I live in a stone farmhouse house built in 1796. One of the original large wood burning fireplaces had been bricked in and converted to a more or less conventional sized fireplace when oil heat was installed in the 1930’s. In 2014 I decided to install a wood burning insert with blower fan to get maximum value out of the wood. What a difference. I have unlimited wood available like Squatch. I’m now saving 500 gallons of oil per winter versus the previous inhabitant, my widowed mom.
Back in the 70's in rural Wisconsin, we knew a farmer who lived in a house with no electricity or running water. He had created his own wood burning boiler system that heated and humidified that house better then any modern home I had ever been in. Told me that when he was growing up they had a big cast iron pot of water that sat on the stove from November to March, that never got cold in order to add humidity.
Someone may have already pointed out that your new stack is 4' deep x 5.5' tall x 32' long = 704cub ft A cord is 128cub ft (4*4*8), therefore 704 cub ft = 704÷128= 5.5 cord
Great video squatch253! That's an awesome way of processing your wood. Keeps the work area nice and tidy with Less risk of tripping. It was great to see Squatch family working together. Cheers
Hey. One thing old men told me about stacking firewood. Always put the firewood up for drying with the bark DOWN. The firewood will dry much faster because the moisture can go out without hitting the "roof", the bark and get closed in. Just a little suggestion from Ketil here in Norway.
Very interesting how you do your winwood pile. I just watched a video about Swisher, not very far from your home. They made the first zero turn lawnmower. It's also a very nice treat to finally see the real boss of the home. There is nothing like a real fire to warm the house up. Too bad they are phasing out of new home construction. The perfect backup for an outage.
I follow a UA-camr named Marty T, from New Zealand, I believe. Lots of good content about finding and resurrecting old machinery, to include an old D2, so maybe you know of him. I was impressed with his firewood handling practices. First thing is a simple lift platform which uses the backstroke of the ram to lift large rounds up to the splitter's processing table. The second thing is he makes bins from old pallets and scrap wood, about 4 x 4 x 4. He will put one right there by the splitter, and put it right in the bin after splitting, stacked or thrown. Then move it right out with a tractor. Cuts way down on handling steps, especially if you can move a bin right up to the house for use. Uses a bit more room, but you have that. Old 330 gal totes with the tank removed might work as well.
There is something satisfying about cutting, splitting, and stacking wood but sure is a lot of work! It looks like you got it handled! Hi to mom Squatch!!
A little tip my wood burning friend .On your tarps at the ends with the pallets ,use bungee cords through eyelets down to a slat on the pallet. It'll be a surefire way your tarp won't pull out from the pallet during a strong wind. I use them on my piles and never lost a tarp yet ! Stay warm my friend!🙂
I miss using firewood for heat! I found it very satisfying to cut wood, process it, and burn it during the winter. If I were to do it again I want to go with a outdoor woodboiler. Grandpa had one and we did not need to split everything we fed it. Keeping the mess outside was another big bonus. Thanks for sharing!
Cutting and splitting and stacking the wood the way that you do, definitely gives a more consistent control of the heat from the stove, great job, A to Z 😃
I'm old school enough before hyd splitters or mauls we axes, sledge and wedges, but a buzz saw has always been in the system loop. You started with buzz poles quicker than a chainsaw and yes help makes quicker splitting and hyd splitter too. Best heat going renewable and healthy living good job!
Glad to see your Mom out helping too! Nothing more gratifing than a family effort. Good on ya folks, and two year seasoned wood is optimal for moisture to BTU ratio. And you burn cleaner and hotter with less clinkers in the chimneys.
Looks to me like Senior hit the jackpot when he married your mom. Read Proverbs 31:10-31 to her because she obviously fits the description in that passage from the Bible. You obviously trust her because she was running the controls of a machine that could seriously hurt you if you weren't paying attention.
I'll be starting this "fun" soon. I have a splitter for the 3-point on my small utility tractor. A double action job that splits in two directions. Nice to meet Mrs. Squatch Senior!
Thanks for showing your process. I use a marking stick and sidewalk chalk to mark my wood. Otherwise I do things pretty similar. It’s nice to have help running the splitter too.
I like that making firewood is a 'problem' where the solutions are usually similar. I like your efficient processing. I'm impressed with the volume you put up in so short a time. I see my processing and stacking wind up being essentially the same among most of the people I see who use wood seriously for heat. I only store a maximum of 3 cords so I built an open shed for storage so no tarps and I split by hand. As we are less than 2 miles from the Hayward Earthquake fault we get small tremors and the wildlife (rats and squirrels) like to climb the pile so I have to both bank and stack the ends as you do or I find the pile all over the ground. Since I add bit at a time there are many ends and a lot of the stacks are stacked both directions. It's both art and science.
Unless the wood is only 2" in diameter it is quicker drying by cutting all wood into 4"-6" slabs. As all wood drys lengthwise faster than radially. Then stack in old waterproof van over summer; the 40 + celsius temp quickly drys the wood and it is very easy to split a 4"-6" slab (if necessary)
@@robertmccabe8632Good ideas. Unlikely I will be able to ever use your method. I live in an urban area on a small lot. I'm lucky I have room for the small shed I built. Which, doubles as an emergency shelter should a large quake destroy the house. I don't have an old van or the space for one. Our summers are hot enough and the westerly breeze and westerly facing shed help the wood dry quickly and I always make a mix of thicknesses so some dries quickly for use should I run low of my older drier stuff. I also don't use that much as we don't live at Toby's latitude and live close enough to coast that the ocean moderates temps.
This used to be the norm for firewood processing when firewood was stored outside, now it was a little bit different when the full basement was used and filled with the wood supply for the farmhouse. That was quite the process also.
