Wood Processor Recommendations

[Chuck the Canuck]

Hi. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a nice little wood processor for some like myself who cuts and sells wood in his spare time--a one man operation. I don't have a whole whack of money to spend on this. I currently process 36-42 cord per year using my MS 440 and an ariens 27 ton splitter (I don't sell by the cord, just bundles bundles bundles) but I'm wondering if I could up my game to maybe 75 cord a year or more if I was using a handy processor that pulls the tree length log (20') up onto a deck, cuts it to size, splits it and spits it out onto a conveyor that would make nice neat little mountains of wood for me to pick up and stack. Does such a rig exist for under 20 grand? Any recommendations?

 

[mellow]

I have seen some deals on Chompers from time to time, $15-20K range. Not this time of year though, usually during the summer.

Wouldn't consider this a killer deal but it is in Canada: (broken link removed to http://www.forestryequipmentsales.com/chomper-firewood-processor-model-14pda-automatic-o8535.html)

 

[redRover]

Depends how much you want to process.

These guys
http://www.dyna-products.com/
make some pretty cheap firewood processors for around under 15k US, depending on what features you want and so on. They don't have a conveyor, but you could probably buy one (or a hay conveyor?) or make one for not that much more.

I think the bigger question is how much you would need to spend for the rest of the equipment to make it worthwhile. I.e. would you need a tractor or a crane of some sort to load the logs onto the deck, would you need more machinery to wrap the extra bundles, etc?

Also, don't forget the used market, which might help you out on the purchase price. However, for $20k, depending on where you are, you could certainly make a workable processing setup.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Yeah, I was looking at the site you mentiioned yesterday, but I went back and had a closer look at the Chomper on their web site, and I gotta say, I kinda like the looks of 'er.... especially the one-man operation...

 

[mellow]

Part of chompers claim to fame is that they squeeze the log while cutting so it releases quite a bit of the water in the grain, which translates to faster seasoning. No one has been able to deny that claim as far as I have seen, but the study does not mention moisture content before and after. I am sure it does help, but how much is the question, 160 days is not enough for any hard wood to season if you ask me.

http://www.chomper.net/Seasoning Study.html

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Well, I like the looks of the Chomper, the one-man operation and all, and I like the idea of the shear (never sharpen a chain again???) but there's an awful lot of heavy duty moving action going on with that machine, and I'm wondering what maintenance is like... I'd be a bit worried about seeing things breaking down through wear and tear on a unit like that pretty regularly...... Might require a larger footprint than I have to offer right now as well.... I guess I'll take some time and study what's out there and what's available....

 

[mellow]

Hud-son makes some units in your price range as well.

http://www.hud-son.com/forestry-equipment/firewood-processors/

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Yep. That badger looks like a nice little self-contained unit. Probably more in the size range of what I was thinking of.... Thanks!

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

I kind of like the looks, and the price, of this wallenstein WP630:

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[Bacffin]

Chuck,

The new WP series is coming out with a rocking cradle to lock your chain saw in. Do a search and you can see it in action. I'm thinking about one of these myself.

Bruce

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Yep. The more I look, the more I'm really liking the Wallentstein. And at around 10K it isn't going to break the bank either, although when I tried to explain that to the wife she started looking a wee bit queezy... more likely it was one of those "here we go again" looks....

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Just out of curiosity, in the chomper video the narrator says that sheared wood dries faster than cut wood. How and why??

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

In some of the videos I've watched with the Chomper in action you can actually see copious amounts of water being squeezed out of the log as the shear cuts through the logs, so I guess that would mean that there's just that much less water left in the wood that needs time to evaporate out of the wood during the seasoning process???

 

[mellow]

That is the assumption, that you can sell those logs as being "seasoned" quicker.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I just looked up some utube videos on the chomper and I was amazed. Chuck you are right, water is just short of squirting out of the end grain when the shear cuts the back side of the log. And for the complexity of this machine I would say the money they are asking is not bad considering its a 1 man operation. My concern would be down time, you know with all the moving parts this machine has it's going to wear down somewhere. The hydraulics alone is a maze of hose and levers. Warranty would have to be huge to sell me. Other than that, I really like it.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Yessiree, when you see a machine bouncin around the way that Chomper does when it's in action, well it kinda makes me think that things are likely going to need replacing and fixing on a pretty regular basis... I don't think I want to deal with a beast like that in my yard, but boy oh boy, it would sure draw a crowd of gawkers to watch it in action I bet......

