how long does it take you to cut a cord of wood?

[hazmat]

Spent the day today making fuel for next winter. Don't feel like I accomplished much in 8 hours.

1. Down tree

2. Limb

3. Cut logs into 16" lengths

4. Transport to "firewood central" with tractor

5. Bulldoze brush into pile with tractor

I figure after 8 hours I didn't quite get to a full cord of wood. And I haven't even split it yet. Most of the trees I was cutting were old apple trees (~10" dia) that don't yield a whole lot of wood per tree. I did notice that the Poplar? & maple (~10-14" dai) seemed to go faster - as they were straighter & had less limbing. I'll snap some pics tomorrow.

$175 delivered is sounding like a fantastic deal right now.

So - how much wood can you cut in a day?

 

[leaddog]

around here we can still get a cord, yes that is three rick delivered for 75 bucks. but that isn't as much fun as playing with the chainsaw and tractor doing it your self.

 

[Will_C]

Hazmat; That is tough woodcutting!! I'll say you did ok, you just are not going to make much production with apple trees, moving wood, and brush work too. I would cut 6-8 cords a day many years ago. I had just the opposite of your situation. My father was skidding both tree tops from a logging operation and whole cull logs to me. I was sawing in a field, no problem moving around, and he trimmed brush in the woods. That was a way to make wood /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
It is a lot of work with small trees and small equipment.
Will

 

[s1120]

Ya that would be good for me. Something would break, and have to come to a screeaching halt /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I am in a strange place this year. I have 4 acres of woods, with a lot of downed trees, but I have to buy wood. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Problem is I cleard a lot for the house 2 or so years ago, but now that the house is done, the wood is all rotted. The downed trees from our tornado this summer are to wet. Well heres looking for a better next year.

 

[TCowner]

I agree with Leaddog. Its hard to beat being outside on a cool fall afternoon using your gasoline powered chainsaw, gasoline powered splitter and diesel power compact utility tractor. The testosterone rush can't be described.

Cutting wood also gives us the best excuse for avoiding visits to shopping malls and some relatives (in-laws). Tim the Tool Man would be proud or us.

 

[theonlybull]

personally i like how we do it. we cut and limb it in the woods, then haul it out long length ( we have a skidder) to one of our wood yards. usually i can cut 15 + cords in 2 5hr days, with my father hauling for me. this is done late fall/early winter when the ground is frozen.

then come spring while it's still cool out, we junk it all up, then split and pile it . (3 guys with our splitter can split 2 cords/hr)

then early september it's put inside while it's nice and dry

 

[Slamfire]

So far I have about 3 days invested in one rick. 1 day spent retreiving the log splitter from the wife's best friend, probably could have done in half the time, but I had to socialize a while, then got the truck hung up on a stump in her pastrue. Day 2 was spent overhauling the carburator, which was not allowing gas into the float bowl. I managed to get it done with only one trip to town. Day 3 I hauled a cord, precut last spring, to unshade the corn patch, which turned out to be too wet to plant. Then started splitting. My wife came out to help me, and promptly had me split about a half a rick of kindling. Oh well, she'll probably use it. Monday I'll have to finish the splitting by my lonesome, the ladies are going shopping. Then begin the search for dead wood to add to the pile. This is beginning to look like a 3 cord, 2 propane tank winter. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Boondox]

Hazmat, it's tough working faster with small equipment. So my wife and I over the years have developed a system that works well for us and yields 5-6 cords per very long, exhausting day.

I drop a tree and remove the tips that are too small for firewood. While Tamara is dragging those to a burn pile, I cut the branches off in 16" lengths. She will collect those into a trailer towed behind the ATV. Then on to the next tree. When I have three limbed trunks, I drag them home using the Farmi winch while my wife drives the 4 wheeler home and begins stacking the small stuff that won't need splitting.

At home, about 30' from our firewood storage bin off the side of the garage, I have a lattice of 8x8" hemlock beams set up off the ground with some very handy scrap steel H-beams. The logs get stacked on top of the hemlock where they sit over the winter.

Early next spring when there's still snow on the ground and the bugs haven't yet hatched (April or May), I'll use chains on the FEL to lift those logs off the pile one at a time. I drive them halfway over to the storage bin and -- with the tractor holding them at waist height so I don't have to bend over -- I cut them into 16" rounds. Then the woodsplitter is backed into the space between the rounds and the storage bin, so as we split, the firewood is tossed right into storage.

When it all sugars off I probably spend as much time processing the wood as what you're doing, but I eliminate those repetitive one-at-a-time actions that gobble up the day. Also, using this method it's easy to handle the occasional tree dropped by high winds -- just bring it home and add it to the pile.

Pete

 

[woodmills1]

using just a chainaw and splitting maul on already cut but log length firewood I can cut split and stack about 2 cords in an eight hour day. If I use my log loader trailer to hold the logs off the ground to cut it will go up to maybe three. If I add the wood splitter to the mix I might get up to 4 but I really would be out of energy before that happened.

What I actually do for myself is burn standing dead wood. Looking around my woods to find these gems takes almost as much time as does cutting and splitting.

I am beginning to go back into the firewood business and will spend 2-3 hours collecting the tops from previously felled trees from the woods, bringing them home and bucking them up. Then on these crisp mornings I will spil around a half a cord before I start my other tasks to get warmed up.

 

[hazmat]

Guys thanks for the encouragement. Sounds like I'm not doing so bad considering I've got small trees & am trying to clean up as I go.

Wife doesn't share in my dream of a shady lawn in the back 40 instead it's current state of overgrown apple trees & new growth forest. She about flipped out when I told her it was going to cost $85 to rent a log splitter for the day.

Here are a couple shots of this years wood pile. I cut about 2/3 of it on friday.