small scale processing

[Finnercy]

I am looking at a Hakki Pilke Eagle to help meet my own and some friends firewood requirements. I need to be able to produce 50cm long logs for a log boiler and 25cm ones for standard wood burners.  Up to this point I have done this manually, buying wood in the round (birch or beech) in 3m lengths a trailer load at a time and processing using a chainsaw and a rather slow hydraulic splitter.  So my questions:

1. Will that processor handle 50cm logs  

2. Will it be significantly faster to justify costs

3. Is there a more suitable model for my requirements  - I am probably using close on 10M3 of wood a year + 5M3 for others

 

I dont generally like buying processed wood as I have had some right cr*p and also difficult to get 50cm logs

 

Cheers

[Steve Bullman]

No is the short answer according to the website.  Max 45cm length

 

https://hakkipilke.fi/en/content/hakki-pilke-eagle#tekniset

[Finnercy]

Cheers - I did see that but it looked to me that you could cut the logs to virtually any length , I just wondered if there was an issue using a screw splitter on the longer bits of wood.

[Woodworks]

19 minutes ago, Finnercy said:

 I just wondered if there was an issue using a screw splitter on the longer bits of wood.

 

It will depend greatly on the wood you get. We had a screw type splitter but I had endless trouble with fibrous bits holding together and having to have a hatchet handy to finish the job. If you have some nice straight sycamore that just goes pop when you show it a splitter you will be fine regardless of the length.

[bilke_user]

In all honesty for the 15M3 you are talking about processing you'd be miles better off hiring someone with a mobile processor for a day and save yourself a lot of money

 

[andy cobb]

If you have your own power source is tractor or hydraulic pack why not just buy a cheap hydraulic splitter and a saw horse? 15 cube would be fairly leisurely over a few weekends.

[woody paul]

8 minutes ago, andy cobb said:

If you have your own power source is tractor or hydraulic pack why not just buy a cheap hydraulic splitter and a saw horse? 15 cube would be fairly leisurely over a few weekends.

Or even a powered splitter with good capacity,  I do anything from 25 to 35 cube with chainsaw and tractor with log splitter any odd couple of hours here and there get a bit done. 

[muldonach]

For 15m3 a year a chainsaw and a decent axe are plenty good enough

 

[Justme]

For 15m3 per year hire me in for one day.

[gdh]

As said, if it's value for money you're better off hiring a processor. If you enjoy cutting your own wood it will make things much faster on straight logs but you're probably better off investing in a nice axe or hydraulic splitter as opposed to spending a few thousand on a processor.