My WoodEze firewood processor

I picked up a WoodEze processor this past February. I bought it from a really nice guy in VT. I looked at it last summer and apparently I was the only one who showed interest in it. We worked out a deal and he delivered it to me. Unfortunately, it didn't work! We spent some time fooling around with it, but we had no luck. I gave the guy $100 for fuel and we worked it out that I'd keep it and once I got it to run, I'd pay him the balance less the amount I had to put into it.
We knew the flow control was troublesome, but I wanted to check the pump as well. My nephew works for a company that builds and services buckets, booms, etc. for trucks so I borrowed a flow meter from him and checked the pump; very poor flow. I ordered a new pump, a flow control valve that a fellow WoodEze owner Marty Lapin suggested (Thanks!), replaced the suction and output lines and it worked!
Marty has made a lot of great ideas/improvements that I plan to incorporate into my machine as well. The first one will be to hard-mount the pump to the unit to the tongue of the machine. The pump, along with it's large cumbersome hoses are a pain to wrestle on and off the tractor. Details to follow.
For now here are some pictures of the improvements I completed so far:

This is the view from the tongue. You can see the new pump and lines. I also had a new jack that was identical to the old one kicking around that I used.



Rear quarter view. You can see the 4-way wedge here. I replaced the tires.



Side view. I replaced the bar, chain and sprocket. It had a mis-matched 404 bar, 3/8 chain and 3/8 sprocket when I got it!

 

We want action pics!!!!

Sweet!!!!

 

Pretty cool
A video would be cool to

 

This one is Marty Lapin's:

 

JEEZE OH CRIPE!

I was watching the vid and you scared the hell out of me when you bent over to grab that piece and then at the same time the vid jumped into fast forward!

Thought there was an accident!

 

Scared me to

 

Got me too.

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Had to come back and watch that again. That is such a practical design..... leaving the log on the ground and pulling it up on the machine and sawdust management, etc. I like it!

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Ah, the golden age before OSHA stepped in.

I like it a lot, but the lack of guarding by the saw is a bit worrisome. You'd have to be 100% on your game to run that machine.

I'd like to see the splitter section in action a little better, from the side.

 

That is pretty cool. I like how it advances the log.

 

Gets the job done in a compact size

 

That's actually fellow WoodEze owner Marty Lapin's video and it scared me the first time I watched it as well! Sorry, I should add a disclaimer when I share it!

Yes, it is a very well-thought-out design. You can essentially process tree length logs; no bucking to certain lengths, loading them on a live deck, etc. Another WoodEze owner, Doug Corrigan, told me he tracked down one of the original inventors. Apparently the thing was designed by farmer for farmers. It's very well built. It's not super fast; the manual stated about 1-1/4 cord per hour, but it's probably faster than bucking by hand, picking the wood up, running it through a splitter, etc. and it's going to be MUCH easier on my back!

The manual I have shows a guard on the saw bar. I'll probably add something, but in reality it's no more dangerous than running a chainsaw. Mine has seen some hard use but I'll get it in working form pretty soon.

 

That is a nice design. I have an upside down woodsplitter and that works well, but I think this design, morphed onto mine might even work better, that is because this one has the slasher built into it. I could see having something similar mounted onto my logging trailer and then loading the wood onto this machine by the grapple so I could get rid of the winch getting the wood started onto the machine. From there though, processing it would be a cinch with its built in slasher. It does have the limitation of dropping the wood on the ground after it is split, where as an upside down woodsplitter puts it right into a dump truck or trailer. Alternatively though, a person could swing over and grab the split wood with the grapple and load the wood into the trailer that way too though.

Interesting...it certain is making me think:

Stand alone slasher with upside down woodsplitter???
Or Woodeze type machine placed on a log trailer???

 

Yes this is a problem. When I first got it running it was awesome but after each log I had to kick away wood to make room for more. It's another reason why I need to get my conveyor rebuilt...

Interesting...it certain is making me think:

This is the best of both worlds assuming that you have a skid steer: Skid Steer Log Splitter & Firewood Processor

 

There is a ton of new woodsplitters out there now, and that skid steer is pretty cool. I liked the same sort of design, but on a big excavator. The only problem is cost, that is why I like your machine so much. I am an old duffer fabricator/welder who looks more at things and goes, "hummm, I could make that easy enough." The most ideal piece of equipment in the world is no good to me at all if I cannot afford it and thus use it.

BTW: Conveyors are the answer. They really take the work out of firewood.

 

I'd like to have one of those someday. I do really like the design of your processor too. It is simple but efficient. It would not be too hard to make one like it.

 

No it wouldn't. Having just built a splitter though, I know that when I added everything up, not even counting my time, I could not have built a processor like this for the money I paid for it. For me, it was a no-brainer to buy this and use it as a platform to make improvements to it.