Quickest way to go from tree to firewood

[sirbuildalot]

Once the tree is felled, I typically limb it in place and buck the tree into 12'-24' lengths. Once skidded to a more open area, I stack the logs with the grapple and grapple the remaining brush to a burn pile. The log pile at some later point gets bucked into 20" lengths, split, and stacked in the woodshed.

I've also bucked to firewood length where it falls, and carried the pieces to a bucket, box, or trailer, but I feel the other way is less work, and less walking over limbs and branches.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

it all depends what you have for equipment.

if you can move logs in length then it certainly is fast but it takes a decent investment in equipment to be able to do that.

if say all you have is a 2wd truck and a saw you don't cut to far from where you can drive and it is worth it to cut rounds and noodle them if larger than you can carry one handed to easy to carry sizes 1/2 or 1/4 depending on the size of the wood they also stack better in the truck.

2 pickeroons , or log tongs , or firewood grabbers so you can stay balanced carrying out the wood

that is how I started , a little worse yet actually a 1 ton 15 passenger van , a 14 foot utility trailer and a saw I would clear a good path and use a wheel barrow if I could to move the rounds out.

now where I cut my friend has skid steer and tractor , if the tree is in the open enough that we can take it out in 8 foot lengths the skid steer is the fastest . if we need to drag the tree out , the skid steer lacks the traction the tractor has

I have been thinking I should make up some boxes on a pallet the skid steer can bring the box in and the cut up top can go in the box and be taken out easily already get a tarp over it dry and burn to further reduce handling.

 

[Rburg44]

I prefer to fell the tree buck it in placeand split right where she lays! Why move logs more then you have too then i just throw in truck as i split

 

[NSMaple1]

I prefer to fell the tree buck it in placeand split right where she lays! Why move logs more then you have too then i just throw in truck as i split

Me too.

One touch has it split & into my ATV trailer. Next one has it stacked on pallets where it sits for a couple years.

 

[GVS]

I prefer to fell the tree buck it in placeand split right where she lays! Why move logs more then you have too then i just throw in truck as i split

Your way is fine if you don't have to negotiate or get stuck in a few long mud holes on the way out of the woods.In that case You may have to unload your truck/trailer or call for a tow at the towers convience.Me, I skid the logs.YMMV.

 

[Saiso]

I’ve mostly been hauling one or two 4-8 ft lengths by pulp hook until roadside, then into the truck or trailer. Eventually I’d like to buy a 4 wheeler so I can perhaps junk into 16 inches in the woods then straight into a trailer. Would save a lot of walking.

 

[muddstopper]

I simply refuse to load split wood in the back of a truck. To do so means I have to carry the wood to the truck and load, then unload at home and then stack in my shed. If I have to carry rounds, I use my dump trailer. I load and dump, split and stack. If i can get logs loaded, I hual and dump, then buck and split and then stack. Much less labor than splitting where the tree falls. Of course you have to have equipment to load the logs with, but I get my wood off construction and logging sites where equipment is usually already on site. Usually already cut down and in a pile too.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

I have tried split on site but it means hauling the splitter and that can be a pain , I can back the truck right up to the shed so that isn't so much an issue unloading

hauling capacity doesn't change much a 6 foot 6 inch truck bed with side boards I am over weight before out of room either way the problem with an f150 is load weight but it is a good truck and I got it at the right price

noodling to 1/2 or 1/4 is just faster and less equipment to haul less moving of big rounds than hauling the splitter with and rolling rounds into it. just less strain on me.

with splits full is piled just over the cab tapering back to the top of the tail gate , with 1/2 and 1/4 rounds full is stacked about even with the top of the window 2/3 of the way back

I put steel mesh on the ladder rack to cover the back window

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I used to have permission to cut down and dead stuff if I cleaned up well and scattered the brush.
To do that I used a quad and atv trailer. Years later I added a LogRite arch.
The reason for getting the trailer first was that I could get trunk wood cut in rounds, and the smaller limb wood. In addition, the trailer was useful for many other tasks, where as the arch is a dedicated tool, of little use for limb wood, or anything else. It is fun to use though, and almost essential if your milling lumber.
The arch does have benefits. A lot of firewood can be moved easily in a shorter amount of time than cutting rounds and handling individually.
Together the arch and atv trailer were ideal where I was cutting, leaving little if any foot print in the woods, and clean logs for cutting later when time allowed.
Time constraints (along with tools available) may effect your "the quickest way", depending if you work in large blocks of time, such as weekends, or if you process firewood an hour here and there. Especially if there is travel time, set up time, etc. that may push you to focus on gathering first, and then processing. Or if time allows, combining the two.
A very affordable tool is a pulp hook. It is the cheapest, single most effective tool, for handling small rounds when gathering up firewood in the woods.
My own situation was to gather when I had bigger blocks of time and process little by little in the evenings, or longer when gathering was not an option.

 

[Saiso]

I used to have permission to cut down and dead stuff if I cleaned up well and scattered the brush.
To do that I used a quad and atv trailer. Years later I added a LogRite arch.
The reason for getting the trailer first was that I could get trunk wood cut in rounds, and the smaller limb wood. In addition, the trailer was useful for many other tasks, where as the arch is a dedicated tool, of little use for limb wood, or anything else. It is fun to use though, and almost essential if your milling lumber.
The arch does have benefits. A lot of firewood can be moved easily in a shorter amount of time than cutting rounds and handling individually.
Together the arch and atv trailer were ideal where I was cutting, leaving little if any foot print in the woods, and clean logs for cutting later when time allowed.
Time constraints (along with tools available) may effect your "the quickest way", depending if you work in large blocks of time, such as weekends, or if you process firewood an hour here and there. Especially if there is travel time, set up time, etc. that may push you to focus on gathering first, and then processing. Or if time allows, combining the two.
A very affordable tool is a pulp hook. It is the cheapest, single most effective tool, for handling small rounds when gathering up firewood in the woods.
My own situation was to gather when I had bigger blocks of time and process little by little in the evenings, or longer when gathering was not an option.

