iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Firewood on a Hakki Pilkie 1x37

Started by GRANITEstateMP, April 09, 2017, 10:07:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

cutterboy

Sometimes the biggest problem selling firewood is the customer. :-\
Last fall a local guy bought my last full box of firewood and noticed that I had a small pile of wood left in the barn. He asked if he could buy it (about half a box) and he would be back in the afternoon to get it. I loaded the wood in a box and set it out for him. Two weeks later it was still there. I transported it back into the barn and early this spring I burned that wood in my woodstove.
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

Spike60

I like Doc's light idea, but really not a big deal to disconnect the low oil sensor. All ya gotta do is check the oil before you fire up the machine.

Thanks again for the continuing pics and updates, and hope you had a great father's day. :)
Husqvarna-Jonsered
Ashokan Turf and Timber
845-657-6395

Corley5

As the oil sensors on my Hondas both big and small have failed I've 
by-passed them.  Internal combustion engines survived for decades without such things.  We as operators keep an eye on oil levels.  An engine running remotely without human supervision would benefit from low oil shutdown sensors but a low oil level shutdown probably means the engine has other issues that need addressing beyond adding oil.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

mike_belben

Same.  Check oil, maintain oil and filtration, run machine.  If it sounds or smells bad shut it off and dig deeper.
Praise The Lord

GRANITEstateMP

but a low oil level shutdown probably means the engine has other issues that need addressing beyond adding oil.

That's what I was thinking, if it's lost oil pressure, and I checked the level an hour before, might as well run her til she pops cause I'm not tearing down this Pred!

Check oil, maintain oil and filtration, run machine.  

Mike, I use a good Toyota oil filter, from my dealership days, and the finest bottom shelf discount oil I can get my hands on!
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

GRANITEstateMP

Quote from: Spike60 on June 23, 2021, 07:44:08 AM
Thanks again for the continuing pics and updates, and hope you had a great father's day. :)
Spike,
I'll keep em coming as long as I don't bore you all with my little operation.
Father's Day was great. My birthday was the day before, so I got to sit in a comfy chair outside and sling the bull with the family. Kids (cousins) all played around outside and had a blast too. Heck, I didn't even have to man the grill!
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

hedgerow

GRANITEstateMP  Glad to see your back to making firewood. Spraying around here is finally winding down so we have gotten back to bucking some hedge logs from last year. Was planning on splitting them Saturday but we had a inch of rain over night and maybe some more tonight. We needed it. Been very dry and hot. Glad the old HF motor is still going. I have only seen one of those low oil devices save a engine. Had a buddy that called last summer and said he couldn't get his 13 HP Honda started on his spray tender trailer. I said being smart you know does it have gas and oil. Phone went dead for a second. He said it does have gas maybe I better check the oil. He hadn't checked or changed the oil in ten years of running the pump on the tender. He changed what oil was left. Fired it back up and its still running today. I have several engines around the farm the low oil device is unhooked but I check and change my oil. 

GRANITEstateMP

hedgerow,

Glad to hear your back up to cutting up some logs.  If you wanna send a bit of that inch of rain over ere to NH, we'll take it. First hay cutting is done, and cow corn is coming up, but we're still short on rain for the year.
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

GRANITEstateMP

Sorting.  My little processor can be a picky eater. Over the years I've found certain trees that it doesn't want to eat :-\.  Depending where I source my wood from makes a difference in how much sorting I got to do.  If my load comes from a 60 acre select cut, I'd say 90% of the wood goes into the processor, the rest is hand cut.  If it's a 2acre house lot, a right of way, etc, then I got a bunch of sorts.  I like my processor wood 12-16ft and under 15in (max diameter for the machine), that's sort 1. Next is anything meeting the diameter, but under 10ft, that's sort 2. Next is oversized, crooked, or super knotty, those go into the chainsaw pile and we hand cut them and run them on the hydulic splitter, that's sort 3. Sort 4 is pine or softwood.  It's normally in it's own load, but again if it's a house lot and the price is right... Sort 5 is the ugly stuff. Rot, crotches, bugs, real ugly, that fun stuff.  That gets set aside and when I've got a big enough pile, it goes to the farm or my wifes uncles place.  They both have outdoor boilers, those will eat anything, as long as it fits through the door! 



this is sort 1, real nice load of mixed hardwood from a local family logging outfit. Most are 16ft and can go from there drop pile, right onto my brow for processing.  Sometimes, I'll have to cut off a 22in (length I burn) butt flare and then I can move the log to the brow



Sort 2, the "shorts", good wood, just won't go easy on my little brow so when I have extra help, these get loaded onto the machine with the tractor.



Sort 3, oversized and not straight enough logs.  We buck most of this stuff to 22in long. My house and 3 of my helper/buddy's all burn that length wood. We sell another 8-10ish cord a year in that length also.



 
The ugly.  Some real gems here.  We also bin up the real short pieces, they go to the boiler too.

