Updated with photos of processor!! Back at it after a long break

[lowroadacres]

I am almost asleep at the computer on a beautiful Canadian Thanksgiving weekend Saturday night.

The FIL, my boys and I spent the afternoon with the tractor and the saw pulling tree lengths out of the bush. We will do the same on Monday and maybe a few other times this coming week as we need to be ready for a visit from my friend's Wallenstein firewood processor.

We have enough wood for this winter but we want to get a head start on the next two years by getting at dead standing and downed wood from this year's flood damage.

Given that I have been busy with other pursuits for several months it was a nice break to return to the woods. I will post pictures of the log lengths gathered up early in the week and then when we are processing I will get more photos.

If we can time it right we may even be able to borrow the neighbour's old grain truck to load the wood straight into to save further time and wear and tear on our bodies. If I can get 2 years ahead this way then I can go back to cutting a 1/4-1/2 cord per week on my own as exercise and wood pile maintenance. I figure if I can average a quarter cord a week year round then I should always have more than enough for myself which means I can sell enough to cover my saw, fuel and maintenance costs.

 

[thewoodlands]

Sounds like it was a great work & family day for you, looking forward to your pictures.


Good Work
Zap

 

['bert]

Wood sure like to see some pics of the Wallenstein wood processor. Is that the new one that winches the log to the machine and then you cut it with your saw? Looks like the saw location is high from their video

 

[raybonz]

Sounds like it was a great work & family day for you, looking forward to your pictures.


Good Work
Zap

+1 This sounds pretty interesting to me ! Look forward to the pics!

Ray

 

[lowroadacres]

The day started nice and early with a bit of a scramble to get fresh fuel for the processor and a couple of Tim Horton's coffees but despite the scramble we were in the cutting area just minutes after sunrise.

The following are photos of the Wallenstein 830 processor that my friend has half shares in. I have only two regrets from yesterday's very good day of cutting....

We did not have the grain truck ready to load into so we have another trip to the bush coming for loading to get the wood home.

The second regret is that my wrists hurt from more chainsaw operation than I have done in one day for a long time. If you would have told me how much wood one could process is such a short time with this unit I am not sure I would have believed you.

Enjoy the photos and I will post some more thoughts on the Wallenstein shortly.

 

[lowroadacres]

More photos of the Wallenstein and the results

 

[raybonz]

Looks like a cool machine! I could use a video as to exactly what it does.. I think I will look it up..

Ray

 

[lowroadacres]

More results

 

[lowroadacres]

And one more

 

[lowroadacres]

As we got rolling yesterday morning it took me a little while to get into a rhythm as I have never had opportunity to cut wood quite so quickly.

The only photo I wish I had taken was of the splitter side of things. The splitter has some serious power and the four way wedge is adjustable. Given the size of some of the wood we were cutting yesterday and our little stove the six way or honey comb splitting wedge plate would be a nice addition to the unit.

This machine works best in wood that is 12-24 inches across as smaller wood can be a bit fiddly to deal with especially given how the wood comes up into the chute. The simplicity of the unit is impressive. My one caution would be that this is not a unit that one just wheels around in really tight quarters. We were able to have a good pile of wood ready, limbed and relatively straight. The machine really liked the 18-24 inch ash but the drawback there was keeping the saw sharp.

Most of the wood we cut through yesterday was beaver killed bark free ash. This wood is rock hard with a nice slit line right to the core running top to bottom on the tree.

I will completely resist the temptation to put this in the stove right now as this wood is for March or April at the earliest but mostly for next winter.

Once we have the wood home I will post more photos. I can hardly wait to try this processor out on the large stash of beaver killed oak that we are working to figure out a solution to dragging out of a small gully about a mile and a half from home.

Prior to that getting to the oak we have cord after cord of downed dead ash yet in the bluff less than half a mile from our house where we were cutting yesterday.

 

[raybonz]

As we got rolling yesterday morning it took me a little while to get into a rhythm as I have never had opportunity to cut wood quite so quickly.

The only photo I wish I had taken was of the splitter side of things. The splitter has some serious power and the four way wedge is adjustable. Given the size of some of the wood we were cutting yesterday and our little stove the six way or honey comb splitting wedge plate would be a nice addition to the unit.

This machine works best in wood that is 12-24 inches across as smaller wood can be a bit fiddly to deal with especially given how the wood comes up into the chute. The simplicity of the unit is impressive. My one caution would be that this is not a unit that one just wheels around in really tight quarters. We were able to have a good pile of wood ready, limbed and relatively straight. The machine really liked the 18-24 inch ash but the drawback there was keeping the saw sharp.

Most of the wood we cut through yesterday was beaver killed bark free ash. This wood is rock hard with a nice slit line right to the core running top to bottom on the tree.

I will completely resist the temptation to put this in the stove right now as this wood is for March or April at the earliest but mostly for next winter.

Once we have the wood home I will post more photos. I can hardly wait to try this processor out on the large stash of beaver killed oak that we are working to figure out a solution to dragging out of a small gully about a mile and a half from home.

Prior to that getting to the oak we have cord after cord of downed dead ash yet in the bluff less than half a mile from our house where we were cutting yesterday.

I did find a video at YouTube and I can see why your wrists would be sore! That's alot of cutting and the wood height seemed a bit high for chainsaw work.. A hydraulic auto chainsaw would save lots of work as the only thing that slowed that puppy down was the time it took to cut the wood with a chainsaw.. Still a pretty cool contraption! Thanx for the pics and good work!!

