Best low cost firewood setup

josh

josh

Moderator/IT Guy
Looking to get a bit more efficient in terms of processing firewood for our own use. Diameters of timber will range from 2 inch up to 12 inch. What have folks found useful for reasonable money?

This looks like a handy tool:

English - pitost

www.pitost.it www.pitost.it
 
candor said:
Looking to get a bit more efficient in terms of processing firewood for our own use. Diameters of timber will range from 2 inch up to 12 inch. What have folks found useful for reasonable money?

This looks like a handy tool:

English - pitost

www.pitost.it www.pitost.it
Click to expand...
Been through a few things here in the last 30 years. Have a PTO bench saw that probably won't be used again. A metal sawhorse, a spring loaded saw horse. To be honest, build yourself a good solid wooden sawhorse and you'll get through as much wood as anyone else with less cost.
 
candor said:
Looking to get a bit more efficient in terms of processing firewood for our own use. Diameters of timber will range from 2 inch up to 12 inch. What have folks found useful for reasonable money?

This looks like a handy tool:

English - pitost

www.pitost.it www.pitost.it
Click to expand...
I got one of these last year, it’ll only do up to 6”or so but very quick and very little effort compared to a chainsaw imo. We’d a lot of old small stakes from paddock divides and that to cut which are a pain with a chainsaw as you spend more time trying to gather them up to saw than cutting them. Throw 2 or 3 in and youve a fair pile done in no time. I cut a trailer load of 4*2’s and 6*3 stakes from roughly 100meters of fencing that had been taken down the other day in little over an hour into 14” pieces.

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New Electric Log Saws 450mm

Electric log saws for sale with a circular saw blade to cut through smaller logs and timber. Suitable for cutting pallet boards. This wood saw is safe and fast and easy to use. It's like combining a chainsaw and a log horse into one machine. Log saws for sale now from Hartnett Products...
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As Mucky says a decent sawhorse that you can clamp the wood in and you'll get a lot done over a few hours. I have a cheapie chop saw that I use for the 2" and under stuff. I only use the log splitter for the stuff that's difficult to split with the axe.
 
www.dwtoolshop.com

Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy Duty

The Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy Duty is easy to mount with high wood capacity load. Key Features of the Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy Duty: Highly stable construction and design Laminated steel to provide high resistance Easy to mount High wood capacity Buy Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy...
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Have one of these very fast way to cut timber
 
Funkeyfarmer said:
www.dwtoolshop.com

Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy Duty

The Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy Duty is easy to mount with high wood capacity load. Key Features of the Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy Duty: Highly stable construction and design Laminated steel to provide high resistance Easy to mount High wood capacity Buy Oregon 584146 Saw Horse, Heavy...
www.dwtoolshop.com www.dwtoolshop.com
Have one of these very fast way to cut timber
Click to expand...


I have something similar I made a few years ago and it's a great job. Mine is in an X as opposed to U shape which I think helps it cope with some odd shaped stuff well.

A friend has a pto log saw, not a table but a pto version of what drew has and he reckons its the business.

I'm hoping this winter to get a loan of it and run them side by side for a day.

I'm not a fan of the sawhorses that hold a single log, too much switching between log handling and cutting for my liking.

Other advantage of the sawhorses is if you have help you can load and cut 2 or 3 times and make a heap of blocks, then pick it up and move somewhere else while your helpers gather all you've cut.



Log splitter I have mixer views on, depending on the timber and the operator they can be a lot slower than the axe. We were working some 18inch pine in the spring and if there were no knots I could split a ring in about half the time my wife would with the splitter. Realised after a few rings that the thing to do was put anything that didn't instantly split over onto her pile and I took all the easy pickings
 
I cut small trees into twenty foot lengths and bring them home and tip up near a wall . I stick the pallet fork under them and saw off each side with a chainsaw with a short bar . The lengths over the forks I might throw the uncut ones on a sawhorse . I pick the blocks up with the loader bucket and tip in a shed to dry or feed into the log splitter from the bucket so I do not have to bend down to pick them up .
 
candor said:
Looking to get a bit more efficient in terms of processing firewood for our own use. Diameters of timber will range from 2 inch up to 12 inch. What have folks found useful for reasonable money?

