What do you do

[jhoff310]

1. Never go into the woods with one saw
2. When cutting, keep your extra saw on the hood of your truck, in plain view when you are sitting in the driver's seat
3. Don't split elm with a maul
4. Keep your chains sharp
5. Don't forget the air filter
6. If anything in life is more important than your saws, it's probably your truck.
7. Never pay money for your own firewood
8. Noodle before you lift big rounds
9. Remember to tell the wife you love her when she's helping you lug and stack
10. Stop, close your eyes, take in a deep breath, and appreciate how special cutting wood is for your soul.

I couldn't have said it better myself.. Here is the pic of the bar I have mounted on the side of my saw. I just used a long nut and screwed it into the nut and away we go

Jeff

 

[Johndirt82]

The wood fired pizza joint i mostly sell to wants all their wood 18"s , I just took a tape measure from the tip of my 32" bar and marked it with a sharpie at 18"s makes that easy and it doesn't come off .

 

[Bucko]

Whats the price on those super split splitters?

 

[STLfirewood]

Around 3k and worth every penny.

 

[TMFARM 2009]

just a few tips from life lesson's learned.....
1..ALWAYS keep your log chains on the tail gate until after loading... 2...never load on top of a spare tire...3...always strap your saws to the load..4...never stack wood on top of your toolbox..5...if stacking wood inside a building, start stacking close to door filling up to the back last..this way you can get the seasoned wood first upon removal..6...always carry extra chains for saws..7...if using racks on top of the bed always use a strap to hold bedsides in place,you may spread the bed...8...if you think you have enough wood cut for the year cut some more...9... always carry first aid kit in truck -including aspirin (in case of heart attack)..

 

[sunfish]

Around 3k and worth every penny.

Right, well worth it!

And mine has split every piece loaded on it. Even the nasty stuff

Mine was just a bit over $2800 shipped.

 

[EXCALIBER]

Anybody thought about making one of these for a hydraulic splitter?Would seem to me to be way faster to split the whole log at once into the right sized pieces instead of over and over with the super split?
YouTube - ‪Palax Power100S Firewood Processor version 02‬‏

 

[boatman]

I saw a super split at Horse Progress Days last year. The Amish had it hooked up to a horse powered treadmill with a pto shaft. Great little machine.

Let's see... how many cords will I need to sell to get one of those....

 

[mikereynolds]

Here's my top ten tips
1. The more you handle the wood the more it cost to process.
2. The more you have to bend over the less work you can get done.
3. Drink plenty of water when working.
4. Always keep a first aid kit and keep cell phone handy
5. I use a conveyor to load the dump truck directly from the splitter, then dump it in a huge pile for future deliveries
6, I use a grapple on the skid steer to move & stack the logs
7. I made a bench to hold several logs so I'm not bending over to cut rouinds
8. Get a high school kid to help with the lifting.
9. Eliminate steps walk less work more effecient
10. Don't work on Sunday. Spend time with your loved ones after church and enjoy life. Take a day and rest.

 

[cnice_37]

We carry a box full of any basics so we never have to shut down. Xtra bar nuts, circle clips, chains, one extra flippy cap, xtra spark plug, xtra chain plenty of mix and bar oil, we also carry a couple xtra bars under the seat.

As in circlips? You rebuilding your saw in the woods - or is this a different circle clip?

 

[STLfirewood]

As in circlips? You rebuilding your saw in the woods - or is this a different circle clip?

He's talking about the clip that holds the rim sprocket on.

Scott

 

[Whitespider]

I think the OP was referring to little tricks the "weekend warrior" type of cutter uses... not saying that monster hydraulic machinery wouldn't be great, but those of us that cut strictly for personal use can't really justify the cost of heavy machinery.