Excellent instruction video on firewood. I have some friends that lose their wood to bugs because they don't get it off the ground, or tarp it. Gonna send them this.
Taking me back to Washington state in the 1950s, when as a sub-teener I had to help my "senior" cutting the winter's firewood. He had rigged a 30-inch blade on a shaft on a home-made frame, which he powered by a 20-foot belt from the clutch drum of his old John Deere GP tractor (horizontal 2-cylinder engine, start it by yanking the flywheel). He'd horse the fir logs into the saw, I would bear off and stack. As for splitting -- it was my daily job to bring in the day's wood for two stoves from the woodshed, splitting as necessary with a sledge and a steel wedge, or an axe.
ok nice setup i use tone bags from my local bulders merchant so you dont have to stack wood put the bags on the pallets when you split fill the bags you can then stack the bags two high then take a tone bag to the house may work for you steve UK
Very good video Squatch. Truly appreciated learning your process and reasoning. We’re relatively new to wood burning so I’ll take all the tips I can get from someone competent.
Cool. I've never seen anyone pre-marking wood. It's actually a good idea to get consistency. Instead of using your stick it could be an option to use "whiskers" like Chris from In the Woodyard does. Cut, mark, mark and then cut again. You'll still get the same length consistency within reason and you don't have to keep picking up and moving your stick. As your wood is nice and consistent it might be worth adding a 4-6" space at the foot of the splitter so that you can use the auto retract on the splitter and not have time wasted by the extended stroke.
Yup. Chris is big time into the business and sales. He's got a huge investment in a site and the equipment as well but lm a Joe home owner wannabe wood cutter who's gonna be 72 this summer. The zip tie deal he uses for measuring is a great trick. I'm going to block my splitter tomorrow. That is a great suggestion.👍👍👍👍
Funny that this video published just before I am walking out the door to go cut firewood. You have a much more efficient process than I do however I only use about 1-1/2 chords a year. Nice to see folks still using firewood for heat!
I have a wood furnace, so I cut nd split a bit larger pieces than you do. I have 4’x 40in pallets. I lay 6 on the ground giving me 24’ x 40”. Then I only stack two rows of wood 16 in wood, 4’ high…that makes two cords of fire wood. I leave the 8” space in between the two outside rows to allow for better air flow all around the wood. It means I can dry my firewood in one season, but I still usually have two years ahead. I use to stack it 4’ wide with 3 rows, but it would take forever to season. Cheers from 🇨🇦
I used to work in the engineering department at swisher mower machine, I didn't get to work on the log splitter but it's cool to see something familiar.
I now 😮use Gaylord cardboard boxes, also called pumpkin or watermelon boxes, about 40x44”, get them from farm auctions in SE PA, hold about 1/4 cord each, weigh about 900# of oak. Easily moved with three point hitch utility forks on subcompact tractor onto under cover storage areas. Works great but absolutely needs enclosed storage. We use small hoop house structures, cheap and easy to build if you don’t have a barn. So, cut, split, load wood into boxes, drive to winter shelter. Move inside in plastic bins.
Just use the bar length (16”) to guide your cuts. A cheap moisture meter will tell you when your wood is ready to burn( much less than two years in my zone 7a with split wood outside in the sun and wind).
Mini excavator and ibc totes. I hold the log up and cut to length next to the splitter, split, stack in totes. Tractor totes through basement sliding door. Split wood is touched once to tote and once to stove.
I have the same type splitter and have put 300 full cord through it with no problem . I bought it for 750 new because the fender was smashed and I was in the right spot at the right time. It still works fine. I'd love an Eastonmade but it's hard to pull out 14 k and save anything on heat.
For the volume that you seem to do, do you need a better splitter. One that splits one log into five or six pieces with one swipe. You would save many hours in the log splitting phase of your business. Plus you would save many gallons of gasoline.
I don't think we've ever been introduced before to Mrs. Senior! Glad to meet her and see she's a part of your operation! Have to ask, you're no longer a prisoner at the Ford garage, have you completely retired, are you farming, is UA-cam your job, or what are you doing besides processing wood and UA-cam?
small tip put a few tywraps on the handle of your chain saw cut them to the length of the wood you want and use that as the length meter then you can cut to length from your wood pile without having to mark everything with a stick next to it
I don't miss splitting wood at all. Much in my life that I look back on and feel sore or I feel like shaking my head and laughing is in that time. Our great firewood fiasco. A friend of my dad's and my dad convinced themselves and us to hat we'd make a truckload of money from firewood. So we'd spend day after day after school and weekends driving around picking up wood, limbs and such from yard debris on the sides of roads or wherever. Then we hear about a land clearing out in the country, so we go there chainsaws at the ready. Spend a week cutting up downed trees loading out wood in trucks and trailers, hauling it to either my dad's or the friend's house. It must have easily been enough wood to build at least a six story mansion by the time it started getting slightly cool. Then came the splitting it, did we have a power splitter? Nope. Splitting mauls and wedges, because "you kids need to build character and get some muscles." A ten year old kid is not going to be able to swing a eight pound splitting maul with any effective means more than a few times before getting worn out. Much less do it for hours on end, even though we had access to a splitter that our neighbor offered the use of, nope had to do it by hand because "character building". It was about mid December by the time the last of it was split and I, my brother, cousins, friend's son, and his cousin. Could barely lift our arms at all. So now, it's winter time but is it cold? Nope, the temps never went below 45 degrees F that year, or for the next five years. Finally after six years of whittling the great wood pile down by selling a little here and there. Cutting more of the hickory, pecan, and oak into smaller pieces for use in smokers. The pile vanished and totaled all up, we lost money in the venture because dad and his friend just figured one newspaper ad run for one day in July would be sufficient for sales.
