The Kioti rides again!

[Highbeam]

I brought the tractor out of its winter slumber to do some logging. Since acquiring my 5-7 cord per year firewood habit I have gotten to use this machine for logging. This time of year in the NW the mud is beginning to dry and the deciduous trees haven't leafed out yet so this is the time to fall your trees.

Here's the weekend's haul of truck, wood, and tractor. I run 50 miles to a remote woodlot and fall the trees, skid them, buck them to 3 foot lengths (2-18" rounds), and then haul them back. Trouble is that I can't haul much more than 2/3 cord in the truck when I have the tractor so I will make a seperate trip with just the trailer for the big loads of wood. Anytime I run out there whether to log, mow the site, or even camp, I plan to haul back at least the truckload.

Truck is 2000 F350 diesel with a 9900 lb GVWR and a 7500 lb empty weight. 600 or so lbs gets burned up with trailer tongue weight and the remainder is cargo capacity for wood. The springs only had about 1.5" to go before bottoming so I'm guessing nearly a ton of wood. These one tons sit high in the back under empty conditions. This trip used 9 gallons including tractor diesel so 25$ of fuel for the day. Note the sweet vertical stacking method. No wood will fall out of the truck.

Skidding tractor is my Kioti CK30 that I've put 765 hours on over the past few years. The tow bar arrangement is fantastic at lifting the log up off the ground for much easier dragging. I could get three logs lifted using two chains and that one big grab hook.

Wood load shown is 2 trees worth of red alder. Both were blown down and were not easy to get to for removal. 4 more trees were stacked in the deck for my next trip out.

 

[Highbeam]

One more for scott of the stove that needs to be fed.

I really like red alder since it ashes well enough to hide the coals from air and I actually get longer burn times but slightly less heat than from the more dense douglas fir.

Oh and that's the boxer pup. She's about 3 months old.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Looks good. I hauled some wood from my merger lot this winter - January. I skidded out chunked and loaded bucket, brought up to wood shed, split and stacked in shed. I currently have about 2 cords to put under the shed roof. Another 2 will sit outside and be moved next year. This is the first time in years - because I have a tractor now - that I am actually 1.5 to 2 years ahead. I should be good till 2010/2011 season. My shed holds close to 8 cords if I stack it higher than 7 feet.

Nothing like seeing a well stacked pile off wood - money in the bank - I say.

lloyd

 

[Highbeam]

Yes, money in the bank. That pile in the pic is 96 feet long and 9 cords of douglas fir. It was put up last spring and will heat my home this coming winter and much of the following winter. This latest heap of red alder is just to be sure that I am a full two years ahead. I got about a month's worth of heat in that ford's bed.

 

[Dmace]

Nice Pics! I just took the snowblower off my Kioti and installed the box-blade. Getting ready to smooth out all the washouts from the melting snow.

 

[IslandTractor]

Man that is a lot of wood you have stacked up there. Makes my back sore just to think of stacking it.

Have you ever calculated what it cost you to get a cord ready to burn?

 

[Highbeam]

Man that is a lot of wood you have stacked up there. Makes my back sore just to think of stacking it.

Have you ever calculated what it cost you to get a cord ready to burn?

Hmmm. I only calculated it when I had to pay for it and that was when I had 4.5 cords dropped off in log "butt" form as waste product from the Tacoma mills. I paid 100$ per cord for the logs and cut it into rounds in one weekend for about 5$ worth of gas and saw, and then split it with my unicorn death splitter the next weekend for about 5$ worth of diesel. Stacking was free and the plastic was like 30$ for all 9 cords. So less than 5$ per cord to process. 105$ per cord that way. I can buy it on craigslist for 150$ per cord. I added a couple of photos from that 4.5 cord load.

When I get the wood from the woodlot I have the 9 gallons of diesel for 23$ and I can only haul 2/3 cord when also hauling the tractor but while I was out there I prepared more cords for the "wood only" trips that will allow me to haul 2+ cords for the same 20$ in fuel.

The expensive part is hauling the wood 50 miles or buying the wood. Processing it into splits is cheap. Labor is one of those things where I enjoy doing it as a form of recreation with the added benefit of accomplishing something.

