Machinery advice wanted

[Shealesy]

Hi all, 

 

Long time lurker here. And really good writer of long and rambling posts, it seems. I’ll try and give you all a complete picture so grab a brew, sit back and try and make sense of this block of words.

I’m Andy. 
 

A couple of years ago we (myself, the wife and the in-laws) had an RHI biomass boiler installed to heat our home, guest house and cafe up here in the forgotten Far North of Scotland. We all live and work the house, and since the beginning of COVID (and the abrupt end of my former industry) I have had the time to just split logs. All day every day. Rain, shine, more rain, snow, sleet, snain, hail, snail, wind, graupel, sub zero temps, boiling over 20c temps, all of it. 

This isn’t in any way commercial as we don’t sell any logs, but is potentially on a small commercial scale. Home owner grade kit isn’t up to any job at this place, despite being our home...

For the last 2 years we’ve been processing these by way of cutting with chainsaw down to 450mm lengths, into a small trailer on a mower, round into the back yard, onto a The Handy petrol vertical splitter, stacking and tarping (more permanent log stores are in progress).

On a good day I can process 3 or 4 winters days worth of logs, at a guess the boiler burns about a stacked cubic metre per day so I’m splitting between 3 and 4 cube per day. In the summer time it might not burn for days or a week! Which is nice!
On a bad/otherwise busy day, or with a gammy, knotty, twisted load of logs coming off the stack it might be barely more than a days worth. 

 

We currently burn around 100t (or 4 trucks/approx 160 cube depending on your measuring scale) per year, all from former forestry plantations on the Flow Country as part of the restoration project, or similar areas nearby (minimising our transport footprint) and it arrives in 3m or 4m lengths between 100mm and 400mm diameter, though heavily averages in the middle, 200-300mm. Manageable enough to lump around without killing my back. Mostly Sitka in the last few loads, with other spruces and pines muddled in. All softwoods. 

 

With our first child on the way and in an attempt to find some time to spend with them and do something besides logs (like build the log stores...) I’m looking for some input on the next logical step in processing.
 

I’ve been eye balling the Eastonmade log splitters for the last few months.
I am loving the idea of the diesel powered one (given the massive tank of red that trickle feeds our hot water boiler) but they are unfortunately over budget for the foreseeable.
It would be the ideal next step in the way I currently operate with the transport distance (weak bridge and tight bend keeps the big logs further away) but would cut my splitting time per trailer from nearly an hour to around 5 minutes at my best guess from YouTube videos. 
 

Conservative budget would be £6k but I’d hopefully do my very best convincing face and salesman pitch to the in-laws and stretch that to £7k or so... + VAT

 

My thoughts currently are split between:

 

Balfor Horizontal or AMR Horizontal splitters. It would need to be towable and preferably with Diesel engines fitted if they offer those as options, along with 4 and 6 way adjustable wedges. 120cm stroke on both is fine, I’ll just sit two logs in the cradle and double up!
I’ll be making phone calls in the week to discuss these and anything else anyone can suggest.

I’m open to suggestions for other horizontal log-through-wedge style splitters that I haven’t discovered yet.

 

Rock Machinery’s Dominator is my other thought, I’d hope to push to a VR20T, ideally I’d not be using my car in the woods to park the processor by the log stack, but if budget dictates and need must, I’ll cut a bigger hole in the hedge and use the car to position it. I’ll probably end up having to use it with a bigger trailer anyway, so it may as well get used to it! Until I can afford a quad...
Again, I’m going to call and see if they can fit a little diesel motor instead, cut the operating costs by several quarters or more and save a lot of trips to Tesco for a can of fuel. 
Open to suggestions on other small processors too.
 

So these are my thoughts, after lots of reading on these forums and others, lots of time on YouTube etc I still can’t decide which would go best so I’m looking for pros and cons, warnings and foibles, or tips and tricks on anything like this? I just want shot of The Handy! Probably keep it for doing the stove logs though.... it’s pretty good at those.

 

Help!

 

Thanks

Andy

Edited February 7, 2021 by Shealesy

[David Lawrence 88]

Hire in a man and processor if there is anyone up in your area

 

you have to spend your rhi money on something 

 

[Gav73]

Just a couple of thoughts...

if the diameter of the logs averages 200-300mm you might be able to get away with just a four way wedge, anything knotty or twisted might bind up a six way wedge. 
I use a Rock machinery venom 20M capable of splitting logs up to 1M in length and I’ve not found anything it can’t split - even a metre of length lump of (twisted to the max) eucalyptus. It’s very economical on the petrol and I’ve actually found it easier to split the logs into 1m staves which I then cut to length once they are seasoned (two stoves - one takes a 500mm log, the other a 200mm log) on a Forest Master BLS4 Bulk Log Saw Horse.

