What tools and methods do you use for firewood?

[User Name Here]

Hey guys, I'm just curious as to how y'all go about getting firewood and what tools you use. For instance, I have 3 chainsaws (a ported ms461, ms440, and a dolmar ps421), I split with a fiskars x27, and haul wood on my '90 Ford F250 wood hauler and my 5x10 trailer with 3500lb axle. I only own about 1 acre of land with a handful of trees on it so I typically have to cut wood off of others' property and haul it home. I usually cut and split on site and then load the truck and haul it home to stack in the dry. I have thought about purchasing a splitter and either towing it to the site to split and load, or load rounds on the truck and bring home to split and stack. Not sure that is really what I want to do, but I'm curious as to how you guys do it. So what do you use and how do you do it?

 

[Big_Al]

Have 80 acres we own and _80 on each side that neighbors let us cut on. Also buy permits for the national forest that's couple miles away, costs $5 cord. My preferred method is to tow splitter to where we are cutting, split and load it all in one spot. If its a few miles away we'll usually cut and load rounds on truck and trailer. Split when we get back to property, more handling that way. Have a 22 ton Oregon splitter, cut with 311,362&441. Haul with a f250 with racks, use either a pickup bed trailer with racks or a 8x14 dual axle trailer.

 

[cantoo]

I have some of mine on here again. Start at page 16 if you want there are pics there. I've posted tons of pics of my stuff, I consider what I have the minimum you need to barely get by doing firewood. The older pictures in this thread were all lost in the Great Hacker Incident.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/my-firewood-tools.153256/page-16

Also a few here. http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/steiner-logging.256905/

 

[Fubar]

i have 3 saws , a old echo cs 670 , 70 cc with a 24 inch bar for the heavy cutting , a old husky 61 , 60 cc with a 18 inch bar as a back up for the heavy saw , a 4218 poulan pro 42 cc with a 18 inch bar for limbing and small stuff , a old jeep Comanche pickup for hauling it , a 18 pound go devil splitting maul " and you feel like the devil has had a hold of you after a couple of hours of using it " a friskars x27 splitting axe , that is as sharp as a samurai sword and will lop someting off if you are not careful , a sledge hammer and a assortment of wedges for those big and truly , unruly logs ......

 

[User Name Here]

I have some of mine on here again. Start at page 16 if you want there are pics there. I've posted tons of pics of my stuff, I consider what I have the minimum you need to barely get by doing firewood. The older pictures in this thread were all lost in the Great Hacker Incident.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/my-firewood-tools.153256/page-16

Also a few here. http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/steiner-logging.256905/

you have some neat tools and I'm sure your setup works well for you. However, I have to disagree on that being the minimum you need to barely get by doing firewood. I've been cutting firewood with my dad and by myself for more than 20 years and up until recently I only had 1 chainsaw, a pickup, and a go devil or splitting maul. Now my dad did have 2 saws, but that is pretty much all one NEEDS to cut firewood. And we cut a fair amount of firewood for many years this way - 3 households worth. Now I'm only cutting for myself with the occasional trip to help out my dad.

 

[svk]

3 acres of timber on my property but also scrounge along several miles of public roads near my hunting cabin as well as yard trees at my hunting cabin.

Just about everything is cut by my Husky 65, which I'm probably converting to a 77 this spring. I'm upgrading my Johnny 36 to 3/8 LP chain this spring to help out with limbing duties. Also will have the Mac back into the lineup soon.

Haul in the box of my 97' Chev x-cab and a 5x8 utility trailer. Can get about 1.25 cords between the two per load.

Primary splitting duties fall to Fiskars X27 but I am currently borrowing a 27T DHT which works great. I normally haul rounds home and split at the pile but if they are large I will split at the cut site.

 

[User Name Here]

Big AL does that 22 ton splitter handle most things pretty well? I've seriously thought about getting one

 

[cantoo]

User, I only said that in case my wife reads the thread. She might be of the opinion that I might have a few extras things.

 

[User Name Here]

3 acres of timber on my property but also scrounge along several miles of public roads near my hunting cabin as well as yard trees at my hunting cabin.

Just about everything is cut by my Husky 65, which I'm probably converting to a 77 this spring. I'm upgrading my Johnny 36 to 3/8 LP chain this spring to help out with limbing duties. Also will have the Mac back into the lineup soon.

Haul in the box of my 97' Chev x-cab and a 5x8 utility trailer. Can get about 1.25 cords between the two per load.

Primary splitting duties fall to Fiskars X27 but I am currently borrowing a 27T DHT which works great. I normally haul rounds home and split at the pile but if they are large I will split at the cut site.

My only concern about getting a splitter is that I might not use it enough to justify it. For instance, the last oak I cut was about 34-35"rounds and I'm guessing each one weighed around 250-300 lbs. Obviously I couldn't lift those into the truck so I'd have to split on site then haul home. But I couldn't get a splitter within 300 yards of the tree.

 

[User Name Here]

User, I only said that in case my wife reads the thread. She might be of the opinion that I might have a few extras things.

