Hakki Pilkie or Japa processor?

[Husq395]

I think I have it narrowed down between a 38 or 43 Hakki or Japa 365 or 395 any help or info would be great.

[barbender]

 I've never ran either. Both the brands make machines that excel on smaller diameter wood. I think they are faster than anything else in that 6"-12" diameter area.

 Being I do a lot of bundled firewood, the Japa "Perfect Split" box wedge set up is very intriguing to me, overall it looks like a well laid out machine with the sawdust collection and shaker grates under the splitting wedge to collect debris.

[barbender]

I should add, @jimbarry and @GRANITEstateMP both run Hakki Pilke machines.

[jimbarry]

As @barbender noted, both machines do well in small diameter, straight wood. We have a love/hate relationship with the 1x37Easy we run. It runs a 25hp gas motor and fully hydraulic. Still thinking about selling it though, as 80% of the wood we get has to be done with chainsaw and vertical splitter.

[Husq395]

Why do you have to buck so much of your wood is it crooked or to big? I talked to salesman from both brands they tell me that they are better than before for crooked logs and that diameter of cut is larger the models I looked at done 14-16" .

[jimbarry]

Why do you have to buck so much of your wood is it crooked or to big? I talked to salesman from both brands they tell me that they are better than before for crooked logs and that diameter of cut is larger the models I looked at done 14-16" .

Yes, crooked and/or too big.


 
Be sure to talk with as many owners of these machines as you can. Get their feedback just like you are doing here. Ideally, if someone you meet has one and you can watch on the side lines, or they may allow you to operate one.  New machines or old, they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

[Husq395]

I like some other processors like brute force and others like them but everything is an option on those machines until you get what you want there 60-$70,000 I have a friend that has a dyna and it doesn't do well with crooked logs either.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Husq395,

Where abouts are you from?  If you close to NH, you can use my Hakki 1x37, it's the manual pull down style.  I can show you all the quirks and would be willing to let you do up a few cords while I help with questions and get some easy chair time! ;D I will investigate the models your looking at and see if they compare to what I have.

Matt

[jimbarry]

@Husq395  What sort of volume are you looking to process?

[barbender]

 I think I could sum firewood processor production like this- garbage in, garbage out. Even machines that can manage to process crooked, gnarly logs spit a bunch of junky firewood out the chute.

 I have a Dyna SC-14. It is a solidly built machine, pretty straightforward but a little light on the engineering. By that I mean designed by the guys fabricating them, things are not always laid out in the smartest way. But I find that common to pretty much all North American processors. 

 A new Dyna SC-14 was $64,500 the last time I checked Dyna's website. No way I could justify that price for what I do. 

 One thing to keep in mind with the max diameters. I think my Dyna is rated for 16" max, the saw box is actually a bit larger. But the problem with even a 16" log is that if the log has any crook, sweep, bumps or knots is that it will fight you or not fit at all. You don't want to work with a diet of logs that has an average approaching the max rated size. If all of my firewood logs were from 6"-10" that would be perfect for my machine.

[Husq395]

Yes granitestmp that would be great but I'm in Pa. And Jim I do around 50-75 cord bucking and splitting I would like to get to around 125-150 my first year with a processor and then more from there I also do camp wood. That 14 is what my friend has bought it a good while back was pretty cheap then.

[GRANITEstateMP]

I did notice that the Hakki processors, the logs come in the left side of the machine, and out the right (from where you stand). On the Japa's they come in the right and out the left. How is your yard setup, could it work either way to feed.the machine?  I've found myself to be programmed to work left to right, so it'd be a built in learning curve for me...but I am a bit different!

[Husq395]

I like the left to right also but I can run either direction in my yard,I was told by the Japa rep. that both companies where owned by the same parent company.

[Corley5]

The style of processer in question seems overly complicated to me. Just my observation when comparing them to my 14-12 Block Buster and similar machines like Dyna, Brute Force etc.