Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[MossRoad]

My main problem is the wood is 9 miles from my house. I can use the tractor to harvest it. And I can use the tractor to unload it at home. I just can't use it to load the trailer, as then I'd have to leave the tractor at the remote property since the trailer is full of wood. So I trailer the tractor to the property, and drag a year's worth of wood out in just a couple hours. Then I take the tractor back home. Then, over the next few weekends or whenever I get a chance, I go back with empty trailer and chainsaw, cut the wood to firewood lengths, toss it on the trailer and take it home. At home I can unload it with the tractor, but its quicker to just toss it off the trailer by hand into a pile next to the splitter.

So its the load it at remote site, unload it at home, pick it up again and set it on the splitter that seems to be the extra steps.

If I bring home full length logs and unload them with the forks next to my splitter, then cut them into firewood lengths, I'll only have to pick the cut pieces up once and set them on the splitter. That would eliminate one manual "touch" in the production. I'd be happy with that. :thumbsup: So crane/winch for loading on trailer is looking better to me.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

My main problem is the wood is 9 miles from my house. I can use the tractor to harvest it. And I can use the tractor to unload it at home. I just can't use it to load the trailer, as then I'd have to leave the tractor at the remote property since the trailer is full of wood. So I trailer the tractor to the property, and drag a year's worth of wood out in just a couple hours. Then I take the tractor back home. Then, over the next few weekends or whenever I get a chance, I go back with empty trailer and chainsaw, cut the wood to firewood lengths, toss it on the trailer and take it home. At home I can unload it with the tractor, but its quicker to just toss it off the trailer by hand into a pile next to the splitter.

So its the load it at remote site, unload it at home, pick it up again and set it on the splitter that seems to be the extra steps.

If I bring home full length logs and unload them with the forks next to my splitter, then cut them into firewood lengths, I'll only have to pick the cut pieces up once and set them on the splitter. That would eliminate one manual "touch" in the production. I'd be happy with that. :thumbsup: So crane/winch for loading on trailer is looking better to me.

Can you tie of the logs to an anchor at your house, then pull the trailer forward, thereby unloading the trailer? You could then go back and get the tractor. Just a thought.

 

[MossRoad]

Can you tie of the logs to an anchor at your house, then pull the trailer forward, thereby unloading the trailer? You could then go back and get the tractor. Just a thought.

I've thought of that, too. No good anchor points. We live on one acre of lawn in a residential area. I bring home 4-5 trailer loads of wood each year. About 6 cords. I split a load and stack it. Then go back for another load. I don't have room for 4 trailer loads of unsplit logs on the lawn. So I'd have to take the tractor out there 4 times to log out to landing and load the trailer as opposed to 1 time for just logging out to landing the way I do it now. I can't leave the machine out there overnight, let alone weeks at a time. No security. And I do about one load a weekend for 4-5 weekends. Its better for me to have the machine at home, as its my lawn mower as well. If I had a crane/winch on the trailer I could go out there at my convenience and get a load of wood in an hour without the tractor.

 

[4570Man]

What have you been using for this job?

A 1 ton dump truck and a tandem axel dump would be a lot more inline for the job.

 

[94BULLITT]

Boy would you get yelled at Bullit by my old, now dead log boss. He hated "blippers" since he was paying for the fuel. We'd go through 5 gallons a day. I recall one young fella we had just hired doing the "blipping" thing and after repeated reprimands, he got so angry he stomped over to the kid while yelling at the top of his lungs, ripped his running chainsaw out of his hands and threw it 30 ft away. Every time I hear "blipping", I get all kinds of fond memories like this.

That saw is pretty loud and I felt like making noise, so that is why I was revving it. I know where your old boss is coming from. I have noticed from working on saws when I take them out start it and rev it a little and do that a few times, they will go through some gas.

Nice vid, and he just backed up what I've always said about pallet forks with a grapple, being superior to a dedicated grapple, for firewood and other log handeing.

