Big wood or little wood?

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how does one post photos directly in the thread? is it nessessary to host at a photo hosting site and link here?
 
Constrictor said:
how does one post photos directly in the thread? is it nessessary to host at a photo hosting site and link here?
Click to expand...

No, you can upload directly to the site from your computer under "manage attachments". The built in editor they have here I don't use, just type a little. Hit reply on any thread with embedded pics and you can clearly see the completely simple code you need to type. Square brack, IMG in caps, closing square bracket. Paste in the addy of the image you uploaded. Square bracket slash/ IMG close that square bracket. Done. These are the square brackets [ on your keyboard. See how two of them, let and right facing, can enclose something? I can't do that without it poofing, but if you just look at any post with an image, hit reply, you can see an example. Follow that example. Hit manage attachments, browse your computer to the pic, upload it, it will show you the address at this site. That's what you use. The bracket business goes on both sides of that address, with the slash variant being the closing, or on the right, of the image tag.

The built in javascript editor on this site and a ton of other sites really is supposed to be "easy" and about ..since I have been here two years..1,000+ guys can't figure out how to use it, because these editors are too "busy". Too much useless folderol, like driving down the main drag someplace at night with 500 blinking neon signs..

It is loads easier to type a few characters and paste in the address. You only have to do it one time to see how much easier it is to just type a few keystrokes.
 
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big wood

i like 2 foot plus less binding over and the big wood stays on my splitter longer then me getting more small wood i love the bigger stuff thats what my wood guy gives me and im very happy i have a log lift good luck
 
I have got more red elm in the 6-15 inch range dead standing with no bark than I can burn so that's what I cut. I have a 35-40 inch oak that fell over 3 years ago with just the trunk left but just cant force myself to finish it up.
 
Kevin:
The detail on your build is what everyone should strive for on all there projects.
And the yellow paint makes it look like Vermeer or Big John built it.
I think maybe you are in the wrong business; you should be making splitters instead of splitting wood.
I’m sure you built that for yourself, but do you have a price range for the build, and if so, how much?
Now that you have used it for awhile, are there any modifications you would like to see done?
Thanks so much for the link to your build and sharing it with everyone.
Plain and simple, I want one!
 
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I like all wood however med. wood yields alot but is not as hard to put on the splitter.
 
trouba said:
I have got more red elm in the 6-15 inch range dead standing with no bark than I can burn so that's what I cut. I have a 35-40 inch oak that fell over 3 years ago with just the trunk left but just cant force myself to finish it up.
Click to expand...

How do like the cs450?
 
sb47 said:
Kevin:
The detail on your build is what everyone should strive for on all there projects.
It the yellow paint makes it look like Vermeer or Big John built it.
I think maybe you are in the wrong business; you should be making splitters instead of splitting wood.
I’m sure you built that for yourself, but do you have a price range for the build, and if so, how much?
Now that you have used it for awhile, are there any modifications you would like to see done?
Thanks so much for the link to your build and sharing it with everyone.
Plain and simple, I want one!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words.

I had been planning this build for years. Thinking through ideas and gathering parts and scrounging when I could. Even with all that I had just under $6000.00 in it including NO labor as I did all that. Steel was mainly all used but I have a great yard near me that has stuff really organized with a great selection. You don't normally find a 1000 lb 1/2 thick box beam laying around for used price so cost price can be all over the place.

I'm not going to build them for sale. If I was I wouldn't have posted the directions on how to! ;)

On changes: The only thing I wish I had done was to do it sooner. Nuff said?

No Videos yet as I don't have that capability yet. Out of storage right now so no more splitting till some frees up. Don't store wood unless it's under roof and have about 160 cord now.

MVC-021S_9.JPG

MVC-019S_20.JPG
 
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Last weekend went out and cut nothing over 8" dia.

I don't bother splitting logs of this diameter and thought this would be something to try out verse cutting bigger stuff ...........well my conclusion is there was more physical movement involved than taking the bigger stuff to load my truck bed .......16" rounds are about the most I can lift anymore and that beats me up to do that , somedays I can't and have to cut in half.

Adjusting to middle age I guess and struggling to find that sweet spot .