This looks like a handy tool:

Click to expand...
candor said:
Looking to get a bit more efficient in terms of processing firewood for our own use. Diameters of timber will range from 2 inch up to 12 inch. What have folks found useful for reasonable money?

This looks like a handy tool:

English - pitost

www.pitost.it www.pitost.it
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t be gone on that from a safety point of view tbh
A knotty or even smaller branches could be flung rather than cut
 
Candor, I have been asking myself the same question every year; and every year I have a list of machines I’d buy.

But if you want to keep your budget down, I’d recommend a top handle saw; and a wood splitter.

These are what I have, and I can cut anything.

I have a Branchlogger which is great for small diameter timber.
But if I was to buy another machine it’s hard to look past a bilke.

I have a timber trailer which I load up and I can cut off ends with my big husky 395xp.
If I modify it then I’ll be able to cut the entire load in just a few cuts.

I must pop up a photo.
 
I've got this, which is pretty useful for smaller diameter timber. Combined with an electric chainsaw, it's pretty easy going.
1605439158335.png

The unit I posted in my initial post is very quick but the safety is a concern.

Always looking to improve though to reduce the time taken.
 
I've been toying with the idea of making up a grapple of some sort that could pick up a bunch of stakes or similar sized timber using the loader and saw down through the lot with the chainsaw.
 
candor said:
Looking to get a bit more efficient in terms of processing firewood for our own use. Diameters of timber will range from 2 inch up to 12 inch. What have folks found useful for reasonable money?

This looks like a handy tool:

English - pitost

www.pitost.it www.pitost.it
Click to expand...
I wouldn't like the look of that yoke at all. It doesn't look to safe. I have a saw horse with a spring loaded pedal to tighten a chain around the logs. I made it up from off cuts i had lying around from another job in a while of a Saturday.
It can take about 7 or 8 100 mm logs handy. As the chain is tightened by a spring attached to a pedal it is self tightening. You would cut a lot of timber in a few hours with it
20201115_193459.jpg
20201115_193419.jpg
 
i sell some firewood and am a lazy sod so have tried all the above in some shape or form .
i have a grab on pallet forks like the one above,its handy enough but not brilliant . similar to the picture above it wont grab a single log unless its fairly big,not a. patch on an actual timber grab.my timber is drawn in tipping trailers to the Yard as i find it and cut the following winter.
we use a digger with thumb grab to bring in a pile to an open shed.chainsaw the heavier stuff in the pile first.
anything straight and medium sized goes through a small processor which saws splits and loads .its fast with suitable timber but you won't get much of that around a farm.
lighter stuff that doesnt need splitting is loaded in to an oregon u shaped horse as featured earlier in this thread.very fast operation,only disadvantage is hand loading then after cutting.
a log splitter is slower than an axe in handy timber but you have to pick the timber in up after the axe whereas from the log splitter its easy throw it straight in to bulk bags, which we use all the time
 
scoffcruddle said:
What’s the view on these?


Bought the Mrs a log splitter for Christmas a few years back,might spoil her again.😀
Click to expand...

We have one scoff, its a good tool. Bought s/h for E700. Not sure the prjce of a new one but I think they're around 1500. Work away behind the mf 35, myself and the father both find it easier on the body over a couple of hours than the saw.

Big thing is its very safe. I work on top of a big plastic sheet so it catches all the saw dust. At the end of the day I fold up the sheet and tip it into a bulk bag. Have been using the sawdust to bed a few calves we bought this year. They seem to like it.

Over the Christmas I'm planning on building a conveyor I've drawn on the laptop which will fit under the saw to draw the stuff away and fill it into a trailer/shed/ton bag and will also be used to put turf into the shed.
 
Kieran97 said:
We have one scoff, its a good tool. Bought s/h for E700. Not sure the prjce of a new one but I think they're around 1500. Work away behind the mf 35, myself and the father both find it easier on the body over a couple of hours than the saw.

Big thing is its very safe. I work on top of a big plastic sheet so it catches all the saw dust. At the end of the day I fold up the sheet and tip it into a bulk bag. Have been using the sawdust to bed a few calves we bought this year. They seem to like it.

