Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[shooterdon]

I already know a few suppliers, as we got bids a few years back on harvesting out a few hundred cords of tornado damage at a property I help to manage. So I'd call those companies first.

And I don't care that much about the cost. I'm not paying double for one over the other, but $100 one way or the other isn't a huge deal, in the grand scheme of things. I just want to make sure I'm getting straight logs of good quality, preferably higher BTU woods, and nothing badly-infested with pests or disease. I suspect that I'd have trouble spotting some of those issues before the truck is already half unloaded in my front yard.

I guess I'll also need to figure out a good staging area, which might actually be in the street, as we're near the end of a cul de sac. My wood processing area is way at the back of the property, not really accessible by a logging truck, and the front yard is kept too pretty to be dumping 8 cords at a time there. Setting the logs on ashphalt in one corner of the cul de sac, and then forking them into my own 7k# trailer for transport back to my processing area, might be the best option to minimize damage out front.

Once you start processing purchased logs you will not go back to harvesting logs...IF they are decent.

Depending where you live, you may not be able to put the logs on the street. One ticked off neighbor is all it takes. Most neighbors will not complain if you talk to them ahead of time and set out a plan to get the logs moved to your area in a couple of days and clean up the debris. Last year my neighbor need to move 10 cords of logs 200 yards and it took me about 3 hours with a grapple.

When you have the logs delivered, have them put stringers under the logs. If you are using pallet forks you do not want to damage the asphalt.

 

[LouNY]

You can get a grapple that fits on your forks, I keep looking at this type.

 

[John_Mc]

Once you start processing purchased logs you will not go back to harvesting logs...IF they are decent.

Not a chance. For me harvesting and getting them out of the woods without damaging the residual stand is the fun/challenging/interesting part. The further along in the processing of firewood I get, the less I'm interested in it. I really dislike stacking it

I need a neighbor like you so I can split the processing up. I'll get the logs from my woods to the processing area, someone else can handle the cutting, splitting and stacking.

 

[Molalla1]

Not a chance. For me harvesting and getting them out of the woods without damaging the residual stand is the fun/challenging/interesting part. The further along in the processing of firewood I get, the less I'm interested in it. I really dislike stacking it

I need a neighbor like you so I can split the processing up. I'll get the logs from my woods to the processing area, someone else can handle the cutting, splitting and stacking.

John, you pooped me out just reading about it . . .

 

[BnRidge]

Yeah, a grapple would do it. I've been avoiding buying one, just because of storage space and the PITA of getting it on/off my pallet forks.

Drop the grapple on a pallet when done to move it around - 4x5 area. Double stack the pallets on a rack, or saw horses if space is an issue. I used to take pride in all of the ingenious work arounds. Hydraulics is a wonderful thing to behold.

 

[shooterdon]

Not a chance. For me harvesting and getting them out of the woods without damaging the residual stand is the fun/challenging/interesting part. The further along in the processing of firewood I get, the less I'm interested in it. I really dislike stacking it

I need a neighbor like you so I can split the processing up. I'll get the logs from my woods to the processing area, someone else can handle the cutting, splitting and stacking.

My skill set is sorely lacking. Felling large trees is not something I feel confident doing. A guy I know nearly died doing it and he was far more skilled than I.

As to stacking wood, I no longer do it. The firewood I sell is run from the processor into the dump bed of an F250. Firewood for my personal use is run into bulk bags. I use forks to move the bulk bags onto pallets as needed and the pallets are staged in the garage when burning wood. I use a pallet jack to move pallets in the garage. I only touch wood to get it out of the bulk bags and put it in a log carrier and then from the log carrier into the fireplace insert.

 

[WinterDeere]

Once you start processing purchased logs you will not go back to harvesting logs...IF they are decent.

That may be true. Harvesting is traditionally my favorite part of the process, but time is so limited these days. I can fell and stage several cords in a day, but then I have to haul it home and unload it. Overall, it really works out to only a cord or two per day, from felling to being stacked in my lot. That's several long Saturdays per year, in addition to splitting and stacking, that I just don't have to spare these days.

Depending where you live, you may not be able to put the logs on the street. One ticked off neighbor is all it takes.

Not a problem here. Only three other houses on this large cul de sac, and I'm on good terms with all. I have also staged semi truck loads of mulch there, in the past. I just make it a point to never let anything stay there more than a day or two. With my trailer and pallet forks, I am sure I can get a log truck load moved out within just a few hours, if I sort out the problem of lowering the logs into the trailer more gently.

When you have the logs delivered, have them put stringers under the logs. If you are using pallet forks you do not want to damage the asphalt.

yep! That's what I do in my wood lot, as well, to keep the logs off the dirt and dry. I figured I'd have to supply those, but maybe the deliverer can?

You can get a grapple that fits on your forks, I keep looking at this type.
View attachment 3885680

Will check it out. Thanks!

Not a chance. For me harvesting and getting them out of the woods without damaging the residual stand is the fun/challenging/interesting part. The further along in the processing of firewood I get, the less I'm interested in it. I really dislike stacking it

We are sympatico, brother. I wish I could justify a processor like @shooterdon, but then I'd have to give up all pretense of this wood burning thing actually saving us money! With the tractor, wood sheds, chainsaws, forks, and specially-configured trailer, I'm already in deep!

 

[shooterdon]

WinterDeere, when they unload the trailer, use the logs as stringers. No need to supply any.

 

[CalG]

My neighbor up the hill has a processor.
He must move 200 cord a year. Tag along loads come past our place every week or so. I here the processor running just about every evening. I admire his industry, having known the fellow since he was five years old. He doesn't burn wood himself, go figure.

I just arrainged to have a single truck load delivered. 8 cord//$1040.
I'm waiting to see if it's the good stuff...
Last load was the worst sort of "sliver wood" mixed in with puke one could ever think of. I wonder how that seller slept at night when delivering "fuel wood"? I'll neve buy again.

But it's the luck of the draw... What ever the market will bare. Buyers are at the mercy the first time, What are you gonna do? cancel the check and tell them to come pick the pile back up?

It all burns, and I'm a couple years ahead... Shed and stacks are full, ricks are drying..

Fuel oil prices just don't seem to fall, and I like wood heat, so I guess I'm stuck. ;-)

 

[WinterDeere]

WinterDeere, when they unload the trailer, use the logs as stringers. No need to supply any.

Duh.. I'm a little slow tonight.

I use red cedars as my stringers in the wood lot, since they last damn near forever in the mud, and they're not worth splitting and stacking anyway. But for the 24 hours these logs will be in the street, yeah... just setting the first few perpendicular will do.