I used to cut all the logs to the required lengths, split them, then wheelbarrow them to the log stores and stack them. Found by doing it the other way round it was so much easier, easier to stack and a lot quicker to fill up the stores. Also found that the seasoning was a bit quicker as there were more air gaps with the longer staves. 
to give you something to compare with, I split a cubic metre in 15-30 mins depending on the type of wood and any twists.

[tree_beard]

6-7k could buy you a small tractor and reasonable splitter, maybe a saw bench as well... If you are handy with a spanner old processors can be had for a couple of thousand

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

2 hours ago, Shealesy said:

Hi all, 

 

Long time lurker here. And really good writer of long and rambling posts, it seems. I’ll try and give you all a complete picture so grab a brew, sit back and try and make sense of this block of words.

I’m Andy. 
 

A couple of years ago we (myself, the wife and the in-laws) had an RHI biomass boiler installed to heat our home, guest house and cafe up here in the forgotten Far North of Scotland. We all live and work the house, and since the beginning of COVID (and the abrupt end of my former industry) I have had the time to just split logs. All day every day. Rain, shine, more rain, snow, sleet, snain, hail, snail, wind, graupel, sub zero temps, boiling over 20c temps, all of it. 

This isn’t in any way commercial as we don’t sell any logs, but is potentially on a small commercial scale. Home owner grade kit isn’t up to any job at this place, despite being our home...

For the last 2 years we’ve been processing these by way of cutting with chainsaw down to 450mm lengths, into a small trailer on a mower, round into the back yard, onto a The Handy petrol vertical splitter, stacking and tarping (more permanent log stores are in progress).

On a good day I can process 3 or 4 winters days worth of logs, at a guess the boiler burns about a stacked cubic metre per day so I’m splitting between 3 and 4 cube per day. In the summer time it might not burn for days or a week! Which is nice!
On a bad/otherwise busy day, or with a gammy, knotty, twisted load of logs coming off the stack it might be barely more than a days worth. 

 

We currently burn around 100t (or 4 trucks/approx 160 cube depending on your measuring scale) per year, all from former forestry plantations on the Flow Country as part of the restoration project, or similar areas nearby (minimising our transport footprint) and it arrives in 3m or 4m lengths between 100mm and 400mm diameter, though heavily averages in the middle, 200-300mm. Manageable enough to lump around without killing my back. Mostly Sitka in the last few loads, with other spruces and pines muddled in. All softwoods. 

 

With our first child on the way and in an attempt to find some time to spend with them and do something besides logs (like build the log stores...) I’m looking for some input on the next logical step in processing.
 

I’ve been eye balling the Eastonmade log splitters for the last few months.
I am loving the idea of the diesel powered one (given the massive tank of red that trickle feeds our hot water boiler) but they are unfortunately over budget for the foreseeable.
It would be the ideal next step in the way I currently operate with the transport distance (weak bridge and tight bend keeps the big logs further away) but would cut my splitting time per trailer from nearly an hour to around 5 minutes at my best guess from YouTube videos. 
 

Conservative budget would be £6k but I’d hopefully do my very best convincing face and salesman pitch to the in-laws and stretch that to £7k or so... + VAT

 

My thoughts currently are split between:

 

Balfor Horizontal or AMR Horizontal splitters. It would need to be towable and preferably with Diesel engines fitted if they offer those as options, along with 4 and 6 way adjustable wedges. 120cm stroke on both is fine, I’ll just sit two logs in the cradle and double up!
I’ll be making phone calls in the week to discuss these and anything else anyone can suggest.

I’m open to suggestions for other horizontal log-through-wedge style splitters that I haven’t discovered yet.

 

Rock Machinery’s Dominator is my other thought, I’d hope to push to a VR20T, ideally I’d not be using my car in the woods to park the processor by the log stack, but if budget dictates and need must, I’ll cut a bigger hole in the hedge and use the car to position it. I’ll probably end up having to use it with a bigger trailer anyway, so it may as well get used to it! Until I can afford a quad...
Again, I’m going to call and see if they can fit a little diesel motor instead, cut the operating costs by several quarters or more and save a lot of trips to Tesco for a can of fuel. 
Open to suggestions on other small processors too.
 

So these are my thoughts, after lots of reading on these forums and others, lots of time on YouTube etc I still can’t decide which would go best so I’m looking for pros and cons, warnings and foibles, or tips and tricks on anything like this? I just want shot of The Handy! Probably keep it for doing the stove logs though.... it’s pretty good at those.

 

Help!

 

Thanks

Andy

I’ve got a little Iseki TU320 20hp compact tractor with full cab & 1.5 ton tipper trailer for sale £4500 or best offer 

 

Jack

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, Shealesy said:

it arrives in 3m or 4m lengths between 100mm and 400mm diameter, though heavily averages in the middle, 200-300mm

To my mind softwood over 200mm was worth selling as bars and sawlog.

