Maneuvering Big Firewood Rounds on the Splitter with Ease

[Ontario Firewood Resource]

 

[Woodworks]

Fair play to you. With just simple kit you look you cut a lot of crates of logs. How many do you do a year? 

[nepia]

You need a bigger saw!

[Ontario Firewood Resource]

51 minutes ago, nepia said:

You need a bigger saw!

Waiting on a new electric sharpener in the mail and the chain has been changed while I wait. I've never had bigger that an MS261 to compare except for using the tree cutter's saw in my truck to cut branches to reduce the load volume, but a sharp chain seems to be more important than having a bigger saw, that's just my experience, fill me in on what I am missing. Also I try to keep my costs down. I have a lot of expenses and live in an expensive city

[Ontario Firewood Resource]

1 hour ago, Woodworks said:

Fair play to you. With just simple kit you look you cut a lot of crates of logs. How many do you do a year? 

Thank you! I am under-equipped and only do firewood part time but I manage up to 50 bush cords (4900 cubic meters) in a year, with some help here or there. I am impressed with how much I do considering that I never give enough time to it, but this is the harder work for me than the other things I do for work. Beyond the crates, I sell at least a couple hundred smoker wood chunk bags as well as cut-offs/ odds and ends bags and fire lighter bags and send out two to four 30 cubic meter (6 bush cord) bins of wood in a year.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Ontario Firewood Resource

[Woodworks]

11 minutes ago, Ontario Firewood Resource said:

Thank you! I am under-equipped and only do firewood part time but I manage up to 50 bush cords in a year, with some help here or there. I am impressed with how much I do considering that I never give enough time to it, but this is the harder work for me than the other things I do for work

Had to Google that but looks like a "bush cords" works out at around 5m3 of loose logs. You crates would hold around 1.2m3 of loose logs each. 250m3 per year part time is good going but would have thought it enough to be worth investing in some more suitable kit.

 

A larger saw will have the advantage of being able to run a longer bar. Being able to just cut from one side is a big bonus for firewood. Plus the extra torque will enable you to just keep on cutting even when the chain is less than perfect. Sure a perfectly sharp chain is best but I hardly notice when my MS460 with a 25" bar has slightly dulled whereas my 560XP with a 20" cuts great but has to be spot on the cut well.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Woodworks

[nepia]

1 hour ago, Ontario Firewood Resource said:

Waiting on a new electric sharpener in the mail and the chain has been changed while I wait. I've never had bigger that an MS261 to compare except for using the tree cutter's saw in my truck to cut branches to reduce the load volume, but a sharp chain seems to be more important than having a bigger saw, that's just my experience, fill me in on what I am missing. Also I try to keep my costs down. I have a lot of expenses and live in an expensive city

What you're missing - in a polite way! - is ease and speed of cutting as Woodworks says.  Cutting from one side only will save you time and hassle.

You're a busy man who achieves a lot on his own 🙌 so time is money.  If you're cutting rings that large regularly then a ~70cc saw running a 25" bar would be a revelation to you.  Yes it's a big step up but you'd still have your 261 for smaller stuff.

You seem to know tree guys; go and have a play with some of their saws.

 

No criticism here, I'm just trying to help!

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Woodworks said:

Had to Google that but looks like a "bush cords" works out at around 5m3 of loose logs. You crates would hold around 1.2m3 of loose logs each. 250m3 per year part time is good going but would have thought it enough to be worth investing in some more suitable kit.

 

A larger saw will have the advantage of being able to run a longer bar. Being able to just cut from one side is a big bonus for firewood. Plus the extra torque will enable you to just keep on cutting even when the chain is less than perfect. Sure a perfectly sharp chain is best but I hardly notice when my MS460 with a 25" bar has slightly dulled whereas my 560XP with a 20" cuts great but has to be spot on the cut well.

 

1 hour ago, Ontario Firewood Resource said:

Waiting on a new electric sharpener in the mail and the chain has been changed while I wait. I've never had bigger that an MS261 to compare except for using the tree cutter's saw in my truck to cut branches to reduce the load volume, but a sharp chain seems to be more important than having a bigger saw, that's just my experience, fill me in on what I am missing. Also I try to keep my costs down. I have a lot of expenses and live in an expensive city

A sharp chain is indeed important . A big sharp chain is even better on big rings . Crucially it will cut your video time in half 😁

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

 

A sharp chain is indeed important . A big sharp chain is even better on big rings . Crucially it will cut your video time in half 😁

Maybe a 50cc Saw doubles the youtube revenue?  

[nepia]

33 minutes ago, Stubby said:

 

Crucially it will cut your video time in half 😁

Such an obvious thing but I totally overlooked it 🙄

 

Genius mate!