Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Smokeydog]

Wife and I just cut, split and stacked about a cord of white oak. Split the bark off this time for a little cleaner, higher density fuel. Here oak wood takes a year to season. Be a couple years till we need this new batch. Like bone dry wood. More btus, burns cleaner and easy to start with a sheet of newspaper.

There is special feeling satisfaction and comfort knowing your heating fuel is prepared and ready for a few years to come. Special too spending time working your spouse together in beautiful fall weather. Dog thinks all firewood are toys needing to be thrown.

 

[4570Man]

So I'm thinking I will disagree with that article! I read that whole thing and it kind of scared me, I was hoping I hadn't just wasted my time cutting that tree down but come to find out that sweetgum is a pleasure to split!! Granted I do not yet know how it will dry and burn but splitting so far has been a breeze! If it dries and burns well I may have my new favorite firewood source, and I have plenty of it around here! Pic on the left is one medium large sweetgum ready to go.

It’s a light wood. Probably on par with soft maple or maybe 1 notch below. It also looks like that was a small tree. Try splitting a big one for the full effect.

 

[Jstpssng]

I'm currently hauling firewood from completed harvest jobs, so am choosy about what I bring home. When I start cutting off my own lot it will be anything which needs to die. If the sweetgum is in your back yard and works up well I would burn it. Heck, I'm burning hemlock tops from the trees I had sawn to build a shed.

 

[arrow]

So I'm thinking I will disagree with that article! I read that whole thing and it kind of scared me, I was hoping I hadn't just wasted my time cutting that tree down but come to find out that sweetgum is a pleasure to split!! Granted I do not yet know how it will dry and burn but splitting so far has been a breeze! If it dries and burns well I may have my new favorite firewood source, and I have plenty of it around here! Pic on the left is one medium large sweetgum ready to go.

Glad to see you're still using the dam things.

 

[Fabbed Fun]

You guys are going to have to check out my YouTube videos for cutting/skidding/bucking/hauling with my Massey 2607H. It's been a great tractor for my needs! Also, very cool pics on this thread!

 

[Fabbed Fun]

Homemade grapple with 7" googly eyes and teeth (for the kiddos) and a 5'x3.5' carry all full of maple while dragging the maple base log behind...

 

[goeduck]

Dog thinks all firewood are toys needing to be thrown.

Even if I could throw these rounds, I doubt my dog couldn't fetch them.

 

[Smokeydog]

Shelby dog would have to chew those down a bit!Our rounds were only 20-30” diameter by 22” long.

 

[John_Mc]

If the rounds are more than about 24 inches, I won't even mess with them for firewood. It's just more effort than it is worth. We have plenty of prime hardwood firewood species that really pack a lot of BTUs. They do get heavy: a 16" long x 24" diameter Red Oak or Hickory weighs 200# when green. Bumping up to 30" diameter would be over 300#. Several other widely available species are similarly dense. I figure why mess with them when I have so much easier wood to process?

 

[4570Man]

If the rounds are more than about 24 inches, I won't even mess with them for firewood. It's just more effort than it is worth. We have plenty of prime hardwood firewood species that really pack a lot of BTUs. They do get heavy: a 16" long x 24" diameter Red Oak or Hickory weighs 200# when green. Bumping up to 30" diameter would be over 300#. Several other widely available species are similarly dense. I figure why mess with them when I have so much easier wood to process?

I can put a 24” round across my splitter with minimum back effort but taking the hydraulics out of the picture it doesn’t take very long to split one with a chainsaw into manageable pieces. A 24 inch round has the same amount of wood nine 8 inch rounds. A 30” piece has the same amount as fourteen 8” pieces.

 

[John_Mc]

I can put a 24” round across my splitter minimum back effort but taking the hydraulics out of the picture it doesn’t take very long to split one with a chainsaw into manageable pieces.

My splitter has a hydraulic lift, so I could deal with larger rounds... and I know I could split them with a chainsaw, but why make the effort? I'll do that if the rounds are already cut and convenient, but I don't go seek them out. It would be different if I was desperate for more firewood, but I'm not. I don't have a shortage of wood. It's time & energy that I'm short on. I enjoy harvesting and processing firewood, but if I can save some energy for other pursuits, that's great.

 

[4570Man]

My splitter has a hydraulic lift, so I could deal with larger rounds... and I know I could split them with a chainsaw, but why make the effort? I'll do that if the rounds are already cut and convenient, but I don't go seek them out. It would be different if I was desperate for more firewood, but I'm not. I don't have a shortage of wood. It's time & energy that I'm short on. I enjoy harvesting and processing firewood, but if I can save some energy for other pursuits, that's great.

I don’t go looking to harvest 30” trees but it seems like I end up with a lot of them and that’s a lot of wood to waste. I’ve got 5-6 of these beast off a job and they’ve got metal in them so they’re unfit for anything else.

 

[goeduck]

A 24 inch round has the same amount of wood nine 8 inch rounds. A 30” piece has the same amount as fourteen 8” pieces.

Yes and if the grain is straight you can make a good impact on the woodshed. If the grain is messed up, I cut them to 5 to 7 foot sections and use them to help burn up blow down stumps

 

[Smokeydog]

With the tractor grapple sure takes lot of the work out of carrying wood. Set up splitter vertically so we never have to lift the bigger rounds. Roll them to the splitter. I don’t have any flat land just some not as sloped. The wood is worked down grade to our advantage. They weigh at least 300# each. The split sections stand till final sizing. I’m sitting on the last round while operating the splitter. Firewood goes from splitter to grapple to storage under cover. Efficiency honed over decades. A chore we really enjoy.

