General consensus on firewood processors

Neil_B · June 11, 2003, 09:38:57 AM

I'm considering getting a processor for my firewood end of the business. I work alone and the last two weeks I haven't been able to even run the mill due to my firewood orders. I've gone through a few write ups on processors but does anyone know a good one for a decent price? I'm not looking for anything high production but if I can get at least 1 bush cord per hour would be nice.

any thoughts on what you've used or seen running would be helpful.

woodmills1 · June 11, 2003, 01:36:04 PM

check out http://chomper.net/ no blade to sharpen. I bought the prototype of the smallest version that they no longer make. they just didn't get any orders for it. I was looking for a used one but they didn't exist so after many talks with the owner he sold me the prototype. It is quite a mchine as it shears the wood and splits it. the simplex is around 11 or 14 thousand I dont remember. over at the sawmill and woodlot magazine there was a used one for sale but i havent got a repy from the poster yet. after I bought the one I have the company renued its advertising and the last time I talked with the owner he said the business was improving. I think the company make other types of hydraulic machines for non wood uses and they just sort of branched into wood. it is really quite a neat processor.

Neil_B · June 11, 2003, 04:26:51 PM

Thanks for the link woodmills1. How do your customers like the sheared ends as opposed to the smooth cut? I remember reading about it somewhere, probably Sawmill and Woodlot so I'll try and find the article and check it out again.

Sawyerfortyish · June 11, 2003, 04:51:13 PM

Hey new sawyer
I got a multitek there not cheap but i have ran it since 1990 with few problems. what I sugest is go to a woodsmans equipment expo and see the differant kinds. Thats where I got mine but if I had it to do over again I would get the one with the big circle blade.I have a guy I buy logs from for the mill that has one and he can cut and fill a dump trailer in less than 3 hours about ten cords.Mine is not that fast but depending on the size of the wood I have done 2 cords in an hour

Sawyerfortyish · June 11, 2003, 05:03:18 PM

I just looked to see where your located your not to far from boonville N.Y. you should plan on going to the woodsmans feild days in August. There are probabley at least 10 wood processer companies showing equipment and running it.Well worth the trip just to get away for the day. Thats where I bought my Multitek. I go every year and watch the competitions

Neil_B · June 11, 2003, 07:47:04 PM

Thanks for the info Sawyer40. the big circle one, is it from Canada? There is a manufacturer close to me making them. They start at 75000 Can before any options

. Cord King is what they are called. Nice looking rigs though.
I'll have to check my schedual for August :-/. Maybe a good road trip to NY. If they let me across the border :P

Sawyerfortyish · June 11, 2003, 08:12:02 PM

Cord king is the one i'm talking about and they will be at the boonville show

woodmills1 · June 12, 2003, 03:42:22 AM

most people can not tell the difference between sheared and cut. some times the sheared end looks like it is smeared so might inhibit drying but most are kind of open which would help drying. the one I have can be set for gravity feed which really speeds up the small wood operation using limbs and tops.

Bibbyman · June 12, 2003, 07:19:27 AM

We have a Blockbuser 1412 - their smallest model. It will take a log 12' long and 14" max dia. Uses a harvester bar and saw chain to cut. 6 second cycle time. 25 hp Kolhor engine - 4-way adjustable height wedge. To split more than 4-way, "hinge" the top chunks back into split chamber and split agian.

It's a well built machine. We got a tour of where they are built. Tim Betey is a great guy to work with.

Blockbuster

We use it to process cull logs and heavy slabs. We also got their small elevator to go with the splitter.

DanG · June 12, 2003, 08:49:01 AM

Y'all done got me thinkin' about a processor in the future. :

What's the price range on the Blockbuster, Bib?

Ron Wenrich · June 13, 2003, 03:55:16 AM

We're using the Multitech as well. The first one, we had to overcome some hydraulic problems that the company couldn't solve. That one caught on fire.

Bought a new one at $40K. No problems with this one. Does a trailerload in half a day. Has a chainsaw for cut off. You also need pretty straight logs to get any kind of production.

I've also run a Morbark with a circle saw. I had some safety issues with that one, but it was an older model.

There used to be a company called a Beaver woodsplitter that made one that didn't have all the bells and whistles. We could get the production levels you're talking about. A dirty machine, but you could buy them cheap.

Canadian shear producer at $20,500 Can is E-Zee Cord.
http://www.mts.net/~ezeecord/forestryfirewoodcommissionprocessorspecification.htm

Here's a list of firewood processors over at sawmillmag. http://www.sawmillmag.com/suppliers_by_type.php?type_key=3

Power Split is up in Quebec, and appears to have some compact mobile splitters with a conveyor. The production rate seems a little high for what the unit looks like. http://www.powersplit.com/forest.htm

With the price of natural gas at least double to last year levels, and a cold winter, firewood sales should be pretty good this year.

