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Making my own firewood processor.

Started by paul case, October 13, 2018, 10:00:43 AM

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mike_belben

The trick is gonna be making the first split before the other wings engage.  I have no issue with oak on a welded up 5 way with 13hp honda and maybe 4" cylinder, unknown PSI.   Oak is fairly straight grained and easy to fracture.  The hickory crotches and especially that spiral grain of black gum are major problem.  Ive not experienced anything as bad as black gum.

That said i wouldnt make it a fixed 4 way or an adjustable trough.  A deep vee trough will always center if the cheeks are wide enough.  A vertically adjustable wedge head isnt that hard or complex.  It can be pin on, winch, lever, cable or hydraulic adjusted.  jmo.
Praise The Lord

reride82

The processor I built has a trough for the log to slide in, pulled by a winch, up to the saw. The saw is either a 372xp or a 395xp on a hinge. Once the round is cut, it rolls about 16" down onto the splitter I beam. Then it is centered in a trough made of old push brooms(so that way branch stubs and irregular pieces don't get hung up) and then pushed through a fixed four way wedge set at 6" as my target size is 12" diameter logs. Then the split wood is pushed directly into my pickup or dump trailer as my processor sits higher than the beds of both of them. I can get pictures/videos if you need.

Levi
'Do it once, do it right'

'First we shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us'
Living life on the Continental Divide in Montana

paul case

I would like that. 

I have plans for the same kind of non powered chute to load my wood or pile it.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

hedgerow

Quote from: reride82 on October 19, 2018, 05:27:11 PM
The processor I built has a trough for the log to slide in, pulled by a winch, up to the saw. The saw is either a 372xp or a 395xp on a hinge. Once the round is cut, it rolls about 16" down onto the splitter I beam. Then it is centered in a trough made of old push brooms(so that way branch stubs and irregular pieces don't get hung up) and then pushed through a fixed four way wedge set at 6" as my target size is 12" diameter logs. Then the split wood is pushed directly into my pickup or dump trailer as my processor sits higher than the beds of both of them. I can get pictures/videos if you need.

Levi
Levi How do the old push brooms heads hold up? I try a couple different ones on my firewood processor for help centering the pieces but they didn't last. 

dean herring

There are some very good ideas on here.
Could we get some pictures of some? Would love to see some 
Failure is not an option  3D Lumber

hedgerow

Paul have you had time to get started on the firewood processor?

reride82

Here ya go Paul. I started with an old lawnmower, boat trailer, and in these pictures I have a 372xp mounted for the cut off saw. I also use a 395xp if I want to work harder  :D There is a winch mounted that advances the log forward, but I need to revamp it as it's slow and cumbersome. 



 




 

Here the broom heads are opened up.


 

Here the broom heads are closed to center the log. I've put around 120 cords through this and imI still on the original broom heads. I think that since I activate them with a lever instead of a fixed position has really extended their life since big logs don't affect them.


 


As you can see here I can split directly into the back of my pickup to reduce handling.


 

Sorry it took so long to get pictures up.
Levi
'Do it once, do it right'

'First we shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us'
Living life on the Continental Divide in Montana

hedgerow

reride82
Looks like you got a nice set up. Looks like in your area you have what I would call some nice sized pole wood. I tried running the broom heads on mine to help center the wood and they didn't last but they weren't adjustable and I run a lot of 24 to 36 inch dia hard wood I finally installed some plates on a angle and it works pretty good. I have my in the shop right now changing the feeding system and log deck some. If I were starting this firewood processor project again I would make the splitting part from scratch that would be built to center the logs and I would use a chain saw or belt drive the saw instead of making it hyd drive like I did. It took a lot of money to make a hyd chain saw work. I need to get set up so I can post pictures on here at this time I have no way to do it. 

reride82

Quote from: hedgerow on December 01, 2018, 10:14:52 AM
reride82
Looks like you got a nice set up. Looks like in your area you have what I would call some nice sized pole wood. I tried running the broom heads on mine to help center the wood and they didn't last but they weren't adjustable and I run a lot of 24 to 36 inch dia hard wood I finally installed some plates on a angle and it works pretty good. I have my in the shop right now changing the feeding system and log deck some. If I were starting this firewood processor project again I would make the splitting part from scratch that would be built to center the logs and I would use a chain saw or belt drive the saw instead of making it hyd drive like I did. It took a lot of money to make a hyd chain saw work. I need to get set up so I can post pictures on here at this time I have no way to do it.
All of the firewood I cut is lodgepole pine, which is starting to fall down as its been dead standing about 12-15 years. The ideal trees I have are about 16" at the base so I get a sawlog out of the bottom 15-20 feet, and then firewood from the top 40-60 feet. It is pretty ideal pole wood  :D
'Do it once, do it right'