Wooow that rig is cool! I was looking at options for bigger logs. Interesting, thanks.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Quickest way to go from tree to firewood

Quickest way I've found is, to cut the tree down and limb it. Then skid it out to an opening,

Once skidded out, I turn the tractor around and pick up the log, and hold it over my wagon to be cut into firewood lengths,

Then I can pull the load of splits to my splitting area,

and move the splitter into place, and for the FIRST TIME touching the wood, we split right off the wagon,

into half cord boxes that I build, many times my wife will stack the splits right into place,

Then I use the tractor to move the boxes to a place for drying,

and when we need wood for the wood stove, I just go get it with the tractor,

and the splits get thrown down through a basement window, right by the wood stove, for burning.

SR

 

[old CB]

So everyone has his own method, greatly influenced by what equipment and/or help you have, the distance from stump to storage, your landscape (steep, level, muddy, etc.) and just personal preference. Lots of good methods above. Experiment with what works best for you, and soon you'll have it down.

I once felled, cut, and (hand)split in the woods, storing each tree where it dropped for months before hauling it with tractor and wagon to the woodshed on the side of my house. Haven't done that in years. Mostly I haul wood in rounds or lengths I can load on a pickup or trailer, then split next to the woodshed (or woodpile--some lives outside, open to sun and breeze in summer, covered with canvas tarp in winter). But methods have varied over the years according to location, type of wood, equipment, etc.

No matter how you do it, it's work. The most satisfying and rewarding work you'll do, but work nonetheless. Study it some, and you'll figure out what suits you best and makes the most of your labor.

 

[crowbuster]

I prefer to fell the tree buck it in placeand split right where she lays! Why move logs more then you have too then i just throw in truck as i split

In my case last week is a good example. Cold out and frozen ground, Cut 4 loads in 2 days, cutting and loading in the woods. Forecast was rain and mud season. So if I could have hauled logs home instead, I could have had a lot more wood on the ground at home in logs instead of rounds. Have the tractor, need a small dump truck. Been looking. They logged the woods 2 mi down the road so there will be wood for years. But as stated, we do what we can with what we have, and lets all be safe fellas.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I was looking at options for bigger logs.

It is a LogRite Fetching arch with the tow option, which includes a two speed hand crank, cable with bell. A "bell" slides on the cable and captures the end of the cable that has a round lead ball. It easily hooks and unhooks to choke or release from a log. The neck is modified on mine, thanks to a person on this site several years ago, to hold a chain and capture the front of the log from swinging.It originally came with a ratchet strap. That worked poorly as the spool filled to quickly to be of use. The photo shows a strap come-a-long. That's too much messing around. The chain is very simple refinement. When the log is hooked with a single line the chain is easy to hook up. When the log is hooked with a double line the log wants to spin to the side due to the position of the cable pulley and the bell adaptor with chain hook hooking directly behind the pulley. That makes the cable into a saddle and turns the log ninety degrees to the arch. The heavier the log the more pressure it takes to push the log into position, after it has been lifted, and secure it. Doubling the cable allows lifting very heavy logs. The log pictured is not heavy. The log is choked and lifted with a single line. Doubling, the cable would hook to the short chain at the rear of the arch.
Edit: Added photo shows doubled cable hooked back to arch. The log is cradled, not choked.
Edit: Photo with strap come-a-long. (ten year old photo of our son)
The rear of the arch has a place to mount tongs for the fetching mode, and the tow option is replaced with a ring (as on a pintle hitch) which is used to secure a rope. The unit can then be used to retrieve logs up a slope. I've never used it that way.

 

[hamish]

Drop the darn tree right onto the fire.

Every situation is different, but myself ive given up on big wood, too much time and hassle involved. I can buck up 4' lengths of cord wood and have them back at the house in no time, no wrestling, so wishing for a 100 ton splitter and 17 men to load the darn thing.

 

[rancher2]

Years ago when my FIL was alive he would take his JD 2520 with a three point carrier on the back with his gear and spend a lot of time in the timber in the late fall threw winter he did most of the felling and bucking and clean up. He didn't burn wood. A buddy and his kids and myself would come in with my home made splitter and split the rounds and buck what he didn't get done. The last ten years my supply of help is low so I have a hyd drive saw on the skid loader and fell at lot of trees with it finish brushing with a chain saw pile the brush with a grapple on the skid steer and haul the logs out to a landing of sorts doing this work by myself. When my two helpers came out for a weekend we buck the logs I have on the landing using a chain saw and grapple and then split and stack in dump trailers. I have enough trailers now to hold close to 15 cord of wood that will get me threw a year.

 

[muddstopper]

Fastest way to load a truck.

 

[Marley5]

I cut on my own property and find 4wheeler and 5 X 8 trailer to be quite efficient.
Trailer sits considerably lower than pickup bed.

My splitter is under roof beside my OWB so I haul rounds to splitter.

 

[c5rulz]

Load 18' heavy duty trailer with forwarder. Posts are perpendicular to the trailer bed, logs are cut on the trailer and this contains the sawdust. Place rounds on pallets where they will be split.

 

[captjack]

I think it all depends on where the tree is. if its on the farm v getting it from a tree company. Most of mine now gets set in my dump trail with a crane or grapple from the tree service doing the take down job. Then I dump at farm and stack with my loader. When I'm splitting I will take a log with the loader tractor and bring to splitter and buck right there.