Show us your wood (pile)

[hickslawns]

Had a decent amount cut and waiting to be loaded before I hurt my back. Took a tractor over and loaded the dump truck. Still had to do quite a bit more cutting. One heaping load waiting to be split and stacked. Probably 1-2 more loads of big rounds to cut and load. I will need the 36" bar to get thru them. Hoping the tractor bucket is deep enough to hold them. Also have about a half a load of limbs and tree tops left to haul.

MRI on Tuesday. Doctor said any damage in there is done and work as much as I feel up to. Haven't felt like I could do much until the last day or two. Still lots of soreness, numb fingers, and muscle/tendon pain in the left arm. Been using the inversion table a couple times a day. It seems to be helping some. I'll know more in the morning when I crawl into a shallow crawl space to repair a frozen pipe tomorrow. Doubt I haul any extra firewood. Need to find a section of straight pipe for the dump truck I am using..some a-hole cut out the resonator (catalytic converter.)

 

[P8riot]

I've been following this thread. I'm just about ready to start on my wood. I dont think the tractor is going to happen before spring, so I'm going to be more manual and splitting it at the site and hauling it back.

Good equipment wishlist here?

Stihl MS-271 Farm Boss 20"
Stihl MS-194 16"
Champion 27 ton splitter

 

["J"]

I've been following this thread. I'm just about ready to start on my wood. I dont think the tractor is going to happen before spring, so I'm going to be more manual and splitting it at the site and hauling it back.

Good equipment wishlist here?

Stihl MS-271 Farm Boss 20"
Stihl MS-194 16"
Champion 27 ton splitter

Look at a 12” battery one for the real small stuff, especially for limbing one out. Much lighter and easier when cutting a lot.

 

[hickslawns]

Farmboss is a great saw. I used one for many years before buying a commercial grade saw. My farmboss was a 290 (029 at the time). Bought on 1997, sold in 2019. Original piston and rings and still cut nice.

I have a 170 and 250. Not sure on the 194 and where it fits on the charts. I'm not up to date on new numbers. The 170 is a touch on the small side. The 250 will do much more than the 170, but nowhere close to the 290.

Not sure about the splitter. I've never owned one that wasn't run by tractor or skid loader.

 

["J"]

I’m currently using a buddy’s CubCadet 25 ton splitter. Been splitting up a roughly 26” maple. That splitter does a fine job. Now if I could just keep up!

 

[finelyshedded]

I’m currently using a buddy’s CubCadet 25 ton splitter. Been splitting up a roughly 26” maple. That splitter does a fine job. Now if I could just keep up!

That’s some big ass chunks for sure! Does it have a hydraulic lift arm? How tall is the wedge?

 

[giles]

I will second the second (smaller) saw being battery powered. I don't do much firewood but I do live in the woods and a battery saw is very convenient. My wife could clear the driveway to get out if needed. (Smaller stuff within reason) She will not start a saw or anything though. The battery pole saw she will use too.

 

["J"]

That’s some big ass chunks for sure! Does it have a hydraulic lift arm? How tall is the wedge?

It’ll split horizontally or vertically. Wedge height is 26”
Bad thing about the log is it’s in a low spot and it gets wet. Have too roll them up an incline for about 60’ to get them too a level spot where the splitter sits.

 

["J"]

I will second the second (smaller) saw being battery powered. I don't do much firewood but I do live in the woods and a battery saw is very convenient. My wife could clear the driveway to get out if needed. (Smaller stuff within reason) She will not start a saw or anything though. The battery pole saw she will use too.

One of the many reasons for the battery one, worse case scenario she could use it in a pinch.

 

[finelyshedded]

Just went back and found a good pic of the splitter my buddy/neighbor let me use that absolutely preformed like a beast on anything you threw at it. He was a small guy and could cut and split a fully mature 36-40+ inch beech or any other hardwood tree all by himself using this thing. I used it on huge chunks from likewise trees with ease.
He has since moved but not too far away and said if I ever need it just holler. Being that I burn chunks up to 26-28” I really don’t need to split thankfully. Saves me a lot of time and gas money. The arm could lift over 600# and that steel plate behind the wedge is 4’x3’ leaving plenty of room for split pieces to sit to pick up for stacking.

