Firewood processor

[KSTractor]

With our global warming shot I've used a 2yr supply of wood this year and cutting wood is getting old and so am I. Does anyone have any experience with firewood processors? I would prefer a 3 pt, pto unit or a skid loader unit. A used smaller machine would be best I am not worried about capacity .Any ideas would be appreciated. Ken

 

[Kerry50]

Here's the one I want
skid steer wood splitter

 

[Anonymous-0]

I built a splitter to go on my post hole digger motor, on the front of
my skidloader. I took an old unicorn screw splitter, and made it fit
the output shaft. I can split 8' long logs, into quarters or eighths,
then cut them to length with a saw. If I had a good place to put it, I
would make one like this:
fastest splitter

 

[Wile E]

I assume you mean something more productive than an axe.
Get yourself a local kid off the football team, and buy a logsplitter, hydraulic driven. Have the kid load the logs on and off the hydraulic splitter, then have the kid stack it all, 1 day of work for him....while you watch. The kid will likely want $80 or more.

That skid steer processor that is shown on Utube looks real pricy.

 

[Fawteen]

I've looked into them. I'm talking about log-to-kindling in one machine units: Winch a tree in one end and get split firewood out the other.

WAY too expensive to be practical unless you're processing and selling 100's of cords of firewood a year.

Can't really see the point in anything less. If you've gotta buck it up with your own saw, it ain't that much more trouble to split it.

At least, that's the way I see it.

 

[Formerly PaMike]

I would ask around at places that sell firewood and see if you can hire someone to come in and process your wood. There is a guy near me that has a cordking. For $500 he will come for a day and run my logs. We knock out about 20 cord in a day. I couldnt even begin to justify the cost of owning a processor when I can pay him $500 a year to do it.

 

[8v92guy]

my neighbor builds them go to CRD metalworks.com.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Hi, same problem here a few years ago when we
installed the OWB. I highly suggest you find out
where there is going to be a forestry show and
watch them in action prior to handing out your
hard earned money. Here we have the Paul Bunyan
Show in early fall. You can get some idea of them
by watching Youtube clips but they also hide the
deficiencies in each type. In all what your going
to find is there are smaller (sort of) affordable
machines that are very limited in the size they
will take and large machines that will make your
heart go pitter patter,, until you see the price
tag. None of them like crooked/ knotty fence row
trees. The used market seems to be high priced
late model stuff or cheaper but worn out and not
cheap enough for what the are.
There are some options for you. One is a hybred
machine where your chain saw is used for the
cutting and the machine gets the log up where you
dont have to bend over and then drops the block
into a splitter. Another option is hiring it done.
type in a search in Google and spend an afternoon
ot wo or three looking at whats around. Good luck!

 

[tomtirediron]

Uncle and cousin just bought a Dyna. I believe made in Michigan. Paid 26 K for it and running 36 cord yearly between them. They figure if they can cut 15 cord/ month for others @ 30$/ cord. They'll bank enough to payoff in 5 years. I haven't penciled it out, or seen it. Time will tell.

 

[Ivan in Mich]

I looked at one made by Hudson in New York called
the badger. When they came out they were around
9000.00. I went to the local dealer with money in
pocket and he did not have any yet. Month went by
and he got some in and called. I went and run one
and it was good. The only thing is they had jumped
the price by 3000.00. No way. I built one and I
can do 1/2 pulp cord 4x4x8' an hour depends on how
fast I am that day. . I run it off my skid steer
and in the spring I am going to add a conveyer to
it and then I don't think I will even stack the
wood in the wood shed anymore I don't have much
money in it as I already had most of the materials
on hand. I had to buy a 24 inch stroke clinder is
all.