You don't need to cut on the ground with pallet forks/grapple and pallet forks will select logs out of the pile easier too, also they hold the log SAFELY, for cutting or loading it on the sawmill. And best of all, there's a LOT less steel in the way, so you can safely cut the log without all that steel in the way, at a comfortable height, without having to turn it! (read MUCH easier on your back)

And best of all, you can use the tractor/palletforks/grapple to hold the log over a trailer so you don't have to do all that handling of the rounds before and after they are cut.

BTW, how is a round wasted if it's a little longer or shorter than 16"? MY stove never complains, no matter how much longer or shorter the firewood is. :laughing:

SR

Thanks about the video. I cut like that because it is most efficient way I have come with for what tools I have. For me I can't see using the tractor to hold the log while it is being cut. While it is being but the tractor is running, burning fuel, the hour meter is turning, and when the hour meter turns it is that much closer to needing serviced. Then the guy on the tractor seat is sitting there doing nothing, or I would have to cut and run and jump on the tractor. My grapple is 6' wide So I would be left with 6' that I could not cut in the air. Then what does the guy who is running the saw do when the tractor is going to get a log? He just has to stand there, then does he leave the saw running or shut the saw of. With the saw running it is putting wear on the clutch drum bearing the end of the crankshaft. If he shuts it off he is going to be putting a lot of wear on the crank rope and recoil assembly. If you cut over a wagon, you still have to climb on the wagon and carry the wood to back of it to get it to the splitter.

With the way I do it, I can lay out some logs then cut them up. If two of us are cutting one can lay some logs out while the other cuts. Then the tractor operator can help cut one he gets some logs laid out. So know there are two of us running a saw instead of one running a saw and one sitting on the tractor. In 15-20 minutes time I can roughly stack or pile up rounds to be split. I usually make 2 or 3 piles so I don't have to carry them to far. Like I said this is what works for me. Maybe some day I'll get lucky and get conveyor to set up at the end of the splitter.

People don't like to buy wood that is short. I have cut around 10 cords and have almost no uglies. I'll get a pic of them.

 

[TomSeller]

BTW, how is a round wasted if it's a little longer or shorter than 16"? MY stove never complains, no matter how much longer or shorter the firewood is. :laughing:

SR

Right. I always have a "side pile" of various lengths that I don't put on the main stack since they are too short, too odd shaped, etc. But it all burns.

Most of it comes from cutting branches where you get what you get.

 

[SpringHollow]

Moss, This may be your answer:

Receiver Hitch Crane by Apex - 1, lb Capacity | HMC-1 | Discount Ramps

Ken

 

[SpringHollow]

The reason I use a tractor to hold the logs up in the air is to save my back, not the chain on my saw. And I can chunk them so fast with my MS660 that i am wasting very little tractor fuel. Most of the fuel is running back and forth from the pile of logs at the road to the splitter next to where i stack and use my wood. I do it one man and find that riding the tractor lets me rest from sawing and visa versa. Using the mini hoe bucket/thumb, the cuts are not obstructed like they are on a grapple bucket. It is pretty rare that i have to drop the chunk and pick it back up to clear for a cut. But I also do not care if the lengths of the chunks vary.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

Moss, This may be your answer:

Receiver Hitch Crane by Apex - 1, lb Capacity | HMC-1 | Discount Ramps

Ken

Yeah, we've looked at that one earlier this week. I was looking more at a 1 ton truck crane. That, or a winch and parbuckle the logs up the side. I'm leaning toward the winch. It would be handy for a few more things around the place. I've got a 2" receiver mounted on the front of the trailer just for that reason.

 

[MossRoad]

The reason I use a tractor to hold the logs up in the air is to save my back, not the chain on my saw. And I can chunk them so fast with my MS660 that i am wasting very little tractor fuel. Most of the fuel is running back and forth from the pile of logs at the road to the splitter next to where i stack and use my wood. I do it one man and find that riding the tractor lets me rest from sawing and visa versa. Using the mini hoe bucket/thumb, the cuts are not obstructed like they are on a grapple bucket. It is pretty rare that i have to drop the chunk and pick it back up to clear for a cut. But I also do not care if the lengths of the chunks vary.

Ken

And remember, you don't have to climb UP into your machine.