 

["J"]

Just went back and found a good pic of the splitter my buddy/neighbor let me use that absolutely preformed like a beast on anything you threw at it. He was a small guy and could cut and split a fully mature 36-40+ inch beech or any other hardwood tree all by himself using this thing. I used it on huge chunks from likewise trees with ease.
He has since moved but not too far away and said if I ever need it just holler. Being that I burn chunks up to 26-28” I really don’t need to split thankfully. Saves me a lot of time and gas money. The arm could lift over 600# and that steel plate behind the wedge is 4’x3’ leaving plenty of room for split pieces to sit to pick up for stacking. View attachment 172537

Video in operation is definitely needed!!!!

 

[finelyshedded]

Video in operation is definitely needed!!!!

I was by myself so it was not able to video me working and operating it at this particular time. If I ever use it again I’ll have Tam record me operating it. Unfortunately that might not ever happen again cuz I rarely get 36-40” logs dropped off from a friend which is what happened that particular time.

 

[Sgt Fury]

Just went back and found a good pic of the splitter my buddy/neighbor let me use that absolutely preformed like a beast on anything you threw at it. He was a small guy and could cut and split a fully mature 36-40+ inch beech or any other hardwood tree all by himself using this thing. I used it on huge chunks from likewise trees with ease.
He has since moved but not too far away and said if I ever need it just holler. Being that I burn chunks up to 26-28” I really don’t need to split thankfully. Saves me a lot of time and gas money. The arm could lift over 600# and that steel plate behind the wedge is 4’x3’ leaving plenty of room for split pieces to sit to pick up for stacking. View attachment 172537

That red lift is an awesome addition. All ya gotta do is roll the log on and all of the hard work is done! Never seen anything like that….I gotta get out more.

 

[finelyshedded]

That red lift is an awesome addition. All ya gotta do is roll the log on and all of the hard work is done! Never seen anything like that….I gotta get out more.

That s what made it so easy. These pieces were so huge and big to even roll by myself but once I got them on that bitch it lifted them like they were nothing. I had to slow it down near being level with platform or else it would tilt those hogs towards me and it was tough keeping them from rolling over into me. Lol
I had chunks I had to split into 10-12 pieces. Lol
Those chunks you see there are mediocre compared to the large ones I did.

 

["J"]

Nice day too celebrate Ohios last day of deer season

This was the start of it getting cut up.

This what it looked like originally before I started.

 

[hickslawns]

My son helped stack about a third of what we had to split. I did about another third by myself. Will do the rest another day. I feel a little better knowing this should get me close to the end of the heating season. My back is feeling better. At least well enough to do some work. Still numbness in fingers. Still unexplained muscle soreness (I'm told it is the nerves firing.) MRI is Tuesday. If I am having an MRI, I'm going to get my money's worth and give the doctor something to look at. Lol

There is also another pile close to this size sitting by the wood boiler already.

 

[P8riot]

Lookin good! I'm glad you're feeling better. My outside 3 toes on each foot have been killing me lately. Numb, but pain. No clue why. I'm doing my best to ignore it.

Do you use a grapple with the skid steer?

 

[hickslawns]

Lookin good! I'm glad you're feeling better. My outside 3 toes on each foot have been killing me lately. Numb, but pain. No clue why. I'm doing my best to ignore it.

Do you use a grapple with the skid steer?

I have a splitter attachment. I don't have a grapple. Forks or buckets usually used to load into the dump truck.

In regards to the back. . . Might have jinxed myself. Hadn't taken any meds since this morning. Started knotting up again. Oh well. Too much too soon I guess. Will see how it is in the morning. Still gotta live a firewood is part of my life every winter.

 

[hickslawns]

Back pain gone. Just numbness in arm and one finger. Steadily leaving. Working on building back the muscle I've lost from the weird nerve stuff going on. Was scheduled for surgery Monday but they postponed it for a insurance denial because I haven't done PT. So. . .here is your PT. If they are going to remove factory parts and replace them with artificial parts. . . I'm getting all the miles out of the factory parts I can. A little bit more and I'll have room to bring another load or two in to work on.

 

[finelyshedded]

Back pain gone. Just numbness in arm and one finger. Steadily leaving. Working on building back the muscle I've lost from the weird nerve stuff going on. Was scheduled for surgery Monday but they postponed it for a insurance denial because I haven't done PT. So. . .here is your PT. If they are going to remove factory parts and replace them with artificial parts. . . I'm getting all the miles out of the factory parts I can. A little bit more and I'll have room to bring another load or two in to work on.

View attachment 174066View attachment 174065

I love the way you work Phil!