 

[RodinNS]

Processors are in the 15k range today to buy... then add probably 5k more if you want a live deck and infeed rollers to feed it. You can get by without both if you set up an inclined skid... or get one of the single log lifters that they sell... but a live deck is best. Either with a deck or inclined skid... the infeed extension is most important as that's what saves you most of the back breaking work.
As far as actual processors go... I have a Tajfun RCA-380. It's a decent processor. Uses a standard 16" Husky saw bar and has a 4 way splitter. Lots of splitting power in this one. Very seldom it stalls and if it does... reversing out and hitting it again usually does the trick. Downside of this unit... the outfeed conveyor SUCKS. It's a segmented belt that's bolted together... which might seem like a good idea but it breaks more than is tolerable... and the height of the conveyor is about useless. Beyond that... only real trouble I've had... needed to replace an oil pump which is just a standard pump off a Stihl 026... and the frame cleanouts below the splitter cylinder freeze up with sawdust sometimes and need to be cleaned out as they prevent the splitter from fully returning 'home'. Beyond that my biggest issue with this machine has been product support. That's pretty weak 'here' but may be great elsewhere. My local dealer doesn't stock anything... and communication can be difficult to say the least so that doesn't enhance the experience. I bought the machine used from a competing dealer and now know why it was there...
The other main PTO drive processors in this area are Hakki and Palax. If I was buying again I'd probably be most drawn to the Palax as it has a chain/slat outfeed and a hydraulic saw wheras both the RCA and Hakki have belt/direct drive saws and rubber/PVC outfeed belts...

The other MAJOR consideration you need to keep in mind is that NONE of these machines work well with dirty wood. Dirty wood will quickly dull the chain and with the way the saw works there is absolutely NO forgiveness for a dull chain. The bar will jamb in the cut until you sharpen the chain. With a hand held chainsaw you can work around that a lot more...
So... basically you don't want any skidded wood. You want porter hauled wood.

If I was buying another one I might buy another RCA if it was priced right as I've more or less overcome most of the part problems I've had... but I'm still sour about it. If the money was the same I'd probably go with a Palax... Just make sure you've got some support for whatever you buy.

In a perfect world I'd want a cord king 60... but that's a 5k cord per year machine.

The one thing you should realise with these PTO processors is that when they're set up correctly with good wood it costs about the same money to run the processor as it does to run a chainsaw with the bonus that the splitting is 'free'.

Rod

 

[KSTractor]

Thanks for all of your inputs
Ken

 

[Anonymous-0]

I would say you need to fit a firewood machine to the average diameter of the trees.

 

[Sparktrician]

I built a splitter for the front of our skidloader. It has the ram/wedge on the BOTTOM of the beam, so you run it from the seat, and don't really handle the wood.

I use it to bust up large slugs, and load them on a wagon or trailer, then split with my Huskee (TSC) 22ton splitter. Works GREAT! I don't have to bend over, or kneel/stoop in front of that splitter on the ground.

Dad still insists on working on the ground....but whatever floats your boat. I do it the easy way...lol

 

[Sparktrician]

If you can weld/metalwork, and have the equipment....I built mine for about $850 if I recall. the Cylinder came off ebay, 24"X5" was like $250. It is the SAME cylinder as on my huskee splitter. The rest was used/reclaimed steel I bought.....I even made the plate that the skidloader latches into.

 

[Bret4207]

This is about the least expensive one I've seen- http://watertown.craigslist.org/grq/4308256511.html

 

[timcasbolt]

I've watched that video a hundred times! It's the
badassest splitter ever made.

 

[Zachary Hoyt]

The trees I make into firewood are the open grown and hedgerow
trees with lots of forks and branches. I don't see them feeding
nicely into a processor. Also I burn a lot of branches/tops from
sawlog trees. My straight logs go to the mill and get sold as
lumber. If you had straight clean logs to process it would be handy
to use a machine.
Zach

 

[PJH]

No personal experience here. Neighbor has one. Logs go in, firewood comes out. It ends up on pallets, plastic wrapped, on a semi headed to Northern Illinois. Expensive machine. I guess they have laws restricting firewood crossing state lines, and now there's a market for firewood that used to come from Wisconsin.

 

[Stephen Newell]

Gees I've never heard of one. I had to look it up on ebay and then pondered how many years wood you could have delivered for 10,000 or more.