Ray

 

[lowroadacres]

At this point I don't think I can blame the cutting height so much... Bottom line is I am out of shape

I am making head way on getting back in shape but the soreness in my right wrist today is proof that I need to do more small batches of firewood cutting.

 

[begreen]

That looks great for a woodlot where most of the stock is 14" or less in diameter. It's pretty slick. Here is a video of it in operation:



Problem for us is that most of our trees are much larger than that. I will be breaking up 36-45" rounds this week, with maul and wedges.

 

[dafattkidd]

That machine is insane. Wow that is super efficient. Sure beats my crappy methods. But truthfully I'm a scrounger so most of my wood is already bucked to size, but if I were a backwoodsman like some of you guys, that machine would be highly desirable. You are fortunate your friend is so generous with his tools.

 

[lowroadacres]

@ begreen.... My friend has run logs as big as the opening through the splitter. If he is doing that regularly he is going to add the 6 way and possibly even the honey comb splitting plate to the machine. Some of the 4 way splits we were making yesterday are going to require further splitting for our little stove if I have not been able to upgrade it by the time this wood is seasoned.

As far as efficiency's go I am still a firm believer that slow and steady wins the race, is better for your saw and other equipment and it is certainly better for the body to do some firewood every week as compared to the way I tend to binge on cutting wood.

If I were to average a quarter cord of wood each week over the course of the year I would average 13 cords annually. This would mean that for around three hours of total work including cutting, splitting, stacking, transporting and maintenance I would be more than ahead each year.

Now I must confess I am terribly spoiled with acres of woods within two miles of my home.

If I were to effectively harness my kids and my in laws to work alongside me regularly I am almost scared to think of how much wood we would end up storing up.

Come to think of it maybe we should start writing it into the schedule alongside hockey, football, music, etc.

I am working to get a quarter cord sleigh built for behind the old yamaha snowmobile so that I can aim for that average. If I pull it off it will have room for the tools and one helper on the back of the skis. Ah, firewood dreams on an evening when it was cool enough for a small fire that I made bigger than I should have. Now I have the house too warm..... And that is only with poplar in the stove.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

As we got rolling yesterday morning it took me a little while to get into a rhythm as I have never had opportunity to cut wood quite so quickly.

The only photo I wish I had taken was of the splitter side of things. The splitter has some serious power and the four way wedge is adjustable. Given the size of some of the wood we were cutting yesterday and our little stove the six way or honey comb splitting wedge plate would be a nice addition to the unit.

This machine works best in wood that is 12-24 inches across as smaller wood can be a bit fiddly to deal with especially given how the wood comes up into the chute. The simplicity of the unit is impressive. My one caution would be that this is not a unit that one just wheels around in really tight quarters. We were able to have a good pile of wood ready, limbed and relatively straight. The machine really liked the 18-24 inch ash but the drawback there was keeping the saw sharp.

Most of the wood we cut through yesterday was beaver killed bark free ash. This wood is rock hard with a nice slit line right to the core running top to bottom on the tree.

I will completely resist the temptation to put this in the stove right now as this wood is for March or April at the earliest but mostly for next winter.

Once we have the wood home I will post more photos. I can hardly wait to try this processor out on the large stash of beaver killed oak that we are working to figure out a solution to dragging out of a small gully about a mile and a half from home.

Prior to that getting to the oak we have cord after cord of downed dead ash yet in the bluff less than half a mile from our house where we were cutting yesterday.

I did find a video at YouTube and I can see why your wrists would be sore! That's alot of cutting and the wood height seemed a bit high for chainsaw work.. A hydraulic auto chainsaw would save lots of work as the only thing that slowed that puppy down was the time it took to cut the wood with a chainsaw.. Still a pretty cool contraption! Thanx for the pics and good work!!



Ray

+1 with ray. with so much other manual work involved for that machine, I vote for the auto chainsaw too.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I would make some sort of stable platform to stand on, but I'm like 4'3" or something

That is really extra cool.

Looked it up- $9K, or $9.6K depending on model

 

[MasterMech]

Even just a mount to attach a gas-powered, manually operated saw would be welcome. And save your wrists.

 

[oldspark]

Hey lowland is that a ford tractor you have, I just bought a 2120 and so far like it a lot.

 

[lowroadacres]

Yes it is a Ford/New Holland HST 20 hydrostatic. Unbelievable little wood beast.

Here are some pics of bringing the wood home and stacking it as we go. Lots of hands to day made the work light. I have inlaws who live on our acreage in a second home and they love to cut and stack firewood. My wife and I and the three kids still at home got at the stacking today too. We got two loads home today with the truck/trailer combo. There are at least two more loads ready in the cutting area.

 

[lowroadacres]

More shots of the hauling and stacking.

 

[lowroadacres]

Some of the stacking done. lots more to go

 

[raybonz]

Some of the stacking done. lots more to go

Nice work LRA! I like your cool trailer too.. If I had lots of people willing to help I'd probably process my own wood too.. Thanx for the pics!

Ray

 

[shawneyboy]

So this is a splitter, with a chute and a winch? Without the auto saw it seems like a really expensive 25 ton splitter with a bit of bling. The bling I am sure could be made for far less than the extra 7 - 8 grand you would pay over a 25 ton splitter. Am I missing something here?

Of course this is coming from someone who splits by hand.......

Shawn

 

[lowroadacres]

@shawneyboy..... I don't disagree with you at all as I am personally all about simplicity. As I have stated on the forum many times before I prefer averaging a 1/4 cord per week over the year doing it one small trailer load at a time as it is far easier on the body and on the gear....

At the same time, if a friend is willing to lend you his time and his toys, and it enables one to get caught up....

You won't hear me complaining