Do You Split A Lot of Wood?

[beenthere]

One would only buy it if in the firewood business.....not for a few cords to heat the home.

 

[Dead Horse]

yep, one would have to be in the several hundred or more cord a year firewood business to get an ROI out of that expenditure..........

I felled, limbed, bucked, split and stacked 40 cord last year with chainsaws, a Farmi winch, and a TPH splitter.

Nice part time hobby and I got 2 years of wood out of it.........

 

[Ford tractor]

And its not cheap, last time i heard its somewheres north of $25K + Skid steer

Closer to 30-32k$


The nice thing about that splitter is the machine goes to the wood. If you are in the biz, you can go to homeowner sites and split storm wood. Or you can go into the woods and split and pile right there.

But if you are in the big time biz, you will use a larger processor with conveyor dumping into large dump trucks,etc.

I wouldn't mind building a similar and much cheaper version for home use. We burn 8-10 cord a year and another family does 10-12. Both of us are old and feeble,so anything that helps lower the labor would be nice.

 

[beenthere]

yep, one would have to be in the several hundred or more cord a year firewood business to get an ROI out of that expenditure..........

I felled, limbed, bucked, split and stacked 40 cord last year with chainsaws, a Farmi winch, and a TPH splitter.

Nice part time hobby and I got 2 years of wood out of it.........

WOW! 20 cords a year? Must be heating a lot of space.

I burn about 6 cords a winter and no aux. propane unless I have to be gone a couple days. So far this winter that was 2 days on gas.

 

[Dead Horse]

WOW! 20 cords a year? Must be heating a lot of space.

I burn about 6 cords a winter and no aux. propane unless I have to be gone a couple days. So far this winter that was 2 days on gas.

Yep, the house is a"big girl" and uses radiant heat in the center core. Because the wood stove is outside, it is less efficient than a large stove inside. However having it outside (about 25 feet from the basement pedestrian door) has huge advantages as regards feeding it, storing firewood and ash removal, not to mention fire hazard and chimney maintenance.

Radiant, while a very nice form of comfort, uses a lot of fuel. If I had it to build over, I would limit the radiant heat to floor areas which are slate, tile or stone and use baseboard heat elements in areas that are carpeted, or wood floors.

The radiant heat feels great on stocking feet, but you will burn a LOT of fuel keeping that floor warm!

When I am away, I engage propane and oil fired units to help the wood stove, (a large, outdoor, hydronic, Central Boiler "Classic"), just in case the fire should go out.

I have the wood and putting it up is a labor of love as well as helping me improve the forest health, landscaping around the property and it is great for my physical conditioning.

Don't know how much longer I will continue, but at 60, I figure I have 10 more years, The good Lord willing.

 

[dangerdoc]

Yep, the house is a"big girl" and uses radiant heat in the center core. Because the wood stove is outside, it is less efficient than a large stove inside. However having it outside (about 25 feet from the basement pedestrian door) has huge advantages as regards feeding it, storing firewood and ash removal, not to mention fire hazard and chimney maintenance.

Radiant, while a very nice form of comfort, uses a lot of fuel. If I had it to build over, I would limit the radiant heat to floor areas which are slate, tile or stone and use baseboard heat elements in areas that are carpeted, or wood floors.

The radiant heat feels great on stocking feet, but you will burn a LOT of fuel keeping that floor warm!

When I am away, I engage propane and oil fired units to help the wood stove, (a large, outdoor, hydronic, Central Boiler "Classic"), just in case the fire should go out.

I have the wood and putting it up is a labor of love as well as helping me improve the forest health, landscaping around the property and it is great for my physical conditioning.

Don't know how much longer I will continue, but at 60, I figure I have 10 more years, The good Lord willing.

I am way impressed, I put up 6 cords of wood a few weeks ago, I'm 10 years younger than you and I'm still not walking right.

 

[beenthere]

.................

Don't know how much longer I will continue, but at 60, I figure I have 10 more years, The good Lord willing.

Never fear. That 60 was 12 yrs ago for me, and I don't have plans to quit bringing in wood. Although it will happen for one reason or another.

Now I bring in 7 1/2' logs, buck them in 18" lengths, then split and stack on pallets. The pallets stored for two years air drying, and then moved to the garage. From the garage, short distance to the indoor wood boiler. A good system, that I hope keeps working longer than I can.

 

[Dead Horse]

Never fear. That 60 was 12 yrs ago for me, and I don't have plans to quit bringing in wood. Although it will happen for one reason or another.

Now I bring in 7 1/2' logs, buck them in 18" lengths, then split and stack on pallets. The pallets stored for two years air drying, and then moved to the garage. From the garage, short distance to the indoor wood boiler. A good system, that I hope keeps working longer than I can.

Perfect, glad to hear it!!!!!!!!

My "tools" should allow me to continue for a long time, the Good Lord willing.