The Daily Firewood Picture Thread

[KEC]

If I have a cold engine that does not want to start I warm up the head and cooling fins with a garage sale special hair blow drier. Saves a lot of pulling and yanking and cussing. May not address the problem of resistance from the pump but still help.

[barbender]

I had an MTD splitter that started easy as pie, until the first time I tried starting it on a 20° day. The cold hydraulic fluid keeps the engine from spinning fast enough to fire and catch. I pulled that cord until I was blue in the face, nothing. Got mad and resorted to a sniff of ether, that got it going but I think it burned the rings after doing it a few times, because the engine started burning oil. 

 The better solution was to point a torpedo heater at the pump for 15 minutes. Then it would start up like summer.

[beenthere]

I often just pop out a plug, squirt a dropper or two of fuel in and replace the plug. If there is a spark at the plug, have good results.

[cutterboy]

I often just pop out a plug, squirt a dropper or two of fuel in and replace the plug. If there is a spark at the plug, have good results.

I do the same with my old splitter with a 8hp engine. But after 18 years I'm replacing the old Briggs with a 13hp Honda.

[Magicman]

A gas rag held at the intake will do the same thing.  ;D

[Al_Smith]

What you could do is replace the general purpose hydraulic oil with Dexron automatic transmission fluid . That skinflint small electrical contractor I worked for thought he would save money by replacing 60 gallons of Dexron with general purpose .Problem was it took half an hour to warm up enough to use the line truck at about zero degrees .Meanwhile he had 5 electricians that were getting paid very well doing nothing .Penny wise, pound foolish .I tried to tell him but what did I know ? I was just the job foreman .

[chet]

I put atf in my splitter years ago. Night and day difference to start in cold weather.

[Al_Smith]

ATF is good for a lot of things .Fact years ago when it got colder than a well drillers back sides every so often I used it for bar oil .The saws would start but they couldn't pump that thick  bar oil other wise .That said in that colder oxygen rich air they would really run good .I didn't operate very well though . I had so many clothes on i looked like I weighed 300 pounds instead of 200 at that time in my life .

[barbender]

 My splitter had ATF in it, and it still wouldn't start. It needed assistance in some form😊 I usually run ATF in my Woodmizer hydraulics,  but I switched that to oil made for snowplow pumps. I figured I'm operating in the same conditions😊 That helped some, but not as much as expected. I can still pop a 250 amp Mega Fuse on the really cold days😬

[barbender]

Also, I can say from my experience in the woods, where I got to experiment with different hydraulic oils on someone else's dime- not all hydraulic oils are the same, and like everything else, you tend to get what you pay for. The cold weather performance of the higher dollar oils was substantially better, that all comes down to that cold pour point number iirc. 

[woodroe]

Looking at the owners manual for my 27 Ton Troybilt says to preheat
hydraulic fluid reservoir for temps 20*F or lower.  
Doubt I'd be out there at much lower than 20* but was out there today at 25*
and with no wind and bright sun was decent wood splittin conditions.
Beats doing it at 65 with blackflies in your ears, nose and throat.

[barbender]

That's perfect splitting weather, IMO

[woodroe]

 

My little one man operation

[thecfarm]

You're only a little ways from me and you have snow in the fields?
Mine are bare in places and I can see the grass showing.

[trapper]

Still had problems starting my old splitter in the cold Evin with atf in it.  The other day my wolf ridge wouldnt start with electric starter on it.  Just bought a moving blanket from HF to cover hyd tank when warming the 0il.

[chet]

@trapper Before I put the ATF in my splitter I would back off the Lovejoy coupling connecting the pump to the engine. After the engine was warmed up, reconnect and go to work.

[barbender]

 I was running some birch through my firewood processor today. It's kinda tough to run the machine and hold the phone camera at the same time. It's pretty hands on, between throughing chunks that are too big back in the splitter box, repositioning logs, and catching the last cut as the last piece always wants to fall in the chute. 

