Small scale processing

[Couldyajust]

I have a regular customer who in addition to tree work I also deal with their firewood.

Typical wood is a mix of nail infested building waste/demolition waste along with arb waste & a few tonnes of (mostly oversized 30"+ very knotty) logs bought in now & then from a forestry contractor.

Customer goes through ridiculous amount of wood on a weekly basis due to fires going 24/7 with poorly insulated house.

Plenty of agricultural & plant machinery available but currently nothing specific for processing wood.

 

Customer has finally realised investing a bit of money in processing equipment would improve efficiency & part of that cost could be recouped via hiring out the equipment if needed. Currently they are also considering buying an artic load of cordwood too.

They will be purchasing a grab for one of the diggers soon as it is required for other jobs so I will at least have a means to shift logs more easily then.

 

My current thoughts would be something along the lines of a hydraulic cone splitter which could be mounted on one of the diggers to split full lengths & a Browns log guillotine on one of the tractors to cut them afterwards (which should also be capable of dealing with the building wood).

I have previously suggested a branch logger to deal with the tons of smaller stuff which comes in regularly but tends to end up on a bonfire as it takes too long to process with a saw but that idea was rejected due to the price vs the fact it can't deal with the bigger logs & they couldn't understand how much potential firewood they are wasting on bonfires as it is all burnt the moment it arrives they can't see it is actually hundreds of tons of wood each year going to waste.

 

Currently they are happy with the rate logs are cut with a chainsaw & building wood may be refused in the future as it is a lot of hassle to deal with so just a decent splitter may also be an option as hand splitting takes the most time.

 

Costs need to be kept to a minimum as this is primarily for their benefit not a business venture (although kit may go out on hire), second hand equipment is fine if you know of anything suitable going if they do start buying timber by the artic load & scrap the building wood then they will probably end up needing to process just a single artic load of cordwood plus whatever arb waste they get their hands on each year. I will still be the one doing the processing whatever equipment is used.

 

What would you recommend for them or am I actually thinking along the right lines with a cone splitter & log guillotine as best/most cost effective option.

[Alycidon]

Nails and screws are bad news for any cutting edge be it a chainsaw or rotary blade,

 

I have a friend who has a Lasco cone splitter and a Posch 30 ton horizontal splitter, he runs the Lasco on a 3 ton excavator and prefers it to the Posch.

 

Had not heard of the Browns guillotine, it does look slow and does not split the cut product, I would also have my doubts on its efectiveness on knotty wood or timber like Oak.

 

I like the Branch Logger but it is a lot of handling, they can take up to 100mm diameter material.

 

Used equipment then Fuelwood are a good company, I run one of their used Japa 700 machines and while a bit slow compared to larger more expensive machines it has served me well.

 

A

[forestgough]

we have branchlogger for hire in Powys(llanidloes),if you ever fancy seeing what it can shift in a day!

[Couldyajust]

Someone a few miles from me has a TR110 branch logger last time I rented it was when I cut back a hedge for a farmer that hadn't been maintained in 40+ years so the fence could be replaced & the farmer could get to the edge of the field in his tractor. Had 2 Ifor Williams tipper trailers rather than using the net bags one emptied while the other was filled. End result was Farmer reclaimed approx 15'-20' wide strip of the field & got enough wood to see him through the winter in a single day.

Shame I can't convince this customer to invest in one as the amount of brash that comes into their yard for disposal on bonfires via their groundworks business would eliminate the need to buy in logs if it went through a branch logger instead.

 

The Browns guillotine I have seen in action a few years ago. It is slow & does involve a lot of handling but I have seen it go through railway sleepers without any problem so should handle knotty wood.

 

Numerous excavators ranging from 1.5 ton to 30 ton available to use so finding something to mount a cone splitter on is not a problem.

Also numerous dumpers available so if they end up with a processor with a conveyor on it then processed logs could be dropped straight into a dumper then transferred to the shed easily.

[briquette_seller]

Bilke do a hardened blade which can handle nails, screws and small pieces of metal.

I had one and used it on demolition wood for a few years with no problems.

 

Cuts and splits in one go and is pretty quick.

 

Also good on round wood up to 9 inch I think, maybe bigger

[richy_B]

If its for personal use and they aren't in some kind of stately home with a dozen fireplaces is it really necessary? I have customer who use a lot of firewood but no-one uses more than a cube per week. Surely you can do that with a chainsaw and maul in an hour-ish.

 

Buying kit to rent out is going to be extra work, insurance, higher maintenance cost, etc.

[spandit]

I have an Oregon log cradle that makes it easy to cut loads of thin wood in one go with a chainsaw. Maybe not as quick as a branch logger but a damn site cheaper and you can cut the logs to whatever length you like. I use it for cutting willow coppice into 4" chunks for charcoal making but also for full sized logs for the fire

[Couldyajust]

If its for personal use and they aren't in some kind of stately home with a dozen fireplaces is it really necessary? I have customer who use a lot of firewood but no-one uses more than a cube per week. Surely you can do that with a chainsaw and maul in an hour-ish.

 

Buying kit to rent out is going to be extra work, insurance, higher maintenance cost, etc.

 

Going through about a cube of logs & a cube of building wood in 2 days at the moment double that in the winter. No I don't know how they manage to do it before you ask although I have never seen the house without smoke coming out of at least 2 of the 3 chimneys.

I struggle to keep more than a month or so ahead of their needs as I have too much other work on most of the time.

 

They do plant hire so another bit of kit to rent out & the associated costs/maintenance etc... is not a major issue.