Not much going on these days wood wise beside the second solar company talked to wants more trees down and the EAB seemed to have a revival. Spent most of yesterday bucking and splitting at leisure pace with a couple podcasts.
Picked up my first tote thanks to my neighbor. Definitely has the potential to be a game changer. Because my wood processing for these logs is away from the wood shed, if I can leave wood in a tote, it cuts my handling down by two hops. Now I need more of them and a test drive of putting them under the wood shed with the tractor.
When I loaded my first ones last spring, my Kubota L3301 had all it could do to pick up a full tote of green hardwood. It was not much better when I moved some totes in the fall. But I give up a lot of capacity because of using my 3 point to quick attach adaptor for the FEL bucket on the rear with clamp on pallet forks or on the front. I need to bite the bullet for a dedicated set of forks for maximum carrying. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My Kioti 2610 is rated for 1835 and it looks like the 3301 is at 1131. Hopefully I’ll be okay based on my math of a cord at about 5k, a 1/3 would put be at 1650 plus the forks. That leverage of bucket forks makes a big difference. I am a little nervous about carrying a full one down the hill. Might have to take the long way around or put it in the pickup for transport. I saw a guy selling firewood by the tote and claimed they were ½ cord. My tote is about 1/3 and I know they make some bigger ones but I don’t think they make a 48” cube. If they did they would be 2500lbs+ full. So either he’s got a great loader or he can’t read a tape measure and do some easy math.
I like your setup it looks efficient. I have an unrelated question. Does the height of your wood splitter bother your back at all when you use it? I’m 6’1” & as I get older (58) I find the bending over the splitter for longer periods of time or even bucking give my back fits. Thanks.
At 5’8”.... nope. I’m standing normal. If I split all day, I might feel it from picking rounds up off the ground. Still better than vertical . Have you thought about making a little platform to put the splitter on to raise it up? Or even blocks? I kind of miss roadside hoarding because it was nice to have the rounds in the pickup and split off the tailgate giving me a little table for the bigger splits without them falling to the ground or balancing against my hip. Many a time I wished I was at least 5’10” or even 6’ but it comes in handy. I found if I carry a 12” block in each hand, the scaffolding flexes enough I can walk without my hard hat hitting when I worked construction.
My Timberwolf is low. I use the cheap car ramps. Pull splitter to spot. Put ramps in front of wheels and pull forward up onto them. (The other way puts the ramps in your feet’s way) A piece of block under the jack to level it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Today was tractor service day (fluids and filters) and needed an excuse to warm up the oil so swapped out the bucket to the forks and brought the tote down to the woodshed. At this point with only one, it’s a handy transport mechanism (leave it at the splitting area til ready to stack). Need to do some trail maintenance before I do that again - little sketchy in one spot. One more ½ cord and that’ll be 6 cord I’ve stacked in the new wood shed (3 old, 3 new). On the way back grabbed this log and added it to the pile.
Nice spot you have there Matt. The shed is looking good. Have you tried to find more of that metal for the roof?
I’ve looked and looked without any luck. Thought I got close and drove over an hour to find out the guy told me the wrong lengths and it was full of holes. I’m trying to keep it to 0-1 seams/joints. The others are 19’6” I believe. It’s metal decking - a bit sturdier than normal metal roofing. These pieces came with my house when I bought it.
Well I thought my scrounging days were over before...now they really are! I have a buddy in town that runs a tree service and if he needs to get rid of wood he usually charges for a one ton dump truck worth of logs depending on species and condition. I have not and won’t pay for wood. He called me last week and said he’s doing a job by my house and wondered if I wanted the wood for 1/2 his normal price. I appreciated the offer but had enough logs I haven’t processed yet to pay for wood. He mentioned he had a guy on vacation and wasn’t sure when he’d be doing the job since he wanted two guys for that one. I made an offer, how about I take the day off from work, work that job with him so he can get the job done and for trade I’ll take the wood. He liked it and it was setup for Friday. What was supposed to be a few hour job tripled as the homeowner added trees while we were there. I ended with 4 ½ loads and I got to drove the dump truck. Got a little on a 462 which was nice. Would always start first pull it seemed. Afterwards I used my tractor and grapple to tidy up the piles. It was a good mix of easy falls, rope assisted or machine assisted falling and good practice reading compression Mostly ash with large maple and a twin large oak
Holy chit! Thats some serious wood! Great barter on your part. Ill have to get you a T shirt that reads "will work for wood" What size are you Matt? Do i see a Connecticut GTG at Matt's place? Ill let you run the 500i and wont even ask for wood in return!
I’ll have to say that was the first time running a Stihl, it was nice. A brand new chain probably helped lol. The other guy didn’t seem to want to trade his 372 but I would have liked to try it. It was thirsty for sure I noticed when I fueled up the saws. A GTG works for me, don’t have to go far and enough wood to buck and split! Any and all splinters welcome haha. I’d love to compare the the 500i to my 572
