Logs or billets?

[Logsnstuff]

  Johny Walker said:

what kind of moisture do you have on the oak , as iv got a few tones to get thru

 

i tested some of my oak on Sunday was 11.8% and the beech was 10.5%

[StephF]

  treedweller said:

 

This is it

 

someone that sells firewood processing machines saw this too, and told me how impressed he was with the machine.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

  davetaz said:

Billets are where its at!

 

  TimberCutterDartmoor said:

Right, I tried making some billets today and very rapidly concluded that timber needs to straight grained and knot free - h/wood thinnings, no less. Agreed?

 

  R5log said:

Log it8-10 inch and put it in a shed, load it in the winter. Easy and less handerling than billets

 

  gensetsteve said:

I tried the billet idea. Seemed very slow. Ideal if you only have very large timber and are geared for splitting it. Otherwise stick with processor stuff and get a machine that will cope with at least 14" and as has been said get it straight in to 10" logs. I think the billet idea is ideal if your fire takes 3ft stuff.

 

Gave up billets after one week! Way too much double handling.

[Woodworks]

Have you tried the IBC cages yet? If you want some I know of some going locally for £20 each

[StephF]

Saw this last weekend, thinking of billets too, The large lengths of timber were split into billets on a Posch splitmaster,the company using it bought it from Germany, and use a processor for small diameter timber, you can watch a you tube video of a 660 sthil saw cutting through the billets at this link:Produkte - HAF Präzisionstechnik - Profi-Sägebock - Biessenhofen / Altdorf

Edited July 27, 2013 by StephF
Add info

[broonie]

I have drawn something similar for doing 500/600mm diameter billet rounds

[gensetsteve]

  StephF. said:

Saw this last weekend, thinking of billets too, The large lengths of timber were split into billets on a Posch splitmaster,the company using it bought it from Germany, and use a processor for small diameter timber, you can watch a you tube video of a 660 sthil saw cutting through the billets at this link:Produkte - HAF Präzisionstechnik - Profi-Sägebock - Biessenhofen / Altdorf

 

I found that interesting. Not knocking it but we dont sell many 16" logs. Hanging onto a 880 all day long is very hard work. If your sharpening is not spot on a banana cut could be interesting with all that metal around.

 

If you get your billets the right length then you can put them through a processor with no waste. Or better still buy a big processor and proper cord wood.

[StephF]

Agree on the sharpening, although you fit a device on end of bar tip that slots into the red or green things so that the saw cuts straight through the bundle, although it did look as if it would be faster than another set up we saw, where the billets go straight through a round saw blade after the splitmaster (recent jas p wilson event).

[gensetsteve]

  StephF. said:

Agree on the sharpening, although you fit a device on end of bar tip that slots into the red or green things so that the saw cuts straight through the bundle, although it did look as if it would be faster than another set up we saw, where the billets go straight through a round saw blade after the splitmaster (recent jas p wilson event).

 

I have bought kit in the past spent thousands, done 18 tonnes and thought what a waste of time and thrown it in a corner somewhere. Being honest with my hand sharpening even with a widget on the end I can see sparks. Alot of time spent on a bench grinder I think. I think if you get alot of cheap large timber you need a decent splitter and a processor or saw bench.

[StephF]

  gensetsteve said:

I have bought kit in the past spent thousands, done 18 tonnes and thought what a waste of time and thrown it in a corner somewhere. Being honest with my hand sharpening even with a widget on the end I can see sparks. Alot of time spent on a bench grinder I think. I think if you get alot of cheap large timber you need a decent splitter and a processor or saw bench.

 

So you wouldnot recommend this bit of kit from Germany??

PS at the moment we have processors and splitters, but were thinking billets may be an improvement on the handling of larger stuff.