We heat for 8-9 months here in the puget sound. Like today it has been raining ALL day, which is why I put up some photos, and is only 50 degrees outside. Well, that means it is cold inside unless I burn a fire or two throughout the day. So from about October 1st through about June 15 we'll be burning wood. Yes, you folks up north have colder winters but mine is loooong.

 

[jimmyj]

Very impressive. Nice truck too! I love the long straight woodpile.

How long is your trailer?

 

[IXLR8]

.... then split it with my unicorn death splitter the next weekend for about 5$ worth of diesel.

What sort of RPM's do you run that 'splitter' at? That thing sure does look deadly!

 

[Highbeam]

That trailer is an 18' long car hauler rated to 10k lbs. A pair of braked 5200# dexter axles and E rated tires. I love the trailer. It has preformed beyond expectations and looks great IMO. I use weight distribution bars on the tongue but I'm not sure they're needed with the big ford.

The death splitter is direct driven from the PTO and I run the engine at a nice sounding 1600-1800 RPM. Nice and quiet and still very fast at splitting. This thing was free from a neighbor and I would rather have a hydraulic splitter for safety reasons. It is hard to beat it for speed and simplicity. The trouble is that as with any rotating shaft it can suck you in and kill you. There is no on/off switch other than to disengage the pto or kill the engine but that's tough from 4 feet behind the tractor.

 

[Gittyup]

That's one heck of a pile of wood! Makes me tired just thinking about it. But, if it saves you a few grand each year on heating, then I'd probably do it too.

And don't drop the soap near that splitter, either! Be careful with that thing.

 

[JoelD]

You should install a remote kill switch for your tractor that way you can kill the motor from outback, not sure how your machine works, I've got the manual pull knob to kill the fuel flow, for me would be a matter of a string and a little handle on the end.

Something worth thinking about where you use that splitter so much.

Be safe,

Joel

 

[Highbeam]

Good idea. The long plastic pole to the left of the seat is connected to the PTO lever and works to shut off the pto assuming that I am able to use it. I have accidentally bumped the keyswitch to off while running the brush mower and these things shutoff pretty quickly but I'm not sure which wire I would need to short to kill the diesel engine. On a gas engine you would just ground the coil.

 

[billbill1]

I used one of the "cone" splitters about 25 years ago, the originals were designed to fit on the axil of a car or truck. A buddy adapted it on a table and powered it off of his super C Farmall. He built an arm to keep the wood from spinning, it split very fast and did a good job. I have seen it stuck a couple of times (it would kill the tractor engine) where you had to cut the stuck piece off with a chainsaw. Certainly not anymore dangerous than a buzz saw (which I also owned at one time) Both will tear you up -if not alert and extremely careful.

 

[Lloyd_E]

highbeam et al,

I read somewhere that a cord of wood is equal to a 200 gallon tank of furnace oil.
Up here a cord cut split and delivered is now reaching $235. A tank of oil is over $800.

I usually buy 8' lengths @$100 per cord. Usually 10 cords at a time. I sell my buddy some - he also helps me cut and split. We burn around 5 cords a year. Last summer we actually made a couple of cords. We paid for ten but actually stacked 12 measured cords(4'x4'x8') - was a good year for cutting and splitting. Now the new tractor will actually assist us with wood. I can take about 4 cords off my land with out robbing the stock. They say you can take a cord per acre of woodland without exhausting wood base - this would be damaged trees, wind blow downs and select harvesting.

That screw splitter looks as dangerous as a pto saw for chunking firewood.

lloyd

 

[Highbeam]

Wow Lloyd, I didn't realize how expensive oil was. I looked around and found 150 gallons of oil in a furnace is equivalent to one cord of average dry hardwood or 6175 KwH of electric. These figures account for efficiencise in the stove or furnace with electric being 100% efficient.

So if you have time to tend a woodstove and you have average priced cordwood available then you can save big bucks by burning your stove without ever owning a chainsaw or doing the grunt labor of wood prep.

You can further extend your savings, and get some much needed excersize, by acquiring and processing your own wood.

 

[dking]

I feel lucky to have my own wood lot. I cut out some nice ash, apple, and birch. I have some oak and maple to get out if it ever dries up. Wood here is 225-250/cord split and delivered. I think I'll sell a few cord this year to help pay for new implements.