Sorting takes time, but makes the actual firewood production go way quicker AND easier.  I don't have help very often, so when they're here, I wanna make big sticks into little sticks, not mess around with ugly logs
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

mike_belben

Thanks for taking the time to share that.  Ive been thinking collecting and sketching literally for years on how to make a machine that will eat 90 of any forest's cull wood efficiently enough to profit at $150 a cord.  Quite a challenge.  


What are the reasons in order of severity that your machine wont run a stick?  I assume its mostly failure to feed issues?   Any information on what it wont do would be helpful to me really and id greatly appreciate it as im getting close to starting soon. 
Praise The Lord

stavebuyer

Quote from: mike_belben on June 25, 2021, 12:50:15 PM
Thanks for taking the time to share that.  Ive been thinking collecting and sketching literally for years on how to make a machine that will eat 90 of any forest's cull wood efficiently enough to profit at $150 a cord.  Quite a challenge.  


What are the reasons in order of severity that your machine wont run a stick?  I assume its mostly failure to feed issues?   Any information on what it wont do would be helpful to me really and id greatly appreciate it as im getting close to starting soon.
I ran a Dyna and I sorted the wood much the same. Crooked wood doesn't feed on a chain/trough system. It also causes issues at the "cutting" area which is a "constriction point". A crooked piece in effect "enlarges" the diameter and will hit the top or sides of the cutting trough or holding arm.
For my market inside stove wood outsold "boiler wood" 10-1. My boiler customers were mostly farmers who were getting a little older and had some health issues that kept them from being able to continue processing their own wood. The relevance is that when you get much past 10" diameter you either have to step up to a major sized machine that will handle a 12way+ wedge($100k) or a bunch of re-splitting. A light-weight 20-40hp machine doesn't have the engine hp, hydro pump, or steel to handle even knotty 4-way splits let alone a 12 or 16 way wedge.
Also wood being what it is, crooked also often means the heart will not be centered in the block; and if it is the round will not be when it encounters your wedge so your 4-6 pieces could end up very oddly proportioned in size.
I had a dump trailer and delivered some loads but quickly decided I was dollars ahead to discount the price and let them fetch it. If you have an efficient splitting set up you can process faster than you can deliver. Your volume in TN will be people looking for cheap heat. They will find a truck or trailer to come get your wood for a discount that you wouldn't want to deliver for.
As an observation, I ran three machines. The Eastonmade 22-28 which would eat anything, the Dyna SC14 35hp Kohler which could handle a 4 way wedge in reasonable sized and not overly knotty wood, and a kinetic Super Split HD for most re-splits.
The Dyna was set-up with a 4" cylinder and regen circuit for a fast cycle time. The Eastonmade ran a 5" cylinder at a higher pressure/two stage pump so it was capable of tearing itself up if you didn't pay attention.
The rub is for one size fits all you need to choose between oversize which costs more to build and operate, speed which requires ideal feedstock, or tonnage/versatility which sacrifices speed for power.
In the end maybe modify a more open Dyna deck/saw system and then weld an Eastonmade type log lift and splitter chamber onto that you could easily access at working height to position blocks resplits etc.

mike_belben

Thanks SB.  Lot of good info.  

I still have my conventional 5" vert/horiz 13hp splitter and my manual limb rack for non splits.. Nothing hydraulic will outpace that thing.  

I think im set on building a sliding chute thats slaved to the split cylinder with one way snake fangs to advance.  I will probably put an atv winch on top with a hammer cleat for anything that fusses about feeding that way.  


Still on the fence about conventional or box wedge design. Plusses and minuses everywhere ya look.

Praise The Lord

GRANITEstateMP

Mike, Stavebuyer brought up a lot of good points!

My biggest issues are:

Diameter, Max is 15in. Any bigger and you'll hit the bar and chain when feeding. Also, with any of the larger diameters (11-15) we usually have to resplit once anyway (4 way wedge, not enough umph to use the 6 way much)

Crooked Wood - The longer the stem I feed in, the more cuts before lifting another log on. 12-16 ft wood is great, but sometimes I need to trim up a 12ft piece into an 8 to get it to feed easy. Yeah, maybe I could have fed the 12 in, but if you wrestle that stem for 10 minutes to feed so you get 3 extra cuts, it's not worth it time wise.  I'll process the 8 and hand cut the 4, no waste and keeps the efficient machine happy too.

Knots/Ugly - sometimes you just look at a log and say your going to the hand cut pile! If its got big knots, or a large branch was trimmed off, I sort it out. Again, I could split it with the machine, but why take the chance snapping the wedge for a piece of wood you know is gonna come out ugly, just do it on the regular splitter and come out ahead in the end.

I got better at sorting what it likes and don't like after making a bunch of mistakes. Good news, I actually learned from said mistakes!  Some of its trial and error too. One thing we still fight is when we're cutting bigger diameter wood and it falls into the split chamber, sometimes. it'll bounce back ups and knock the chain off. It may happen once every 5 or 6 cord of bigger stuff, or three times in one log, it's just one of the quirks with this machine, once your aware of the possibility that it can happen, you try and prepare for it.

