Log splitter buying ?

[arrow]

Well, I don't know, he said he skids them. I often cut trees at the edge of a field so I can grapple them back to where I want them, but that doesn't work well in the woods unless you cut them short or have a wide roads between the trees. I thought maybe he skids them with the tractor end up high and just gets the ends dirty.

I think Tom much has to do with "chain philosophy" I worked as a logger and hated "firewood days" the most. The skidder would come in with a hitch of 4 to 6 hardwood stems, drop them off, and go get another. They did carry them 4 or 5' off the ground but they'd get muckled hitting rocks, dirt berms the other sundry obstructions in these N.E woods and to say nothing of the barbed wire or nails or horseshoes you would run in on that was buried in some trees from the late 18 or early 19 hundreds..

Can you imagine if any one of us was worried about ruining chains and making this complaint to the boss? Chain sharpening was about as much of the process as running the saw. I brought the most chainsaws and chains to the job on "firewood days" as stopping every tankful to sharpen a chain was also a money waste. I'd bring as many as 4 or 5 chainsaws and at least a dozen chains for an 8 hr day of "stem cutting" Any chain sharpening was done on a emergency basis if one ran out of chains otherwise chain sharpening was like night time home work. The hand held "hatchet" was like the Mr. Clean of the woods as you would use this to scallop a stem that was dirty for cleaner cuts. The boss would also yell at you wasting time with a hatchet but ****, he wasn't paying for my chain either.

To this day, cutting up a skidded log and worrying about the chain is non existent for me.

 

[TomSeller]

I think Tom much has to do with "chain philosophy" I worked as a logger and hated "firewood days" the most. The skidder would come in with a hitch of 4 to 6 hardwood stems, drop them off, and go get another. They did carry them 4 or 5' off the ground but they'd get muckled hitting rocks, dirt berms the other sundry obstructions in these N.E woods and to say nothing of the barbed wire or nails or horseshoes you would run in on that was buried in some trees from the late 18 or early 19 hundreds..
.

I think you are exactly right, I spent some time out west cuting professionally where it was the same except no surprises buried from the 18 hundreds. However, Dead Horse isn't a pro with a big skidder as far as I know yet his logs look very clean in the picture where he has them stacked prior to making firewood.

 

[TomSeller]

But then, I've never heard of measuring the cuts either. Yep, my woodpile is not pretty.

Same here. I give away a lot of wood for a bottle of my favorite and get comments about it being uneven lengths. I always tell them "uneven wood is one bottle, even cut wood is two". My brother measures out his cuts and marks them with a lumber crayon. I tell him that I can cut the wood just as fast as it takes him to mark it. I try to maximize the wood and use very bit I can which makes for odd sizes.

 

[Mattc8832]

I went to tsc Saturday and made the purchase. The 22 ton unit was on sale for $899 so I got it. Only time will tell if I. Like it or not. Thanks for all the help in making me choose a stand alone unit. Thanks

 

[silvertramp]

That's a good price. I paid $950 last summer. $50 off.

 

[ovrszd]

Same here. I give away a lot of wood for a bottle of my favorite and get comments about it being uneven lengths. I always tell them "uneven wood is one bottle, even cut wood is two". My brother measures out his cuts and marks them with a lumber crayon. I tell him that I can cut the wood just as fast as it takes him to mark it. I try to maximize the wood and use very bit I can which makes for odd sizes.

Good story Tom. I agree about maximizing. I throw very little away. Most loads that come to the wood shed have a dozen or so pieces odd shaped that I simply didn't want to waste. A friend of mine's Son does the mark thing. Takes him forever to get a load of wood cut.

 

[ovrszd]

I went to tsc Saturday and made the purchase. The 22 ton unit was on sale for $899 so I got it. Only time will tell if I. Like it or not. Thanks for all the help in making me choose a stand alone unit. Thanks

First chance you get post some pics. We love to see people spending money!!! Congrats on the new splitter!!!