Neil_B · June 13, 2003, 04:40:57 AM

Interesting machine that EZ cord! I've seen the power split machines at some of the shows here but I could also buy a new hydraulic pump for my splitter to increase the cycle time. Currently 14-16 sec (slow). Anyway, Multititek has a distributor not to far away from me ( Baker/Enercraft in Hillsdale Ontario) so I may try to get over and check one out. They have a running demo model there.

Thanks for all the links, I've got info coming from everyone you guys have mentioned so far. Keep em coming.

Bibbyman · June 13, 2003, 08:10:06 AM

DanG! They've gone up some.

We got ours from Blockbuster when they just came out - it was probably the third one they made of this model. They built a prototype and sold it at the first show they demoed it and had got an order for another. We saw the frame of that unit when it was being built. Our elevator was the prototype.

Anyway, Bailey's is now the exclusive distributor of this processor and they have the prices on their web site.

Bailey's

Plow down the product menus under firewood processors.

JD_Kid · June 13, 2003, 03:37:57 PM

Hi ya's
these all look like neat toys but what happens with the wind blow's ,old man type trees ?? ya know 4 foot + stump or twisted these all look like a 2 foot wide stick would stop them (apart from the power split )if ya had trees all the same then one of these bigger spliters would be the go ,myself i'd go with the biggest ram ,fastest return time pump mounted on the back of a old tractor to move it around ,ya will sweat feeding it ;) but ya can do any size logs and also split to diffrent sizes maybe 1/2 for some fires and the old lady down the road with the coal range who wants 1/8 of a 16 in log ..that a side good to see some of these toys gives people ideas if they want to build one
catch ya
JD Kid

Neil_B · June 14, 2003, 05:23:26 AM

Hey JD
The logs I usually get aren't all that large and if they were too big I would hope I could get a bit of lumber out of them. That's the only problem with these machines, crooked or large diameter, but I'd keep my chainsaw and splitter around to process those one's by hand. Reason I'm looking at one is due to the fact that I only cut green and don't stockpile any wood. I usually get a large number of orders at once, so far about 40 bush cord to do, and I could process and deliver much quicker than I am now. I'm doing about 2 bush a day and I can't keep up. That doesn't include delivering it. Some customers are 2 to 3 hours return trip. Depends on how long I talk to them :

.

Sawyerfortyish · June 14, 2003, 06:25:58 AM

Sawyer if I can't deliver a cord of wood in an hour I don't do it there just isn't enough money in wood to go far.
JD the guy I know with the cord king has a a splitter that splits them 20 and 30" plus logs up to 12' long into quarters then puts them on the processer to finish them.Here in N.J. many of the large butts have many steel stains in them and aren't mill worthy so he uses the big splitter to break them down for the wood processer.

Neil_B · June 14, 2003, 10:06:24 AM

Sawyer40,
It seems that all my customers are calling from that far away so I tacked on a delivery charge by the kilometer to pay for the fuel plus a bit extra for my time. For some reason I don't get many calls from my own area, I think because most are already set up with a supplier. Still though, when they do call and get a load, I end up getting them again the next year. Eventually when I have enough around my area, I may drop the ones farther away if it doesn't seem to be profitable anymore.

Most processors are set up so you can block up just about any length up to 24-26 inches, are they not?

Sawyerfortyish · June 14, 2003, 03:25:18 PM

I have done 12"-24 " on the Multitek I have .I have tryed to limit myself to one length 16" you will go crazy trying to get one guy 12" the next 18" and so on stick to one standerd length and save yourself some grief

Neil_B · June 14, 2003, 04:23:37 PM

Right now all my customers are 16". Even one I have with a large outdoor furnace is taking 16" but I separate out anything over 16 for him (17 and 18") as I don't bother measuring too carefully. At the point now though that I'm just about right on 16" freehand. :D

Sawyerfortyish · June 14, 2003, 04:35:12 PM

When I started cutting firewood to sell I scratched a line in the chainsaw bar so all I had to do was turn the saw sideways and use the line on the bar as a ruler. After a couple hundred cords the chainsaw bit got old. Only did that 2 yrs then bought the processer. I put lights on the machine so I can cut and split all night if I want.

Neil_B · June 14, 2003, 06:19:27 PM

My neighbors would love the all night thing

I've never bothered marking my cuts, I would just cut it and occasionally check the lengths. I have a few marks on my splitter that I can use to separate the pieces if someone can't take over a certain size. Never had complaints either ???. Usually now though, I'm within 15 1/2 to 16 1/2" so that's close enough. Be nice when I don't have to worry about it though.

Ron Wenrich · June 15, 2003, 05:58:11 AM

At the Timber Expo, they had a processer that hooked to a 3 point on a tractor. It cut to length, split and conveyed. Here's a link to the website: http://www.maaselankone.fi/tuotteet/tuote.php?id=14 It is a Finnish company. The cost on this unit was about $9K US. Bigger units would cost more.