I used to do exactly this for eight years, installed a exterior central boiler with radiators in the house, garage and bottom of barn, everything is on thermostats, wood usage down 30%, stoke full once a day 80% of the time, house stays cleaner with more accurate controlled heating . . . Just amazing easy conversion, my only regret is not doing it sooner
My house was built with 8 fireplaces. 200 years ago. For the last 50 we mainly used 2 big inserts. I bought a outdoor boiler to heat my shop but have not hooked it up yet. I am very much looking forward to being able to burn bigger chunks of wood and not have the mess that comes with dragging wheel barrel loads of wood in every day.
@@squatch253 heating choices vary wildly in my household, I have a daughter who would sleep in a sauna and a son who shuts off his thermostat and cracks the window, hence the two dog sleep in my home office (or wherever the cat let's them), wife seems the same as myself. Our house (3,200sqft single story) was specked with 2X6" exterior walls, lot's of glass all triple pane, and when I say I heat my garage and barn I'm only heating to 40°, my biggest pleasure is not having to clean ashes from inside the house, no worries about carbon-monoxide or fires, and the fire box will take 30" wood so supply prep is quicker, It's a Crown Royal Stove which is hidden from view as my wife calls it a pleasing architectural out building (never mind the extra 15 grand to make the garage a pleasing out building), but anyway I feel the "shed" at least protects the stove from wind and rain/snow which might add to it's efficiency, we do on occasion run the fireplace for "ambiance" on holidays and such for pending visitors, but yes it greatly depends on one's existing construction and heating needs
An alternative to those tarps you use to cover your stacks would be epdm. It is a synthetic rubber membrane that can be had for free from commercial roofers when they replace low-slope roofs. It will last a lifetime too. It will otherwise end up in a landfill. Bring those boys a couple six packs at quitting time and you'll soon have a pickup full...
I go to my local umberyard and get used pallets for stacking my wood. I used to buck and split my own. Now at 73, I just buy four full loggers cords cut and split, delivered to my site every year. I get it in early April, stack and cover the top of the pile, and, by late October it is well seasoned. I get birch, cheaper than maple, and, it works well. One tip, when I stack on my pallets, I make two rows with an air space in between the rows, and, that allow the wood to dry faster. I use extra pallets to make ends so that I can just stack the wood without having to make end stacks. Also, never cover the sides of the piles just the tops, that allows for sun and air to season the wood. If you need to respoit any by hand, get a Fiskar splittin axe, they work slick for those chunks that might be just a bit too large. One final tip, always stack the split wood, bark side up, that allows for any water that leaks into the pile to shed off. !6 inch wood is standard, because it is sold in cords, and, a full cord is 4x4x8 it is the best size for most wood stoves. However, there are some stoves that require 12 inch wood. If you build end brackets with a smaller pallet, you do not have to spend time making the ends. I am an old man, and, I can stack a full cord of split wood in about an hour.
I really enjoyed this very much. I heat with wood as well and enjoy the whole process of felling, processing, stacking and burning wood. Great system you have there.
Toby what you need to do is look into billboard sign tarps. I just bought a 10 ft by 40 ft tarp and they're very heavy duty. I'm thinking up to 10 years of use.??? My second winter approching.
- How do you choose trees for firewood? Already dead and dry or healthy living ones and what sizes in diameter? What time of the year is the best to cut them? - How do you move logs? With tractor? - Where do you get pallets? Thank you. Need to prepare my own firewood, but just watching with satisfaction how others do it. 😅
Thanks for watching! Our firewood comes from storm damage cleanup (broken trees) and overly mature trees that had to be taken down before they fell and damaged something, and with about 100 acres to pull from it just happens to work out about right, keeping everything clean plus staying well supplied with firewood. Here's another video that does a pretty good job of showing how we move the logs from the woods to the firewood processing area - ua-cam.com/video/VMuicDPIub8/v-deo.html Another one from this fall showing how we sometimes have to work smarter, rather than harder lol - ua-cam.com/video/4JId1ZAoRvs/v-deo.html
@@squatch253 Thank you. Will need to start cleaning up my wooded 5 acres, but it'll take years without heavy machinery with only a chainsaw, a cart, and an electric wood splitter. Plus it's raining a lot - need to wait for a good weather window. I heard that felling trees is best to be done in the winter - trees are dormant plus you could more easily move logs using a sled.
I got tired of sharpening my chain saw blade ... hooked up my Radial Arm chop saw with a 16" stop ... goes MUCH faster and only have to use the Chain saw on larger dia logs. Highly recommend Bro !!!
I have that Swisher log splitter in the three point setup. I dumped the three point hitch part and had a local metal fabricator make a removable bracket to mount it parallel to my skidsteer bucket blade and it line the blocked logs in a row and invert the bucket straight down and split logs with the skidsteer auxiliary hydraulic valve.
You have a gold mine there. Central TX prices. We have pecan and oak wood for sale this prices are for pick up. 1/4 cord for $70 1/2 cord for $140 Full cord for $280 This price is for delivery no more than 10 miles. 1/4 cord for $125 1/2 cord for $195 Full cord for $350
I love your video's, i split a lot of wood as well,but in the fall of 2017 ihad my dad help me he ran the controls,and at some point i didnot get my hand out of the way in time.off came my thumbon right hand .great doctor's were able to save it. I am now a firm believer in who ever loads also control the level. Have a good day.
