Efficient One Man Firewood Operation
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- In today’s project, we’ll go over how I split firewood efficiently with just a one man operation. We’ll use the Split Force 13/20T log splitter to make small split pizza oven wood out of the Oak rounds. The built in log lift handles all the large rounds no problem. Once split, the conveyor will push the wood into one third cord bulk bags for easily handling. Finally, the Kioti NX 4x4 tractor picks up the bags and moves them to storage where they will dry and season for next year’s wood season. The Suzuki Carry 4x4 mini truck even makes an appearance.
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/ @foxfireprojects
#firewood #firewood business #splitforce #kiotitractor #wedigdirt #suzukicarry #foxfireprojects #firewooddelivery #firewoodprocessor #chevy
This is exactly the kind of setup I’ve been looking for. I’m a one man operation myself in SW Louisiana. Subscribed. Your videos are very informative. Thank you.
It’s really upped my production when working alone. A real time and back saver. Glad to have you watching!!
I like the way that the elevator is not tearing around at 100 mph
Nice video ! You’ve got all the bases covered in your one man show ! Peace !
Appreciate the kind words. Thanks so much for watching!
Glad you got the starting issue fixed. I guess a few google searches would have probably turned up a known issue without much digging... Oh well. The haul bill probably wasn't too bad. I'd enjoy seeing your garden. We do a family/neighbor garden in one big plot and divide the labor. We were all sick of squash and potatoes last year. And we all love to eat our greens. Bill (The Mayor of the road) wants to go bigger this year. We need to time plantings and diversify if we're going to eat half of it. Bill is 94 and does the tractor work and mowing. We leave the rows wide enough to mow. We're going to do whatever Bill wants! I may do some canning or get a chest freezer this year to put some of what we can't eat away.
Sounds like your layout is similar to mine. I'm planning rows wide enough for tractor/mini truck, make it easier to water. Like you, I'm also planning to do some canning this year. Hope the garden produces enough. Fingers crossed!
Yes let's see your garden..
Yes I grow a garden every year just planted potatoes yesterday.
Hopefully we have a good gardening season. The past couple years have been super hot and dry. Appreciate you watching!
like to see how pedal control works love your video
Appreciate the kind words. The foot pedal is a pretty simple design. Just a T shaped piece of square tubing connected to a chain linkage up to the valve. A spring resets it when you lift your foot. I'll try to get some footage of it soon. Thanks for watching!
Yes to the garden!
Love to see the garden an learn!!! Lord know alot people needs to!!!
Amen to that! Will have some garden updates in future videos. Appreciate the feedback, and you watching!
First off, absolutely love your channel. You're one of the very few I've got the "notifications" set to "on" for.
Secondly, I dabble in firewood as a supplemental income. We process mixed hardwoods during the only down time we have, which is July and August, and then store it outside in uncovered 1/2 face cord bins for seasoning until it's ready. My quality is no where as good as yours, especially in uniformity, but we've built a decent customer base off of it. After watching the pride you take in your product, I'm thinking the very least I could do is buy a moisture meter and keep a closer eye on the seasoning process. Knowing all that, I've a few questions for you:
1. Do you use a moisture meter, and if so what brand?
2. What is the butter zone for moisture? When is it too wet, when is it too dry?
Thanks for the great content.
Really appreciate the kind words. Hearing things like this makes it worth taking the time to put out the content.
I use a moisture meter occasionally, I’m not sure the brand. Was an internet purchase years ago. The target I aim for is less than 20%. But that also depends on the product. If cooking/smoking wood, some folks prefer more moisture (smoking) and some prefer less (pizza oven). Firewood for heating has a happy medium as well, too dry and it burns up quick, too wet and if you can even get it to light, it has trouble staying lit and hisses and smokes. Aim for the 15-20% range, and you should be good to go.
Thanks so much for watching!
Experience is probably better than any gauge. That said, I do have a cheap one. It seems to calibrate to less than 20% like @foxfireprojects said.
Personally I enjoy the process and setup. I heat with wood, usually buy a tri-axle, and buck, split and stack about 8 cords a season. I like the idea of the bags/pallet.
It works pretty well, especially for deliveries. Planning for a future home build now, where I am going to heat with wood like you. Trying to figure the best system to setup to keep things fed. Thanks as always for watching!
That is a lot of wood! You must live in a cold climate area? 8 cords would last me 3-4 years here in NC.
great video. loved the ending shots
hi from france very beautiful video and beautiful equipment
Thank you! Glad to have you watching in France!
Great video! I like your set up. Not bad for a one man operation. KC Don 😉
Always appreciate the kind words Don! Thanks so much for watching!
I like the tone of your voice in the videos, well thought out, and smooth...Im interested in where you buy your bags, Ive been wanting to fill bags for awhile, but dont know where to buy quality bags. Thanks. Rodney
Thanks so much for the kind words, it means a lot. We use the "Log Lift" brand bags, and purchase through NNZ. They work really well, and have never had a failure. Still have many bags around the wood yard with half a dozen plus trips on them. Appreciate you watching!
