I wood if I could
16" max might be perfect for flat out production with plantation grown pecker poles, but it would be too limiting as the pecker poles are also the lowest value firewood we can produce here. There's also extra time grading the logs and less stock to feed it, the smaller the max capacity is.
From what I can gather, the real-use production rates of the cord king and multitek processors are so far in excess of the chomper they more than cover the additional loader/labour/capital costs. Provided of course there is enough to feed these machines and customers for the end products (I can see how people can get themselves in trouble forking out heaps of $ on these machines and just run out of wood).
Even at less than the capacity of 16" diameter, the chomper 8-way wedge will still produce firewood too wide for most if not all of our customers here without the box/honeycomb wedge available on these splitters. The production rates of these other processors would seem to me to more than justify the additional scrap the box wedges produce, which I gather could be as high as 20% by volume. It's not waste - pellet mills, garden supply places buy it. I'd take a more wasteful processor if it means happier customers any day of the week and twice on Sundays. But then I've never had to try to unblock a jammed box wedge yet.
Is your market more used to buying by weight? Ours is more used to volume, and the processor has the risk of buying in weight and selling in volume.
Sawdust, whilst considerably less than a harvester bar set-up, can still be captured and sold, although I'd much rather it was practically possible to have a huge shear blade that could handle the same 27" logs the cord king can handle. Especially dry ones, without crushing more than it shears.
Log decks on machines as high volume as these are essential, surely? They buy time, reduce a bottle neck, machine loading is potentially safer than manually hooking lines to logs at the bottom of a log stack and dragging that dirt into the final product.
Ii think though, it's easy to get carried away with the production rates of machines and not realise it takes an aweful amount of money and planning to build the log feed capacity and firewood sales volumes to the point these machines can really hit their straps financially. But it would be a great challenge I'd just love to take on.
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On this side of the pacific pond it is legal to sell by wieght wherein
the green timber allows a greater income to the seller as there is
no seasoning period.
If you have bigger logs than the Chomper throat can handle there
is no reason you could not noodle a log using a buddy bar and
ripping chain which is my cutting chain of choice.
The noodled log can still be winched into the chomper and split up
after setting it on automatic and going after the next log with the
winch cable.
AS for dirt and the Chomper I view it no differently than if a
log skidder is used for clear cutting or selective cutting and
thinning, the dirt is still there. The only ones winning a beauty
contest for firewood over here are the firewood bundlers and
the firewood kiln users.
(ITS GOING TO BE BURNED ANYWAY)
Your selling a commodity that increases in value during the
heating season especially with extremely cold weather and
if someone wants and needs firewood they will buy it from you.
you cannot legitimately claim the chomper makes the wood look
butts ugley when you use a loader to pick logs off the ground
and dump them on a live deck to be sawn and split as your going
to carry that dirt onto the conveyor and onto the truck anyway
so that argument does not holds any water.
Shearing the firewood at 12 inch lengths allows it to dry faster
and it gives the customer four face cords of firewood.
The chomper has a grate to separate the dirt and debris as comes
out of the chute and there is no sawdust to worry about and clean up.
You could always pull out the larger pieces as they come out of the chute
if you wanted to do that but with the 12 second cycle time on automatic for
12 inch firewood I would simply pull the larger pieces out of the pile if your
8 way split is to large in size but this also comes back to a two or four way split
as you can always split them smaller with a dedicated wood splitter but noodling
a log with buddy bar makes the loag smaller and the half moon logf can be split
with the the eight way wedge position if it is to large in the operators opinion.
Even if the Chomper 14 PTO unit is picked with full automatic set up you will not be
stuck as it is small and slower but the issue of supply and customers will be less
worrysome than worrying about a multitek or cord king and a machine to load the
logs on the log deck to feed the cord king or multitek unit as you will not have this
expense.
If everyone is so worried about dirt, of which the Chomper has absolutely no issue with,
what would prevent you from simply carrying a supply of water to wash the logs before
they are pulled into the shearing chamber???????????????????????????????????????????
The water would make things a bit messier but if your worried about dirt on your firewood
why are you not washing the logs when you place them on the live deck??????????????
Again this argument is baseless as the logs are taken off the ground dirty and sawn and
split dirty and dumped dirty into piles or a truck and the customer gets the dirt anyway.
Edit: noodling logs, essential equipment.
Rather than noodling diameter larger logs than a super 16 could shear one could always
set the larger logs aside for another day saw them up and use a log splitter with a log lift and table grate
as an option.
The fewer pieces of equipment and the less complicated they are to maintain saves-
labor
down time with equipment failures from metal in logs, broken bed chains, broken or dull saw chains, broken or frozen conveyor chains in processor log bed
damaged circular saw requiring the saw to be hammered
working capital
interest expense
fuel
oil
spare circular saw blade expense
IP teeth expense
initial purchase expense of log loading machine
spares for log loader
oil and fuel for log loader
insurance for log loader
workmans compensation insurance for the loader operator
salary cost of paying a machine operator
2 extra Haz mat kits for the log loader and the large processor which are mandated by the DOT
depreciation expense for large processor
" " " " "
The fewer expenses you have the greater your net income
The smallest Chomper would allow the end user to take the "what ifs?" and reduce them to
a much more managable level as the investment/expense per month is not not holding you hostage affecting everything you do.