--Rather than putting my bar oil in a "squeeze" bottle I use a little plastic 1-gallon gas can with a small spout.
--I fashioned a hanger to a small paint brush so it hooks to my gas can, that way I remember to give the air filter a quick "brush-off" at every fill-up.
--Spray-paint small tools, or a part of bigger tools blaze/florescent-orange (i.e. scrench, wedges, chains, maul head, etc.) and you'll never be "searching" around for them.
--I cut my firewood to 16-inches, so I use a 16-inch bar for 90% of my cutting... the bar doubles as a length gauge... I just put a mark on my 20-inch bar.
--I carry a 40-inch long, 1-inch diameter, solid steel pry-bar (made from a truck tie-rod, won't bend easily)... just flat darn handy to have and will quickly free a lot of pinched saw bars. (an axle shaft works well also)
--I cut on my own property and use a modified lawn tractor pulling one of those small yard utility trailers (for all the gear)... I use a heavy plank clamped across the trailer (complete with vise) as a work bench... darn handy.
--There isn't any reason why you shouldn't be comfortable when you take a break... one of those fold-up (chair-in-a-bag) rides in the trailer, and the cooler doubles as a foot-stool.

 

[atvguns]

That's the best idea I have heard yet

 

[goof008]

to get the right length of round, I use my saw. I put the back of the felling dogs on the cut end, and where the back of the handle ends is where I cut...it's easy to just spin the saw by the top handle and it lines up pretty much right where you want it.

I also make space to get my trailer right next to where I cut and where I unload it.

If possible, I split the wood before it goes into the trailer from where I first cut it. If I can't do that, I try to split it when I unload it.

Always run Stabil in the splitter, and shut off the gas and let it run out when putting it away. Spent a lot of time in the field cleaning the carb once it got gummed up!

 

[Muffler Bearing]

+1 on painting your tools with an orange spot. I use Bright Orange Tape. I also count all the tools I take into the woods, and don't leave till the count matches.
Never go into the Woods Pissed-Off, Your an accident waiting to happen!
Always kiss the wife before you leave.. May be the last thing she remembers about you.

 

[Dalmatian90]

He's talking about the clip that holds the rim sprocket on.

One of my greatest, "Wow, this could've gone wrong" moments was just after I cut an old pasture oak (24"+ DBH) down in a friend's yard. Tree was in his front yard, underground utilities so no worries about wires, and on a calm day absolutely no problem dropping it safely away from the street.

Just after it was on the ground, that clip went kerfloey on me. It was the only saw I had with me.

Made me realize how dangerous this would've been five minutes earlier if I had I been most of the way through the felling cuts but not done yet and it had broken. I would've had a big ass tree in a residential area that a decent wind gust could've pushed against the lean and notch and into the road.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

We do a lot of our splitting in the warmer months because we scrounge wood so we 'get wood' whenever we can regardless of time of year. If it's really hot out when we are splitting, we set up our EZ-up canopy over the splitting area for shade and set out a box fan blowing on us. Along with a thermos of ice water or ice tea we are very comfortable.

Shari

 

[K2Orion]

I split by hand with a fiskars. Mostly oak. I put the rounds in a tire and it keeps the splits from flying away.

I cut to 16". I stick my hand axe in 16" from the end of the log. Then I stick my tape measure with a magnetic tip to the hand axe and mark off 16" lengths. Almost all tapes have 16" centers marked for framing. I use aerosol marking paint in white, pink, or orange that I can get for free.

I also have the headphones with the radio in them. Mine have an mp3/aux input. I plug my iphone into it so I can stream Sirius or Pandora radio wherever I am. And I can also hear my phone if it rings.

 

[memory]

We cut ours to 20 to 22" in length. We have a stick 20" long and put a mark every 20" or so before we start sawing. We split most of our wood with a hydraulic splitter and we bring a rubber mat to kneel on. That makes it nice especially for the bigger pieces that have to be split multiple times.

 

[Cheese Whiz]

Some of the other guys have mentioned this, but having help is the quickest way to speed up production. Two guys that work well together will do close to twice what they would each be able to do on their own. Keeping the equipment working and not sitting waiting on the next block to split or whatnot really adds up.

My 8x14 trailer takes me a good 4 hours to fill by myself, from standing trees to split on the trailer. In the same amount of time, me and a friend can normally have 2 longbox pickups, his small 5x8 trailer and my big one loaded, and the pickups unloaded and stacked. (Trailers are unloaded at our leisure later.)

Another tip: stack the wood as close to the stove as you can, to minimize moving it.