We heated our house with wood in Idaho. The stove was wide so a log round could just be rolled in up to a foot or so in diameter. Nothing that would roll in was ever be split. The bigger logs I split in half with a big maul. Usually it only took one swing. Most of the wood in your supply I would have used whole! We burned Quacking Aspen and Douglas Fur. The stove was called an Earth Stove. It had a spring type thermostat on the damper to control temperature. It also had two small pipes with flattened ends angled right at the bottom of the flue which gave a fresh air jet to the snake and burned on f create and such. Never had to clean the chimney. One pot slow cooking on the stove top all winter and left overs were stuck out side through a window for refrigeration.
I have at least five years worth of cut logs on the ground as a result of the ash borer. And the only trees that we dropped are those that would hit the barn or foul the driveway when they come down. I have a lot more standing dead all over my property. I wish that it would split as cleanly as the popple (poplar?) that Squatch is processing.
Thanks for sharing your back is so much better than mine I’d be in the hospital after five minutes of that lol I remember splitting it with the splitting machine dad rigged up it used hydraulic from the tractor to run it and it had a huge cylinder not sure where he found it but there wasn’t anything it wouldn’t split
Jealous of those 6 cord stacks. Here in AZ we dont go through near that much yearly. I got about 3 cord on property right now, and that will be about a year and a half worth for us. Definitely gonna start redoing the stack ends, as your system seems better than a vertical pallet screwed to the ends and braced up.
Boy, that's some easy splitting wood. You should try some old elm, that stuff is really stringy. We had a piece of something the splitter just wouldn't do it but did get it far enough to stick it ended up smacking it with a sledge, put some more pressure on it and hit it again. We finally won though.
I try to improve my efficiency by cutting down pick up and put down times as much as possible. Check out a "mingo marker" for marking your cuts. Mark what you can see in the pile at once then cut, Repeat. A auto return valve on your splitter frees up a lot of time to grab your next piece. Multi position wedge since you burn small pieces. Obviously a full on processor would be best but you certainly have the fabrication skills to make it easier for very little investment. A small conveyor to take away splits. Large lift table for rounds to feed to the splitter. Log bunks/table to hold logs and cut at a more comfortable height.
If you're consistently running a 2 person system, it's much easier to just put the pallet right at the splitter. As one runs the lever the other can just turn and stack.
I burn about the same 5-7 cords. One thing Im sick of is the tarps! Total waste of money and they end up littering rotted tarp everywhere. Next year Im building a simple tin roof to cover it. No more tarps! Here in OR we cut the dead standing trees, pine beetle, and dont have to season it. Its bone dry right out of the forest! Soooo nice!
I was wondering why you split it so fine...Thanks for clearing that up.I always tryed to stay a couple years ahead also less creosote that way...Happy Cutting.
Nice seeing realistic wood splitting content for once. Not everyone can cough up $15,000 on a log splitter, we still get the same results.. might have to work a little harder and longer at the end of the day.
yeah, I got a little 6 ton electric (in town and low volume). as you say, not everyone can cough up for (nor needs) a huge machine. A little one that can still do the job may be slower, but still better than a maul and wedges.
Wow you are really efficient at cutting wood. Do people in you area use the tractor mounted Buzz saw to cut some of smaller diameter logs. We took the saw to cut tree process the tree onto a wagon ant take them to the stack place. You wiii still need to us the chain saw on the logs.
Way to neat and efficeint. Our woodpiles were never as neat as yours lol! The fire doesn't care if the wood is somewhat ugly. :) Nice work! Now I grew up in central MN about 100 plus miles from you, but now reside in coastal GA. Not cold enough for anyone to heat with wood- I do have a fireplace for those "brutal" 40 degree nights. We however have termites thus my wood is stacked far away from the house and I bring it in only to put it on the fire!
7:34 I could watch these firewood processing videos all day. There's something so satisfying about them.
I live in a stone farmhouse house built in 1796. One of the original large wood burning fireplaces had been bricked in and converted to a more or less conventional sized fireplace when oil heat was installed in the 1930’s. In 2014 I decided to install a wood burning insert with blower fan to get maximum value out of the wood.
What a difference. I have unlimited wood available like Squatch. I’m now saving 500 gallons of oil per winter versus the previous inhabitant, my widowed mom.
Love seeing Mrs Squatch. In my mind, she is the animal tamer that keeps the wild Squatchs in line. I make myself laugh 🙂.
Nice to see Mrs Squatch253 senior out and about again.
Back in the 70's in rural Wisconsin, we knew a farmer who lived in a house with no electricity or running water. He had created his own wood burning boiler system that heated and humidified that house better then any modern home I had ever been in. Told me that when he was growing up they had a big cast iron pot of water that sat on the stove from November to March, that never got cold in order to add humidity.
Yep I have an old cast-iron tea pot kettle that is on my stove that puts humidity back into the air been doing it since I was a little boy.
Y’all have gotten that down to a science over the years, I always learn something watching your channel!
Someone may have already pointed out that your new stack is 4' deep x 5.5' tall x 32' long = 704cub ft
A cord is 128cub ft (4*4*8), therefore 704 cub ft = 704÷128= 5.5 cord
How much wood could a woodsquatch chuck if a woodsquatch could chuck wood?
😅😆😂🤣
Depends how long it took a woodsquatch to make a wood chucking tool 😂
A wood squatch can chuck as much wood as a wood squatch can!!! 😆👍
GROOOAN!!!!!
Great video squatch253! That's an awesome way of processing your wood. Keeps the work area nice and tidy with Less risk of tripping. It was great to see Squatch family working together. Cheers
Hey. One thing old men told me about stacking firewood. Always put the firewood up for drying with the bark DOWN. The firewood will dry much faster because the moisture can go out without hitting the "roof", the bark and get closed in. Just a little suggestion from Ketil here in Norway.
@@squatch253 Wood dries through the ends.
