The Grand Tour or a Little More than 1/2 the Order is on Site

[Swamp Yankee]

On my beam end and bored today.

Over the past few weeks the treelength loads for the 2016/2017 season have started coming in. I ordered 10 to 12, six have arrived. Nice surprise was the first load was 95% white ash harvested in early fall 2014. I jumped on that already and have a bonus 7-1/2 cord ready to go for Jan. 2016 when ready to burn prices hit the $275 a cord range.

View from the south

View from the north. As a reference the light bar on the back of the skid steer is 6-1/2 feet high from the road.

These 2 are piles of the processed ash, on the left, were measured out at 5 to 5-1/4 cord. The pile on the right is for this year's delivery.
View from the north, opposite side of the road. First pile is balance of ash, about 2+ cord. Rest of row is wood for delivery this year.

Same side view from the south.

More to follow.

Take Care

 

[Swamp Yankee]

Work area.



Skid steer bucket loaded with splits, 1/3 cord 7 ft. X 3ft. x 2+ ft. high. Also, as hard as it may be for most to believe the stock MS362 Arctic with 16 inch bar, posed on the load is the workhorse most used for cutting on the pile for the past 2+ seasons.

Thanks for stopping in.

PS.
I'm always looking for help, must be able to consistently cut pieces 16 to 18 inches, with square ends, and not get pinched every 2 minutes. Most that show are politely asked to leave as I don't have time or patience to babysit.

Take Care

 

[zogger]

Lotta wood man! 275 is starting to be good scratch there!


quote el bosso here..heheh, yep he says this..

Dang employees..heathens! Always tearin up the equipment! Hoodlums! Lie, not show up, lazy, steal too! No one wants to work, they like sitting on welfare!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

How long does it take you to process ~120 cords by hand?
I'm drooling over the nice straight logs, perfect processor logs!

 

[Swamp Yankee]

How long does it take you to process ~120 cords by hand?
I'm drooling over the nice straight logs, perfect processor logs!

Not that much.

Truck delivers a guaranteed 7 cord CS&S per load. My supplier usually brings 7-1/2 to 8 as you noted, the wood is exceptionally straight, and packs the truck tightly. Others bring tops and bent culls that take up far more space than necessary. The load size also varies by distance hauled. This stuff came 10 to 15 miles on state roads, last year it came 2 miles over back roads. I thought the truck was going to tip over when they backed from the paved road into the landing.

When all is here I should have between 75 to 90 cord in the landing. I currently sell about 50 cord a year, the extra loads this year are stockpile for later. Treelength is getting really hard to come by around here with all the wood going into biomass and mulch. (The mulch guys were paying huge money per truckload this spring), putting the firewood guys like me low on the pecking order. I'm getting deliveries because I have been doing business with this supplier for years, always take at least 6 loads per year, and most important pay cash on delivery or at the shop the next day.

Two loads he brought this year I'm really pleased with. Two rows of 10 to 12 ft. randoms. The logger he got those loads from forwarded them out on a small machine so they're clean as whistle with no gravel or mud buried in the bark. Wish I could get more of that.

It takes me about 3-1/2 to 4 hours to do a cord of C&S from the time I walk out the door until I walk back in, including hooking up equipment and travel to and from the landing. I work at it as I can, some days more, some less. Several of the local loggers are keeping me busy chopping, doing culls, putting in landings, etc. Was playing groundie for a buddy with a tree service, but his son is home now helping out. OK with me, I'm getting way to old to keep up that pace.

Take Care

 

[stihlslinger]

PS.
I'm always looking for help, must be able to consistently cut pieces 16 to 18 inches, with square ends, and not get pinched every 2 minutes. Most that show are politely asked to leave as I don't have time or patience to babysit.

man, if you were closer id love that job

 

[Hinerman]

Swamp Yankee, how do you know the quantity you are delivering? Do you stack it before delivery? Or use some other method?

I could never get a load of logs like that here. What do you pay for a load, if you don't mind?

 

[stihlslinger]

Our neighbors think I'm crazy couse at 3:00 in the afternoon when I'm done working in the shop I go and cut four 2-3 hours lol

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

3.5-4 hrs a cord with cutting and splitting by hand, 1 person, isn't bad at all! That's about where I am by myself using a processor. What takes the longest is stacking it in the truck.

Around here no one commercially does seasoned wood. I do about 500 cords a year cut/split. It goes log, processor, truck, customers house.