Ha ha! Fair enough, point well taken. I think in that case a tractor with front loader, and rear winch/skidder attachment and 4x4 1 ton or bigger dump truck is a necessity

 

[svk]

My only concern about getting a splitter is that I might not use it enough to justify it. For instance, the last oak I cut was about 34-35"rounds and I'm guessing each one weighed around 250-300 lbs. Obviously I couldn't lift those into the truck so I'd have to split on site then haul home. But I couldn't get a splitter within 300 yards of the tree.

Most of the species I split are fairly easy so I don't see a need for one. It's nice when you want to knock out several cords in a day though. If I didn't have one to borrow for free I might be tempted to grab one when they go on sale.

 

[User Name Here]

I do have access to one too. I have been planning on trying it out and seeing just how well it works for me but I haven't found the chance to yet

 

[Big_Al]

Big AL does that 22 ton splitter handle most things pretty well? I've seriously thought about getting one

I've been happy with it, haven't had anything that it wouldn't split. Also like that it will work horizontal or vertical . I haven't tried it on much hardwood, did a few maple rounds . Mostly all softwoods around here, tamarack, red fir are the majority of what we split.

 

[Bob95065]

I cut and haul firewood to heat my home. This is what I use to get the job done:

I have a 1997 Dodge 2500 4x4 diesel and a M101A3 trailer for hauling wood.

I have a collection of chainsaws but the 4 I most rely on for firewood processing are my Stihl 066, Husqvarna 266SE, Stihl 028 Super and my Husqvarna 44. I have others I use but these are the workhorses.

I have two 8lb mauls that I use to split wood. I don't know who made them

I have a Lickety Log Splitter model EK308 for forks and knotty wood. It's older than me. I rebuilt it about 10 years ago.

I have tons of chains, lifting straps and rigging for pulling logs to a landing for processing too.

 

[sledge&wedge]

I do have access to one too. I have been planning on trying it out and seeing just how well it works for me but I haven't found the chance to yet

If you don't really think you need one, and have access to a free one, I think I would hold off on the purchase. I'm in the same boat as you... I can borrow one every now and then. I saved up all my big ugly rounds from September through last week and then had a 5 hour splitting marathon last weekend with a borrowed splitter. Now I won't need one again until next winter, most likely. Just make sure whoever you're borrowing from is getting something out of the deal, too. Fill the tank back up, throw him a $20 spot, something to make it worth his while.

PS. I have one saw, an X27, a couple wedges, a Harbor Freight sledge, and a long-bed '97 F150. That's all I need.

 

[JackpineSap]

a old jeep Comanche pickup for hauling it

I thought I was the only one left with a sweet Comanche! I use an 026,041 super and sometimes a baby 170 for limbing. The 048 and 075 mostly hold down a bench in the shop. I get to my timber on a Polaris x2 or Oliver 770 loader, split with speeco 25 ton and use all sorts of various junk iron toys.

 

[Marine5068]

I thought I was the only one left with a sweet Comanche! I use an 026,041 super and sometimes a baby 170 for limbing. The 048 and 075 mostly hold down a bench in the shop. I get to my timber on a Polaris x2 or Oliver 770 loader, split with speeco 25 ton and use all sorts of various junk iron toys.

Love my Jeeps too
I only cut wood to burn in my wood stove so I don't need a lot of large, expensive tools.
I cut and split about 4 cords a year with my tools.
I have a couple of chainsaws, a few axes, mauls and hatchets.
Bow saws and a pole saw for pruning.
And a large electric splitter.
Works good for now.

 

[goosegunner]

My only concern about getting a splitter is that I might not use it enough to justify it. For instance, the last oak I cut was about 34-35"rounds and I'm guessing each one weighed around 250-300 lbs. Obviously I couldn't lift those into the truck so I'd have to split on site then haul home. But I couldn't get a splitter within 300 yards of the tree.

When I get pieces like that I noodle them with my Makita 6401. This summer I had a white oak that I noodled the rounds into 8 pieces so they were comfortable to lift. Don't need to cut all the way through just 1/2 or so and use the fiskars to finish.

gg

 

[User Name Here]

When I get pieces like that I noodle them with my Makita 6401. This summer I had a white oak that I noodled the rounds into 8 pieces so they were comfortable to lift. Don't need to cut all the way through just 1/2 or so and use the fiskars to finish.

gg

That is how I handle those pieces currently. I used to frail and beat until I either forced them into submission or gave up but the last several year I have been noodling them. I like the idea of using a splitter for those but I have yet to try it

 

[zogger]

A whole buncha various sized saws that I rotate around to use, boss's tractor with a tote box for hauling and chains for dragging logs out of the swamp when necessary, sometimes I use a double axle farm trailer as well, a 1/2 ton chevy I started using this year, with a 3/4 ton on deck waiting for me to get parts for it. With that one I think I can stop using the tractor most of the time. I will be getting an army trailer for that one, same wheels/tires.

For splitting, a fiskars, 8lb truper maul mostly, noodling when necessary. I have a wooden handle husky maul, but..meh.

I burn around 4 cord, cutting around double that for future stockpiling and/or selling some.

I did have a potential swap, half ton for a c60 dump truck, but after I got an insurance quote I passed, I'd have to sell 20 + cord a year to justify it, along with biz license, CDL I guess, all that stuff. Pass, not interested. Too much work, be working just to own a dump truck so I could work. Circular and illogical.