Very interesting how you do your winwood pile. I just watched a video about Swisher, not very far from your home. They made the first zero turn lawnmower. It's also a very nice treat to finally see the real boss of the home. There is nothing like a real fire to warm the house up. Too bad they are phasing out of new home construction. The perfect backup for an outage.
I follow a UA-camr named Marty T, from New Zealand, I believe. Lots of good content about finding and resurrecting old machinery, to include an old D2, so maybe you know of him. I was impressed with his firewood handling practices. First thing is a simple lift platform which uses the backstroke of the ram to lift large rounds up to the splitter's processing table. The second thing is he makes bins from old pallets and scrap wood, about 4 x 4 x 4. He will put one right there by the splitter, and put it right in the bin after splitting, stacked or thrown. Then move it right out with a tractor. Cuts way down on handling steps, especially if you can move a bin right up to the house for use. Uses a bit more room, but you have that. Old 330 gal totes with the tank removed might work as well.
Thanks for that comment. I just went and found the video you mentioned. Pretty clever. Now I want to build a reverse stroke lifter for my splitter!
Nice. This is that video. ua-cam.com/video/fezL0XhG4vo/v-deo.html
There is something satisfying about cutting, splitting, and stacking wood but sure is a lot of work! It looks like you got it handled! Hi to mom Squatch!!
A little tip my wood burning friend .On your tarps at the ends with the pallets ,use bungee cords through eyelets down to a slat on the pallet. It'll be a surefire way your tarp won't pull out from the pallet during a strong wind. I use them on my piles and never lost a tarp yet ! Stay warm my friend!🙂
Nice to finally meet mom 🥰
I miss using firewood for heat! I found it very satisfying to cut wood, process it, and burn it during the winter. If I were to do it again I want to go with a outdoor woodboiler. Grandpa had one and we did not need to split everything we fed it. Keeping the mess outside was another big bonus. Thanks for sharing!
First time I’ve seen Mom. You did real good with Squatch253, we like him a lot!
There have been glimpses of her before
Cutting and splitting and stacking the wood the way that you do, definitely gives a more consistent control of the heat from the stove, great job, A to Z 😃
I'm old school enough before hyd splitters or mauls we axes, sledge and wedges, but a buzz saw has always been in the system loop. You started with buzz poles quicker than a chainsaw and yes help makes quicker splitting and hyd splitter too. Best heat going renewable and healthy living good job!
To cut my firewood uniform I have a magnet screwed on to a dowel to the lengths I want. You just put it on the bar and mark,works wonderfully
Glad to see your Mom out helping too! Nothing more gratifing than a family effort. Good on ya folks, and two year seasoned wood is optimal for moisture to BTU ratio. And you burn cleaner and hotter with less clinkers in the chimneys.
Looks to me like Senior hit the jackpot when he married your mom. Read Proverbs 31:10-31 to her because she obviously fits the description in that passage from the Bible. You obviously trust her because she was running the controls of a machine that could seriously hurt you if you weren't paying attention.
I'll be starting this "fun" soon. I have a splitter for the 3-point on my small utility tractor. A double action job that splits in two directions. Nice to meet Mrs. Squatch Senior!
Good to see your Ma, Toby😊
Thanks for showing your process. I use a marking stick and sidewalk chalk to mark my wood. Otherwise I do things pretty similar. It’s nice to have help running the splitter too.
We always use a lumber crayon.
I like that making firewood is a 'problem' where the solutions are usually similar. I like your efficient processing. I'm impressed with the volume you put up in so short a time. I see my processing and stacking wind up being essentially the same among most of the people I see who use wood seriously for heat. I only store a maximum of 3 cords so I built an open shed for storage so no tarps and I split by hand. As we are less than 2 miles from the Hayward Earthquake fault we get small tremors and the wildlife (rats and squirrels) like to climb the pile so I have to both bank and stack the ends as you do or I find the pile all over the ground. Since I add bit at a time there are many ends and a lot of the stacks are stacked both directions. It's both art and science.
Unless the wood is only 2" in diameter it is quicker drying by cutting all wood into 4"-6" slabs.
As all wood drys lengthwise faster than radially.
Then stack in old waterproof van over summer; the 40 + celsius temp quickly drys the wood and it is very easy to split a 4"-6" slab (if necessary)
@@robertmccabe8632Good ideas. Unlikely I will be able to ever use your method. I live in an urban area on a small lot. I'm lucky I have room for the small shed I built. Which, doubles as an emergency shelter should a large quake destroy the house. I don't have an old van or the space for one. Our summers are hot enough and the westerly breeze and westerly facing shed help the wood dry quickly and I always make a mix of thicknesses so some dries quickly for use should I run low of my older drier stuff. I also don't use that much as we don't live at Toby's latitude and live close enough to coast that the ocean moderates temps.
This used to be the norm for firewood processing when firewood was stored outside, now it was a little bit different when the full basement was used and filled with the wood supply for the farmhouse. That was quite the process also.
Makes me so happy to have finally broke down and bought the Wallenstein WP845.
what a family..great to see Ma helping..betcha she is a helluva cook too..
I always like seeing how others manage their woodyard.
Excellent instruction video on firewood. I have some friends that lose their wood to bugs because they don't get it off the ground, or tarp it. Gonna send them this.
Taking me back to Washington state in the 1950s, when as a sub-teener I had to help my "senior" cutting the winter's firewood. He had rigged a 30-inch blade on a shaft on a home-made frame, which he powered by a 20-foot belt from the clutch drum of his old John Deere GP tractor (horizontal 2-cylinder engine, start it by yanking the flywheel). He'd horse the fir logs into the saw, I would bear off and stack. As for splitting -- it was my daily job to bring in the day's wood for two stoves from the woodshed, splitting as necessary with a sledge and a steel wedge, or an axe.