Cheers,

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Yessiree, when you see a machine bouncin around the way that Chomper does when it's in action, well it kinda makes me think that things are likely going to need replacing and fixing on a pretty regular basis... I don't think I want to deal with a beast like that in my yard, but boy oh boy, it would sure draw a crowd of gawkers to watch it in action I bet......

Cheers,

I tried to look for some reviews, couldn't find anything solid.

 

[mellow]

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/firewood-processors.137363/#post-2246

Looks like AS has switched to the same software as here... interesting.

 

[JustWood]

At less than 100 cord/year I wouldn't bother with a processor. A TW-6 with wedge options,lift and conveyor would be plenty. I'd look into a tilting table or deck for poles or rounds. A table would give you more options for scrounged rounds or short wood. Theres cheaper ways to make wood than with an over rated and overpriced processor.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

Yessir, that TW-6 is one fine looking piece of equipment... it would look dang nice in my yard. I'll have to get me a price on it....

 

[mellow]

Check out a TW-5 as well, I looked at one that had been VERY well used for about 6 years and the seller still got $5K for it, so they hold value well.

(broken link removed to http://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Timberwolf-TW-5-Log-Splitter-/271174959103)

 

[flyingcow]

I've watched the TW in action. Damn neat looking unit.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

At less than 100 cord/year I wouldn't bother with a processor. Theres cheaper ways to make wood than with an over rated and overpriced processor.

Yes, you're probably right about that. I'd like to get up to something between 50-75 cord per year, which is why I got thinking that maybe a processor could help achieve that. But thinking on it, perhaps if I was able to start working smarter, reduce the amount of times I have to handle wood between c/s/s'ing, maybe cuttin a whole whack of logs up into rounds before moving onto splittin (like 6 cord at a time or something), or just somehow stream-lining the whole process..... a feller could end up wasting an awful big pile 'o money tryin to make an extra couple a grand per year, and I've got a great saw & splitter already, so..............

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Yes, you're probably right about that. I'd like to get up to something between 50-75 cord per year, which is why I got thinking that maybe a processor could help achieve that. But thinking on it, perhaps if I was able to start working smarter, reduce the amount of times I have to handle wood between c/s/s'ing, maybe cuttin a whole whack of logs up into rounds before moving onto splittin (like 6 cord at a time or something), or just somehow stream-lining the whole process..... a feller could end up wasting an awful big pile 'o money tryin to make an extra couple a grand per year, and I've got a great saw & splitter already, so..............

I understand that depending on the amount of wood you cut and split in a years time may be less than 100 cord a year, whats that turn out to be in revenues less overhead? What I'm trying to get at is the cost of a one man processor at say $35K over all (or even less used) and any other costs related to the operation. Then, what I would like to think of as over touched wood, would be a factor for me, how much the wood is handled by either hand or loading type machine.

If the chomper for instance, will load the tree length log, cut and split the log and the conveyor places it into the pile, I think with just that portion of work I may have saved 20 man hours of labor vs a splitter. I'd like to walk into my home at night knowing I put in a good days work but not falling over looking for the advil bottle. A $35k note on a machine over 10 years or so may just be the answer for the amount of wood processed.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

The way I do things now, I start cutting 16" long rounds from my main pile of tree length logs, all the while having to pause in order to lift and haul the rounds to various racks (between the shed and the shop mostly) where they'll sit until I'm ready to start splitting. I usually cut and stack rounds until I have about 3 cord stacked up and I don't have anywhere else to put them. Then I get out my Ariens and start splitting: I fill up a wheel barrel at a time, roll over to the drying racks and stack it, then back to splittin..... So in my ideal world, I'm thinking, hmmm, if I had that little Wallenstein WP830 wood processor I could set it up beside my tree length pile, winch a log onto the deck, cut it, split it, fill the wheel barrel, take it to the drying racks and stack it, and repeat ad nauseum until I be rich...... The wood processor in this case would supposedly remove the stage where I'm lifting/hauling/storing 16" rounds that will eventually have to be lifted off the racks to be split..... For around 10K, I could easily be talked into going this route, maybe..... I don't know if it would really be worth it though....

Below is some pictures to give an idea of my work area......