I got to run one for a short time. My wife's friends husband, and his friend rented one Saturday. There were four of us. One almost full time job was rotating out two dump trailers and dumping at another farm a few miles away. It was a good day, but not without issues, as none of us had been around a processor before. I was invited to come see it run, and ended up staying for seven hours.
One guy switching out trailers and loading the log deck. One guy running the machine. One helping with the log trough hang ups, short cut blocks, and re-splits on the operators side. One on the opposite side of the splitter trough for re-splitting. Of course when the log trough hangs up it often took two. This was because we did not have a cant hook to roll logs. Also many of the hang ups could have been avoided if the logs had been prepared/trimmed better.
One of the pluses was that they were splitting boiler size chunks. Re-splitting was at a minimum, and we still did an awful lot of it. It is difficult to re-split because of guards, and the basic design obstructs it. We also jammed the wedge a huge number of times, and soon discovered dropping a 6" dia. piece 6" long in the bottom of the splitting trough concentrated the pressure enough to push part of the round through.
Knowing what we know now two guys could make a much smoother go of it. However, were talking boiler wood, which simply would not work for myself selling stove wood.
I could see a processor set up with a box wedge and auto round return bar, where the splitter would cycle until the round it split, then cut another round and continue. Something like the Biomass splitter does.
We did do a lot off wood, but then again, four guys and the cost of the processor...
They offered to pay me at the end of the day, but the education was payment enough. I think I now have a much better idea of what to look for if and when I do need a processor to lighten the load.
One guy switching out trailers and loading the log deck. One guy running the machine. One helping with the log trough hang ups, short cut blocks, and re-splits on the operators side. One on the opposite side of the splitter trough for re-splitting. Of course when the log trough hangs up it often took two. This was because we did not have a cant hook to roll logs. Also many of the hang ups could have been avoided if the logs had been prepared/trimmed better.
One of the pluses was that they were splitting boiler size chunks. Re-splitting was at a minimum, and we still did an awful lot of it. It is difficult to re-split because of guards, and the basic design obstructs it. We also jammed the wedge a huge number of times, and soon discovered dropping a 6" dia. piece 6" long in the bottom of the splitting trough concentrated the pressure enough to push part of the round through.
Knowing what we know now two guys could make a much smoother go of it. However, were talking boiler wood, which simply would not work for myself selling stove wood.
I could see a processor set up with a box wedge and auto round return bar, where the splitter would cycle until the round it split, then cut another round and continue. Something like the Biomass splitter does.
We did do a lot off wood, but then again, four guys and the cost of the processor...
They offered to pay me at the end of the day, but the education was payment enough. I think I now have a much better idea of what to look for if and when I do need a processor to lighten the load.