Wow! Hello MOM! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻1st time ever see her! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Love that radiant wood heat. If you've never had it you don't know what you're missing.
yep nothing like it!
ok nice setup i use tone bags from my local bulders merchant so you dont have to stack wood put the bags on the pallets when you split fill the bags you can then stack the bags two high then take a tone bag to the house may work for you steve UK
What a good mother. Way to go mom.
That's a lot of wood. Y'all have a good system down 👍
Very good video Squatch. Truly appreciated learning your process and reasoning. We’re relatively new to wood burning so I’ll take all the tips I can get from someone competent.
Cool. I've never seen anyone pre-marking wood. It's actually a good idea to get consistency. Instead of using your stick it could be an option to use "whiskers" like Chris from In the Woodyard does. Cut, mark, mark and then cut again. You'll still get the same length consistency within reason and you don't have to keep picking up and moving your stick.
As your wood is nice and consistent it might be worth adding a 4-6" space at the foot of the splitter so that you can use the auto retract on the splitter and not have time wasted by the extended stroke.
Yup.
Chris is big time into the business and sales. He's got a huge investment in a site and the equipment as well but lm a Joe home owner wannabe wood cutter who's gonna be 72 this summer.
The zip tie deal he uses for measuring is a great trick.
I'm going to block my splitter tomorrow. That is a great suggestion.👍👍👍👍
Funny that this video published just before I am walking out the door to go cut firewood. You have a much more efficient process than I do however I only use about 1-1/2 chords a year. Nice to see folks still using firewood for heat!
I have a wood furnace, so I cut nd split a bit larger pieces than you do. I have 4’x 40in pallets. I lay 6 on the ground giving me 24’ x 40”. Then I only stack two rows of wood 16 in wood, 4’ high…that makes two cords of fire wood. I leave the 8” space in between the two outside rows to allow for better air flow all around the wood. It means I can dry my firewood in one season, but I still usually have two years ahead. I use to stack it 4’ wide with 3 rows, but it would take forever to season. Cheers from 🇨🇦
Great job you and Senior did there with chopping the wood and piling them up in neat stacks!👌😎👍that sure is a lot of firewood!
I used to work in the engineering department at swisher mower machine, I didn't get to work on the log splitter but it's cool to see something familiar.
I now 😮use Gaylord cardboard boxes, also called pumpkin or watermelon boxes, about 40x44”, get them from farm auctions in SE PA, hold about 1/4 cord each, weigh about 900# of oak. Easily moved with three point hitch utility forks on subcompact tractor onto under cover storage areas. Works great but absolutely needs enclosed storage. We use small hoop house structures, cheap and easy to build if you don’t have a barn. So, cut, split, load wood into boxes, drive to winter shelter. Move inside in plastic bins.
I think 1 cord is considered to be 4' x 4' x 8'
Looks like about 5.6 cords, I burn wood all day and night all winter, go through about 7 cords, your stacks look good
Just use the bar length (16”) to guide your cuts. A cheap moisture meter will tell you when your wood is ready to burn( much less than two years in my zone 7a with split wood outside in the sun and wind).
first time I have seen your Mum cool she's out there pitching in!
Thanks for the time you put in give us these vids to enjoy.
Mini excavator and ibc totes. I hold the log up and cut to length next to the splitter, split, stack in totes. Tractor totes through basement sliding door. Split wood is touched once to tote and once to stove.
I have the same type splitter and have put
300 full cord through it with no problem .
I bought it for 750 new because the fender was smashed and I was in the right spot at the right time.
It still works fine.
I'd love an Eastonmade but it's hard to pull out 14 k and save anything on heat.
For the volume that you seem to do, do you need a better splitter. One that splits one log into five or six pieces with one swipe. You would save many hours in the log splitting phase of your business. Plus you would save many gallons of gasoline.
I always preferred to do my bucking, splitting and stacking in January and February always working 2 years ahead of use.
I don't think we've ever been introduced before to Mrs. Senior! Glad to meet her and see she's a part of your operation! Have to ask, you're no longer a prisoner at the Ford garage, have you completely retired, are you farming, is UA-cam your job, or what are you doing besides processing wood and UA-cam?
Congratulations on full time UA-cam!!!! You do a fantastic job with your posts, and to be able to live what you love on a full time basis is Awsum!!!
small tip put a few tywraps on the handle of your chain saw cut them to the length of the wood you want and use that as the length meter then you can cut to length from your wood pile without having to mark everything with a stick next to it
I don't miss splitting wood at all. Much in my life that I look back on and feel sore or I feel like shaking my head and laughing is in that time.
Our great firewood fiasco. A friend of my dad's and my dad convinced themselves and us to hat we'd make a truckload of money from firewood. So we'd spend day after day after school and weekends driving around picking up wood, limbs and such from yard debris on the sides of roads or wherever. Then we hear about a land clearing out in the country, so we go there chainsaws at the ready. Spend a week cutting up downed trees loading out wood in trucks and trailers, hauling it to either my dad's or the friend's house. It must have easily been enough wood to build at least a six story mansion by the time it started getting slightly cool. Then came the splitting it, did we have a power splitter? Nope. Splitting mauls and wedges, because "you kids need to build character and get some muscles."
A ten year old kid is not going to be able to swing a eight pound splitting maul with any effective means more than a few times before getting worn out. Much less do it for hours on end, even though we had access to a splitter that our neighbor offered the use of, nope had to do it by hand because "character building". It was about mid December by the time the last of it was split and I, my brother, cousins, friend's son, and his cousin. Could barely lift our arms at all. So now, it's winter time but is it cold? Nope, the temps never went below 45 degrees F that year, or for the next five years. Finally after six years of whittling the great wood pile down by selling a little here and there. Cutting more of the hickory, pecan, and oak into smaller pieces for use in smokers. The pile vanished and totaled all up, we lost money in the venture because dad and his friend just figured one newspaper ad run for one day in July would be sufficient for sales.