 

[Dead Horse]

Well, I don't know, he said he skids them. I often cut trees at the edge of a field so I can grapple them back to where I want them, but that doesn't work well in the woods unless you cut them short or have a wide roads between the trees. I thought maybe he skids them with the tractor end up high and just gets the ends dirty.

That is the answer
I am using a Farmi 601 and a Hesston 100 - 90 for the winching skidding work. Generally only the bitter ends get dirt on them. The butts are up against the skidder blade and the lift raises all off the ground for the skid. Little dirt ain't gonna hurt any body......

 

[Dead Horse]

Yep, whenever possible I carry logs with the Grapple as well. Also block them using the Grapple. No more bending over, cutting into the ground, etc.

Yeah, I'd like to see his skidder as well.

OK, since you asked.

 

[Dead Horse]

I think Tom much has to do with "chain philosophy" I worked as a logger and hated "firewood days" the most. The skidder would come in with a hitch of 4 to 6 hardwood stems, drop them off, and go get another. They did carry them 4 or 5' off the ground but they'd get muckled hitting rocks, dirt berms the other sundry obstructions in these N.E woods and to say nothing of the barbed wire or nails or horseshoes you would run in on that was buried in some trees from the late 18 or early 19 hundreds..

Can you imagine if any one of us was worried about ruining chains and making this complaint to the boss? Chain sharpening was about as much of the process as running the saw. I brought the most chainsaws and chains to the job on "firewood days" as stopping every tankful to sharpen a chain was also a money waste. I'd bring as many as 4 or 5 chainsaws and at least a dozen chains for an 8 hr day of "stem cutting" Any chain sharpening was done on a emergency basis if one ran out of chains otherwise chain sharpening was like night time home work. The hand held "hatchet" was like the Mr. Clean of the woods as you would use this to scallop a stem that was dirty for cleaner cuts. The boss would also yell at you wasting time with a hatchet but ****, he wasn't paying for my chain either.

To this day, cutting up a skidded log and worrying about the chain is non existent for me.

Agree with all of this, though I have gotten pretty good at "tuning" a chain in a few minutes to keep it cutting very well. I prolly have 5 or more chains for each of 4 saws I keep busy on my wood cutting chores. I put up prox 20 cord a year from my own property.

 

[1026mrg]

You actually wash and rinse your logs?? That's so cool. I've never heard of that. But then, I've never heard of measuring the cuts either. Yep, my woodpile is not pretty.

No, I do not wash & rinse my logs. "Wash, rinse, repeat." is just a colloquialism for repeating the process.
With regard to measuring the cuts... A couple of thoughts.

First, we have two different sized stoves. The larger ones can take up to 22", but for a lot of reasons we prefer 18"-20" logs. There is also a small
stove in our kitchen that will only take 14" lengths. So it is a lot easier to measure the cuts to ensure that we have enough wood for the small stove
as well, rather than relying on the butt ends.

Second, I knew that I wanted a sawbuck. Many advantages. First they support the logs very well & you have virtually no binding or kickback.
Second, the sawbuck keeps the wood well above the ground and saves on saw chains. Third, the sawbuck can be made at a height that works well with
rolling the logs off of the grapple. Sure you can cut the logs on the grapple, but you are either limited to one at a time on the grapple, or you have to
focus on a single log to cut, and avoid the others in the bundle. Also, have to avoid the steel on steel contact between the grapple & saw. If I get too close
to the sawbuck, I am just nicking wood. Finally, since I knew that I wanted to use a sawbuck, it only made sense to have the compartments double as
a rough measuring device. Neater woodpiles, more consistent log lengths and with two different sized stoves, two differently configured sawbucks makes
it easy.

The sawbucks are very handy, a great back saver, add to the safety of the operation and one of the simplest & best additions we have made to our firewood cutting.

It is not for everyone, but that is how we approached it.

 

[ovrszd]

OK, since you asked.

That's very cool!!!! Does it have a winch on it as well??? Or maybe you already talked about that and I missed it??

