One of the nephews floated the idea of removing the dead ash trees at the hunting lease.
He proposed dropping the trees, bucking them into 16' lengths, staging them and then renting a firewood processor.
Further, he proposed having enough manpower available that the firewood processor never stopped running. Perhaps renting a skid-steer with grappling tackle.
I told him I would take it up with the owner of the hunting lease.
I am all-in when it comes to removing widow-makers and the price of LP is skyrocketing in Michigan. Biden wants to shut down Line 5.
I admire that my nephews are thinking ahead and refuse to be deer frozen in the headlights.
Interesting option. I've never seen a rental unit of one of those!
ReplyDeleteI assume you're talking about a hydraulic log splitter?
ReplyDeleteExcept for the labor saving aspect, expert use of a maul, ( or Go-Devil, as we called it),is faster, until your arms and back give out. Used to cut and split firewood for beer money while in college.
The rig feeds the logs, cuts to length, splits the rounds and has a conveyor to transport to the back of a truck or trailer.
DeleteHeavy equipment is needed to load the logs onto the conveyor feeding the rig.
Yeah, I've been reading on my phone and it doesn't show videos unless I click on "web version", which I often don't think about.
DeleteAwesome machine, like a wood mizer for firewood instead of boards.
I am guessing, guessing, from his description of the chain sharpening by the prior renter that the cutting problem is because the rakers on the chain need to be filed down. That is a very common problem that most guys do not consider.---ken
ReplyDeleteTo be a little more clear the chain should cut with very little down-pressure. If it needs pressure it is because the teeth are not engaging the wood. You would have to look at the sawdust/chips to know why , but it is most likely either rakers, or the angle that the chain teeth were sharpened at. Either problem is common with guys that don't spend a lot of time with chain saws. Tightening the chain too tight can have bad effects also. I doubt that the bar has anything to do with it. ---ken
Deletehttps://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200495832_200495832
ReplyDeletecoyoteken has it - a lot of people sharpen the cutter teeth on chains but do not adjust the depth guides to compensdate for a different profile cutter because they don't know how and don't know it's necessary, and/or they sharpen cutter teeth to an incorrect profile. A well sharpened and depth adjusted chain should throw chips not sawdust and not require much pressure to cut. Using an electric sharpener a novice can "cook" cutter teeth quickly, ruining them, as can forcing a dull chain into wood. I would have expected the rental outfit would prohibit customer sharpening just for that reason and do their own sharpening.
ReplyDeleteRenting the thing seems like a worthwhile venture assuming a competent (and trained) team using well-maintained equipment, but I wonder what the availability and cost of hiring an outfit that does this would be. I've seen industrial size cutter/splitters for which 24 cords/day would be easy, but I'd guess they're few and far between. In the fall "hired harvesting teams" travel the "circuit" in the mid- and near-west with several combines on trucks; it's not uncommon to see 4-10 combines running a large field simultaneously. I'd think traveling splitting teams with good equipment could be just as profitable.