Logistics of firewood hauling and splitting?

[D7E]

Not a good pic but i used to use a manure elevator like this too. running both the elevator and and splitter off the tractor but i found it never worked that well as logs would jam in the chain and bend the slats up . I just throw in a pile and load with the loader now ,far easier .

[gaproperty]

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

27 inches at 32 feet long is a cord. I suspect that log was very close to a cord and hardwood can be 6000 to 7000 lbs per cord. I think I added a picture of my iPhone app that does the math on this.

[mangus580]

27 inches at 32 feet long is a cord. I suspect that log was very close to a cord and hardwood can be 6000 to 7000 lbs per cord. I think I added a picture of my iPhone app that does the math on this.

Whats the name of that app? I am curious if its available for android....

[gaproperty]

Whats the name of that app? I am curious if its available for android....

The name of the app is cord of wood. Not sure if it is available for for android. It is useful.

[tcreeley]

Cut the wood 2 years ahead of burning and you'll never have to split to make sure its dry. It is a bummer doubling up one year. I did it over 2 years- well worth it. Wood is perfect for burning.

[kco]

Like some others, I try to cut wood 2 to 3 years ahead. Here's a photo of my woodshed with each side holding about 6.5 rows of 16" x 9.5' high x 7.5' wide wood, or about 4.7 cords. A side lasts more or less a year.

Here's a photo of the shed:

From fall of 2011:




And fall of 2012:



The bin on the left is for 2013-2014 and the (part used) bin on the right is this winter's wood (and is now about 1/2 used).

The black bags contain birch bark which makes good fire starter.



And this is the partially stacked 2014-2015 supply:



I added more wood to complete this pile and it is tarped for the winter. I'll move it into the empty woodbin this spring and rebuild before next winter.

[SandalwoodRanch]

We designed and built a splitter for my skid steer than attaches via quick-tach plate. My husband fells the trees and cuts each section to the desired length then I come through with the skid steer. With our splitter we can pick up the entire chuck, pull it out into the open, and split it up entirely. We then stack the split logs onto a pallet (approximately a facecord per pallet) and place a shrink wrap bag over it. I switch back over to the quick-tach pallet forks and carry the entire thing to the house and store them all along the tree line. It had made the process 3x faster and much less exhausting as the only handling we actually do is to stack the logs onto the pallet and subsequently place the logs into our wood burner. Being able to do so much with the skid steer has made it a one man (or woman ) show if one of us isnt around. It also helps we dont have to store any logs inside and the wood on the pallet is solid with that wrapping around it. It would also work for loading the wood onto a trailer, I suppose. Just unload each pallet and store them. We only cut less than a half mile from my house so I've never had to worry much about traveling with it.

[mangus580]

Figured I would share a pair of videos I made with the new crosswedge setup I put on my woodsplitter recently...

FYI - turn your volume down! My splitter is a wee bit loud ;-)

[mangus580]

[arrow]

Hi Vertical. I agree with your method mostly. I do think you can eliminate some steps however. First, it is more efficient to get the tree out of the woods and dragged to a landing. The way I do it is on one side I stack the stems and the opposite side I've cut the crown. This is my "slash" side. After I've pushed the slash into a burn pile, I pluck out the stems and pile those up. You need some type of fork teeth on your fel bucket to do this job. The next year I buck the stems only and I buck them at the stack sight so as soon as they come off the splitter, they get stacked. I stack them in a single row 100' long by about 5'high with pieces being 18". This allows me to back up to the pile 2 years later and push 3' sections of stacked wood into the rear box carrier mounted on the 3 pt. ( in the pic its being carried on the front forks) I then bring this into the wood shed and stack it there. Now the pallet method others have suggested is the most efficient way of moving split wood IMO. Gets stacked off the splitter onto the pallet and you can now move a big bunch of wood at a time without touching it again until it gets burnt. Drying is the bane of firewood. That's why its stacked. I once saw a picture of a guy splitting his wood in one of those large quonset house type plastic enclosures. He had a cement floor in this 40x20 building. He didn't stack. He just let the wood pile off the splitter. The pile would push the splitter along. On one side of the enclosure was one years worth an on the other was the next year's. Because this enclosure was like a green house and because he had a cement floor and because his piles were long and shallow, it would dry as if it was stacked with no moisture ever coming in contact with the wood either beneath or above. The wood went right to the stove emptied from a scooped tractor bucket. Least amount you touch it, the most efficient way it is.