Firewood on a Hakki Pilkie 1x37

[Tacotodd]

 Try some ATF in the fuel, about 1 quart in 10 gallons. ATF is almost ALL detergent and has a little petroleum in it for lubricant and some additional additives to make trannies do what the engineers want them to do. It cleans well and I've used it with NO problems in my 99' Tacoma with almost 300,000 miles on it. My Tacoma really likes it. You never have to drain anything that way and it's never going to hurt anything that way.

 But, just to make minimum octane rating, start this fuel mix with higher octane gas.

 Tacotodd, hence my name

 Todd

[GRANITEstateMP]

Just a quick update. We did 4 cord today off the processor, 2nd or 3rd week in a row the Pred has been running WOT with no farts, pops, burps, or misses!  I did add a tick of atf to the fuel at one point. I'm thinking the heart to heart talk I had with the motor is what turned things around :D

Moved most of my equipment home tonight after 4 weekends of mobile processing from a friend s farm.  Lots of general maintenance and set up this week, got a short list of orders to fill, then me and my guys need to put up next years wood for ourselves! Oh, and get some cut and stacked to season up for the folks that want to.pay more $ for dry vs getting a cord ahead every year and buying green. I don't mind, that dry wood $ helps pay for the familys Christmas things.

With any luck, and good weather and wood we may surpass our previous yearly cord record!  It'd be neat, but we do it for cheap heat a bit of exercise, make a few bucks, and have fun with friends.  We've got a bunch of cords moved this year, but also had enough weekends off to do family stuff too.  

[Spike60]

That last paragraph sums it up pretty good. Doing firewood with a few buddies or family members is more recreation and fun than work. Similar to playing hockey, softball, horeshoes or whatever. And the fact you're doing something constructive lends a legitimacy that doesn't exist if you simply say, "Honey, I'm going to hang out with the guys today and have a few beers."   Of course a few beers naturally follow all of these activities.

[GRANITEstateMP]

spike,

It also helps if we make just enough $ to cover buying our new toys! I mean tools. ;D

[Bruno of NH]

I don't understand it.
Even though there isn't much money in when you add it up.
I just can't stop doing it along with the sawmill business. 

[GRANITEstateMP]

 It's been awhile so I figured it's update time.

The Predator engine came out of it's funk and is running as good as it can  :D.  I've kept good fuel in it, and added a bit of ATF from time to time. It'll get the Seafoam treatment when we shutdown for winter.

I got to check my talley sheets, but we're just over 140 cord, that's a new record for us!  I was hoping to hit 150, but we're expecting snow today, so I'll be plowing roads tonight so that'll kill this weekend.  I got a minor procedure on my throat before Christmas that'll sideline me for a few day's, so I don't see us getting to 150. Still a great year, and we all still got all our fingers too ;D

I've been buying in grapple loads when available and when I got extra cash. Putting some away in my emergency / mud season pile and sorting the rest. Some are too big for the processor so we'll hand cut, some are ugly and that will go to the farm as boiler wood.  

 
That's 2.5 triaxles worth of logs before sorting



 
started sorting



 
working through the last of this years mud season stash. Once the brow/deck is empty, it'll get a good cleaning!



 
The dooryard is "kinda" clean, getting ready for winter weather

[mike_belben]

Looks good, nice and tidy. 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Glad I got the door yard cleaned up and some wood in the basement, winter showed up yesterday!



 


 some of the emergency processor wood stash for mud season



 This was just a few days ago, glad I got a few more buckets into the basement!



 I filled the rack after I took pics

[Bruno of NH]

We got the snow also.
My yards a mess , did get some stuff cleaned up.
I won't start cordwood again till January 1st

[Corley5]

  We're on borrowed time here as far as snow goes.  Nothing on the ground and nothing in the forecast until next weekend and pretty nice for the week ahead.  I've got things pretty well picked up and caught up.  Going to tie up loose ends tomorrow and go back to the sugar bush Tuesday.

