Equipment ante

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SolarAndWood

SolarAndWood

Minister of Fire
Feb 3, 2008
6,788
Syracuse NY
With my current saw/splitter setup, it takes me about an hour to buck and an hour and a half to split a cord. I am potentially going to have a glut of ash to process and have been thinking about how best to process upwards of a few hundred cord of it. Seems like the small processors under 20K would probably cut my time in half but they are fairly limited in diameter and finicky about straightness. But, as you get bigger, the price goes up very quickly. I haven't found one of those guys that will come in with a big processor in the area.

Do I just suck it up and do it with what I've got or is there some option I'm missing? The alternative is to take whatever the logger can get for it in log form.
 
A few things to consider besides efficiency are:

How much is your time worth? If you truly enjoy cutting/splitting and have the time it might be worth it to just go for it.

How much wear and tear is that on you? That is a LOT of wood to handle and I know I would sure be feeling it when done.

Will you be able to get to all that before it rots? I know I always have big plans to split wood, but other stuff around the house always seems to pop up and get in the way.


Now with all that said, that is a great score, I can't even imagine that much wood! Make sure and take lots of pics for everyone to drool over.
 
Your points are what I have been mulling over. Right now firewood is a game I do around the house that I stop doing when its not fun or just don't feel like it. This is 2 hours from the house where we are supposed to go and relax. The other consideration is keeping up with the logger and not pissing him off. I haven't figured out the logistics of that either as we don't have a lot of clearing and it is rugged terrain. The high quality stuff will go to the mill and hopefully pay for both the operation and a couple years of property taxes. I'm hoping the firewood pays the property taxes until we do another selective cut in about 10 years.

The score actually breaks my heart. It is mature forest with a lot of ash with EAB starting to show itself. After hearing the experiences of those in the midwest, I'm not inclined to wait and hope for the best.
 
Firewood is fun for me as well. With natural gas/hot water baseboard heat, I'm not saving more than a few hundred dollars a year, I also do it because I like it. I can honestly say as much as I love cutting/splitting wood, that much wood for me would become a chore.

Another option you might consider is cutting/splitting on shares. That way you'd have more firewood with less time invested and more time to relax. It also would let you cut/split when you feel like it. Now I'm sure there are tons of headaches that come with that too, so I guess it could be a mixed blessing.

Sorry to hear this great score comes at a price. I was envisioning you in line at a local store and running into someone clearing land and striking up a deal.
 
I think selling full service is the only way to get the money out of it. Few people live year round in the area and those who do have plenty of access to wood. The market is the folks who are willing to pay for the convenience. Still thinking through the options at this point.
 
Your not going to keep up with the logger.

There will be more firewood in the tops left over than you can shake a big stick at.

If log form is paying - do it. Cut the tops for firewood and move on with life. My opinion is that you are gonna kill yourself trying to do it. Like you said - I can stop if I don't feel like it. When you make it a job it takes on a whole different personality (just like pro fishing or golfing).

You will have enough undesirable stuff to keep you plenty busy making wood.

Just my opinion.
 
I don't think I'll ever be able to process a cord in 2 and a half hours. I can't imagine wanting to do it any faster than that. That would be a full weekend of work to get a years worth of wood for me. I currently spend an hour nightly for a month or two and about 3 or so saturdays a year getting my wood. That includes transport and loading and stacking and then restacking and restacking, lol.

I guess my point is that you are a millionaire on this forum and you are asking if anybody knows a way for you to make a quick hundred bucks. Sounds kinda silly to me.

BUT, as always, my rule is that we all need more toys. You included! lol.
 
Danno77 said:
I guess my point is that you are a millionaire on this forum and you are asking if anybody knows a way for you to make a quick hundred bucks.
Click to expand...

lol, just picked myself back up off the floor. I am just trying to find a way keep a property that's been in my wife's family for a few generations that is subject to ridiculous property taxes because it is unfortunately within weekend driving distance of a whole lot of money on the East coast.

I've processed 35 cord in the last year with my current home made setup, not sure that a few hundred is out of the question. There are a number of guys hanging out around here that makes my 35 look small time.
 
