Firewood Processing, go big or go home.

[ropensaddle]

My guess is divide by 3 here its illegal measurement only cords and fractions of a cord or cubic feet / meter applies.

PS: I may be wrong but its the bureau of standards which I believe makes it federal so should be the same in all states.

 

[banshee67]

16" Pieces so 1437/3=479 full cords. $85/face cord or $255/full cord plus a $15 delivery charge. It works out to about $120,000 worth of wood. Keep in mind this is not all of what he sells. The total amount is top secret. The town only allows him up to 2000 cords per year so that is all he sells.

He will sell and deliver all of that and more between September 1st and mid December. That is the "dash for the cash" as he calls it. Things slow down late December and then just dribble along until about March. By dribble I mean 20-30 face cords per week as compared to a few hundred per week in the fall/early winter.

As for the measurment Nazis, in CNY where he is located nobody but nobody buys or sells wood by the full cord. It is unheard of in that area. Any attempt to get customers to understand and buy by the full cord is a total waste of energy. You sell what the customer expects. Face cords.

well damn, thats a lot of wood, even for the conservative number you are feeding us for legal purposes.
man he must be running deliveries all day long till after dark huh?
around here NO ONE has a clue what a "face cord" is, i dont think ive ever heard the term till joining AS
i have dealt with 2 types of people, one is the kind that calls and immediately gets into "do you know what a cord is..cause i do" BS with me, ive had people tell me a cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' stack.. to which i respond "i dont stack them, but its 128cu.ft. of wood". they usually go quiet for a second while doing the math in their head, its funny
the other type, has no idea what a cord is,they try to act like they do, with the old "4by4by8" line, but then cant believe how much wood is there once its delivered

 

[WidowMaker]

How many people working this operation...sounds like a least a full time crew of 4 or 5 people...

 

[ropensaddle]

well damn, thats a lot of wood, even for the conservative number you are feeding us for legal purposes.
man he must be running deliveries all day long till after dark huh?
around here NO ONE has a clue what a "face cord" is, i dont think ive ever heard the term till joining AS
i have dealt with 2 types of people, one is the kind that calls and immediately gets into "do you know what a cord is..cause i do" BS with me, ive had people tell me a cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' stack.. to which i respond "i dont stack them, but its 128cu.ft. of wood". they usually go quiet for a second while doing the math in their head, its funny
the other type, has no idea what a cord is,they try to act like they do, with the old "4by4by8" line, but then cant believe how much wood is there once its delivered

Your lucky I always get the line, that's more than twice the amount the last guy delivered. Here cords vary so much it makes me sick. The advertising price has been 150 delivered and stacked for at least ten years because most are not selling true cords of wood. I feel it is almost a better result to burn it for that price. I sell a few to some of my tree customers but I have thought of buying a cord just to see what is delivered

 

[banshee67]

but I have thought of buying a cord just to see what is delivered

ive had the same idea... some guys advertise $120 a cord around here. when the average is $180-200 ($200-250 from a reputable tree service).. at that price i should call one of the guys up with a $120 cord, and have him deliver it... right into the back of my trailer for me to go sell

i picked up a retired guy as a long time customer this spring, sold him about 10 cords so far, before i came with the first cord, he had another guy off crraigslist deliver him a cord before i returned his call. he said he would like to see what i have, and asked me to bring one over.. i got there and looked at the cord he had delivered the day before that was "100% oak" he was told .. it was probably about 2/3 of a cord total, a lot of it dry rotted junk, SOME oak.. and many pieces of 2" kindling, not all splits like it should be. i guess you get what you pay for, i didnt ask him what he paid for it, but needless to say he never called the other guy back and i sold him another 10 cords so far.

 

[Walt41]

Great setup, I love the use of Geese as guards, I have eight roaming my 13 acres and can attest to their aggressive behavior, next time you are there, throw them a head of iceberg lettuce and they will love you.

 

[Curlycherry1]

How many people working this operation...sounds like a least a full time crew of 4 or 5 people...

Nope, my brother doing a few 7 cord loads per week, and a helper working a few days a week cranking out a few loads per day. The helper also does construction with my brother when he has work. On rainy days or cold winter days when there is no construction to do then they pound out the wood working together.

Delivery time there can be up to 4-5 people loading and making deliveries. He has 3 trucks on the road, the smallest of which is a F350 and the biggest is an F550.

 

[Hugenpoet]

My guess is divide by 3 here its illegal measurement only cords and fractions of a cord or cubic feet / meter applies.

For some reason NY is "face cord" country-I lived there for 16 years and just got used to that being the deal. Here in Mass a cord must be 128 c.f. or you can't call it a cord.

 

[LAH]

Nice business there. Nothing like working wood.............Creeker

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

S... we will not admit how much becuase the town does not want him getting bigger in his operation. So no official number goes out here. .... I also can't show photos of all of it because the town might do the math and get cranky.

Smarter than a lot of folks, Curly. It amazes me how so many people think they can post just anything on the Internet and nobody will ever see it!

 

[cuttinscott]

Official decision from the town was that "he cannot get any bigger" than at the time of the settlement. So he is not getting bigger. Wink, wink. The town does not care one way or another about what he does specifically, they just needed to shut the jerk up that wanted to develop the land next door. The town has actually been fed up with people moving there and then complaining about tractors working the fields at midnight during harvest/planting times and the smell of cows. So the town has put in place some rules that if you move there you cannot complain about what is next to you. Also note, the town gave him all those road grindings to make his processor road. He is in good with the town.

He sells the sawdust to horse people and gets a few pennies for the dust. The chips get burned in a burn pile. The butts go into his OWB along with a lot of the chips.

As for hours of use there is almost always a person running it during the day and many nights a week he puts in one load himself. That is 7 face cords/load on the yard truck.

Part of the reason the drive system has held up so well is right down the street is the best diesel mechanic in the state. Seriously the guy grew up on a farm doing nothing but fixing equipment and he left the farm at 18 to start his own business. When he was about 14 he was rebuilding other farmer's tractors for money and raking it in. Now he and his two kids are cleaning up fixing stuff that somebody else has given up on. He and his kids are also the best welders around to, so if something needs fixing, they are the guys that will do it. It is nothing to see the local Cat or Deere service center pull in with something on their truck that they need him to fix. At $80/hour he and his kids had better be good. So the neighbor helps maintain the diesel engine and he is darn good at anticipating problems and preventing them from growing. I took a pic of the hour clock but it is too fuzzy to read in the pic.

I think the drive system is 4 cyl. 40 Hp if I remember correctly. The big thing is that it runs a fast idle and does not struggle under load. That can really make a motor last a long time. Slow steady rpms and good maintainence.

That is a TimberWolf TWPROHD it is Powered by a Deere 4.5L 80Hp Engine. I have sold many of that model and it has been a Great Processor. Gots a new one in my yard right now for sale lol except they stopped making the offset model now they are all inline and use a thin wedge design.

Scott

 

[Curlycherry1]

That is a TimberWolf TWPROHD it is Powered by a Deere 4.5L 80Hp Engine. I have sold many of that model and it has been a Great Processor. Gots a new one in my yard right now for sale lol except they stopped making the offset model now they are all inline and use a thin wedge design.
Scott

You guys keep trying to get him to buy a new model but you seem to neglect that you build your machines too darn well. 10+ Years of use and it is still going strong. He did have to rebuild/replace the main splitter beam because the top plate wore away to almost nothing. A few tens of thousands of face cords of wood will do that to a splitter beam.

Other than a few other wear items his machine has been a money making beast. So you ain't gonna get him into a new machine because you got it right the first time. Sorry.

 

[1 woodpile]

wow i'm jealous real nice set up there...

 

[Iska3]

Great Pics. Thanks for posting. Looks like a nice operation.

 

[LumberjkChamp]

Is that Deere motor 3 or 4 cyl? Either one is not noted for living that long without some work. I have run a 7600 tractor that's at 17,000 hours with only an injection pump and new turbo on the motor, but that's a 6.8L six.

17,000 hours is amazing. I was wondering what some of the problems that occur with the little 4 cyl. 4.5L Deere engines you were refering to are. I might soon be in the market for a bigger tractor and the top end of the 5000 series Deeres run that same engine. Looking to buy used at somewhere around 3,000- 7,000 hours. I've never heard of any issues myself so it would be good to know what I'm geting into.

 

[fatjoe]

I ran a processor in the late 80`s.If I recall, I was able to cut, split and load four cord in about 2 1/2-3 hours.That was with me loading the deck with a skid steer.My boss bought it new out of New Hampshire or VT.I beleve he paid 22 grand back then.I remember the service guy staying over for a day or two untill all the kinks were out.Nice units.

 

[pintopaul]

firewood processor

very nice set up where in central ny? i live in the adirondacks

 

[Curlycherry1]

very nice set up where in central ny? i live in the adirondacks

North of Syracuse slightly.

My brother says the dash for the cash is in full swing. He has orders for ~20+ face cords to be delivered per day for at least 21 days. He and his wife and working like dogs this time of year loading and delivering wood all over CNY.

 

[fast firewood]

So what does it all accomplish. Piles and piles and piles of firewood everywhere. He is selling more than 1500 cords per year but we will not admit how much becuase the town does not want him getting bigger in his operation. So no official number goes out here. He stacks the wood so it will dry with no mold. Views of the piles. I also can't show photos of all of it because the town might do the math and get cranky. You also saw in the North view looking up the road (see above) piles of firewood on both sides of the road. He has a lot of wood around.

So there it is a big operation running full out making firewood, lots and lots of firewood.

Rep gladly accepted. :greenchainsaw:

Sum firewood there nice pictures