 The Dyna is a solid machine, mine's an SC-14 with a 38 hp Kohler. It has a 14' conveyor, which was an upgrade from a 12' when it was made. I think it's a 2014, but I'm not even sure. I bought it 2 years ago on an online auction. Sight unseen, which was a bit nerve wracking as I had never did anything like that before. But, it only had 38 hours on it iirc, it looked good in the pictures and I figured how bad could someone screw it up in 38 hours? 

 Anyways, it was like new and I got a super deal on it so I am thankful for that. I was looking at Dyna's website the other day, a new machine the same as mine is now $64,500😬

  I still couldn't justify spending that much for my business- I don't want to have to work hard enough to support big machine payments😊

 There are quite a few things I would like to modify on this machine. Mostly small refinements, some of them Dyna is now installing on new machines. It needs guarding around the control panel, it would be really easy to lose a piece of wood when loading and wipe out the joysticks.

 Dyna has "log catchers" on the live deck now, basically 4 spur sprockets that grab the next piece and don't allow the one behind it to fall in with it. I am constantly fighting 2 pieces falling into the feed trough at once. I definitely want a set of those. 

 The bar plate is a primitive design that makes it WAY more difficult to change a chain than it should be.

 All in all, I would say a very good machine.
 

Birch firewood on the Dyna SC-14 - YouTube

[Walnut Beast]

Man that is a nice unit you have! Works pretty slick 👍

[woodroe]

Yeah that ts a slick splittin operation barbender has going.
Lots of moving parts but takes most of the hard labor out of it.
Thats what I would call production.
Probably took 3 hrs. or more to get through that 1 1/3 cords of Red Oak
behind the splitter in the pic above.
Slow going but had to wrestle with some of the 20-24" dia. pieces.
Lucky I didn't bust a nut. 

[cutterboy]

Been cutting ash again but this time in the brush and vines. The trees below were held up by the bittersweet vines but after some slashing and hacking I got them down and cut up.


 

 
Most of the trees I pulled out to a clearing and cut them up. They were then loaded into the little dump trailer and transported up to the barnyard and stacked up waiting to be split.


 

 

 

 
Rain, sleet and snow this morning so no outside work.

       Cutter

[woodroe]

Next up as winter permits. Like to pile cut the smaller 5' bolts.


 

[mudfarmer]

Got an OK deal on a small used TW splitter this summer and was going to sell my old homeowner unit but never got roundtoit, so far glad for that! Logs get skidded out to multiple different landings and it came in handy today to have the old splitter at hand instead of taking the truck out on the public road, around the corner and then back with the TW just to split two face cords and then have to bring it back to main processing area.

This is cherry and yellow birch from a small spot I am forcing to regenerate to spruce and pine. There are two good spruce and two good white pine providing the seed source but otherwise poor form cherry/birch/red maple/beech. It will take me a while 😂 A referral from another guy wants 2 fc loads delivered individually with some time in between, my niche but something the big boys don't want to do.



 

This splitter handled 5-20 full cord for the past decade and works great since the Briggs got thrown in a dumpster. Owes me nothing and not worth much might as well keep it! The predator is not great but it starts every time even in the cold after sitting for 8 months

[upnut]

After hunting season I have access to a nearby woodlot for firewood cleanup. Spent the morning getting several lodged red elm trees on the ground, this one was a bit of a challenge...


 

No damage done, ready to buck and split....

Scott B.

[Al_Smith]

I don't have a picture but I have an assortment loaded on my fire wood trailer today. Ash, oak ,  
cherry and cotton wood .I was surprised at the cotton wood that wasn't cut until late September .It takes more air but so far it's burning just fine .Maybe it won't be so bad after all .

[upnut]

Took advantage of the frozen ground to harvest the last of three cherry stubs, tops blown off but the stems were still solid. Mud season on the horizon, hustle the firewood....



 

Enough of a load....



 

Dad's old sawmill shed now a wood shed, splitter inside needs to get busy!



 

Scott B.