Large Rounds / Too Heavy to move

[turnkey4099]

On the contrary.
The file alone with a depth guide is a simple tool. That is why it is consistent, and reliable.

The granberg is a Rube Goldbergian contraption in comparison.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

Corrction The Granberg is a simple tool that results in accurate angles and depth every time. I don't even have one, I have about the same thing from another company.

I get it that you don't like it. That is no reason to make "over the top" objections.

Harry K

 

[fields_mj]

If you have a garden tractor, then either move the splitter to the round or drag the round to the splitter with it. No need for a winch. I use chains myself and drag entire trees up out of the ravine with the truck. Personally, if those were my tools, I would wheel the splitter to the round, then use the tractor to nudge it the rest of the way onto the splitter.

I don't have a traditional splitter. A few years ago I bought an 064 instead and just noodle the round right where I bucked it at. A hyd splitter might be a little faster but if I take into account all the time that I'm hadling the round, it comes about about the same for me. Plus, the 064 only set me back $375 and I can use it to buck the same big rounds that I need to noodle.

As far as sharpening chains, I have a granberg style devise, but I got tired of messing with it. I can do it by hand just fine. I use the standard Stihl depth guide that attatches to the file. Slight variations in the tooth angle don't make enough of a difference in performance to worry about. I sharpen my chain every time I stop for fuel. One or two strokes per tooth (so long as I keep it out of the dirt) and it's ready to go. Takes me less than 5 min to do the chain. It takes me that long to try to swap one out, and then I'd still have to sharpen it when I get back home. It also takes me that long to get a Granberg mounted and set up. Not terribile, just more steps than I care to go through. Nothing wrong with the Granberg design, but it is more time consuming than doing it with a file and depth guide. Besides, I like the KISS principal

That's my 2 bits anyway.

Mark

 

[ClimbMIT]

I recently purchashed the Granberg file sharpener and it is PITA but it is also a great tool. I am still a litle slow with it but I am sure with time I will get faster. Also I noticed it is very important when sharpening make sure your saw, bar/chain is on a very stable surface with clamps or straps holding your saw steady.

 

[hunter h]

Large rounds

Maybe tou could make a boom for the splitter hang your winch on it and not have to use your back at all. Or make one to go on your garden tractor. You could make it so it is on a dolly so all the weight is not on the tractor lift it back up to splitter bust off what you can move. Just a thought.

 

[turnkey4099]

I recently purchashed the Granberg file sharpener and it is PITA but it is also a great tool. I am still a litle slow with it but I am sure with time I will get faster. Also I noticed it is very important when sharpening make sure your saw, bar/chain is on a very stable surface with clamps or straps holding your saw steady.

For sure. Mine gets clamped by the bar in a leg vise I inherited from my old man.

Harry K

 

[johncinco]

Yutes.


I just let the big ones pile up, then when I have a couple hours worth of work lined up, i hire a couple strong yutes to come lift them around for me. :msp_wink: They need the work out, need some extra money, and think it is awesome to work with a splitter machinery. All kids aren't worthless nowadays. Best $40 I spend in a long time.

 

[Bushmans]

Maybe tou could make a boom for the splitter hang your winch on it and not have to use your back at all. Or make one to go on your garden tractor. You could make it so it is on a dolly so all the weight is not on the tractor lift it back up to splitter bust off what you can move. Just a thought.

like my friend does
View attachment 275321

 

[zogger]

Yutes.


I just let the big ones pile up, then when I have a couple hours worth of work lined up, i hire a couple strong yutes to come lift them around for me. :msp_wink: They need the work out, need some extra money, and think it is awesome to work with a splitter machinery. All kids aren't worthless nowadays. Best $40 I spend in a long time.

Yutes!

hehehe

 

[mhrischuk]

I pay my grandkids to load up my staged wood about three times a year. Helps teach them work for money.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

At one time I had a 4x4 short box with a lift gate! Load the truck up and back it up to the horizontal splitter. Picked up the lift gate used, for cheap. Wasn't very pretty but came in handy for years. (and I still have a good back Matched the truck for looks but just used it for wood and plowing.

 

[fields_mj]

like my friend does
View attachment 275321

Ya know, I really need to do something like that. I've been thinking about it for the last few years. I don't use a hyd splitter, but I cut 3 or 4 years ahead; so I try to cut big knotty stuff that's not going to rot (and that nobody else wants to mess with). Something like that would be very usefull for getting them into the truck. Been kicking it around for the last few years. I"ve got some 2" C channel that's going to have to get put to good use

 

[fields_mj]

Also I noticed it is very important when sharpening make sure your saw, bar/chain is on a very stable surface with clamps or straps holding your saw steady.

Very true. I've found that it's absolutely critical to have the bar in some kind of vise for sharpening. We always used a stump vise in the past It's easy enough to stand up a large round and drive the vise into it and use it as a work surface. However, puting the bar in a 6" bench vise is MUCH better yet. A few years ago I built an adapter that I bolted to the inside of my tailgate with self tapping sheet metal screws.