While we have and still could heat entirely with wood it has become secondary to our minisplit. A good combination that dovetails nicely together. The Stain-glass fire place screen sits on top of the Buck 91 fireplace insert. Installed flickering flame LED bulbs behind the screen recently. Nice ambiance as we miss the wood stove glow.

 

[hunt4570]

It’s a light wood. Probably on par with soft maple or maybe 1 notch below. It also looks like that was a small tree. Try splitting a big one for the full effect.

it was about 16-18 DBH which is pretty good size for around here

 

[hunt4570]

Glad to see you're still using the dam things.

Eventually I'll replace em with tin... maybe

 

[John_Mc]

A 24 inch round has the same amount of wood nine 8 inch rounds. A 30” piece has the same amount as fourteen 8” pieces.

Agreed, but I find it easier and faster to deal with the multiple 8" pieces. In fact, 8" is right in the prime diameter range for me. Once through the splitter with the four way wedge on and I'm done. No serious wrestling required to get it to the splitter, or to pull pieces back to resplit. I prefer a horizontal splitter standing about waist high, with a moving anvil and fixed wedge. When splitting in the woods, this lets me push split wood right off the end of the splitter's work table and into my trailer. With a little luck, it will keep pushing the split wood right up to the front of the trailer. My handling is just getting the wood to the splitter (usually by pulling the splitter right up to the rounds and loading multiple lighter rounds onto the hydraulic lift by hand, using it as a feed in table. Larger rounds are rolled on to the lift), and then unloading the trailer right onto my storage stacks.

I'm not a fan of splitting vertically, so I no longer own a splitter that does that: shuffling the logs into the splitter that way was just not for me, and I lose the ability to have the splitter push logs into my trailer when it is set horizontal (H-V splitters move the wedge, which means the log does not get pushed off the end). I do realize that my way isn't for everyone. We all get equipment that fits our needs and/or adapt our work methods for the best fit with the equipment available.

I don’t go looking to harvest 30” trees but it seems like I end up with a lot of them and that’s a lot of wood to waste.

I'll process larger diameters when it's convenient, or sometimes I'll save them for when we have a group working on our "WoodBank" donation firewood, or donate them to a local scout troop which has been meeting outside during the pandemic around a campfire. Generally, however, if it's not something good enough for a saw log or some other project, a hardwood log in the heavier species that is much greater than 24" might just get left in the woods in longer pieces. I don't consider that "wasted": it's excellent wildlife habitat, or with a bit of chainsaw work, it can make a nice bench right in the woods.

I can see that someone working for a tree service (or someone with a similar source) that needs to find a home for large logs anyway would feel differently.

 

[hunt4570]

Agreed, but I find it easier and faster to deal with the multiple 8" pieces. In fact, 8" is right in the prime diameter range for me. Once through the splitter with the four way wedge on and I'm done. No serious wrestling required to get it to the splitter, or to pull pieces back to resplit. I prefer a horizontal splitter standing about waist high, with a moving anvil and fixed wedge. When splitting in the woods, this lets me push split wood right off the end of the splitter's work table and into my trailer. With a little luck, it will keep pushing the split wood right up to the front of the trailer. My handling is just getting the wood to the splitter (usually by pulling the splitter right up to the rounds and loading multiple lighter rounds onto the hydraulic lift by hand, using it as a feed in table. Larger rounds are rolled on to the lift), and then unloading the trailer right onto my storage stacks.

I'm not a fan of splitting vertically, so I no longer own a splitter that does that: shuffling the logs into the splitter that way was just not for me, and I lose the ability to have the splitter push logs into my trailer when it is set horizontal (H-V splitters move the wedge, which means the log does not get pushed off the end). I do realize that my way isn't for everyone. We all get equipment that fits our needs and/or adapt our work methods for the best fit with the equipment available.



I'll process larger diameters when it's convenient, or sometimes I'll save them for when we have a group working on our "WoodBank" donation firewood, or donate them to a local scout troop which has been meeting outside during the pandemic around a campfire. Generally, however, if it's not something good enough for a saw log or some other project, a hardwood log in the heavier species that is much greater than 24" might just get left in the woods in longer pieces. I don't consider that "wasted": it's excellent wildlife habitat, or with a bit of chainsaw work, it can make a nice bench right in the woods.

I can see that someone working for a tree service (or someone with a similar source) that needs to find a home for large logs anyway would feel differently.

Yeah, I dont even like messing with the bigger stuff anymore, on the splitter or the saw mill. And I like my splitter in the vertical position, then I can just sit there and work.
I have no production goals or anything, just split for my own use and here in SC I only need a couple cords a year which makes my job pretty easy.

 

[dodge man]

I also hate trying to lift big rounds, i noodle them in half, but like already mentioned, you get a lot of firewood out of them. I have lifted them up on my splitter with my end loader and carefully tolled them on my splitter but that’s not great, a lot of getting on and off my tractor.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I like the big rounds, but I won't do any heavy lifting! The wheel has already been invented, so why not use it??

The less handling of the wood the better, so why not let the splitter do the work and let it push the splits right into a self unloading wagon?

SR