what is your ideal processing layout? I always end up a mess. Typically, I bring home a load of rounds. I now have a setup to split and load onsite, but I don’t really care to do that. So, I end up with a big pile of rounds, which usually get split and piled. Then I’ll stack the pile, then move the splits to the staging area for the winter. I’m thinking of splitting the pile of rounds straight to the dump truck then stacking when the truck is full, or... running a long pile of rounds, run the splitter down the pile and stack parallel to the rounds and behind the splitter. I like to do each process to completion, but that seems to be too chaotic, but so does doing each process for an hour, and switching up. Thoughts?
Another helper? It’s work either way you describe. Split rounds right off the truck, toss into a pile, stack afterwards. Split on site, still gathering rounds close to splitter, loading truck, unloading straight to stacks back home? No easy way, unless we put our mind in a different place. But a helper can ease the task, no matter which way you get your wood CSS’d.... My 2 ¢
Cut down tree. Cut into rounds. split rounds. Load truck bring home and stack. Wait 3 years and burn.
I get tired of moving wood too many times ! I really like splitting within 1 step of where I'll be stacking in the shed. That's 1 reason I like my electric splitter. I can split right inside the wood shed. The more I do this tho. The more I realize that I need to make a firewood processor with an off bearing conveyor. That I can bring into the stump , pull the tree up onto and buck split and dump into a box on a trailer I can pull down the highway to my house. Then have an outfeed conveyor that moves left to right with a control on the outer end so I can bring the wood right to where I will stack it. Being able to cut every round to the exact length would make everything much neater ;-). But, in the mean time just having the splitter in the shed really helps.
I only burn 3 cord a year and since I am on the 3 year plan and have wood for 3 years then I only have to cut, stack, and split 3 cord a year. I like the exercise so I do not always do what is the most time saving. So I do not really have a set process that I use.
I burn 7-9+ cord per year. I will say that Rope has a pretty efficient system with the way he does his wood from the burn where he gets it.
I try and cut anything over ~6” into firewood length anything under at 4’. Then depending on what I’ve got going on ideally I’d split right off the truck to the wheelbarrow and stack each wheelbarrow load as it’s full. As for the 4’ pieces drop them in the crib and cut them down once it’s full and split and/or stack the same way. Usually I’m coming home with a good sized load and not really in a rush to process at all, being on the 5 year plan and already pressed for time for a number of reasons. So I will stack the rounds and poles into rows on timbers so that it doesn’t hurt it to sit and when I get the time I’ll bust up a bunch. All of this is done very close to where it will be finally stacked and so things kind of flow in assembly line fashion advancing toward the final stack pile. The walnut splits are sitting where the row of rounds is in the other picture just shows what I mean by assembly line set up everything is right there to reach and goes right into the stacks.
My usual plan is go out and cut, bring home rounds and depending on my ned for more, dump them or split them right off the truck/trailer. I then toss them fown my side yardwhere theyget stacked in racks. Id love a portable conveyer as the back racks are 20' from the truck. The real pain is if i need to sell one, but have rounds dumped in front of them. Trying to be more organized this year. That was one of the reasons for joining here.
I bring home the rounds, drag them from the trailer with my trusty Fiskars pickaroon and place them on the splitting block, split with my X27 then using my pickaroon I pick up the splits and load them in to an IBC. When the IBC's are full I pick them up with the tractor and move them out to the paddock to dry for a few years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think I've tried nearly everything, this year I left the splitter at the woodshed and just brought rounds back. I split them right off the tractor bucket and stacked immediately. My son usually helps, he typically will run the splitter while I stack. If rounds are too big to handle, I will either noodle them in the woods, or if they are easy splitting (such as some recent beech rounds) I will bring a maul and wedges and half or quarter them in the woods. Sometimes I get carried away and just split the whole thing by hand in the woods. I have been toying with the idea of towing the splitter behind my carryall and just bringing splits back to the woodshed. Will have to see how that works if I can ever get the carryall construction done.
