Skid logs in as long of lengths as reasonable to a landing
-Limb and buck logs there
-Split big pieces with inverted splitter, smaller stuff on standard horizontal splitter
-Toss split pieces onto elevator which will dump them into truck (14' bed with 4' high sides)
-Haul to house, dump split wood in front of shed that houses OWB
-Hand stack into shed where it can be thrown into boiler

Still have a few parts of the puzzle to work out (build), but I think it will be a good system.

Accordind to my log wt calculator that logs weighs just over 7600 lbs - heavy