Firewood Processor Questions

[fireemt799]

I have some questions if anyone has any experience with Blacks Creek 2000B processor. What is the production rate? Any experience with running one? I have found a used one for sale but the Blacks creek website is severely lacking on information. I have been looking at a wood beaver bab 18. If anyone knows of a similar processor please post the info as well. Needs to have a hydraulic log lift, belt fed deck, metal stop for length measurement, conveyor and portable like the 2 above listed processors. Chain fed machines won't work for my needs and needs to be portable with a log lift as I don't want to buy other equipment.

 

[dave_dj1]

I can't help with any experience but it looks as though they both have good cycle times on their splitters.
They both look to be nice machines.
Good luck in which ever one you choose.
I just talked to a guy using a Timberwolf processor and he said that no matter the machine it's pretty much a two person job. Him and his wife run theirs, he had a new Hudson before this Timberwolf. He is selling the Timberwolf as he says there is no money in it. He was selling to a landscape company that was kiln drying it and then re selling it.

 

[CentaurG2]

No direct experience with either processor but you can probably expect about a cord and hour production from that type of machine. A lot of the wood from the 2000B looks like it needs to be resplit which would really slow down your production rate. To be honest, both look like very light duty rigs. Most processors I have been around are built like gorillaz and they still get thrashed. Log lifts on either look down right scary.

Not sure what you are trying to do but the best splitter/processor I have seen is the timberdevil/powersplit double or single vertical. You will need a trailer to transport and a chainsaw and you are in business.


https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...3463F45BF5E0EAAE31003463F&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV

 

[fireemt799]

I need a processor for juniper. I fall the trees, cut them into rounds, load them in the truck, bring them in and split them up. I have been doing this for 14 years and can't keep up with orders even doing 3 cords a day year round I am still turning away over 500 cords a year or more. I can't find anyone willing to work around here and getting old so a processor is the next best option. There has been several field day tests with juniper with all types of equipment available pand have seen first hand how even the high dollar processors can't handle juniper with live decks and chain feeds. A multitek 2025 with the grapple does good on juniper and so does the belt fed machines. The log lift works great on these size logs. I know nothing about the 2000B so I asked but it does come with a 4 and 6 way wedge. As far as cheaply built the wood beaver is made by multitek and they don't do anything cheap.

 

[CentaurG2]

500+ cords a year is an amazing amount of wood. We do about 100 cords cut split and delivered. No way in hell we could even market 500. I don’t think either of the processors you are looking at would be capable of that volume a year. I may be wrong but I think they would literally fall apart around you. If you have access to the wood and the market to sell 500 cords a year, I would be leaning heavily toward a multitek 2025 with a live deck and a log truck to feed it.

 

[Big_Eddy]

I've seen several in action, and I've watched one be used for over an hour. The designer / owner of the company and I spent several hours talking about his machine versus others in the market place. I've also watched just about every you-tube on these machines and the competitors, as I'm the process of building my own processor so have been reviewing everything out there.
Output is stated as a full cord an hour - it will depend on the size of wood you are feeding it.

To my thinking, the Black's Creek machines are the best designed and built of the small processors. The overall layout and controls seem logical and well thought out.
Some comments
The saw is belt driven, not hydraulically driven. Cheaper and easy to maintain but a separate system.
Some use 3 1/2" cylinders, some use 4". Speed versus strength.
Different years used different engines. Look for the higher HP / GPM engine pump combos.
Check out the log lift controls carefully - there were some changes made over the years. Not sure exactly what.

For my needs (50-100 cords) - the Blacks Creek machine looks good - and I'm shamelessly copying much of it for my own build. For 500 cord a year though - I'm not so sure.

 

[dave_dj1]

If I was to tackle anything over 100 cords I would park two processors right beside each other and have a machine do nothing but load them and keep the processed wood away from the conveyors.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

That machine is way too small to handle 500 cords a year. Somethi n g like a Blockbuster 18-20 would work well.

 

[fireemt799]

The biggest limiting factor on equipment for me is I live in a county that is 98% federal land and larger in land size than several states. The places I can cut are on blm land and I can't run any equipment on it. The roads are bladed as little as once every five years and I am not allowed to do any road maintenance. I would love a multitek, log truck skidder or forwarder and really crank out the wood but unfortunately I can't do that on blm land. I am currently doing over 300 full cords a year by hand. Cutting and hauling 5 days a week and splitting and delivering the other two. I deliver every week of the year and still can't put a dent in the demand. I had the financing and contract for wood to put in a pellet mill, more kilns and a power plant employing over 100 people but couldn't get anyone willing to work. I have offered $5 an hour over the government prevailing wage on contracts and still can't find anyone who will work decent. I am within a 6 hour haul of over 35 million in all directions with the associated markets. I have turned away more wood orders each year then I sell and it gets frustrating. The used blacks creek 2000b is priced more then I can get a new one with the same setup new from the factory delivered, doesn't make sense. The wood beaver is listed at over 3 cords an hour but doubt I would hit that in juniper. Saving 2 days a week in splitting and producing as low as 6 cords a day with a processor would be a huge boost in production and income and allow me to hit the markets that pay more than the $140 a cord I am getting here. Some days I think I am crazy to be worki,g this much for the price I get but I love being outdoors and being my own boss and can't see myself doing anything else. It must be a disease lol

 

[NSMaple1]

Not putting a dent in demand almost sounds like you need to up your prices.