Seems to me, it is not designed to do big wood, since it has to be lifted into position. I'm not too sure how well crooked wood will work. .

JD_Kid · June 15, 2003, 02:15:15 PM

Hi ya's
I can't get over the prices :ospliters are 3 times your guys prices and as for one of these big toys ..i had a look at a web site with a vid of how it works ,now some will say i need my head looked at but run with this ,years ago i worked for my olds in a fish and chip shop cutting chips.. now if (bloody big if )ya could get a mother of a ram or 2 and make a grid cutter or 1/2 a grid then ya could cut the bigger stuff in one hit ...to me the splitting part is the main part of these toys ,
Ron i was sick the day we had finnsh at school ;) how well dose this tractor one work????
catch ya
JD Kid

Neil_B · June 15, 2003, 03:15:44 PM

thanks for that link Ron but unfortunatly I can't speak a work of Finnish and couldn't find a link for english version. I remember seeing one of these units advertised somewhere but can't remember where ???

Another question concerning these units is how you guys measure up the load if it dumps into the back of a truck off the conveyor. I tried to load mine by a loose cord of 180 cuft but still wasn't very accurate due to the gaps in the load. I'm loading with the bucket on my loader. I still find I have to pile it into the bucket at 22 cuft per and 12 loads into the truck so I'm not ripping myself or my customers off.

Sawyerfortyish · June 15, 2003, 05:07:40 PM

I have mine set up to drop off the conveyer into a wooden bin. I can split about ten cords before It's full and since I have a floor in it I use my skidsteer to load the truck. It takes 7 rounded buckets to make a cord. I just scoop it up and it takes about ten minutes to load a cord. It's extreamly rare that I get a complaint about the amount of wood but then there is always some retired guy that has nothing better to do but complain. it's to big to small to long to short to knotty to twisty to wet and to dry did I miss any?

Ron Wenrich · June 15, 2003, 07:32:29 PM

You guys give up too easy. If you look at the website, there are 2 flags right after the word Kieli. One I recognize as the Union Jack and the other as the Finnish flag. Click the Union Jack and everything turns into English.

They were running the 2X unit, which cuts and splits small wood. It seemed to work pretty good on the small stuff. Of course, they never run wood that is too hard on equipment at these shows.

They had a Cord King that was cutting a bunch of black locust. It had a circle chop saw. It really went through the wood, but it had to be straight.

We cut ours right into a 53' trailer and send it out to a wholesaler. The agreement is that there are 10 cords to the load. We can alter that a little by how high it is.

For local customers, they simply put it in the back of a small dump truck. When full, its about a full cord. No complaints.

Normally, one full cord is about 3 tons. One face cord is about 1 ton. You could weigh it, if there's a scale handy. If not, load a truck up, take it home and stack it. See how close you come to a cord.

Neil_B · June 15, 2003, 08:10:04 PM

Found the flags. Thanks Ron.

JD_Kid · June 16, 2003, 12:32:57 AM

Hi ya's
whats the saying "look and you will find!" yea i went back and found the flags ,like ya saying they both look like small wood machines,good if ya can find a heap of thinnings or small logs ,the way i'm seeing this is if ya logs are small and even size the one of these toys would be great but if dealing with a heap of strange sizes a ram splitter maybe better ..the ideal would be a splitter with a drop box 4/6/8 way splitter IE some rings ya drop in like the processors bigger one ya 1/2,1/4 etc etc till they fit ya only want to pick them up once so a table kinda setup would work ..a good motor and pump would feed 2 rams i'd set the mainsplitter up on hand controls but the drop box on foot or hand IE hand would do it's own thing so ya can get another log ,foot while brakeing down so ya could stop it if ya needed a higher flow on main splitter ..if ya could pick up logs with a skidsteer or backhoe ya will be shocked how much ya can ring up in a day ..
catch ya
JD Kid

Sawyerfortyish · June 16, 2003, 05:24:19 AM

JD the cord king I talk about has what they call a french fry splitter.Looks like what you could make french frys with only bigger. I seen them cut and drop 3-16" blocks of wood in the splitter at once then split. With a 5 or 6 second cycle time they can push a lot of wood through in a short time.

Bibbyman · June 17, 2003, 11:01:41 AM

We make some large logs into firewood using our Blockbuster. To cut them down to size, we run them through the Wood-Mizer. Take one heavy slab, turn 180, take another, then turn up 90 and split. Four chunks down to size.

We ran short of logs one winter and bought out the remaining inventory of a small sawmill near us that had went out of business. Some were 4-5 years old when we got them. All were oak of some kind.

That winter it snowed for a month and staid just muddy enough under it that no one could get off the roads to cut firewood. We ran out of everything handy to make firewood so I loaded up the Wood-Mizer with logs and heavy slabbed these logs and made 2xWhatever out of anything that was still good. We mixed that in with what we could find and people were real happy to get it.

Even sold a load or two to people that cut and sold wood because they ran out! ;D