In summary of the things tried I'm going to just cut the way I always have and just noodle the stuff thats heavy to lift anymore .....little trees just did not seem worth the energy spent .

This weekend my mind set is just do what I can without straining myself or production results , my wood supply is 4 years ahead and still I'm still trying to figure things out .
 
The reason I posted this question is because I normally get big wood from tree company’s that bring it for free. On average the sizes range from 24” to 48” and even bigger on some occasions.
Last week the guy called and said he had a load of some big wood and asked if he could bring it by. I asked how big and he said it was about the same as the last load witch was around 30” or so.
Not wanting to turn down any free wood a said bring it on.
When he gets here I look in the truck and he had some oak that was so big they had to cut the chunks in half just to get them loaded.
This tree was 8 feet in diameter and was mostly just big forks with no strait trunk at all.
It hurt to turn him away but that wood was just too big, and with no strait grain it would have been maddening to try to split.
A friend had brought me some logs that were 12/20” range and it seemed like I cut and split it in no time with much less effort.
My conclusion is there less heavy work involved in the smaller wood with no noodling the big chunks in order to get them to a size I can handle.
Now that Kevin has showed us a better way and it an idea I have been tossing around for some time is a splitter with a lifting arm that can pick up the big chunks and split them instead of all that noodling.

I am going to try to build one similar with a lift built in. I don’t need hydraulic stabilizers, though there nice. Just some hand cranked or manual ones with a slide and a pin will do fine.
The amount of work involved in noodling plus the wear and tear on chains and the saw, and the price of fuel plus my time only reinforces the thought that a system like Kevins is the only way to go.

I’m 52 years old for crips sake, lifting 75+lb rounds and noodled chunks all day is a young mans game. Work smarter no harder I always say.
 
sb47 said:
The reason I posted this question is because I normally get big wood from tree company’s that bring it for free. On average the sizes range from 24” to 48” and even bigger on some occasions.
Last week the guy called and said he had a load of some big wood and asked if he could bring it by. I asked how big and he said it was about the same as the last load witch was around 30” or so.
Not wanting to turn down any free wood a said bring it on.
When he gets here I look in the truck and he had some oak that was so big they had to cut the chunks in half just to get them loaded.
This tree was 8 feet in diameter and was mostly just big forks with no strait trunk at all.
It hurt to turn him away but that wood was just too big, and with no strait grain it would have been maddening to try to split.
A friend had brought me some logs that were 12/20” range and it seemed like I cut and split it in no time with much less effort.
My conclusion is there less heavy work involved in the smaller wood with no noodling the big chunks in order to get them to a size I can handle.
Now that Kevin has showed us a better way and it an idea I have been tossing around for some time is a splitter with a lifting arm that can pick up the big chunks and split them instead of all that noodling.

I am going to try to build one similar with a lift built in. I don’t need hydraulic stabilizers, though there nice. Just some hand cranked or manual ones with a slide and a pin will do fine.
The amount of work involved in noodling plus the wear and tear on chains and the saw, and the price of fuel plus my time only reinforces the thought that a system like Kevins is the only way to go.

I’m 52 years old for crips sake, lifting 75+lb rounds and noodled chunks all day is a young mans game. Work smarter no harder I always say.
Click to expand...

I have only ever run one hydro splitter, a home made one with a lift table. I can't imagine doing big rounds without that or a crane arrangement. I did numerous 300lb + rounds with it, including some nasty old big sweetgum. Only a big single wedge though. So I learned to shave it, not a clean bust in half, as halves were still too heavy to manhandle around for me.

With that said, now, when my arm is working better, I have done even more large rounds (size and quantity) by hand, just busting them up on site, right where they were cut. At least down to around 50-80 lb chunks or so, that sort of weight isn't bad at all for me, doable into the trailer or tote box to take home.

I can't remember which thread it was in, but I liked that arrangement I saw where the round stayed on the ground and the splitter went down over the top of it. I think one of those skidsteer threads maybe. That looked about ideal for huge rounds, even better than a crane or lift table. I don't know if there is a stand alone unit that would like roll over a big round??

