Firewood Gathering With A Power Trac

[cqaigy2]

You mean like this.

Zactly like that.

 

[maddmatt16052]

I really like the pic, I think i'm gonna make one for mine. I have the same type of pin conections (no quick attachment plate) like on the tractor in the pic.

Matt

 

[gtrippleb]

J_J,

What are the dimensions on your grapple? I've been digging through the different threads for ideas on building a grapple and I would have to say yours seams to be the easiest and cheapest way to build one.

 

[J_J]

For the root rake part. I spaced the tines equally across the hitch bar. For the grapple, I spaced them out so as to go between the bottom tines. Width, about 40 in. of course you can make it larger with more tines with 2 x 2 x 1/4 in, or 4 x 4 x 1/4 in tubing.

 

[3238dpw]

So JJ, do you have any action shots? I have been anxious to see this thing pick something up.

 

[MossRoad]

Just a follow-up on how the holz hausen is doing...

Great!

I've been burning non-stop (except for 4 days) since October 1st. I originally had some plywood scraps and bark side up slabs covering the pile to keep rain and snow off. However, I used the upside down slabs and the snow got between the plywood, so that doesn't work too well because the snow soaks the top pieces of wood and you have to pick them off to get to the dry center pieces.

So I bought a tarp, cut a 5" x 5" hole in the center, sewed it up to keep it from tearing and slipped it over the center post. Then I draped it over the entire pile. Two days later I checked it and the snow had melted and condensed on the inside of the tarp, soaking the top layer of wood! That's what I get for not thinking.

I gathered up the edges of the tarp and folded it under until the tarp only covered the top of the pile and the sides were open to the air. A couple days later and the pile was dry again. You need air circulation to keep it dry!

I have used approximately 2/3 of the pile. The wood is completely dry all the way to the center 4x4 post. I am very happy with it so far.

One thing I do notice is we had about 27" of snow. I had to take a shovel and shovel around the pile down to the ground. The last 15-20" of wood were getting wet from the snow. I suppose that would happen with conventionally stacked wood as well, though. I'm going to make another one this spring for next year.

 

[BobRip]

I was moving some wood with my forks on my 422 today and realized how little wood it holds. The wood will fall off either end if you stack it too high. I decided to make some wooden extenders. They seem to work well, but I find I cannot take the forks off of the PT with the back extender on. I will have to work on that. Perhaps if I cut the 2 X4 a little shorter at their bottom end it will come off.

 

[MossRoad]

This brings up a topic that I want to discuss, Bob. The harvesting of firewood efficiently... or, as I see it, how to handle the wood as few times as possible until I burn it.

I used to take the tractor on a trailer to our woods and fell the trees and cut them into 16" pieces where they fell.
Toss the pieces into my FEL bucket.
Dump them on the trailer and take them home and unload them.
Split them.
Stack them.
Move them to the house as needed.
Toss them in the fire.

I quickly realized I could not haul as much wood on the trailer because I had to take the tractor home with it every time I went out.

So now I leave the tractor at home and fell 50-60 trees in one day. That takes about 6 hours.

I go back on another day with the tractor and pull 50-60 trees out of the woods and stack them like telephone poles. That took another 5-6 hours.

Then I go back as time permits with an empty trailer and cut 16' pieces off very rapidly from the stack of poles. I can cut a full trailer load in about an hour. That is about a cord of wood. It takes me about another hour to load it, so 2-3 hours per cord.

When I get them home, I unload them in a neat stack. Another hour.

Once I get 5-6 cords I borrow my in-laws splitter and split them all up in a couple days and then built my holz hausen.

So for the 6 cords I harvested last year I'm looking at:
6 hours to fell trees
6 hours to get them out of the woods
12 hours to cut into 16" pieces and load
6 hours to unload and stack
18 hours to split and stack
So, about 48 hours of work.

If I had my own splitter, I could eliminate about 6 hours and skip the time I unload the trailer and split them directly off of the trailer.

Likewise, if I could leave the tractor at the property I could save some time and handling by cutting the 16" pieces directly in the woods and dumping them on the trailer.

Optimally, if I lived at the site I could eliminate almost everything by cutting and splitting directly in the woods and only hauling them once to my holz hausen.

Ah, the inefficiencies of living away from my woodlot!

 

[MossRoad]

By the way, our gas bills so far this winter:
October $25.00
November $35.00
December $45.00

 

[coolconnection]

By the way, our gas bills so far this winter:
October $25.00
November $35.00
December $45.00

Or you could heat and cool with geo-thermal for about $35 a month. That is with one of the most expensive electric companies in the U.S. and skip all the work. I'm just sayin

 

[MossRoad]

Or you could heat and cool with geo-thermal for about $35 a month. That is with one of the most expensive electric companies in the U.S. and skip all the work. I'm just sayin

We have looked into it. The initial cost of a geo-thermal system is huge. The energy savings payback would have been about 12 years when compared to our current furnace/AC system. There have also been reports of problems with the geo-thermal systems and corrosion internally, causing the pumps to go out after 8-10 years. Those are very expensive to replace, from what we were told. They also require heat coils in the ducts because when the temps drop deep, they cannot keep up with just the ground water.

Also, I am overweight and out of shape, so I need any physical work I can get!