I used to do exactly this for eight years, installed a exterior central boiler with radiators in the house, garage and bottom of barn, everything is on thermostats, wood usage down 30%, stoke full once a day 80% of the time, house stays cleaner with more accurate controlled heating . . . Just amazing easy conversion, my only regret is not doing it sooner
My house was built with 8 fireplaces. 200 years ago. For the last 50 we mainly used 2 big inserts. I bought a outdoor boiler to heat my shop but have not hooked it up yet. I am very much looking forward to being able to burn bigger chunks of wood and not have the mess that comes with dragging wheel barrel loads of wood in every day.
@@squatch253 heating choices vary wildly in my household, I have a daughter who would sleep in a sauna and a son who shuts off his thermostat and cracks the window, hence the two dog sleep in my home office (or wherever the cat let's them), wife seems the same as myself. Our house (3,200sqft single story) was specked with 2X6" exterior walls, lot's of glass all triple pane, and when I say I heat my garage and barn I'm only heating to 40°, my biggest pleasure is not having to clean ashes from inside the house, no worries about carbon-monoxide or fires, and the fire box will take 30" wood so supply prep is quicker, It's a Crown Royal Stove which is hidden from view as my wife calls it a pleasing architectural out building (never mind the extra 15 grand to make the garage a pleasing out building), but anyway I feel the "shed" at least protects the stove from wind and rain/snow which might add to it's efficiency, we do on occasion run the fireplace for "ambiance" on holidays and such for pending visitors, but yes it greatly depends on one's existing construction and heating needs
An alternative to those tarps you use to cover your stacks would be epdm. It is a synthetic rubber membrane that can be had for free from commercial roofers when they replace low-slope roofs. It will last a lifetime too. It will otherwise end up in a landfill. Bring those boys a couple six packs at quitting time and you'll soon have a pickup full...
I go to my local umberyard and get used pallets for stacking my wood. I used to buck and split my own. Now at 73, I just buy four full loggers cords cut and split, delivered to my site every year. I get it in early April, stack and cover the top of the pile, and, by late October it is well seasoned. I get birch, cheaper than maple, and, it works well. One tip, when I stack on my pallets, I make two rows with an air space in between the rows, and, that allow the wood to dry faster. I use extra pallets to make ends so that I can just stack the wood without having to make end stacks. Also, never cover the sides of the piles just the tops, that allows for sun and air to season the wood. If you need to respoit any by hand, get a Fiskar splittin axe, they work slick for those chunks that might be just a bit too large. One final tip, always stack the split wood, bark side up, that allows for any water that leaks into the pile to shed off. !6 inch wood is standard, because it is sold in cords, and, a full cord is 4x4x8 it is the best size for most wood stoves. However, there are some stoves that require 12 inch wood. If you build end brackets with a smaller pallet, you do not have to spend time making the ends. I am an old man, and, I can stack a full cord of split wood in about an hour.
I really enjoyed this very much. I heat with wood as well and enjoy the whole process of felling, processing, stacking and burning wood. Great system you have there.
Toby what you need to do is look into billboard sign tarps. I just bought a 10 ft by 40 ft tarp and they're very heavy duty. I'm thinking up to 10 years of use.??? My second winter approching.
How was shipping on those tarps? I've considered getting some.
System works great. You and Mom and Dad rock. Steve
- How do you choose trees for firewood? Already dead and dry or healthy living ones and what sizes in diameter? What time of the year is the best to cut them?
- How do you move logs? With tractor?
- Where do you get pallets?
Thank you.
Need to prepare my own firewood, but just watching with satisfaction how others do it. 😅
Thanks for watching! Our firewood comes from storm damage cleanup (broken trees) and overly mature trees that had to be taken down before they fell and damaged something, and with about 100 acres to pull from it just happens to work out about right, keeping everything clean plus staying well supplied with firewood. Here's another video that does a pretty good job of showing how we move the logs from the woods to the firewood processing area - ua-cam.com/video/VMuicDPIub8/v-deo.html
Another one from this fall showing how we sometimes have to work smarter, rather than harder lol - ua-cam.com/video/4JId1ZAoRvs/v-deo.html
@@squatch253 Thank you. Will need to start cleaning up my wooded 5 acres, but it'll take years without heavy machinery with only a chainsaw, a cart, and an electric wood splitter. Plus it's raining a lot - need to wait for a good weather window. I heard that felling trees is best to be done in the winter - trees are dormant plus you could more easily move logs using a sled.
I got tired of sharpening my chain saw blade ... hooked up my Radial Arm chop saw with a 16" stop ... goes MUCH faster and only have to use the Chain saw on larger dia logs. Highly recommend Bro !!!
and an FYI ... they make foot pedal controls so you can do the splitting without help ... ua-cam.com/video/lDNQN5sAPn4/v-deo.html
I have that Swisher log splitter in the three point setup. I dumped the three point hitch part and had a local metal fabricator make a removable bracket to mount it parallel to my skidsteer bucket blade and it line the blocked logs in a row and invert the bucket straight down and split logs with the skidsteer auxiliary hydraulic valve.
Good video Enjoy it You do a good job on Stack and all that WOOD Have a good day stay safe stay healthy I'll catch you another one
You have a gold mine there. Central TX prices.
We have pecan and oak wood for sale this prices are for pick up.
1/4 cord for $70
1/2 cord for $140
Full cord for $280
This price is for delivery no more than 10 miles.