 

[Greny]

Our neighbors think I'm crazy couse at 3:00 in the afternoon when I'm done working in the shop I go and cut four 2-3 hours lol

Your neighbours are tv watching fat people , I guess [emoji6]

 

[mu2bdriver]

I finally get to see the splitter and skidder! Looking good!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Where do you see a skidder?

 

[olyman]

Where do you see a skidder?

keep posting,,as hard as you can.. youll have 100,000 posts before long not that there will be any truth in them............

 

[Swamp Yankee]

Swamp Yankee, how do you know the quantity you are delivering? Do you stack it before delivery? Or use some other method?

I could never get a load of logs like that here. What do you pay for a load, if you don't mind?

Less than most around here,

I have a deal with my supplier not to disclose price as I'm getting a deal. He appreciates that I buy at least 6 loads a year, am a loyal customer for years, don't whine all the time, and most important, I pay cash either on delivery or next day at the shop. (In short we do business as it should be done, as friends and with trust, not trying to screw each other)

As to measuring quantity, as I'm putting up orders for delivery in the future, I stack the skidsteer, (aka skidder in some vernacular) bucket as shown with 1/3 cord as it comes off the splitter, and then dump. 3 loads is one cord, 6 is two, etc. When it's time to deliver I just have to back up to a pile and toss it in as it's pre-measured. If you look at the picture of the 2 ash piles above, the pile on the right is a five cord order, (15 buckets) I put up last fall, that will be delivered to the customer in Oct. this year.

Take Care

 

[Swamp Yankee]

man, if you were closer id love that job

With no offense intended to anyone,

I've found most people that want / apply, spend most of their time talking about how great their super-duper, modified, XYZ manufacturer saw is. I on the other hand could care less, I'm far more interested if they have a clue as to how to use it.

Cutting on a pile is a skill, until you've done it, you probably won't appreciate that fact.

Take Care

 

[sweetjetskier]

John,

Looking good, the skid steer has been a good investment for you, increases productivity and more importantly saves your back.

Are you using the skid steer to load your truck or hand loading ?

Chris

 

[stihlslinger]

With no offense intended to anyone,

I've found most people that want / apply, spend most of their time talking about how great their super-duper, modified, XYZ manufacturer saw is. I on the other hand could care less, I'm far more interested if they have a clue as to how to use it.

Cutting on a pile is a skill, until you've done it, you probably won't appreciate that fact.

Take Care

really I don't care what saw I'm running as long as its not a polan if it cuts and cuts fast I don't care if its a husky or stihl. I just love to cut firewood, although I'm bad about getting pinched while cutting tree tops in a pile lol

 

[Swamp Yankee]

John,

Looking good, the skid steer has been a good investment for you, increases productivity and more importantly saves your back.

Are you using the skid steer to load your truck or hand loading ?

Chris

Hey Chris,

Good to hear from you. Skidsteer has been more than a good investment, more like a blessing.

I load by hand, it's faster. As a check I count the pieces as I throw. I kept track a few years ago and based upon the 4-way and the size split it produces I've determined a cord is 485 pieces on the low end and 525 on the high. I use 535 as a number to be on the safe side.

For example, a 2 cord order is 1070 splits. If I'm doing it in 3 trips that's 356 0r more likely 360 splits per load. Not one complaint on shorting anyone. on the odd occasion that I miss, it's because I lost count of number of loads and come up one short. This is one good thing about using the State Self-Declaration form. I can always backtrack and see how many loads went to a particular address.

Take Care

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

What's a state self declaration?

So your customers order a year plus ahead and don't flake out?

 

[Swamp Yankee]

What's a state self declaration?

So your customers order a year plus ahead and don't flake out?

http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2697&Q=508886&depNav_GID=1631

Quality and service breeds loyalty.

And loyalty breeds loyalty.

Most of my customers have been with me for over 5 years. I currently have 3 in the 10+ year range. 1 at 15 years. People seek me out, as they're sick of dealing with the CL hacks selling short cords of green wood and the associated BS. They appreciate the fact their seasoned firewood needs are taken care of and they don't have to do anything other than answer a couple texts and stack it on arrival.

I currently have a waiting list of people that want to become customers referred by word of mouth so if someone wants to go elsewhere, that's their choice. In short, I have more business than I want. I really would like to start shrinking sale volume and spend more time fishing.

Take Care