If it gets to the point any sort of splitting sucks for me, I don't care, I can cut all small stuf from like one inch to ten inch, stack it for two summers, no splitting required.

I have thought about this a LOT, instead of cutting and splitting everything, sell off the big logs as-is and only keep the small tops and branches, cut to size and just stacked. I got a nice load today, didn't take any time at all to get a load 7' x 2' x average 16". All of it went into the oddball/uglies pile. Quick fast easy, none of it technically needs splitting if it sits two seasons, even the 8-10-12 inch stuff. I burn rounds like that all the time anyway. Took maybe half a tank with my old 3400 poulan to buck it up, would have been much less fuel if I had used one of my smaller saws..Just wanted to run *that* saw so i could reply in the best old timey irewood thread.... heh

Instead of putting the money into a big splitter with lift table or crane (say around five grand or that, or maybe more according to the build threads here)and a lot more work, look for an older but heavy duty truck with a loader of some sort. Haul the stuff to the mill, take whatever you can get for it. So you only run half a dozen loads a year to the mill, big deal, not much mileage or wear and tear on that. Or pull a few logs up on a dual axle car hauler trailer with a winch, haul it to the mill that way. Keep the smallish, sell the large and not fool with it.

Just tossing alternatives out there, how to get the firewood you need the easiest and cheapest. I know just taking a lot of smalls, I eliminate a huge need to split everything. Can run a small fuel sipping saw, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is too heavy to lift/stack/burn.

I *like* cutting the big stuff now, but I have no absolute *need* to do that, either. Heck, two years here running I split about zilch, when we were first clearing fencelines.

I could today, should I choose, to ignore everything big and just cut all smalls and split nothing. You get into clearing saplings, man, there's zillions of nice 4-6" inch rounds and you can knock it out fast if you do it the way if do it, run the little saw up and down the tree, knock off the branches as high as you can reach (maybe a pole saw??), then buck it one round high of the ground, fell it, buck off what you want from the butt end, clear a bit more little limbs, more bucking, stop. Then scrunch down and flush cut the last one off at ground level. Takes at most about three minutes to get a dozen to two dozen small blocks, the rest is crap you can mow right over, and it is ready to stack then. Little more time easy cutting, but eliminate that handling/splitting step. $50 used small saw and some small amount mix and bar oil versus 5 grand splitter and heavy and dangerous giant rounds and fuel by the gallonS.

And see, that's doing it so you CAN mow right there, if it is someplace where it doesn't matter, pfft, you can go faster than that.

I think a lot of guys get carried away with what they consider junk wood or "brush" and leave a lot of perfect sized wood to be heaped up and burned in a bonfire. I turn that hassle/work/liability into an asset, all the time. Milk the branches out with a tiny saw, and take a lot of smallish trees.

The easiest way to split stuff is not have to split it in the first place.

I can see the appeal of the larger OWB that you can shove whole logs into, but there again, back to picking the stuff up and moving it..

these tree service guys chip all the, (to me), "perfect" wood, the branches that don't need splitting but will still be a cool size to burn and fit into your heater. Look at the size of most folk's splits, what they can comortably grab with one hand on end and will season and burn the best..well?? That's 6 inches, maybe 8, down to maybe 4 inches most of the time, pictures I have seen on this site anyway. That's what the tree guys chip! Nuts! The thing is, you'd have to be there and be cutting when they are dropping branches. And move along right smartly, too....
 
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Zogger: I see what you’re saying but my situation is deferent. I depend on tree services to bring me wood. I don’t go out and collect wood. I sell firewood for money and its something I like to do. Production is the key in the firewood business, so I need to trim the fat to increase profit.
My biggest problem is for a wood source, is location. I’m in the suburbs of a Houston so though there are trees everywhere, getting access to them is a problem. That’s why I let tree companies bring it to me.
It helps us both out by giving them a free place to dump and me for not having to retrieve it. The problem is walking that fine line of getting premium wood that I need verses turning down free wood. I have to monitor them because they will bring junk if I don’t.
The smalls always get chipped and that’s why I only get the bigger wood.
If I had to retrieve the wood the cost would kill any profit I could make. Wood is heavy and gas is high.
We don’t need firewood down here for heat so much as we do for cooking. I’m very particular of the quality of the wood I sell. Only #1 grade gets sold for cooking wood the rest goes as just regular firewood, then the next is chunk wood, witch is the short drop off’s and then camp wood, witch is the junk wood I accumulate from making firewood.