 

Many years ago I saw the Bilke wood processor with a shear cutter and splitting action processing wood fast but rejected it for my commercial use because the logs weren't likely to please my customers on aesthetic grounds. In your case you just need too cut and split to  suit your boiler and for seasoning. It will manage up to 250mm. A cone splitter could half the bigger ones as it will take 340mm slabs. I have no idea what they cost.

 

When I saw this earlier version demonstrated it was running much slower than the modern videos I see, slow enough for the  lengths being handled in to the cutter to be rotated 90 degrees between cuts which enabled the splitter to split the pieces twice as the split propagated up the log. The modern version is slightly different as the splitter no longer leads the cutter.

 

You could quickly build a square store with your 4m lengths built into a box with alternate layers on each edge, fill that and cover it with a tarpaulin.

Edited February 7, 2021 by openspaceman

[Billhook]

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I bought a Palax Combi 600 off Jas Wilson in 1996 for £2500, this has been a brilliant simple machine and has cost me nothing in all these years.  Circular saw I think is much better than a chainsaw and the splitter and conveyor make the job easy.  It also deals with awkward shaped logs up to 10 inches diameter which a fully automated one would struggle with.

Good exercise as well!  Better than twiddling levers and sitting on your backside and becoming cold!

The Palax in the advert  I see is still £2500

I bought an electric motor to drive it but it still has the tractor pto .

I would fit a motor rather than have a noisy tractor but you may not have electric nearby in which case any old second hand tractor for a couple of grand

 

I do not know where I would be without my Matbro Telehandler which I bought for £7000 in 2010 but I see a Bonser advertised for £1995 which would be a godsend for many tasks.

 

A log deck would be handy but you can always use the Forklift as a log deck but £1400 is not too bad

 

So Palax £2500,  Forklift £2000,  log deck 1£1400, Tractor  £2000   say  £8000 but leave out the log deck and use the forklift and £6500 may sound better

[AndyChalmers]

I have all the equipment and still works out cheaper to hire a propper team in to do it for you.  Or look at a small processor such as a Japa 300 or 305.  I have a derv 300 and like it.  It wont cut over 12" however use a manual chainsaw to cut & chuck into processor spliting bay & chisel it down.   

Edited February 8, 2021 by AndyChalmers
edit

[scbk]

100t a year is a fair old pile to be burning, really you should think about machinery for handling the wood. Whether it's a concrete floor and a tractor/jcb with a front bucket, or a system of crates/cages and pallet forks.

[Shealesy]

Thanks for everyone’s input on this!

 

As it turns out within 24 hours of posting, I was given the go ahead to order the Eastonmade!

 

As far as replies, 

 

I’ve got a friend with a woodland mills processor but he’s been working flat out since September and shows no sign of slowing so no chance of getting it round here. 
Locally is a non-term up here, our nearest anything (except Tesco) is 2 hours away. We can get agri supplies and parts of building materials easy enough but as far as hired services like firewood processing it’s non existent, hired machines cost more for delivery than the weeks hire etc. and I don’t have a tow vehicle and trailer to make the journey to collect. 
 

I did initially look at the venom splitters but having the stationary-wedge will work a lot better for us. Some of the logs we get in, after cutting, will have a crown of knots both ends, no matter where I cut it, and 2 more down the middle. Being able to push the previous one through the wedge with the next will be a massive boost. 
 

I’d love to have a small tractor and trailer, with a little loader on the front just for general around and about jobs but we have nowhere to store it, the listing of the building (and views from and of in all directions) forbids us from building a shed to store something like that in, the surrounding woodland is protected by that same phrase, and the current outbuildings are all spoken for and have low lintels so it would be cabless, cold and wet using it for 11 months of the year.

 

It would however work out well for cages and pallet forks on a small loader, but machine storage remains an issue. Our back yard area, where the splitter is based, is also the overflow car park when we have larger functions such as weddings so has to be able to be kept clear and tidy looking several times a year (though, admittedly, not for the foreseeable).

 

As far as manual handling goes, much the same answer. Nowhere to park such machinery and it would also make a mess of the verges etc and being the occasional wedding venue, has to be kept tidy. In the future I’ll clear and track out some paths in the woods to get to the stacks from behind and save the verges, but for now me and my trusty mower trailer will plod along with the turf tyres on.
 

I roll a few logs off the stack (safely, from the side), and cut them down to 450mm chunks to take round to the splitter, so I never have to chuck about the full length poles for anything more than getting them into a nice cutting position. Tongs and a cant hook do most of the work on that. 

Maybe a few years into the future more machinery will come along, but certainly not just now. 
 

Thanks everyone! I’m sure I’ll be back with another random, rambling question another day. 
 

Andy