Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Oldpath05]

I usually cut firewood at 16” and I spilt pretty fine. I’d never not spit a 6” diameter log. But if the idea was maximum wood put up in minimum time I’d cut it 24” since that’s 50 percent more wood put up in the same time. The biggest problem with that idea which is the main reason I don’t do it is a big round cut 50 percent longer is 50 percent heavier. In either case you’re going to put up way more wood per hour vs with homeowner affordable pellet mills.

But which one takes more effort........... Lot of wood pellets come from waste wood, sawdust/wood chips, a chipper can make short easy work of a tree, so that requires very little effort to convert to pellets. Someone here needs to buy a pellet machine so we can find out.

Then theres the weight to heat ratio, wonder if that's the same, I just put up 8 cord of wood, 4000/cord, 32,000 lbs, 16ton, do I need 16 ton of wood pellets to get the same heat duration, I wonder...........

 

[Oldpath05]

Got my last load in today, had some extra so stacked under deck.

 

[Jstpssng]

But my "not so high end splitter" cost me a little over $900 almost 20 years ago and is still going strong!!

I only posted the above because I get tired of people acting like their way is "the only way." If you follow the links, running a splitter is much simpler than making pellets. Still, it could be a better application for some people; especially if they have a sawmill and need a way to get rid of the residue.
My splitter is one which my father bought back in nineteen-eighty-something... he replaced the engine once but it's still going strong. It hadn't been started in several years when I brought it home, but on a whim I pulled the cord and it started first pull.

Actually, the splitter I'm using right now is an 8 lb sledgehammer and wedges... the other is 120 miles away at my sister's house and they've been away everytime I'm in the area. I'm getting a good workout, though. :thumbsup:

 

[fruitcakesa]

My Tarm claims any dimension bigger than 4". I stretch that a bit, but not a lot. I'll crack almost any round in half to improve dry times.

It is more splitter time but it dries quickly and burns better. I also stretch it depending on species, in particular swamp maple and birch, both of which I have a lot.
Oak and hard maple I keep under 5"

 

[4570Man]

But which one takes more effort........... Lot of wood pellets come from waste wood, sawdust/wood chips, a chipper can make short easy work of a tree, so that requires very little effort to convert to pellets. Someone here needs to buy a pellet machine so we can find out.

Then theres the weight to heat ratio, wonder if that's the same, I just put up 8 cord of wood, 4000/cord, 32,000 lbs, 16ton, do I need 16 ton of wood pellets to get the same heat duration, I wonder...........

I’m sure the pellets are more efficient especially if you have poor wood burning habitats but I’m burning 2 year wood kept in a barn in a high efficiency stove that’s like 80 percent. How much better could pellets be? If I was looking for an easier solution I’d use the thermostat on the wall. If I wanted cheaper and easier I’d look for waste oil or chipper chips.

 

[aeblank]

It is more splitter time but it dries quickly and burns better. I also stretch it depending on species, in particular swamp maple and birch, both of which I have a lot.
Oak and hard maple I keep under 5"

True. I have poplar here and there. I'll let that, and maple really, be bigger. And when I'm rushing, they get bigger....

 

[goeduck]

The ability of a pellet stove running for hours or days unattended is a big plus. I debated on it but ended up continuing to burn firewood, the same way as I was raised. I do not have to buy fuel and it is easier to impress the grandkids with my cutting/splitting/hauling/burning prowess wth firewood. That has to be worth something :thumbsup:

 

[BrokenTrack]

Making pellets is a huge deal. It takes a hammer mill to make the sawdust pelltable, then the pellet machine itself. Then they have to be dried to a low moisture content. I looked into it because while I only burn 3 ton of pellets per year, my father burns 12 ton. But here is the kicker, beyond the cost of pellet making machinery, there is the time. Just the pellet mill alone only produces 600 pounds per hour. That is 50 full hours just at the pellet machine, and that does not count the fuel to power the tractor that drives the pellet machine, or the hammer mill before being pellets, and the drying...

So this is what got me to thinking, if I cannot make pellets efficiently, what can I burn that is already pellet sized, and the answer is corn and sunflower seeds.

So I tried burning corn, and it works. It works amazingly well.

I mix mine 1/3 corn to 2/3 wood pellets, but corn is cheap. I can buy a bag of corn for $9.50 which is higher than wood pellets per bag, BUT it is a 50 pound bag and not 40 pounds, and it has twice as many btu's per pound as wood. And that is retail price, buying straight corn in bulk would be even cheaper!