SolarAndWood said:
I've processed 35 cord in the last year with my current home made setup, not sure that a few hundred is out of the question. There are a number of guys hanging out around here that makes my 35 look small time.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying - I am kinda like that myself...BUT, If your looking to pay the bills, ya gotta do the math. Wear and tear on YOU and equipment over a multiple year process v.s. payment in log form.

What is the going rate per cord in your area (remember EAB doesn't get to travel far from the source)?
How much for saw logs?
Time?
Your investment (equipment)
And keep in mind that you will still be producing firewood from the undesirable stuff.

Just food for thought.
 
Jags said:
If log form is paying - do it. Cut the tops for firewood and move on with life. My opinion is that you are gonna kill yourself trying to do it. Like you said - I can stop if I don't feel like it.
Click to expand...

The only way it works is if I am up there for a few weeks while he is doing it. He can skid right to the sheds, so I would block, split and stack in the shed while he is running the good stuff to the mill. Firewood sells at a decent premium up there, so my guess is it is something like 10x what I would get for the non-premium logs. I am going to walk the property with him in a few weeks. My guess is he will tell me that he will make me as big a pile of logs as I want, just stay out of his way.
 
Jags said:
SolarAndWood said:
I've processed 35 cord in the last year with my current home made setup, not sure that a few hundred is out of the question. There are a number of guys hanging out around here that makes my 35 look small time.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying - I am kinda like that myself...BUT, If your looking to pay the bills, ya gotta do the math. Wear and tear on YOU and equipment over a multiple year process v.s. payment in log form.

What is the going rate per cord in your area (remember EAB doesn't get to travel far from the source)?
How much for saw logs?
Time?
Your investment (equipment)
And keep in mind that you will still be producing firewood from the undesirable stuff.

Just food for thought.
Click to expand...

I never get to produce firewood from desirable stuff :lol: Firewood gets upwards of 3 bills a cord up there. Otherwise, the logs go to pulp which barely covers the trucking. I think the splitter can handle it. It is a simple dumb horizontal on a big beam. And I am too young to not be able to.
 
SolarAndWood said:
Jags said:
If log form is paying - do it. Cut the tops for firewood and move on with life. My opinion is that you are gonna kill yourself trying to do it. Like you said - I can stop if I don't feel like it.
Click to expand...

The only way it works is if I am up there for a few weeks while he is doing it. He can skid right to the sheds, so I would block, split and stack in the shed while he is running the good stuff to the mill. Firewood sells at a decent premium up there, so my guess is it is something like 10x what I would get for the non-premium logs. I am going to walk the property with him in a few weeks. My guess is he will tell me that he will make me as big a pile of logs as I want, just stay out of his way.
Click to expand...

Well, if it helps your thought process - White Ash keeps very well in log form when compared to many other flavors. If you are only trying to work up the undesirable stuff, and firewood has a good price point, you may be on to something. Personal decision my friend.

Ummm.... at $300 a cord that puts this in a whole nuther category.


Note to Jags: buy stock in Ibuprofen.
 
Hello S&W-
Are you talking about full cords or facecords.
Your times seem slow for a facecord and crazy fast for a full cord.
Either way, make a big enough clearing and have the logger make
a seperate stack for firewood logs. They can sit for several years while you poke away at it.
I got a buddy whose sole income is firewood. He uses nothing but a saw and a maul-splitter.
Yes, he's an animal.
 
SolarAndWood said:
Danno77 said:
I guess my point is that you are a millionaire on this forum and you are asking if anybody knows a way for you to make a quick hundred bucks.
Click to expand...

lol, just picked myself back up off the floor. I am just trying to find a way keep a property that's been in my wife's family for a few generations that is subject to ridiculous property taxes because it is unfortunately within weekend driving distance of a whole lot of money on the East coast.

I've processed 35 cord in the last year with my current home made setup, not sure that a few hundred is out of the question. There are a number of guys hanging out around here that makes my 35 look small time.
Click to expand...