I'd love to have a better processor that can do bigger diameter wood, do it faster, and do it more mechanized, but what I've got works for now (and it's paid for) and when I looked at taking the next step up in machines, it was too big a leap, maybe soon, maybe not
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

jimbarry

A lot of good points made here with running a smaller processor like the hakki pilki 37easy. That's what we have. Runs ok most of the time. Straight into the back of the truck we can do a cord in about 1.25 hrs between the wife and I.



 

The big knarly stuff goes to the other log deck for putting through an EastonMade 12-22. 
Time wise, we can do a cord on the eastonmade just about the same time putting a cord through the processor.



 

GRANITEstateMP

Jim, I like your raised brow for loading.

We average pretty near the same, 50-75 minutes a cord for 16-18in wood, a bit less when doing 22's.  We've had some sub 40 minute cords doing 22's, but the wood was "just right" and the mechanical gods smiled down on us that day! ;D
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

GRANITEstateMP

We've had a bit more than 3.5in of much needed rain between Thursday at 5pm, and when I dumped the rain gauge at 7am today (Sun). I'm not complaining, we really need the rain, but I need to move wood too!  It wasn't raining when I started at 7:30 this am, just overcast.  First log through the processor started good, the the splitter started auto cycling on it's own... Got the tools out and made on small adjustment on a small stopper/bolt. The machine is ALL mechanical, so from time to time you may need to add a tad of weld,or tweak a bolt.  Of course while I eas twisting the wrenches, it started to rain. Out comes the ultra high tech severe weather gear, ie, the 8x10 pop up from Princess Auto. It keeps most of the water off of me when processing, most. My buddy showed up once the machine was back up and running. The rain slowed as we got first cord done. I got the first trailer moved and the empty trailer backed under the processor. That when it really started raining!  We got that cord done, it was a bit of a challenge, then we called it a day!  I was soaked and headed in for a hot shower.  I'll finish cleaning the processor area, fuel equipment, dump sawdust, and deliver wood later, I think it's time for a rest, and wait til that Sun thing that's now peeking out to do a bit of drying!
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

GRANITEstateMP

update - We've been plugging away mostly getting 3 cords done a weekend some weeks better, some not.  After today we're up to 77 cord done and delivered so far.  I know I've got another 10ish cord worth of orders to complete then we'll work on topping off all our own wood cribs (me and my buddys/helpers/friends, try and stay 2 years ahead on wood)

My portable PTO unit has been acting a bit hoo-key lately, the belt seems to slip way more than it used to.  I am gonna try and investigate that at some point this week, after I reload the log deck
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

mike_belben

look close at the vee of your pulleys, the cheek area of the sheaves will wear out and go from being an A belt to a B belt basically.  they'll slip in time. 
Praise The Lord

GRANITEstateMP

Mike, I was thinking it'd be something like that. Pretty sure they are TSC pulley made out of some Chineseum metal.  I had a load to deliver yesterday, so I haven't had a chance to look into it yet. It also has a few tension springs that are probably due for replacing.
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

GRANITEstateMP

new, bigger idler/tensioner pulley and a stronger tensioner spring installed this evening.  I ran it for a few with the belt cover off, seems to track fine, we'll give it a hot suppah test tomorrow!
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

GRANITEstateMP

So...I'm not too bright.  I got my little PTO unit all tuned up, new belt, bigger idler pulley, bigger tension spring, all in an effort to make sure that when the processor is splitting nd hits a hard chunk/spot/knot that the TO unit doesn't slip it's belt and not put the power to the hydo pump, where I need it.  The first tree through was a small, maybe 8in dia red oak, pretty straight not many limbs... yeah, it started to slip on the second block through. I tried profanity, but that didn't fix it! I had my brother run the machine a bit while I inspect ed things. Yeah, turns out that it wasn't my newly repaired portable PTO unit slipping, it was the hydro drive belts on the machine!  Power from thr PTO drives a gearbox with 1 pulley off the front and a triple pulley on the rear. The front pulley is a constant to the elevator, the triple runs the hydro pump, somewhere in there is a belt to the chainsaw too??? Anyway, I shut everything down and re-tensioned the triple belts, low and behold, no more slipping! At least most of the maintenance on the PTO Unit is done!

Couple pics, this is some of the stuff we're feeding the processor right now, a good mix of oak and maple with a bit of black birch, beech, and ash. I got 2 tri axle loads of this stuff, and 95% of it can go through my little machine!



 

I had this other landing all cleaned up on Sat afternoon.  Then Sunday a friend called and had to take a few more trees down for a driveway on a new house lot. Guess I won't complain about free logs! A few are outdoor boiler bound, the rest are firewood. The giant oak butts were payment to my buddy for trucking



 
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

mike_belben

Swearing didnt fix it because you didnt throw enough tools.  Try harder next time. 

;)
Praise The Lord

GRANITEstateMP

Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

mike_belben

hey it happens.  keep an eye on the mail, i sent out billing invoices on thursday.  smiley_contract_point
Praise The Lord

GRANITEstateMP

I will send you an envelope full of Biden Bucks :(
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

Thank You Sponsors!