Started the firewood harvest a bit earlier this year ...

Trying to finish up my "in process" from April before bringing in any new wood for the fall. Here is my new processing setup.

Super Split positioned just outside the garage (shaded all day this time of year). My cub cadet and trailer deliver the wood to the SS.

Starting to figure out the best way to use the SS. Large rounds are noodled in half and then two slices are taken off each side of the half (these slices are then split in half). The middle section is then split in half and the bark side is split off leaving two nice rectangular pieces from each half for the back of the Fireview.


After splitting enough to fill up two hand carts, off to the stacks



Using these on the ends of my odds, chunks, ugly corrals. Split 12 hand carts full over the last couple days.



Buried my sawbuck this morning processing my log pile



Learning to be smart about what I want to split with the SS and what I just want to noodle into manageable chunks. My noodle pile and recycling of the noodles in the chicken coop.



Now, it is time for a cold one

 

Sure looks like you've got it figured out.

Now, what kinda beer?

 

Well, my German friends tease me that it is a "woman's" beer (men drink pils they laugh), but I've always liked the wheat beers. In this case, Curious Traveler Lemon Shandy.

 

Lemon Shandy - it's a good summertime beer, but only 1 for me as the lemon is a bit strong. You've earned it, you can have more than one.

 

Nice work, and nice setup! That Super Split sure looks nice! I bet you can really crank out the splits with that.

 

Love that sawbuck - you got cast iron legs on that? Great system ya got there!

 

If you can live with the horizontal mode only, I bet you'd love it. Biggest surprise for me is the work table is very nice; just slide pieces around never needing to lift them for subsequent splits and then slide them off the end into the hand carts. In my current setup, I only need to lift the log from the ground once; much easier on the back than hand splitting. The height is very comfortable for me and I'm over 6'3". If you love to power through the real twisted grain and crotch pieces, I'd stick with the hyrdo.

 

I'm a bit of a tortoise when it comes to firewood processing. Nice to have the short cycle time of the SS, but I enjoy taking my time and getting the shapes and sizes of splits I want.

 

Was looking for sawbuck plans last year and found this site: http://www.instructables.com/id/Workmate-Sawbuck/

Since I had a nearly 30 year old workmate that didn't get much use, decided to try it out. Perfect for what I need; strap the logs in place with a bungee and be careful not to nick the workmate top (or add top cover - I've nicked mine a couple times but now I've developed a better feel for it and it no longer seems to happen).

 

Your work mate can also work as a temporary table when splitting larger rounds. I put my workmate between my spliter and trailer.

 

That looks like a perfect height for your set up. I'm not sure of the maximum diameter log I will try to split with the SS. I have split halves of about 24 inches; not sure I would want to split too large a round as it is just too heavy to move around on the work table and the wedge on the j-model SS is a bit short. I'll know better what I can do once I get back into my "normal" wood. I've been working on this yard tree silver maple lately and it is so twisted and knotty. Looking forward to running some elm, black cherry, red & white oak through it later this fall.

 

It is always good to see what others are using. This site is a wealth of ideas. I would like to see a closeup of your workmate/sawbuck.

 

Great set-up HarvestMan ... looks like a good work area too...

 

I didn't forget; just took me until today to get around to it. As memory serves me, these are about 14 inch 2x4 and angled about 85 degrees and screwed together; outside edges cut at 45 so as not to jab you. I use a bungee to hold logs in place. I mark out log using chalk and alternate cutting from each side until final cut is done in the middle.

 

HarvestMan Thanks for the pics. That look easy enough to throw together

 

Great weather here today (70 and a nice breeze), so took advantage to finish cutting my log pile, noodling the big silver maple crotch pieces, split and stack. Wanted to get it all done today, but still have a bit to do tomorrow.

The last of the silver maple (tree service rounds ~3.5 cord) was noodled, split and stacked today! This took so much longer than I thought it would (delivered on 4/23/15) . Here are the before and after pictures:


Before and after log pile pictures.


Noodled some rectangular silver maple pieces for the back of the stove. Here is what is left to split and stack.


And the bonus wildlife picture: found this guy on the lumber wrap I had used to cover my sawbuck and rounds.

 

Finally completed processing all the wood I had and it is all now in the stacks. Time to start bringing in some more! My spreadsheet tells me I am a bit over 18 cords (this sounds a bit high, perhaps I need to check my calculations and measurements again). I have 7 pallet rows and hope to have them all filled by November.


Here are a couple pictures from today's split session. This is mostly red and white oak plus a few pieces of black cherry and sassafras. This has all been down a very long time; a bit of it is past its prime for sure, but 95% is solid. Will top cover and save this for 16/17.

 

Very nice! Lots of work done there. You and the Super Split seem to be getting along pretty well!