 

[T. Mainus]

$140 a face cord or full cord? For $140 a full cord I'm not even getting out of bed for that. Were getting $320 a cord for mixed and the margins are tight at that price.

 

[fireemt799]

Not putting a dent in demand almost sounds like you need to up your prices.

My prices are as high as the market here will allow. 90% + of the people here have multiple sources of heat and use the cheapest option. As low as fuel oil and propane is now if I raised my prices any more I would be out of business.

$140 a face cord or full cord? For $140 a full cord I'm not even getting out of bed for that. Were getting $320 a cord for mixed and the margins are tight at that price.

Full cords face cords are illegal and get you a big fine from weights and measures here. Must have some pretty high expenses then, have decent margins at $140

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I sell logs for more than $140 a cord, never mind firewood.

 

[T. Mainus]

My prices are as high as the market here will allow. 90% + of the people here have multiple sources of heat and use the cheapest option. As low as fuel oil and propane is now if I raised my prices any more I would be out of business.



Full cords face cords are illegal and get you a big fine from weights and measures here. Must have some pretty high expenses then, have decent margins at $140

We pay anywhere from $90 to $120 a cord from the loggers for 10 cord loads delivered to the shop. You would go broke selling it for $140 a cord. If cords and face cords are illegal, how do you sell your wood?

 

[fireemt799]

Sorry supposed to be a comma in there. Full cords, face cords are illegal. Can only sell full cord, by the ton with certified scale or cubic foot and fraction thereof in bundles. It costs me $7 a cord for commercial permit. $30 in diesel for the truck that's cutting, hauling and delivering. Another $10 a cord for saw gas, bar oil, chains etc. $5 a cord splitter gas and maintenance. Throw in $20 a cord maintenance costs and $20 a cord overhead. I keep my numbers this good by cutting and hauling multiple cords at a time. No helpers as no one wants to work and no workers comp keeps costs down. Money comes with volume. Also do bundles on top of this and the occasional contract. I just finished running the numbers on a wood beaver 18 bab doing only 500 cords at $140 a cord. 4 years to pay off the machine and 2 helpers making $15 an hour each. Put the costs high, dropped production of the machine down from 3+ cords an hour to 2. Figure 250 hours a year would be good for someone retired to have a little extra work. Comes out to over $29,000 a year profit without any bundles or selling to markets with much higher prices. Wood beaver has series hydraulics, attached conveyor, joystick control for everything and everything else I am looking for. Those numbers look real good for only running a machine 250 hours a year.

 

[NSMaple1]

My prices are as high as the market here will allow. 90% + of the people here have multiple sources of heat and use the cheapest option. As low as fuel oil and propane is now if I raised my prices any more I would be out of business.

I can't see how a bit of a price increase would flip a switch from not putting a dent in demand, to out of business. Those are two extremes, I can't see how even a 10% increase would bridge that gap.

It is yours though, and you should be able to see your local things better than us.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

$93 cost, $140 charge... so $44/cd profit?

I don't see how you can make that work. Flipping burgers or pumping gas would pay better! If you are up to your eyes with orders, means you can safely raise the price.

 

[cantoo]

$92 plus 7.50 per cord for helpers =$99.50 before taxes, log cost or time involved and cost of processor and selling for $140 a cord?
have listed costs for splitting but nothing for getting the trees to that point other that fuel for the truck? No labor costs in cutting down, hauling, loading unloading etc? Logs here are at least $90 a cord and at that price be ready to be on a list and for whatever crap they drop off.

 

[fireemt799]

I do all of my own logging that is why $7 commercial permit is listed. Fall the trees, cut into rounds, load in truck, bring home and split up. No helpers and no buying stuff from middlemen. No helpers now do it all on my own. In addition to the cord wood I do bundles at $500 a cord, contracts, wildfires and whatever else comes up. With a processor only doing 500 cords a year my costs are reduced and production increased. That is selling at $140 a cord but with the processor could fill semis and ship to much higher priced markets. Could easily do more than 500 cords a year with a processor. Also save 2 days a week on splitting. Most of my orders are 4 to 5 cords each. Load a dump truck with 4 cords as I am processing and deliver saving even more time.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I don't see how you can do 500 cords a year like that.