No Touch Firewood: I Want One!

This is probably the coolest thing I have seen. I know there are processors that go on big excavators, but I enjoy simple, strong, small equipment that do not make a mess of the forest. Don't get me wrong, my woodlot here has ben logged by everthing; horses, atv's, tractors, skidders and even fellerbunchers. I have no condemnation for any method per se, but I found this to be practical!

Yes a absolutely no-touch firewood operation without leaving your small tractor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_ha4JSCJg

Well that sucked watchin him take all those young birch.

Does not mention cost of equipment and cost to maintain...sure makes it a lot easier, though.

A $100k wood cutter, way to go. If you say take out a loan at 7% (few will have the cash) that means that just paying the principle never mind paying down the loan means I can buy all my coal (and around here I'm a big user) and get it delivered to my door and go on a 2 week cruise every February and still have money in the bank. Or I lease it for 5 years, hmm, I wonder what the residual value is? You need a new accountant. Mid Maine is already a monoculture of trees and I agree with FF, it's a shame to see the Beech trees die.

coalnewbie wrote:A $100k wood cutter, way to go. If you say take out a loan at 7% (few will have the cash) that means that just paying the principle never mind paying down the loan means I can buy all my coal (and around here I'm a big user) and get it delivered to my door and go on a 2 week cruise every February and still have money in the bank. Or I lease it for 5 years, hmm, I wonder what the residual value is? You need a new accountant. Mid Maine is already a monoculture of trees and I agree with FF, it's a shame to see the Beech trees die.

I saw one used (excellent condition) for about $8-9K. A new one is probably in the $15K range. Seems pricey considering its size limitations.

I was thinking more about the concept and design then actually purchasing one.

My father is an engineer and so he likes this kind of stuff. And being a welder/machinist, I know I have the skills to make metal stick together in the right places; so I look at this stuff from a could-I-build-something-like-this-standpoint. As you guys have pointed out $113,000 in USA dollars is a lot of money, but with a gap that big, it makes the point that you could build your own probably far, far cheaper.

Ever since seeing this, I have been looking around at woodlots as I pass by, and with the ability to process a 9" tree, there are many that would be fair game. You could do a nice thinning operation and get the most out of the wood that you are removing, leaving the rest to grow.

Of course I probably won't build one. Time constraints and investing money into a project as involved as that, but I enjoyed seeing the concept in action.

freetown fred wrote:Well that sucked watchin him take all those young birch.

Here in my part of Maine anyway, birch does not have much appeal. There is a sawmill close by that takes white and yellow birch bolt wood, but they are paying the same now as they did 20 years ago! You can sell Yellow Birch as firewood to customers, but not a lot of White Birch can be in the load as it has such a low BTU content.

I dislike Yellow Birch for my own use because it can be fairly gnarly and difficult to split, and while White Birch splits well, it has no BTU content to it. Both however, make wonderful flooring.

Just as a side note: I notice White and Yellow Birch that grows in amongst Eastern Hemlock do well; growing to log sizes, but if they grow amongst other hardwoods, usually die off and are prone to rot in the center. Not scientific I know, but just an observation of logging.

I been loggin since you were probably a mere twinkle in your Dad's eye NS. I always figured that the Creator put them thar trees there, the least we could do is let them mature before harvesting. That was my only point.

Big scissors.

I know what you were getting at Freetown Fred.

I have no problems letting them grow, in fact my Forester is always after me to cut more wood then I do, but for us, our woodlot has always been our savings account. My Grandfather told me years ago that if you always cut the junk wood, you always have good wood. It keeps our woodlot on the mature side granted, but that is where the greatest value is too. (Logs are worth far more then pulpwood/firewood). I have been doing this for years and I don't think I'll ever run out of firewood, blowdowns, or fir to cut, all the while my bigger trees continue to grow.

This is a photo of a big yellow birch, but note how everything around it has died off because of its big crown. Not all trees are going to make it to bigger sizes so good forestry means selecting the smaller trees that are inferior and utilizing them for something before they die off.

I just hate waste. Last year I had to kick a logger off my woodlot when he was cutting small trees and just leaving them to rot in the woods. With a skidder he was going places I never could get to with my tractor so they would be left to rot in the woods. I could not tolerate that.

Big scissors is right, and this is what one looks like when it is stuck! The second photo was taken at the exact same spot a year later after the stumps were cleared and turned back into a field.

Your Grandfather was a wise man NS & I'm glad he passed that down to you. Back when, I got a lot of jobs with the horses cause people did not want machines coming in & tearing things up. There's way to many butchers out there today with$$$$$ being their only concern

Thanks, but he only passed it down on one side of the family tree. My Cousin...as soon as the ink was dried on his deed, had a "logging friend" come in and shear it off. I have nothing against mechanized equipment, but he cleared it all and only paid him $1 per ton for the chips, when the standard stumpage rate was $3 per ton.

Some friend...

He could have at least pulled the logs, studwood and pulp out of it instead of chipping it all for biomass, and we are talking hundreds of acres that was cut.

Now he either has to sell it, or pay the taxes on it for the 30 years.

My Great Grandfather was into horses while my Grandfather preferred tractors. I grew up with the latter so I never got into horse logging. A few guys by me still do it, but they have to have just the right lot to make it work. "Snappy" is the word that comes to mind when I think of horse logging.

Here we have done it all. Small farm tractor, bulldozer, cable skidder, mechanized, etc. I am even considering a High Line for one difficult section of the woodlot. The only one never used has been helicopter logging for obvious reasons.

I like my little tractor; granted the going must be good as the narrow tires will cut down through wet sod quickly, but I can get a load out in a day using 6 gallons of fuel. A Skidder burns 5 per hour! Of course my tractor can't wade through deep snow, and can't go, or do what a skidder can do, so things have to be just right.

My preferred method though has always been logging with a dozer. Snow and mud do not bother it, and it doesn't leave ruts. It never pokes a tire on a limb, and makes skid roads flat, level and stumpless. It's just slow, but that suits me well enough.

Yep, when using machines I had a 350 JD crawler for bunching & a 518 cat skidder----they'd get some trees to the landing in short order.