But could a person grow their own corn?

And the answer I found in doing the math is "very much so".

One big question I had was, what about drying it? But when you put pellets or corn in the hopper, as the stove runs it naturally gets warm and dries the pellets or corn anyway, so there is no need for the corn to be dried first. Just leaving it out in the field to get frost killed will work. And as for harvesting, homemade shellers for corn are cheap and easy to do. What is an acre per year of land dedicated to growing corn when I am using a whole bunch of acres as a firewood source? How many people have "a woodlot just so I can cut a little firewood?" Quite a few, but with corn or sunflowers a person would only need an acre or two. And how hard is it to use our tractors to plow till a spot after doing the garden anyway? A little seed, a little fertilizer and up the corn comes. Wait for a killing frost, a little wind, and then harvest the corn and run it through a sheller. Whalaaaaaa….a product that is sized already to burn in a pellet stove. In the end I figured it is very doable.

Myself, I have more interest in sunflowers, just because I think having a field of them growing would be pretty in the summer, and the "cool factor" of knowing I am going to heat my home with them in the winter would be really neat. "That field of sunflowers is so pretty, what do you plan to do with all of them?" I just grin and say, "Heat my house."

 

[hunt4570]

I only posted the above because I get tired of people acting like their way is "the only way." If you follow the links, running a splitter is much simpler than making pellets. Still, it could be a better application for some people; especially if they have a sawmill and need a way to get rid of the residue.
My splitter is one which my father bought back in nineteen-eighty-something... he replaced the engine once but it's still going strong. It hadn't been started in several years when I brought it home, but on a whim I pulled the cord and it started first pull.

Actually, the splitter I'm using right now is an 8 lb sledgehammer and wedges... the other is 120 miles away at my sister's house and they've been away everytime I'm in the area. I'm getting a good workout, though. :thumbsup:

Definitely lots of ways to do things, what works for some doesn't for others. Sledge hammer and wedges would NOT work for me!

 

[hunt4570]

Making pellets is a huge deal. It takes a hammer mill to make the sawdust pelltable, then the pellet machine itself. Then they have to be dried to a low moisture content. I looked into it because while I only burn 3 ton of pellets per year, my father burns 12 ton. But here is the kicker, beyond the cost of pellet making machinery, there is the time. Just the pellet mill alone only produces 600 pounds per hour. That is 50 full hours just at the pellet machine, and that does not count the fuel to power the tractor that drives the pellet machine, or the hammer mill before being pellets, and the drying...

So this is what got me to thinking, if I cannot make pellets efficiently, what can I burn that is already pellet sized, and the answer is corn and sunflower seeds.

So I tried burning corn, and it works. It works amazingly well.

I mix mine 1/3 corn to 2/3 wood pellets, but corn is cheap. I can buy a bag of corn for $9.50 which is higher than wood pellets per bag, BUT it is a 50 pound bag and not 40 pounds, and it has twice as many btu's per pound as wood. And that is retail price, buying straight corn in bulk would be even cheaper!

But could a person grow their own corn?

And the answer I found in doing the math is "very much so".

One big question I had was, what about drying it? But when you put pellets or corn in the hopper, as the stove runs it naturally gets warm and dries the pellets or corn anyway, so there is no need for the corn to be dried first. Just leaving it out in the field to get frost killed will work. And as for harvesting, homemade shellers for corn are cheap and easy to do. What is an acre per year of land dedicated to growing corn when I am using a whole bunch of acres as a firewood source? How many people have "a woodlot just so I can cut a little firewood?" Quite a few, but with corn or sunflowers a person would only need an acre or two. And how hard is it to use our tractors to plow till a spot after doing the garden anyway? A little seed, a little fertilizer and up the corn comes. Wait for a killing frost, a little wind, and then harvest the corn and run it through a sheller. Whalaaaaaa….a product that is sized already to burn in a pellet stove. In the end I figured it is very doable.

Myself, I have more interest in sunflowers, just because I think having a field of them growing would be pretty in the summer, and the "cool factor" of knowing I am going to heat my home with them in the winter would be really neat. "That field of sunflowers is so pretty, what do you plan to do with all of them?" I just grin and say, "Heat my house."

I planted about an acre of sunflowers this spring, they were doing great... once they got to about a foot tall, the deer mowed them to the ground in two nights!!!