'First we shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us'
Living life on the Continental Divide in Montana

hedgerow

In my area eastern Nebraska its a mixed bag of trees for firewood. One of our farms was a big mess when we bought it so that's were most of my firewood for the last ten years has come from. It had ash, mulberry, elm, cottonwood and the most and best wood for firewood has been locust and hedge {Osage Orange}. The farm had a lot of ceder trees also that had taken over a lot of the farm some of them got milled the rest went to the burn piles. One area had a lot of locust so when I clean that area I just logged it out and have been running those logs that would fit threw the processor. That made about 100 cords of firewood which included some of the larger logs that we had to buck by hand and split with a stand alone splitter probably was around 20 cord. We are getting down to were about all that is left to process on this farm is going to be hedge that was planted in the 1930's for fence posts and never was harvested. Hedge makes great boiler wood but it is a pain to brush out. 

paul case

Yes I have gotten started.

I have the channel iron welded down to a base(2 grader tires and wheels) which will make it the right height for running the chainsaw. I have welded down the cylinder pin point on the back end and have the push plate, slides, and wedge all completed. It made a travel length so that we can cut 25'' wood, not that we ever will but we can. I also have the log tray welded down. I have ran the cylinder back and forth with air and it works real smooth and comes within 1'' of the wedge.

I still lack the mount for the chainsaw and the clamp arm as well as cage/catchers for the log before and after it gets cut. Mounting for the valve as well.

No pics yet and we havent run a test but it will probably happen soon. We have not put any new pictures on here in quite a while and I am sure  my wife will be pulling her hair out. 

We have been real busy with the sawmill and other farm related stuff so I havnt had a lot of time to devote to the processor. PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

hedgerow

Paul
Sounds like you are making a lot of process. Winter showed up in our area early so the outside farm work came to a halt a lot sooner than normal and yes we all love pictures.  

paul case

I got enough finished on the  processor to give it a run yesterday. I cut for about an hour and made 2 ricks+ of firewood. I wound up having to do some modifying and rewelding 2 times, but my woodyard is 100' from my shop so that was easy.

I bent the wings up on the 4way part of the wedge with the 3rd log. It really didnt hurt anything, but it needs to be more beefy.

Sorry still no pictures. My wife took a job at a local school and wasnt here for the running on it. I am trying to get her to video a few things so maybe this weekend.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

hedgerow

Paul 
Good to here you got it running. I hope you made that four way adjustable. Those multi wedges got to be tough in my area. That locust and hedge is hard on them. Looking forward to the pictures. 

barbender

I'm excited for the pictures and video, too!
Too many irons in the fire

Kwill

In for pics. Sounds like a nice project.
Built my own hydraulic splitter
Built my own outdoor wood stove
Built my own log arch
built my own bandsaw sawmill
Built my own atv log arch.
Built my own FEL grapple

paul case

Well I have not been on here for a while so i decided to make an update on the firewood processor build.  Here is a video on my youtube channel. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF-6RZQhiaQ&t=314s
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

paul case

So to be really truthful after using that contraption to cut n split firewood I found it to be incredibly slow and always needing something. So I upgraded to a Halverson. Video if you please?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAi4LZMG-yc&t=699s

I bought the Halverson hp120 in the fall of 2019. Working alone in my off time from the mill I managed to cut, split and deliver(80%) 140 rick of wood in the '19-'20 season. Most of that we went and cut some of my stuff to make as well as cutting up the logs that were not saw worthy that came in to the mill. Several logs that were a little too big for the hp120 we took in the sawmill and quartered or more on the LT40.

Plenty of other wood processing videos on my youtube channel named ''Paul Case''.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

paul case

I did try to sell the processor that I built but with no luck. Needed the hoses and valve for another project, so the rest of it is parked right now, I have 500 in the steel that I bought to build it. I am not interested in selling the saw but would sell the rest of it for $500 with more than the normal commission going to the Forum of course. 

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

hedgerow

So Paul looks like you found a home for your processor? Hope the new skid loader one keeps running good. 

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