Processor/Production help and advice

[Andy R]

Hi guys, long time no speak.

 

We are looking into starting to process our timber ourselves and are just starting out looking at processors etc but it's an information minefield out there so I thought I would ask the opinions of the guys who do it...thats you by the way.

 

We have a very lot of timber and it's just not feasible processing it by saw and splitter as it soaks up too many man hours for not enough profit. It's obviously the by-product of our main line of work which is arb, so as you can probably guess we're not looking at rows and rows of perfectly straight seasoned timber here, it's a collection of every type of timber known to man, diameters range from a few inch to a few feet, lengths are roughly 4ft and 50/50 straight/gnarly.

 

By considering a processor would you say we are barking up the right tree..? Or do you, the firewood fountains of knowledge that you are, think it is doomed to fail as an enterprise in the making..?

 

Something along the lines of a palax ks35 is what stood out from the crowd but like I say we have only started reading up on the subject in the last month or so so we really don't know what is out there. Do these bits of kit only accept straight timber as shown in the videos that promote them, or do you quickly learn what you can and can't get away with and are able to process most of your arb sourced timber..?

 

many thanks in advance, and happy new year to you all.

[delabodge]

Hi guys, long time no speak.

 

We are looking into starting to process our timber ourselves and are just starting out looking at processors etc but it's an information minefield out there so I thought I would ask the opinions of the guys who do it...thats you by the way.

 

We have a very lot of timber and it's just not feasible processing it by saw and splitter as it soaks up too many man hours for not enough profit. It's obviously the by-product of our main line of work which is arb, so as you can probably guess we're not looking at rows and rows of perfectly straight seasoned timber here, it's a collection of every type of timber known to man, diameters range from a few inch to a few feet, lengths are roughly 4ft and 50/50 straight/gnarly.

 

By considering a processor would you say we are barking up the right tree..? Or do you, the firewood fountains of knowledge that you are, think it is doomed to fail as an enterprise in the making..?

 

Something along the lines of a palax ks35 is what stood out from the crowd but like I say we have only started reading up on the subject in the last month or so so we really don't know what is out there. Do these bits of kit only accept straight timber as shown in the videos that promote them, or do you quickly learn what you can and can't get away with and are able to process most of your arb sourced timber..?

 

many thanks in advance, and happy new year to you all.

 

hi andy, we have same problem, I currently use pto jappa sawbench behind tractor for anything smaller than 12", then goes on riko 11ton splitter, as you say this is slow, but effortless, and you soon get through it with the odd couple of hours at end of arb work, realistically ,,an out feed on the sawbench would speed things up, and a cracker for splitting the larger diameter stuff would be handy,,,but where do you stop?

we cord most stuff we can lift on arb jobs and stack in one pile ,and bigger rings in another, makes things quicker, than sorting through monster stack of mixed.

[dent]

we had to do this research for a college assighnment and what was expected to be the answer is a large horizontal 4ft self loading splitter and a pto circular saw

the only way of making a processor fast is to have a log deck when dealing with larger timber and with what u describe this wouldn't work

[Andy R]

Yeah it's a tricky one.

 

@delabodge. We've religeously stacked our timber as it came in the yard in rows, so at least we would know which was oldest etc. Stacked about 3 ft high, with enough room between rows to get a processor/splitter down. So rings and cord is mixed..oops. I guess we can have a processor in one row and the splitter in the next row, cord go one way rings the other...should work out ok. Need to be able to make it a one man operation.

 

@dent. Just as I thought tbh. There isn't going be a piece of machinery or system that will deal with everything, just wanted to know if people on here get enough use from the processor to warrant it's purchase price really.

[windfall]

Hi Andy,

 

I have been researching this long and hard over the last three weeks, i have spoken to all of the processor distributors regarding thier products and asked for advice.

 

All of them have said the same as Dent, large horizontal self loading splitter to make billets for seasoning or just to split and a PTO or self driven circular saw bench for the cutting. Only thing i have read to the negative is the circular saw can struggle on bent /twisty timber.

 

Personally i found Stephen Cabrol at Riko UK Ltd to be the most helpful, his website is http://www.alpinetractors.com they seem to have some quality products and it sounds like a lot are made in house and can be made to your spec. I am just plucking up the courage to flash the cash!

 

If you find anything new and interesting please post it as there are lots of us in the same boat as you at present.

 

Tom

[renewablejohn]

The only way I could justify a processor for tree surgeon arb timber is by hiring out the machine to other tree surgeons as I find only 50% of surgeon timber is directly suitable for the processor with further ringing required to get it into the machine. That is why I hire out my Palax combi.

[gensetsteve]

I have done billets did not work for me. Found it was double handling and when put through processor if it needed splitting often hit the chamber on the wrong edge. We were using beech which may be the wrong species as the billets either run wildly of or it crumbled. The best way I found was ring it 10-12" then roll it down hill to the splitter job done. I found it about half the speed of our processor but without all the repairs or adjustments. bit like the hare and the tortoise.

[dent]

thats why circular saw with a conveyor parked up next to the end of the splitter work best as you pick the billets up of the table and put them straight in the circular saw

or maybe it would be an idea to look at saw that has a table on top as well as the normal rocking craddle so that it can deal with really bent stuff

[NoRush]

Been doing logs for 16 plus years. Most of the wood i process is arb waste. Started with an axe then stumbled across a petrol driven logsplitter it was a god send. After about 6 years i needed something quicker as i could not keep up with demand and was spending more time logsplitting than doing any other work. Bought a japa 700 and it paid for its self in the first year.Handled most wood up to 10inch and worked well with very few problems. Sold it last year for £500 less than what i bought it for (split larger stuff on logsplitter). Just upgraded to a self powered road tow processor great for when work gets slow. At the end of the day if things go bad what ever you buy you will still get a good price for it (depending on condition) Start small then if things go well upgrade

[Andy R]

Many thanks for all your input guys, we bought bobs halki 1x37 so will let you kow how we get on...but in 10-15mins today we filled our dumper which was not expected...lol

Got a good feeling about this...