1/4 cord for $125
1/2 cord for $195
Full cord for $350
I love your video's, i split a lot of wood as well,but in the fall of 2017 ihad my dad help me he ran the controls,and at some point i didnot get my hand out of the way in time.off came my thumbon right hand .great doctor's were able to save it. I am now a firm believer in who ever loads also control the level. Have a good day.
And today were in the 70s. Thanks for the video!
We heated our house with wood in Idaho. The stove was wide so a log round could just be rolled in up to a foot or so in diameter. Nothing that would roll in was ever be split. The bigger logs I split in half with a big maul. Usually it only took one swing. Most of the wood in your supply I would have used whole! We burned Quacking Aspen and Douglas Fur. The stove was called an Earth Stove. It had a spring type thermostat on the damper to control temperature. It also had two small pipes with flattened ends angled right at the bottom of the flue which gave a fresh air jet to the snake and burned on f create and such. Never had to clean the chimney. One pot slow cooking on the stove top all winter and left overs were stuck out side through a window for refrigeration.
hi there well done lots work . john
I watched two UA-cam videos this morning. One of them was about the town of Split in Croatia. The other just about split (and stack).
Hi if you changed the the 90° elbows on the hydraulic hoses to curved ones it will increase the speed of the ram.
Swisher sells a 4 way splitter attachment ($42 delivered) which will cut your time in half. Great show & thanks for your effort on our behalf. Regards
I have at least five years worth of cut logs on the ground as a result of the ash borer. And the only trees that we dropped are those that would hit the barn or foul the driveway when they come down. I have a lot more standing dead all over my property. I wish that it would split as cleanly as the popple (poplar?) that Squatch is processing.
The length doesn't have to be spot on perfect. As long as the wood fits in the burner it's all good!
Thanks for sharing your back is so much better than mine I’d be in the hospital after five minutes of that lol I remember splitting it with the splitting machine dad rigged up it used hydraulic from the tractor to run it and it had a huge cylinder not sure where he found it but there wasn’t anything it wouldn’t split
Jealous of those 6 cord stacks. Here in AZ we dont go through near that much yearly. I got about 3 cord on property right now, and that will be about a year and a half worth for us. Definitely gonna start redoing the stack ends, as your system seems better than a vertical pallet screwed to the ends and braced up.
Boy, that's some easy splitting wood. You should try some old elm, that stuff is really stringy. We had a piece of something the splitter just wouldn't do it but did get it far enough to stick it ended up smacking it with a sledge, put some more pressure on it and hit it again. We finally won though.
I try to improve my efficiency by cutting down pick up and put down times as much as possible. Check out a "mingo marker" for marking your cuts. Mark what you can see in the pile at once then cut, Repeat. A auto return valve on your splitter frees up a lot of time to grab your next piece. Multi position wedge since you burn small pieces. Obviously a full on processor would be best but you certainly have the fabrication skills to make it easier for very little investment. A small conveyor to take away splits. Large lift table for rounds to feed to the splitter. Log bunks/table to hold logs and cut at a more comfortable height.
The best way to speed up the process is plenty of help & a reliable saw!
Maybe a foot pedal to control the splitter so you have both hands to move the wood around would help if you're on your own ?
Thats the way it is done and pretty much the way I do it.
Just use a light saber to cut the wood, it's quicker, it'll cut it like butter. :)
Just found and enjoying your channel. Subscribed
If you're consistently running a 2 person system, it's much easier to just put the pallet right at the splitter. As one runs the lever the other can just turn and stack.
You have a nice setup in the wood yard, if you had the Money would you consider a WolfeRidge or an EastonMade Splitter, what are your thoughts,
I've been doing it for over 50 years and I don't need a stick when you're doing it as long as I have on it with 1618 or anything like
I burn about the same 5-7 cords. One thing Im sick of is the tarps! Total waste of money and they end up littering rotted tarp everywhere. Next year Im building a simple tin roof to cover it. No more tarps!
Here in OR we cut the dead standing trees, pine beetle, and dont have to season it. Its bone dry right out of the forest! Soooo nice!
Somehow Squatch cuts an entire season of firewood in a 20 minute video. Rick is still catching up on firewood from last year.
Great video! Enjoyed seeing your whole process.
I was wondering why you split it so fine...Thanks for clearing that up.I always tryed to stay a couple years ahead also less creosote that way...Happy Cutting.
If gas go's any higher I'm will be doing that again . Thanks Joe I kept the wood stove
Nice seeing realistic wood splitting content for once. Not everyone can cough up $15,000 on a log splitter, we still get the same results.. might have to work a little harder and longer at the end of the day.
yeah, I got a little 6 ton electric (in town and low volume). as you say, not everyone can cough up for (nor needs) a huge machine. A little one that can still do the job may be slower, but still better than a maul and wedges.
BUZZ SAW for me was time saver
Wow you are really efficient at cutting wood. Do people in you area use the tractor mounted Buzz saw to cut some of smaller diameter logs. We took the saw to cut tree process the tree onto a wagon ant take them to the stack place. You wiii still need to us the chain saw on the logs.
Way to neat and efficeint. Our woodpiles were never as neat as yours lol! The fire doesn't care if the wood is somewhat ugly. :) Nice work! Now I grew up in central MN about 100 plus miles from you, but now reside in coastal GA. Not cold enough for anyone to heat with wood- I do have a fireplace for those "brutal" 40 degree nights. We however have termites thus my wood is stacked far away from the house and I bring it in only to put it on the fire!
Be careful, Rick Bork might take a liking to the wood piles, you know he has none ready yet for the winter LOL
You got it down to a science with the firewood processing.
Jeez, I just woke up and now I want to go back to bed!
alot of the time the boring details are the best part and its all good