Which firewood processor ? Chain, blade or guillitine

[jph]

I am thinking that I should start looking for a used processor.
Should I go for a machine with a chain saw type blade, a circular saw or as I have just spotted on Ebay (UK) one that uses a guillitine action. The seller claiming that the guilltine is much faster, quieter and uses less fuel.
Thanks
John

[David_c]

Cicular saw is best. I would imagine the guilatine works like a shear.

[sprucebunny]

I read somewhere that the guilitine doesn't work well on dry wood.

[Timburr]

Hi John

Circular saws are faster, by far, than chainsaw processors. They are noisier and limited on log diameter, unless you have one with a humungous blade
Chainsaw ones are easier to make safe with guarding. They take larger logs.

I've seen a guillotine type at a forest show, but wasn't in action whilst passing. The logs in the basket / cage were 'crushed' at the cut and there were splinters everywhere......not pretty firewood, but probably dried and burnt well, 'cos of the extra surface area.

Cheers Tim

[Sawyerfortyish]

I have a Multitek processor that cuts wood with a chain. It is way more safer than the circle blade but also slower. I know a guy that has a processor with a circle blade he said he could cut,split and fill a 35 yrd dump trailer in about 3 hours. I have run a circle sawmill for 25yrs I've seen a lot of stuff in logs and I wouldn't want to sit in the seat of a circle processor if you hit something. The processors I've seen you sit just off to one side in front of the blade. My Multitek you stand off to the side behind the sawbar. I have to say I can process at least 1 cord and hour and have done as much as 2 1/2 in an hour. It just depends on the size of the wood and how straight it is. I've never seen one of those shear type processors so I can't give you an honest opinion.

[Corley5]

My 14-12 Block Buster uses a saw chain and works very well.  Frozen dirt on logs will give you fits :(  Dirt that isn't frozen isn't nearly as bad but takes a toll.  In clean wood a chain will stay sharp quite a while.  I've got twenty chains that I run in groups of ten so I grind ten chains all the same without resetting the grinder.  If I hit something that damages a chain to the point that one grinding won't straighten it out it's taken out of the lineup and ground again when when its group comes around the next time.  It amazes me that out of 5 cuts with a 1/4" kerf on a 100" log you'll hit the only stone frozen to the log on one of those cuts.  Never fails ;) ;D   I think the operator station is too close on those big circular saw processors also.  I wouldn't feel safe bullet proof glass or not and I'm not sure the cabs have it ???  Hakki Pete and a couple other Scandinavian manufacturers make small machines with carbide tipped blades or plain steel saw blades.  I would think that small stones would play h### with carbide tips.  I've heard that the shear type processors like the Chomper are great in green wood and the shearing action breaks the wood fibers so the wood cures faster.  On the other hand if the wood is dry or frozen it will crush the wood instead shearing it.  If I was always going to be processing and stockpiling green wood I'd seriously consider one.

[bottlefed89]

I've been checking them all out, as I hope to buy one soon as well.  I run a bundling business, and we hope to do 1500 cords this year, though we've had a pretty slow start...  Anyway, I really like the circular saws, though the downsides have been mentioned..  The cord-king compact looks like a nice machine, but carries a awfully heavy price tag.  I like machines like the multitek simply for parts availability.  The circular saw will no doubt cut faster, but I don't think that is the time consuming part of the process.  In all of my research I will be trying to buy a multitek.  There are a lot of cheaper machines out there, but they all look cheap in comparison.  Anyone else on here run any of the others?? 
Sawyerfortyish : which multitek do you have??  What would you say is your actual average production??
Corley5, what about production with you blockbuster??

[Corley5]

In fairly straight 100" wood 8-16" in diameter it'll do a standard cord an hour pretty easy with one man running it and another keeping the live deck full.  Smaller wood especially stuff under 6" really sets production back.  Twelve foot long wood 16" in diameter with a 6 way wedge and it'd do even better ;)  Ah the perfect world ;) ;D :D