I really enjoy managing our woodlot. It is about 20 acres. There are 10 acres of trees down the middle ridge that consists of maples, oaks and cherries in the front with literally 10,000 locust and sassafras interspersed and covering the rear. The goal is to cut out the cherries, locust and sassafras so the maples and oaks thrive.

We had our 4 acre field reforested back on 1990 with alternating rows of white pines and mixed hardwoods, totaling 2000 trees. The pines grow fast and conically, forcing the hardwoods between them to stress for the sunlight, making them nice and straight for veneer timber. They should be ready to harvest in about 80 more years!

We had a windbreak planted around our 6 acre field and then let most of it go wild to see what pops up. I keep about 1-2 miles of trails mowed on it and really like tinkering with my crops.

 

[coolconnection]

That sounds great. I have only 2 acres but half is cherry and maple. The cherries weed themselves. I have geo-thermal and it works great and have never used the backup heating coils as of yet. Furnace keeps up well. I have 2,500 feet of buried tubing in the ground 6 feet. It works for me and thats what counts. Designed the house around the furnace not the other way around. Lots of insulation. I help my father-in-law with his 40 acres of farmland but surrounded by cherry trees, just pushing the limbs back or to a bonfire. We usually have loggers come get the logs bigger than 12 inches diameter. Get quite a bit for cherry. Usually $200 to $450 for the main logs (thats per log). I had a cherry tree removed about 3 feet across and got $700 for the log. Burned up the rest in a bonfire. I don't have a fire place. I wish I did but oh well. Be safe cutting up all that wood.

 

[Gravy]

There are 10 acres of trees down the middle ridge that consists of maples, oaks and cherries in the front with literally 10,000 locust and sassafras interspersed and covering the rear.

MR, I think I might be starting to hate you just a little bit. (Where'd the smileys go?). I would love to have a few thousand locust trees to burn. I've got just short of 10 acres, and thanks to some storms I have more downed wood than I can process. Unfortunately, the downed stuff runs to rotten pine and poplar. I think I've got about 3 locust saplings per acre. Got waaaay too many poplars - I'd have to be really desperate to burn that sorry stuff.

Oh well... even a sorry popping smoking poplar fire feels toastier than my heat pump. (But I'd still love a ground source heat pump in addition).

 

[MossRoad]

We were lucky to get that property. It has tyner soil, which is sand. It has varying degrees of slope rated A, B, C and D with D being the steepest. Tyner soil on slopes is deemed highly erodible. Someone tried to stop that erosion by planting locust trees about 20-30 years before we bought it. It worked! We got into a state program when we planted the 4 acres of pines and hardwoods. It stabilized the soil and the state reimbursed us for 75% of the cost of the the trees and the labor to plant them. 2150 trees bought, planted and side sprayed for $265.00!

 

[BobRip]

I used the fork lift log carrier again today and am amazed how much it holds. I would guess about 4 times as much as the 4 in 1 bucket or the bare forklift. Maybe still not a lot, but when I restocked the wood on my car port it took less that one load to finish. The same size load lasted 4 days in my garage

Anyway I took some pictures of an add on. I cut a 2 x 4 to go across the top to tie the front and back together. This just slips on and off. After doing this I wish I had made the thing taller. Another couple of feet would still be strong enough and would obviously hold a lot more wood. I may screw some add on when I get a chance.

This is one of those things that I feel strongly will make my wood handling a lot easier. It goes on and off the forks easily, simple to build, cheap, stores in a small area and now I can disconnect the forks from the PT without unloading it. Being narrow it will maneuver easily through the woods.

 

[toy]

BobRip would you do me a favor and move all that wood out of the way so I could get a better look at your band saw and milling machine. Well I just thought I would ask. lol. Your shop looks nice from what you can see of it.

 

[MossRoad]

This is one of those things that I feel strongly will make my wood handling a lot easier. It goes on and off the forks easily, simple to build, cheap, stores in a small area and now I can disconnect the forks from the PT without unloading it. Being narrow it will maneuver easily through the woods.

Very practical, Bob. Nice job! We don't have an attached garage or I'd be tempted to copy your design.

We have an outside entrance stairwell with the two metal doors that pull up and open to the sides. We never use it except to move appliances into the basement, so I store my wood in there. It is about 7' deep at the door and about 8 steps up. I can fit about 500 pieces in there, give or take.

I have a little wooden cart that is maybe 3 x 4 with bicycle tires that I use to bring in my wood. It holds 50 pieces very nicely. It is balanced very well and I can one hand it in and out. I made 10 trips with it today from my holz hauzen in the back yard. It is only about 100' away. Took about an hour.

 

[DCWhitley]

After seeing what Bob did, it gave me an idea for the stand alone wood rack pictured below. I have included the drawing as well. I felt I handled the firewood too many times. Now I can load the rack were the wood is stacked outside and move it directly into the garage with the forks, eliminating an extra handling. I paid for all the materials on this 1st rack - $15, but have enough 2x4s round to make 3 more racks and only have to spend another $15 on rebar. Thanks for the inspiration Bob!

 

[coolconnection]

DCWhitley you have to take more pictures or your power trac set up. Enclosed cab with what looks like some type of heater set up. You got me interested. Looks good.

 

[SpringHollow]

Wow, blowing hot air into your home made cab - i am impressed!!!

Ken