Maybe more efficient firewood?

[Corius]

First post long time lurker

I'm moving into selling firewood this year secondary to landscaping company the other 3 months of the year. This is more just for keeping my best guys employed during the winter and not having them leave.

Current equipment is a compact tractor with pallet forks and bucket, dump f350, dump trailer, 3 point splitter, 34 ton splitter and 2 20 ton two direction splitters

Right now the biggest bottle neck we have is going from logs to rounds big enough to split.

If anyone have advise on any aspect of how to run more efficiently I would appreciate it.

[Traci]

If you are slow cutting try raising the log off ground with a tractor attachment such as a log grapple, this might help. We were using our excavator to hold log and then we would cut standing up straight. That was much faster and efficient than bending over. Our bottle neck was our slow 22-ton splitter. Ended up buying a wood processor a couple weeks ago which is great. Also got a peavey which is way nicer than man handling when rolling the logs. If you are planning a large operation, an elevator that dumps right into truck or trailer would be very helpful and less backbreaking work yet. That piece of equipment is our next purchase as soon as the guy gets it in and converts motor from electric to gas. Good luck to ya.

[stavebuyer]

Its usually quicker to block logs up into rounds than it is to split them with the type splitters you describe. I'd look first to make sure you have "enough" saw and the chains stays sharp. Keeping the logs clean and elevated goes a long way. Blocking up; it would not be unusual for me to touch up my saw almost every tankful of gas to keep it sharp enough that it pulls itself into the cut. But one saw isn't going to feed 3 or 4 splitters.

[wiam]

For many years I put my logs on a deckover trailer with forks on tractor front. I would cut them there and not have to pick off ground to splitter. Larger chunks I would roll across a plank to splitter.