A problem has been building up for some time in the yard. Namely a whole lot of tree trunks that are far too big for the Palax processor which really only has a capacity of 10 inch diameter logs. I hate the work involved with chainsawing into lumps then hiring a big hydraulic splitter and picking up the resulting pieces either to be re split or thrown into a box.
Being old and lazy I felt that there has to be an easier way
I had some wear plates removed from the dozer blade when I fitted some new ones, so I welded two together and welded them vertically onto a length of H section girder.
I dug a large hole with the excavator and put the girder and blade inside, then mixed well over a ton of concrete to leave just the blade sticking out about two feet.
Sharpened the blade with a grinder and tried to push a two foot diameter log, with many large branch knots through it with the Matbro telehandler. The Matbro weighs about six tons and has a 100 hp four litre engine with a powerful ram on the boom. Very disappointing result even when I charged at the log, it would not look at it.
So out comes Daisy Etta, about twenty tons of Caterpillar D7 with a 14 litre engine at 128hp not much more than the Matbro but a huge long stroke means a shed load of torque at low revs.
I think maximum revs is around 750 rpm but a lot of torque at even 500rpm and of course the steel tracks to put the power onto the ground
Well the old girl hardly even growled so next job is to fit a horizontal blade to split the trunks into four.
This I think will work well for occasional use. I can then pick up the four lengths with the Matbro and take them to the log table to go onto the Palax.
The main advantage is that there is no length limit to the log and I could have the Matbro standing with the grab on the far side of the blade and just cut with the chainsaw when there is a long enough length
Oh yes, I have three old car tyres to go over the blade when not in use. We do not want any reversing accidents do we!