The adapter allows me to mount my 6" bench vise to the truck. The vise is mounted to a 8" square x 3/8" thick aluminum plate via some 3/8" flat head bolts that are counter sunk into the bottom of the plate. The plate mounts to the adapter and my work bench (which has a 3/4" steel top ) via 1/2" bolts. A 1/2" bolt has a 3/4" hex head, and the 19mm end of my scrench fits if VERY well. I also cut a slot in the hex heads so that I can use the screw driver end to put the bolts most of the way in. I've also made an addapter that quickly attatches to my ATV.

Sorry for getting off the OPs original topic.

 

[farmboss45]

Hey Jay, if you just noodle part way down, stick a steel wedge in, and smack it with a maul works good. Oak sometimes can be gnarly though and this might not always work, but give it a try. You also could look into putting a log lift, or a hoist on your splitter.

 

[upsnake]

Thanks guys,

I think noodling is going to get some more tries. I ordered the timberland sharpener, so hopefully have a sharper chain.
At point I will give Evan a call and try out the can't hook.

Will also play around with partially cutting the wood, and then using a wedge.

A lot of the stuff doesn't quite need to be noodled, but is just a little bit on the heavy side to safely lift. So i am really curious to see how much the cant hook helps with moving the logs to the splitter (in vertical mode).

Another thing i saw on here that is a really good idea, is using a 2 x 6 or 8 next to the foot plate the splitter, to give the wood more room to sit on, (currently have kind of hold the piece up next to the beam to keep it on the foot plate.

I would love to add a log lift, or a hoist on the splitter, but I have have limited storage space in the shed, and as Evan can attest, my welding skills not quite that up to that. (we had shop class together in school) haha.


But really guys you have given me lots of great ideas.

 

[turnkey4099]

Thanks guys,

I think noodling is going to get some more tries. I ordered the timberland sharpener, so hopefully have a sharper chain.
At point I will give Evan a call and try out the can't hook.

Will also play around with partially cutting the wood, and then using a wedge.

A lot of the stuff doesn't quite need to be noodled, but is just a little bit on the heavy side to safely lift. So i am really curious to see how much the cant hook helps with moving the logs to the splitter (in vertical mode).

Another thing i saw on here that is a really good idea, is using a 2 x 6 or 8 next to the foot plate the splitter, to give the wood more room to sit on, (currently have kind of hold the piece up next to the beam to keep it on the foot plate.

I would love to add a log lift, or a hoist on the splitter, but I have have limited storage space in the shed, and as Evan can attest, my welding skills not quite that up to that. (we had shop class together in school) haha.


But really guys you have given me lots of great ideas.

Cant hooks are handy and nice to use on moving logs. Comes to moving rounds and positioning them I think you will find a Hookeroon wins hands down. Wouldn't apply to monster rounds though.

Harry K

 

[ClimbMIT]

Looks good Fields mj. I may have to do the same

 

[upsnake]

Just an update.

So I ordered the Tiberline Sharpener. I really like it. It was kind of embarrassing seeing how bad I was doing before though. :/ But oh well.

Took the saw out and actually got noodles, rather than the dust I normally got.

I tried the method of cutting partially through then using the wedge to finish. It worked really good. Here a couple of pics of the pieces that are wedged up to a safer level for the back. (Yes i can lift more, I just don't want to. haha)

This is about a big as I normally will get, so nothing compared to some of the monsters posted earlier, but still too big to lift
18" bar btw

Some of them stacked up waiting to go to the splitter now.

Just a couple other pieces that have been noodled down.

View attachment 275943View attachment 275944View attachment 275945

 

[Bushmans]

Nice job!
I was splitting some earlier today that I had noodlewedged and they were still pretty heavy but I could manage to get them up on the beam! I could have probably hit them with the maul to downsize them again but I had so much wood to split that i didn't want to waste time

 

[fields_mj]

Looks good! Congrats on the sharp chain I've noticed the same thing. Seems like noodling dulls the chain faster than bucking. Probably because the cutters are having to drag those noodles out. Either way, a dull chain really slows the process down a LOT.

I've gotten to the point that I noodle almost everything. I don't use the wedges hardly at all. Just too lazy I guess. Having said that, I lost the spark on my 064 last week, and haven't had a chance to get it fixed yet. Hopefull it's just a bad plug wire, or a short on the kill switch. I picked up a load of big rounds Sat morning that I had cut on Monday. Took the 036 w/ 18" B/C just in case but forgot to grab the bar oil out of the house :censored: So I pushed my luck an lifted several rounds that I really should have been split first. I was short on time, so I didn't even try the maul. I'm still a little tender over it. You would think that after 38 years on this earth, working construction for 6 years, working with mills, lathes, and grinders for the last 15 years, and having earned a BS degree in engineering, I would have learned better than that. Top priority this week: Get the bench cleaned off so that I can work on my big saw....

 

[beerman6]

Dont be to hard on yourself,I'm 45 and I still do stupid stuff :msp_biggrin: