For anyone buying log length firewood, question-

[Marc]

Do you every make sure your source handles the logs such that they don't get dirt/sand and other chain unfriendlies on them?

I had been given the name of a guy who would deliver log length firewood, but was told he was a logger/land clearer, and my father told me to be careful buying from those guys since they often skid their logs. He said he watched his uncle go through two or three chains bucking a load of logs one year.

Any thoughts?

 

[johnzski]

Just buy your wood in late winter before the road limits go on that way you know it was cut and skidded on frozen ground/snowpack

 

[Marc]

Just buy your wood in late winter before the road limits go on that way you know it was cut and skidded on frozen ground/snowpack

It's awful hard around here to be sure of that. The ground (or top 6" anyway) certainly doesn't stay frozen all winter. Dry ground, mud, frozen, snow covered can be conditions encountered in the span of about a day and a half here in southern New England.

 

[johnzski]

sorry-guess I'm used to the frozen north.anyway get some good semi-chisel chain and keep it sharp as possible. BTW I grew up in the little topwn of Voluntown seems like we always had winter -must be global warming

 

[yooperman]

Non-snow skidded log will for sure eat your chains. But if he uses a forwarder you can cut even summer cut wood without to much trouble.
PS-if the wood is cheap/free it would be worth it either way. just buy a bunch of files and chains

 

[Zodiac45]

Do you every make sure your source handles the logs such that they don't get dirt/sand and other chain unfriendlies on them?

I had been given the name of a guy who would deliver log length firewood, but was told he was a logger/land clearer, and my father told me to be careful buying from those guys since they often skid their logs. He said he watched his uncle go through two or three chains bucking a load of logs one year.

Any thoughts?

It's impossible to avoid. They have to be skidded unless the tree was dropped and cut and loaded where it stood. Most firewood logs we cut sit on a pile for a month or more after they've been forwarded to our yard. They are then loaded onto a delivery truck and brought too the buyer. By this time they've been rained on and cleaned off pretty well.
In any case if you have a dirty log, brush it off before you cut it and try not to cut dirt into the kerf. I can cut all day on one sharp chain off of stacked logs.:greenchainsaw:

 

[Husky137]

Gonna be pretty difficult to get truck loads of log length from anyone but a logging or landclearing outfit.

 

[Marc]

It's impossible to avoid. They have to be skidded unless the tree was dropped and cut and loaded where it stood. Most firewood logs we cut sit on a pile for a month or more after they've been forwarded to our yard. They are then loaded onto a delivery truck and brought too the buyer. By this time they've been rained on and cleaned off pretty well.
In any case if you have a dirty log, brush it off before you cut it and try not to cut dirt into the kerf. I can cut all day on one sharp chain off of stacked logs.:greenchainsaw:

Thanks for the advice. The only experience I have with dirty wood is picking up road scavange, that is typically covered in sand from plow trucks... and it gets so far embedded into and under the bark there's no good way to get it off.

Suppose taking a garden hose with adequate pressure to them would help or hurt matters?

 

[acer saccharum]

You can get very clean logs from tree service companies. The guy I get logs from has a crane and the logs can only be described as pristine. But since the logs came from residential yards, they have a tendency to have metal hidden in them. And lacking a metal detector, it is just as evil as hidden stones. I visually inspect the surface and I look at every cut, sometimes a nail will run a stain a few feet up and down a log and give itself away.

 

[Marc]

You can get very clean logs from tree service companies. The guy I get logs from has a crane and the logs can only be described as pristine. But since the logs came from residential yards, they have a tendency to have metal hidden in them. And lacking a metal detector, it is just as evil as hidden stones. I visually inspect the surface and I look at every cut, sometimes a nail will run a stain a few feet up and down a log and give itself away.

That I have had a lot of experience with around here, because a lot of farmers use trees for barbed wire fence posts. Nothing beats the 3/8" eye screw I hit though, that was probably from a hammock. That'll dull the ol' chain good and fast.

 

[green man]

Dirty Logs

I had a nice little business going with whole logs. I bought semi loads of standing deadoak from loggers in central wisconsin. The loggers then trucked them down to me in southeast wisconsin. $900.00 to $1100. per semi. I would run the logs through a firewood processor and sell the firewood. I sold up to 11 full cords of firewood a day. Never had 1 dirty log. Then one day 2 trucks showed up at the same time and the drivers started asking what I did with so much wood. I told them I sold firewood at $225.00 per cord. Next shipment price went up $300.00. Next time they wanted even more and I told them no. Next load the logs were so full of dirt and mud I gave them to a home owner free for hauling them out. I could not keep the chain on the processor sharp. Needless to say they stopped bringing wood after that load and I sold the processor. I still have the little John Deer diesel tractor I ran the processor with. I enjoyed cutting and splitting the firewood but gave it up. I would buy another processor and do it again but do not think I would deal with those loggers again. If anyone knows of a logger that wants to sell logs let me know.

 

[Tazman1602]

Do you every make sure your source handles the logs such that they don't get dirt/sand and other chain unfriendlies on them?

I had been given the name of a guy who would deliver log length firewood, but was told he was a logger/land clearer, and my father told me to be careful buying from those guys since they often skid their logs. He said he watched his uncle go through two or three chains bucking a load of logs one year.

Any thoughts?

Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot. Buy a pressure washer for $90 bucks and save the chain. I had a 10 pole cord load once that I had to RENT a power washer for because it was so muddy I couldn't make more than three cuts without smoking a chain..........now it's a non-issue plus the pressure washer is great around the house.......GRIN