Thumb Vs FEL Forks for firewood

[Dougw133]

fire wood splitter? or fire wood processor?

processor, being lot bigger and costlier. and more likely has a way to lift logs up onto the table to be cut / split and sent off to a pile.

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3pt hitch forks. would more likely provide most lifting power. vs FEL.
front forks that you remove front bucket and install forks would be next.
clamp on forks for front bucket, least powerful.
backhoe with thumb. you will more likely see less powerful.

when i saw power, i mean actual lifting lbs.

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are you just pushing a log this way or that way to cut it up?
are you dragging trees up and out of the wood and to a central spot to be cut at a later date?
are you just cutting trees down and splitting were they fell?
are you needing to raise any logs or like up any sort of distance? couple inches? couple feet? 4 feet? to either cut or stack things?

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Processor was the wrong word...No I do not have a processor. Mostly Im looking to fell trees and cut them up into 8-10 foot sections. The tractor will come in to move the sections across the property to my area where i cut, split, store, and stack.

 

[hr3]

I prefer the thumb on the backhoe.. The wife and I cut the trees and pull them to where we are going to buck them up.. after all of trees are in one place they are pushed into a pile.. Then the wife sets up the backhoe in the mid part of the pile,, picks up one at a time,, Boom right limb them up..Boom left cut 2' lengths.. 2 piles and we can do 4 cord in about 2 hours..

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Thanks for the reply...Good point. I wondered too as I typicall stack my firewood on pallets to season, if I could just strap the wood down and move the pallets around with the forks.

You do not mention how big your tractor is. The sub compacts will not lift much with the forks. My BX 25 will only lift about 1/4 pallet full and the FEL lift stalls. I now have a universal carrier for the 3PT and I have not overloaded a pallet yet. Of course, with a 3PT splitter on you cannot do both at the same time, obviously. I am not in the production business so time is not my enemy. I take a bunch of pallets to the wood yard, split, load the pallets, strap the wood down temp with ratchet straps, move them to storage, and take the straps off. One pallet full is used to square of the top of the pile. Works for meand I don't have to handle the wood many times.

Ron

 

[JoelT]

Wood's all I've used forever for heat. I've got a 4310 with grapples and 3point splitter. Usually the November storms give me enough wind blowdown for a years firewood. I cut into 8' lengths, use the grapples and or drag to move to a landing of sorts that I can get my flatbed to and load the flatbed with the 8' lengths. THe 4310 can pick up between 20 to 24 inch diameter sticks with the grapples - 24" max or I've got to cut them shorter. I dump the 8' lengths near the wood shed, spread them out and cut into 16" rounds and 3point split, then leave them lay for the summer, then stack before the fall rain...... in theory. I'm several years ahead. The grapples are majorly handy for lifting stuff, raking and clearing - probably my most used implement.

 

[Dougw133]

This will be most likely on an L series or above Kubota tractor. I am in the final process of making my final selection

 

[slofr8]

Or this?

 

[J_J]

Dougw133,

You said fork grapple, so how about something like this?

 

[CurlyDave]

Processor was the wrong word...No I do not have a processor. Mostly Im looking to fell trees and cut them up into 8-10 foot sections. The tractor will come in to move the sections across the property to my area where i cut, split, store, and stack.

For my money, I think you would find a grapple much better than either forks or a backhoe thumb.

I have all three and when I need to move logs, the grapple is the instrument of choice.

Now the safety police will probably get on my case for this, but my grapple will pick up a log and hold it over the bed of a pickup so a second man in the bed of the truck can saw off 16" lengths and have them fall in the truck bed. Drive the truck to the splitter and offload the lengths into the splitter. This minimizes manual lifting, after the grapple lift, the wood is always going down.

A hand held hoe is the correct implement to reach into the truck bed and persuade the 16" logs to come out.

 

[adjusterr]

This is what works for me, a Bro-tek thumb on a L 2250 Kubota. For firewood cutting I prefer it over a grapple on the bucket because the front bucket is wide and you are cutting lengths of wood directly over the metal bucket, one slip and there goes the chain. The Bro-tek thumb is every bit as effective as a grapple and costs only about $300. Check out the video on Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons.

 

[Dougw133]

Or this?

Thats pretty much what I had envisioned when thinking about a front grapple of some sort. Thanks a lot for all these suggestions and pictures especially. If I luck out and find a decent deal i may just go with a front and rear option so I can do both.