I'm always looking for something to build. I might build one of those. Are the 3pt arms attached low on the skidder so you can get a lot of log height?? My timber is very steep and rough. I'd want the tractor end of the log to be as high as practical. Any more pics of the skidder would be appreciated. I'll do a search as well. Thanks for the pic.

 

[ovrszd]

Agree with all of this, though I have gotten pretty good at "tuning" a chain in a few minutes to keep it cutting very well. I prolly have 5 or more chains for each of 4 saws I keep busy on my wood cutting chores. I put up prox 20 cord a year from my own property.

That's somewhere around what I cut. I cut for my shop stove and 2 Son's shop stoves. I try to block a huge pile and let it cure for a season before blocking. We're in the process of splitting up that pile now. Then thru the Winter I'll harvest more logs and replenish the block pile. If possible I block from the Grapple.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I went to tsc Saturday and made the purchase. The 22 ton unit was on sale for $899 so I got it. Only time will tell if I. Like it or not. Thanks for all the help in making me choose a stand alone unit. Thanks

:thumbsup: Thanks for letting us know what you decided. If you didn't get the table with it you will probably want one. I made mine.

 

[ovrszd]

I also like a table around the end of the beam to catch the splits. Saves having to pick them up off the ground.

 

[Timm250]

Menards had the Dirty Hand Tools 27 ton splitter on Friday for $699. I took the ad to Lowe's because they are closer & they matched the price + 18 months 0% interest!

 

[Budweiser John]

Somewhat surprised that no one mentioned the split fire splitter. I have a Split Fire 255 with the wedge on the cylinder and a bolster on each end allowing one to split in both directions, both out and back. It's amazingly fast and it came with a hydrolac log lifter so no wrestling large rounds up to the splitter table.
This year instead of stacking firewood I'm bagging it in 'Dino' bags. (Google Dino bags)
Each bag holds about 2/3 of a cord and using the pallet forks on my FEL suspend the open bag next to the splitter, then split, toss, and done. I then place the full bags on pallets and with the forks place the bags in the shed. This system takes up a little more storage space however, the labor savings are well worth the minor loss of square footage.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I also like a table around the end of the beam to catch the splits. Saves having to pick them up off the ground.

That's a good idea to have an end table if you have a fixed wedge and your split wood comes off the end. With the wedge on the ram, like the splitter the op and I have, the split wood comes off the side. I position the chunk to be split so the finish piece comes off on my side which I throw on the pile and the big piece falls onto the table where it is easy to grab for the next split. No picking wood off the ground.

 

[arrow]

Agree with all of this, though I have gotten pretty good at "tuning" a chain in a few minutes to keep it cutting very well. I prolly have 5 or more chains for each of 4 saws I keep busy on my wood cutting chores. I put up prox 20 cord a year from my own property.

We had a stake body dump that held about 2.5 cords of splits. With as many as 3 guys on the landing, we did two of these in an 8 hr day as many as 6 times a week if we were cutting a big plot. There was very little money in making firewood as opposed to mill stems back then. A split cord went from $60-$75. We'd make trips to the Cape Cod where they were getting almost double for the stuff. (Can't cross state lines with wood anymore around here). Firewood making just beat stuff up and was rather labor intensive in comparison to other types of logging.

 

[arrow]

Somewhat surprised that no one mentioned the split fire splitter. I have a Split Fire 255 with the wedge on the cylinder and a bolster on each end allowing one to split in both directions, both out and back. It's amazingly fast and it came with a hydrolac log lifter so no wrestling large rounds up to the splitter table.
This year instead of stacking firewood I'm bagging it in 'Dino' bags. (Google Dino bags)
Each bag holds about 2/3 of a cord and using the pallet forks on my FEL suspend the open bag next to the splitter, then split, toss, and done. I then place the full bags on pallets and with the forks place the bags in the shed. This system takes up a little more storage space however, the labor savings are well worth the minor loss of square footage.

They do look like time savers but what will be interesting John with these, is to see how well wood such as red oak seasons in them.