Been drooling over processors for many years. Then I finally found a good price on a used one. Drove about 5 hours to pick it up. I watched it work but the guy didn't have enough time on it to run it efficiently but everything worked fine, so I figured why not? 18" round could almost use an 8 way wedge. supposed to process up to 22" dia. 22"splits 6 ways would be really big. It split thru this hidden knot just fine. bigger crotches tho? No. Here I thought I was done swinging a sledge. LOL. This crotch got stuck and need some "persuasion." Processing some oak. Chain came off. This happened more than I'd like to admit. There is a learning curve to this attachment. Not just how to operate it but how to adjust the settings. Lets try some elm? sounds like a good idea right? Surprisingly it split just fine. River birch got stuck on the wedge every time. Lets do 3 pieces of hackberry. This will work fine right? Wrong!! Obviously the grab arm couldn't reach the last piece, Duh.
So you can control the speed of the cutting bar? It seems like you would have to really stay on top of your chain sharpening, so it’s not forcing a dull chain through. What’s the hydro flow on your machine? I have always liked that style of skid processor. Congrats!
Can you drop another round and push them on through? Or is there not enough clearance if 'stuck' to get another in there? These have always seemed super efficient to me but I've only ever got to watch one run for a few minutes at the Bunyan show. They had a stack of straight grained red oak logs they were demonstrating with so no real idea of how they handle 'adversity'. Congratulations on finally realizing a piece of equipment. My dreams consist of a forestry winch or small dozer with winch ideally. Not in the cards at the moment. Maybe someday.
There is an adjustment on the processor that controls the speed of the bar. I just had to play with it to get it set right. The chain actually stays pretty sharp. It's a harvester chain which has a higher amount of nickle in the metal so its harder metal. Plus the chain is out of the dirt. The only issue I found was if the chain keeps coming off it dulls the chain. The machine is 16.9 gpm.
Tree service brought a present while I was cutting. This piece had a couple nails sticking out of it. I take the good with the bad. The .404 .080 chain throws some massive chips. And it almost drinks bar oil. I went thru more than a gallon in a day. Bottom right chip is a normal chip. This is the pile after about 5-6 hours of working. Maybe 4 cords? Hard to say without stacking it. They claim up to 2 cords an hour. I guess in a perfect world with perfect wood it could be possible.
Wow thanks brother. so far I have a video if the chain falling off. Lol. Kinda don't wanna post it tho.
It depends on what u mean by stuck. If splitting elm we all know how stringy it is. So it splits just fine but all the pieces are still clinging onto the wedge then the next round will finish the splitting and push them off. But if you try to split a crotch with two 16 inch rounds. It will get stuck on the wedge. Then I gotta bust out the sledge and go to pound town. A couple times I had to disconnect the processor and hit the round with the forks of the skid loader to free the round. I should have known better.
I just bought an oregon electric sharpener. It seems like its about the same speed as 2-3 swipes with a file.
