Efficiently cutting alot of tops

Recently bought 70 acres of woods that was logged pretty heavily and would like to get in and get the tops. Looking at 500-750 cord My question is what would be the most efficient way to go in and get this wood

 

Should be able to do it in a weekend or two, if you can find a couple guys to help. You're gonna need the following equipment:
1.Stihl MS260
2.Wheelbarrow
3.x27 Splitting Axe
That's about it. Cut it, split it, load it, and bring it home. Don't forget to take pictures. Oh, and welcome to the forum. You'll like it here. Plenty of smart people, and an occasional smart alec like me.

 

4. A sawbuck - great tool for gang cutting piles of branches.

 

Sorry for the derail, but...
Shawn, can you remind me how you spaced the verticals for your sawbuck? You had a slick system with the middle one off center.

 

md1tzel , welcome aboard! 500-750 cord? Lordy. Dat's a lotta' firewood.
Should be able to knock that out in a couple minutes or so.
Good ideas so far.
I like Dennis' plan to just buck where they are, then load up. No sense handling any more than needed.
I like to (although I don't always) have a trailer close when splitting, so the splits get tossed in.
If you plan to stack in that same location, that's not always necessary. I just REALLY dislike bending over to pick up splits off the ground.

 

Thanks Mike! The short side is 16" on center - which is the length I like to cut my firewood to. The thinking was, I could use that to "eyeball" my lengths, and that it could support a slightly oversize piece (17-20") for trimming. That said, I rarely use it that way. I mark my lengths ahead of time on the log, and position them on the sawbuck where I won't cut into the legs.

The large side is 24" OC, which was simply the remainder - all the parts are made from five 8' 2x4s cut in half.

 

one stick at a time....

 

That much wood? I think a winch would be a great investment. Even if you don't skid to a landing, just freeing the tops And moving to a clear area to cut will stop you from having to navigate the mess of twisted limbs, etc.

 

That was in my mind too. Tripping over all that with a saw in hand isn't a good idea.

 

My friend and I worked about 20 acres several years back that had been logged and his tractor was a huge help to drag the tops out at least to get a saw to them without doing the monkey saw shuffle.
Welcome aboard md1tzel

 

piecing out tops in what I'm assuming is a near-clear cut is a lot of work.
Depends on the terrain as to what will be most efficient - any skidder/harvester tracks left behind can become mud holes.
plan out trails and use a snatch block with rope to bring pieces closer to the cutting & loading area.

To me it makes more sense to leave smaller stuff in long form and process in an H-buck, no sense in bending over to pick up 3-4 pieces instead of 1 that can be cut to length right next to the spilling and stacking area

 

Wait a sec....did you say your looking to get 500-750 cords?!?!?!?

If so, your going to need more than a wheelbarrow and a friend. That's a mountain of wood and even more work. I'd be thinking of creating a landing - a place to haul out the tops to be cut and split. Cut the tops into manageable lengths and skid them out via the logging roads.

1000+ hours...easy, tractors, saws. I'd even think about using or buying a firewood processor. 500 cords cut, split and stacked would be 25 cords wide, 20 cords long and 4' high. That's 100' wide, 160' long, 4' high.

I'm really having a hard time believing that there is up to 750 cords of tops in 70 acres. Maybe someone else can chime in who knows better

 

Thanks for the replies I'm going by what the logger told me he thought was in there for firewood they took out 20 semi loads of logs which worked out to 600,000 board ft of sawed lumber not sure my self how do you estimate that much wood just going to start at one end and work my way to the back

 

For that much firewood, especially tops which are probably jackstrawed all over the place, you're going to need heavy equipment. My first inclination would be an excavator with a hydraulic thumb, and a ground guy with a chainsaw to clean up the stems. You basically want straight-ish pieces and knots should be cut flush. Then pile it up for a forwarder to bring it to a landing. The excavator can pile brush, or even better, feed a tub grinder. The logs on the landing can be sold as-is or put through a processor. I can imagine 500-750 cords if the property was clearcut.

If you're trying to do it by hand, good luck. Most of it will rot before you can get to it.

As far as 600,000 board feet on 20 semi-loads of logs? That one got me to laughing. It's theoretically possible, but then reality sets in. I'm not even sure you could get 600,000 bf of tightly stacked and banded lumber on 20 semi-truck trailers.

 

If you're after 500-750 cord (or 1/5th of that) it sounds like you're planning on selling wood, so the suggestions to get heavy equipment would be best. You'll probably want to hire some help as well.

 

I can't even imagine that much wood. No advice here. However, would love to see some pictures when you get a chance.

Good luck and safe cutting! Welcome to the forum too!

 

I am not familiar with logging practices. However; from reading the comments above, below is what I've taken from this thread.

Loggers obviously only want the board ft from the trees. They simply leave the tops of the trees where they lie. You are going to go in and harvest the tops for firewood.

Thinking of the top of a tree, you'd be processing a great deal of smaller diameter branches. Many that will not need to be split? Or are we still talking significant diameter that will require a great deal of splitting?

Just from a business sense, here are questions I have to help determine what equipment you purchase:

1. You own the land, so you don't have access to these tops whenever?
2. Your plan to extract 500-750 cords will take place over 1, 2, 3, 4 or more seasons?
3. Are you purchasing equipment simply for the extraction of this wood?
4. Or are you creating a business that will go beyond?

 

I guess if the logger was after lumber grade trees, there could be that many cords. I cleaned up a 50 acre parcel years ago and they left entire trees. They would hit a hollow or rotten log and leave the entire thing. Do you plan on working 5-7 full days per week? if you have that much and some funds, I suggest asking the logger for a quote to skid the tops near your landing, but do not let them push them into a pile as they are a nightmare to pull apart. I would then delimb and create a log pile and rent a firewood processor (assuming you have a tractor to load it). You will grow very tired just limbing, let alone hand cut that much wood. If you can not rent a processor or buy one, i suggest making a decent sized saw buck. Set it up somewhere so the pieces drop into your truck or on a lower landing. I would then buy an MS 660 sized saw with a 32-40 inch bar, and many chains (likely will get some muddy wood). If you are using a small saw and manually moving a lot, this will take years and likely will rot before you get through a lot of it. Just my thoughts.

 

At 700 cords from 70 acres you are going to need to get 10 cords per acre. 10 cords going to be 1280 Cu feet or a pile that is 8x8x20. So basically you will need to harvest 64 logs that run a foot in diameter and are 20 feet long per every acre. Treetops obviously are not all 20' long logs that are a foot in diameter so you are going to be looking at a lot more pieces. Are you sure there is that much? It sounds like the entire 70 acres was liquidated.