The ideal for one may not be the best for others. Over the years we've had the best situation where we tend to cut in winter (especially early winter) and cut into rounds. We then move the rounds to where we want the wood stacked after it has been split. We then just stack up the rounds. Then we wait until spring and get out the splitter. We do all the splitting at one time so that we aren't getting the splitter out over and over. Once the splitting is done, we then just get busy and stack the wood. In the fall or early winter we top cover it and then let Mother Nature do her thing for drying. Sometimes, like as of late we haul logs out generally in 8' lengths (works out right for 16" cuts). The last 2 springs some great folks have come for our GTG and bucked up wood along with splitting. We've also fell some; we're open to many things.
My usual plan has gotten a lot more organized and kept the yard worlds neater as I got it figured out. Processing happens on far side of garage, in the "field." Softwood gets chucked behind the garage to be stacked there, hardwood goes into the back of the truck and driven over to the hardwood stacks at the edge of the back yard, nearer the boiler. Easier to manage snow this way, since I'm usually into straight hardwood by the time we really get buried. The softwood is a further trek from the boiler, but I can maintain the paths as needed instead of RIGHT NOW when snow falls. I used to unload rounds right in front of the hardwood stacks, split when I had a couple days of work ahead of me, then stack for a few days. As one would imagine, this left the back yard a mess. Now for hardwood I split over in the field, right into the truck bed, then stack one truck load at a time, usually on successive nights after work. Making a tow hitch to keep the splitter level when hooked up to the Deere has rally made the job easier, since that's the only thing I use the Deere for since the pto went. One day I'll get a new one in there and a set of chains, and move snow with it.
It was too difficult to get my entire lay out in one picture but to my left side of the picture is a gate which I back my truck in with my rounds and unload. Then I split them on the stump and then stack them on the pallets to the right and into the far end of the picture. After they season split and stacked for a year or possibly more I put them into the woodshed at the beginning of fall. Of course I took this picture when I had just completed my woodshed and Wood processing yard...now it’s covered with wood chips and splinters. When it’s daytime I’ll take a picture of the other end with the gates...I came up with this layout after reading and learning about proper wood processing and burning on here and another site for sometime.
My logs are dropped off my truck into my processing area on the left side of my sawbucks. I cut them to length and throw the rounds over to right side and back of the sawbucks. The splitter shed is over there, and out it comes, only a few feet. I split and toss the splits into a big double wheeled barrow. When it's full I take it over to stack right close by. This way, I only bend over once to pick up the round to be split. It's fast and quick, and the least possible handling by me.
Log loads excluded, I like to split right off the truck and trailer and make a big pile, then every April have our big fill the lean to day to do all stacking at once. But owb’s don’t require as seasoned a wood pile as stoves wood. My system mean that usually what goes in the owb cannot be more than 1-2 years old
The Most Recent load I had processed, I had black locust limbs that are about 8-11 inches or so across and 3-6 feet long. I had them brought to my house whole and then cut them here into rounds. The part about cutting them here is I didn’t load a massive load but with BL its just dense and I was only getting a little bit out at a time. Just helped me to bring my wood where my tools were than cut them where I don’t but I have split and stocked the trailer full with BL too. Either or seems to work for me. It’s often based on time since the wood is 45 mins away from me. I still have at least a half a cord left to get. Trailer loaded with about 3/4 cord. This was an average load that I took over. The pile that I would load up from was good easy access and most of these libs were somewhat easy to lift. I usually brought everything to the back of the house(why I didn’t take much of a picture of the processing area...??) split it and then this rack was east side of the house. I know not to move wood so much but better to do to it than not. Everything else has been in rounds and loaded back and then split at home.
How I process differs from load to load. If I have a ton of wood to get home, I will buck it, then anything that is a backbreaker gets quartered onsite. I have to play SUV Jenga, as you can see in my avatar, so some gets split further to fill out the load. If I need to turn and burn to get more loads in, they end up in a big pile to be processed later. If its just a single load, I will try and split it as it comes out of the truck, then into a pile for future stacking. (man I hate that part!)
I usually cut, fill the truck and bring it home, when possible the wife is there to help when I get home, I back the truck up to the splitter next to my pile, leaving 2' between the truck and splitter, grab a round turn around drop it on the splitter, split, and stack, all in a couple steps. The wife usually runs the lever and grabs the smaller pieces, I stack and bring her big pieces and pull them from the front of the truck to the back. Just having her do that I spend a third of the time messing with it, everything just flows so much better.
You’re also often at the dump from time to time so I reckon its broken down for you in managable pieces?