Solar I guess we can call you Jed Clampett with all that money. :snake:


zap
 
Heah Kenny, nice to hear from you. Those are real cord not what folks in our area commonly refer to as cord. For bucking, I am just counting turning a pile of logs into rounds. For splitting, just turning a pile of rounds into splits. I have been thinking about where I could stack that many logs up there and probably could get away with it the more I think about it. Just would have to get a better winching system for the tractor to move them to the sheds. I think this may be the only workable plan and he should have room for a few hundred cord if he goes 15 or 20' high. I'd rather not clear any more than I have to up there.

I have a friend who used to sell wood solely split with the maul. For some reason, he now owns a splitter. My wife and I split our wood the first two seasons together with a maul. For some reason, she deserted me and I went to the splitter.

As for the splitting piece of this, I may just have the guy you used make me a 6-way for what I have. A lot of it is going to be straight enough that it should make a nice productivity improvement.
 
zapny said:
Solar I guess we can call you Jed Clampett with all that money. :snake:


zap
Click to expand...

lol, something tells me you have similar issues trying to keep Patterson out of your wallet.
 
SolarAndWood said:
zapny said:
Solar I guess we can call you Jed Clampett with all that money. :snake:


zap
Click to expand...

lol, something tells me you have similar issues trying to keep Patterson out of your wallet.
Click to expand...

Solar the one thing we can count on this winter is we will be warm.
 
So is that property in the Catskills or Adks?? It sounds like an awful lot of work for one person. Can you get a helper for a week or two or whatever it takes? It may be worth it. I would tackle it with help but not by myself...
 
ADKs. I kind of like splitting by myself, get in the zone and crank it out. But, you are right, doing a few hundred in a couple months 2 hours from home is different than doing a few dozen over the course of the year around the house.
 
SolarAndWood said:
With my current saw/splitter setup, it takes me about an hour to buck and an hour and a half to split a cord. I am potentially going to have a glut of ash to process and have been thinking about how best to process upwards of a few hundred cord of it. Seems like the small processors under 20K would probably cut my time in half but they are fairly limited in diameter and finicky about straightness. But, as you get bigger, the price goes up very quickly. I haven't found one of those guys that will come in with a big processor in the area.

Do I just suck it up and do it with what I've got or is there some option I'm missing? The alternative is to take whatever the logger can get for it in log form.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about a shearer? Or a feller/buncher? Are these your trees on your property? Is it marketable as lumber?

Not enough information.
 
Soon to be ours but frankly mostly the banks property. The dropping, felling, skidding is way out of my league because of both the rugged terrain and its just way out of my league. The logger will find the market for the good stuff. I am just trying to get as much out of the stuff that would go to pulp as I can. He will skid it to an area where I can get to with a small tractor, pickup and trailer. From there, my current thinking is to split it all and get it under a roof as we are in the big lake effect band off of Lake Ontario.
 
SolarAndWood said:
Soon to be ours but frankly mostly the banks property. The dropping, felling, skidding is way out of my league because of both the rugged terrain and its just way out of my league. The logger will find the market for the good stuff. I am just trying to get as much out of the stuff that would go to pulp as I can. He will skid it to an area where I can get to with a small tractor, pickup and trailer. From there, my current thinking is to split it all and get it under a roof as we are in the big lake effect band off of Lake Ontario.
Click to expand...

If he'll skid the logs into piles then you're golden if you can get your truck next to it. I say get as much as you can stand to cut/haul/split/store and eff the rest.
 
The cutting and splitting is the tough part. After that, it can sit under the roof until it is eventually sold. The problem I see is that it is a big ante to get from the dude with a saw and a splitter game to the next level. And, the next level of the game seems somewhat limited to smaller diameter straight logs. I think Kenny is probably right that I should have the logger pile all I have room for and use I've got. Maybe add a 6-way wedge and a second saw to my game.
 
Another thing to do is look at reducing property taxes. I don't know what programs may be in you area. But here in Michigan you can get reduced taxes on managed forestry lots. Or claim expenses on growing Christmas trees. My Uncle farms just enough of his property to have it declared agricultural.

Billy
 
Yeah, we've tried that. Then, they split off all of the property except the house and 40' wide sliver that goes down to the lake that isn't even buildable and say you owe them a hundred bucks less than your original bill.
 
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