Over the Christmas I'm planning on building a conveyor I've drawn on the laptop which will fit under the saw to draw the stuff away and fill it into a trailer/shed/ton bag and will also be used to put turf into the shed.
Click to expand...

How long of a conveyor and what sort of money do you think the parts will cost? I presume you will be building it in a way it can be raised to fill a trailer or as the shed gets full.

We have a older version of one of them saws. It had a flat belt and two flat pulleys to drive the blade, we got to pulleys of a scraped drum mower and dad got Liam Farrell to fit them to the saw, he's happier with how it's working now. I don't cut any timber up at home but I'd think one of them saws behind a 20 or 35 would pay for its self in no time compared to putting petrol into a chainsaw.
 
max said:
How long of a conveyor and what sort of money do you think the parts will cost? I presume you will be building it in a way it can be raised to fill a trailer or as the shed gets full.

We have a older version of one of them saws. It had a flat belt and two flat pulleys to drive the blade, we got to pulleys of a scraped drum mower and dad got Liam Farrell to fit them to the saw, he's happier with how it's working now. I don't cut any timber up at home but I'd think one of them saws behind a 20 or 35 would pay for its self in no time compared to putting petrol into a chainsaw.
Click to expand...

Around 20ft long give or take. I'm building it in Co with my turf cutting partner. He has a seemingly endless pile of the sort of chains on a destoner in the garden, so that's the conveyor itself sorted. I'll put two rams I took off a jcb 3c he has scrapped in the garden under it to lift it up or down. He has nice rollers to suit for the drive he got from a lad on BNM one time, they were throwing them out.

Ill use new metal for the chassis of the conveyor, probably 3 inch or 4 inch channel. I have to do a few calculations to see if the 3 inch is heavy enough.

I have an old axle off a car trailer I bought for 30 euros one time here. I'll. Put that under it for towing it around. The only thing I haven't thought about is the means of propelling it. We have hydraulic motors in stock but don't want to use them, id rather a mechanical drive of some description.

So not much more than a few hundred euros all in 😂
 
Kieran97 said:
Around 20ft long give or take. I'm building it in Co with my turf cutting partner. He has a seemingly endless pile of the sort of chains on a destoner in the garden, so that's the conveyor itself sorted. I'll put two rams I took off a jcb 3c he has scrapped in the garden under it to lift it up or down. He has nice rollers to suit for the drive he got from a lad on BNM one time, they were throwing them out.

Ill use new metal for the chassis of the conveyor, probably 3 inch or 4 inch channel. I have to do a few calculations to see if the 3 inch is heavy enough.

I have an old axle off a car trailer I bought for 30 euros one time here. I'll. Put that under it for towing it around. The only thing I haven't thought about is the means of propelling it. We have hydraulic motors in stock but don't want to use them, id rather a mechanical drive of some description.

So not much more than a few hundred euros all in 😂
Click to expand...
I always thought the old conveys for putting hay bales up into a shed would be handy for turf, used to see them parked up around a few local farms, never studied them though. Probably no more than scrap now unless parked inside
 
max said:
I always thought the old conveys for putting hay bales up into a shed would be handy for turf, used to see them parked up around a few local farms, never studied them though. Probably no more than scrap now unless parked inside
Click to expand...

Chain on a lot of them is a bit light tbh, and yes most of what's left is only shite.
 
Kieran97 said:
We have one scoff, its a good tool. Bought s/h for E700. Not sure the prjce of a new one but I think they're around 1500. Work away behind the mf 35, myself and the father both find it easier on the body over a couple of hours than the saw.

Big thing is its very safe. I work on top of a big plastic sheet so it catches all the saw dust. At the end of the day I fold up the sheet and tip it into a bulk bag. Have been using the sawdust to bed a few calves we bought this year. They seem to like it.

Over the Christmas I'm planning on building a conveyor I've drawn on the laptop which will fit under the saw to draw the stuff away and fill it into a trailer/shed/ton bag and will also be used to put turf into the shed.
Click to expand...
I've one of these too on a 135, it's a good enough job and safe.
No matter what system you use, someone handing you up the timber is the secret!
 
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