So, the extended family rented a wood processor this week. It ended up being 6 households but 3 of us do most of the work. Plus a little periodic help from a few. I've been cutting logs since the end of deer season for the machine. One of my brother in laws has an old dump truck. My father in law had a hook up for a bunch of culled sawmill logs. And, we all have saws, tractors, tools, etc. Here are some pix of the before log stacks.
In 20 machine hours, we did 19 dump truck loads and 2 dump trailer loads. They were dropped mostly at 4 houses and a few loads at 2 more. We think that we went through a conservative total of 40 cords!
Sweet deal Stlshrk Have I asked you were in central VA yer at? Hard to remember all these things as I get
I had hoped to end up with most of winter 20-21 ready to stack. But, now after a solid 10 cords being piled at the house, I'm well into working on winter 21-22. Yes, there is some additional splitting to do, but man what a labor saver. At least now it is all small enough to handle. Now, there is a lot of stacking to do!
T.Jeff Veal oh yeah buddy. You beat me to it. Eric VW , it is okay. Buckingham. But I am familiar with SW VA as well. Ms. September and I are both Hokies! Woodsnwoods yes indeed! Especially after we split the costs and fuel up between us all.
That's the way to get it done. I remember years ago when I split everything by hand I rented a splitter and split all day Sat. & Sun. Really nice to have splitter now to work at whatever pace I choose.
40 cord in 20 machine hours.. That's my 10 yr plan in a weekend Not even sure where I'd find enough flat land to stack that much. It'd take me longer to level out enough land with the Kubota than to process the wood. I am curious as to rental cost, but you obviously don't need to satisfy my idle curiosity
Exactly how I came about buying my splitter. One weekend of nonstop splitting just to rush getting it back first thing Monday lead me to buying my own. I’m on my time now.
Chaz We haven't divvied up the rental costs yet, but we all contributed fuel, tractors, saws, etc. I believe that we went over the 16 machine hours (a weekend rental) by 4, so the cost will go up a little. I think my portion will end up end up being $175-$200. Which isn't bad for the 10 cords I ended up having at the house! The three of us that did most of the work also did a large majority of the prep work, so ended up with the largest hoards! And, I did also find a pic of the dump trailer. (FIL's, not mine, sadly )
Awesome work! One of my neighbors has a firewood business, and has that exact processor, I see it on CL for rent all the time. I'd inquire with him about logs, or rental....but it was his little dog that my dipchit grabbed and almost shook to death last year.
Stlshrk thats truly something! I got me some backup for this years cut too... but this is another universe! Good job and great pictures! 40 cords...
Rope , sorry, but I figured to move the response here so we didn't hi-jack the loaded truck thread further. I agree with your thinking of charging different depending on loading / labor. Here is what we found. FWIW, two men (one feeding the deck, one operating) is the bare minimum for the larger machines, but even that won't get you close to their capacity. Three men is getting closer to efficient. This gives you a man opposite of the operator station to help with holding the log from falling in the splitter trough on the last cut for the clamp to grab. It is sometimes hard for the operator to reach over the guard to push it back up if it is a 20" log... That man can also keep an eye on the bar oil, assist with any jambs on the conveyor, and ready for cant hook assist (if needed) for the walking deck transfer if there is a "not so straight" log, etc. Four men is really the sweet spot. We were able to get close to this a few times with one of the boys filling that 4th slot (13 and 14 year olds are almost there) This gives you a guy to jockey trucks, use a second tractor, or any chain / tong / skidding helper work that may be needed. Two guys can do it if there has been enough staging done ahead of time. But, once you fill a truck or run into some issue then everything has to pause. It really all comes down to how much pre-work has been done and how well thought out staging has been for logistics. Think shorter runs on the tractor, less vehicle movement, etc. If you have enough help to keep the guy in the seat of the tractor or skid steer (feeding the walking deck) and keep the processor operator at his station, then you can probably do better than 2 cords an hour. If those two guys (operator and tractor guys) have to stop what they are doing to grab cant hooks, chains, move trucks, etc... then it adds up. We Had 3 guys pretty busy for most of that time and two of us really hopping during the entire operation. It was fun, productive, and thankfully safe. I think our most efficient stretch (we had 3 men and 2 young teens) was a 2 cord load in 42 minutes.
BTW, I never did give a proper thanks for sharing the details of the rental cost. Thank you Unfortunately talk of money wierds out some, so I would have understood if ya didn't want to mention. I like the rundown on how many people it takes to keep up with a machine like that
4 guys to be efficient sounds about right. It's screwing with crooked & knotty stuff the bogs that operation down IME. Looks like you had that pretty well set up!