I’ve built a good costumer base now and have regulars as well as new comers.
I can see where there is money in firewood, but it’s a fickle market.
I’ve seen the skid steer splitter you’re talking about and I can see where it would be good for busting up big chunks, but again cost is a factor.
As I go along I fine better ways of doing things and the rite tool for the rite job sure helps a lot. I have no idea of a saw mill anywhere even close to me. The only one I know of is 180 miles away. Way too far for this small timer to haul wood to.

We’ll keep working on it and see what happens.
 
sb47 said:
I depend on tree services to bring me wood. . . . I sell firewood for money and its something I like to do. Production is the key in the firewood business, so I need to trim the fat to increase profit.
Click to expand...

Different needs indeed. It might be worth it for someone like to you to invest in bigger equipment, lifts, conveyors, etc.

There is a guy (from Wisconsin?) that periodically exhibits at the Minnesota State Fair with a device like these (below) - attach to a skid steer loader and break up big chunks of wood into smaller chunks of wood. You might already have or need a Bobcat.

P1030132.MOV - YouTube

Log Splitter an Awsome tool - YouTube

Philbert
 
sb47 said:
Zogger: I see what you’re saying but my situation is deferent. I depend on tree services to bring me wood. I don’t go out and collect wood. I sell firewood for money and its something I like to do. Production is the key in the firewood business, so I need to trim the fat to increase profit.
My biggest problem is for a wood source, is location. I’m in the suburbs of a Houston so though there are trees everywhere, getting access to them is a problem. That’s why I let tree companies bring it to me.
It helps us both out by giving them a free place to dump and me for not having to retrieve it. The problem is walking that fine line of getting premium wood that I need verses turning down free wood. I have to monitor them because they will bring junk if I don’t.
The smalls always get chipped and that’s why I only get the bigger wood.
If I had to retrieve the wood the cost would kill any profit I could make. Wood is heavy and gas is high.
We don’t need firewood down here for heat so much as we do for cooking. I’m very particular of the quality of the wood I sell. Only #1 grade gets sold for cooking wood the rest goes as just regular firewood, then the next is chunk wood, witch is the short drop off’s and then camp wood, witch is the junk wood I accumulate from making firewood.

I’ve built a good costumer base now and have regulars as well as new comers.
I can see where there is money in firewood, but it’s a fickle market.
I’ve seen the skid steer splitter you’re talking about and I can see where it would be good for busting up big chunks, but again cost is a factor.
As I go along I fine better ways of doing things and the rite tool for the rite job sure helps a lot. I have no idea of a saw mill anywhere even close to me. The only one I know of is 180 miles away. Way too far for this small timer to haul wood to.

We’ll keep working on it and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Well, that's cool then, just some random thoughts I had. Firewood is necessary here, but still not the % of people using it like you would see way up north. Out in the sticks here, maybe 5-10%, in town, closer to 1%, near as I can tell looking at chimneys and wood piles, and most of that I would bet is ambience fireplace burners. Way more just propane and natgas where it is available for heat.

You can see that in the prices the firewood guys charge as well, not near as much as I have seen quoted here in other areas.

I am still liking that idea I had about a splitter that you could roll over big rounds. Not on a skidsteer, a stand alone unit that could be raised or lowered down to over those mambo chunks. Something built like a log arch, but it's a splitter. Nice big wheels so it is easy to push or tow around the yard.

Hey, good luck! You are still taking what is one guy's liability-extra wood that needs to get gone-and turning it into an asset for yourself and customers.

I would think a guy who needed full time work could do well by hooking up with a tree service and being right there on the job with them and milking out the good stuff fast. They get *some* groundie action and cleanup for free and get to lose some of the stuff they would have to haul off, and the firewood guy gets product, especially those nice branch ends and some of the trunk pieces..
 

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