[mike_belben]

Funny that it was 45 up in mass all week while it was snowing and 18 in TN.  Water froze up on the wife while i was gone.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Mike, that stinks! How come things always go sideways at the home front, when we're not ON THE HOME FRONT? Always works that way for me too!

Corley, I have been saying we're on borrowed time since Thanksgiving, but I still dragged my feet on a few outdoor projects!  One or two decent afternoons and I'll get those pretty squared up too.

Bruno, I got called into.plow for the town at noon Sat. Made it almost all through my plow route before a hydraulic hose for the front of the wing gave up the ghost!  Me and another guy, (he was a way bigger help than me) got it changed out (went from wing post all the way to a valve bank behind the cab :(), then finished my route. We stopped for dinner, and the storm switched to rain then back to snow... It was a mess, some trees down, lots of low lines, just tons of fun! Got home at 5:30 Sunday am, just in time for the wife to head up to the farm to milk!  I hope to do a bit more cordwood before Christmas, but I also have a line on some free tree length at a house lot, that might take priority!

[Bruno of NH]

I lined up a selfloader today.
A excavation contractor that I trade sawn wood with gave me a load of firewood logs. 

[jimbarry]

We have a similar processor Granite. 

20200114 firewood processing - YouTube

Its served us well now for about a year. Its a 2014 model. Only issue I have with it is the ram will stall on some tough pieces of maple or yellow birch, stalling the engine.

[barbender]

Those Hakkis are really fast in the smaller diameter wood, if I didn't have a mix of the larger stuff I probably would've went with a Hakki myself.

[jimbarry]

Our mix ranges from 3 inch to 24 inch. Anything over 15" and/or gnarly and/or I think will cause me grief at the processor goes to the log deck for chainsaw blocking.



 

[mike_belben]

We have a similar processor Granite.

20200114 firewood processing - YouTube

Its served us well now for about a year. Its a 2014 model. Only issue I have with it is the ram will stall on some tough pieces of maple or yellow birch, stalling the engine.

If you back off the relief valve it'll stay running (which is better than bending a rod or removing the ring lands) but obviously have a weaker capacity.  
That is a good indication that a 2 stage pump or bigger engine would be beneficial.  Until physical structure parts start breaking of coarse. 

[jimbarry]

23HP Subaru not enough?

[GRANITEstateMP]

Jim, I like yours better!  Mine is older and I don't have the joysticks, I got to pull the saw down through the logs :( It does help to determine when its time to switch to a sharp chain!

Is that an Eastonmade splitter next to the processor? How do you like it?

[jimbarry]

Jim, I like yours better!  Mine is older and I don't have the joysticks, I got to pull the saw down through the logs :( It does help to determine when its time to switch to a sharp chain!

Is that an Eastonmade splitter next to the processor? How do you like it?

Yeah, there were plenty of pull type processors for sale. I have no interest in pulling down on a bar all day. I waited until a joystick come up for sale, took about a year of searching but I got it.
Yes, that's an EastonMade 12-22, one of their early model. Built tough and bulletproof. Haven't met a piece of yellow birch or crotchety beech it could not split. Hell of a machine.


 

[mike_belben]

Jim whats the yellow attachment on your CTL?

[jimbarry]

Jim whats the yellow attachment on your CTL?

CTL? Is that compact track loader? We call it a MTL here. Multi terrain loader.  The attachment on the front is a grapple.

 

[Walnut Beast]

They use that term here as well. The difference they say is a CTL is a rigid undercarriage and the MTL multi terrain Loader has independent bogies 😂

[barbender]

On the Cat machines, the models ending in 9 (259, 279, 289 etc) have the Cat undercarriage and are called Compact Track Loaders. The models ending in 7 (257, 277, 287 etc) have the ASV undercarriage and are called Multi Terrain Loaders. 

[jimbarry]

ASV undercarriage. Its a 257B2. I just finished rebuilding it. New tracks, frame and new front and rear idler wheels.