First off, love the operation. Where do you get those bags. Do they leave with the wood? Or are the returned back later?
Appreciate the kind words. We buy the bags direct from NNZ.com They go with the wood, we have it factored into our pricing. Most of our repeat customers save them for us, and we get around 50% back. It's been a real game changer for us. Thanks for watching!
Thanks, keep up the great work.
Thanks so much for watching!
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I'm not much of a green thumb but some garden info wouldn't hurt
Will give a tour once I get it planted. Always great hearing from you. Thanks for watching!
Your building reminds me of a former stable
Good eye! It is a former horse barn. Converted the old stalls to hold loose firewood. Appreciate you watching!
We NC too, 25 north Greensboro
Right on. Almost neighbors!
hi there always fun to show up and watch , wondering if you have a large snow bucket for your tractor and if it is a quick change , reason is i push a table method on my channel for faster and easier splitting . you would have to modify the S>F> , you do have a good quick setup john
Good to hear from you John. Appreciate the kind words. No snow bucket, wouldn't get much use in my neck of the woods. I've got some pretty large skid steer buckets though, will have to give it a shot. Thanks as always for watching!
@@FoxfireProjects hi i have a few vidoes of my table might want to look at first , as for the bucket if they have a bolt on edge they just don't work , good to hear from you john
@@fricknjeep I’ll check them out. Sounds like it might work well for me and save me some heavy lifting. I don’t get too worked up about speed these days (though it’s nice), would much rather have easy splitting.
I tune in for the firewood production mostly .
The tree planting was ok.
Your fine camera work editing and attention to the audio keeps me coming back.
I am pretty close to being sold on the 13/20 mobile splitter / elevator .
Do you know if they offer a three way or four way head for the ram ?
For the larger rounds .
And is the table height adjustable for taller or shorter people?
Always appreciate you tuning in. Thanks for your compliments. It’s definitely work filming the videos, but I enjoy it!
I believe they offer a 4 way, but they do not recommend it. That’s just what I have been told.
The table height is not adjustable unfortunately. It’s a bit low for me. I only notice it when splitting for long periods. I may start driving the back wheels up on a split of wood to raise it just a bit and see how it feels.
Your speed per cord must be near or under 3.5ish hours per cord.
From standing tree to delivery.
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I find most people that try and figure out time per cord on UA-cam are in the 4.5 to 6 hour range.
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l like the combination splitter set up, but being out west. the box wedge for massive 40" rounds is of equal importance.
I generally rip em with a saw, to run through an ordinary splitter.
And yes I keep a 50x50 garden.
Though it is a struggle at 1,000ft the potential for a freek frost is very real.
What type of wood do you generally split? Would love to try a box wedge, but not sure it would work in the Oak we mostly use. Really appreciate you watching!
@@FoxfireProjects sorry this got way..... long winded.....
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the big stuff is Douglas fir, the idea of getting a box wedge for it, is it can be so big even a 12 way would not split it in one pass.
it can be nice clean.
Or on occasion it can have knots approaching 8" and can throw a piece of wood 20 feet from the splitter when a big knot snaps under force.
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Red alder a hard wood, is the 2nd largest amount on the place, super easy splitting wood. Up tell 20ish years ago it was a junk tree thrown on burning piles. Being that they grow at angels in the tree falling part of making wood are very dangerous as barber chair of the tree is very common one of the reasons why large saw power heads are used out west is to out cut the barber chair of an alder.
It rarely gets over 30" on the stump.
by 35/45 years old the tree is dying in the top.
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There are areas with big leaf maple but not where where at, their closer to sea level on a average.
Same goes for cedar trees.
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We have hemlock as well it can be just as big as the fir, but its a completey different hemlock from out east. the domestic sawmills dont even have a price listed for it, basically they dont want it. the export log market takes it at a lower price.
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All the other hardwoods found on a west coast btu chart, are generally found on the valley floor.
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Then we have a real odd ball LOL.
vine maple. Occasionally called mountain maple, unique to western coastal environments with large amounts of rain per year. slow growing even with an average of 6 feet of rain a year. You can yank its stump out of the ground set it back down and within a few years be alive and well.
I know someone that melted the handle on the outside of there stove with that devil wood ((it was green standing days before)).
Its so tuff its actually a dangerous wood to someone on a unprotected machine. Literally can take your head off. And sadly i know its happened..I believe the world record size for vine maple is around 15"
With an average size of less then 4" its very time consuming to make wood out of it.
Love the info! Sounds like fir splits pretty well. I've seen it on other folk's channels, just never experienced it in person. Appreciate the info, love hearing what other folks are working with for firewood. Thanks again for watching!
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That is an awesome drying crib you have. Do you fill it with the conveyor on the splitforce or by hand. Is that for all of
your personal use firewood?
Appreciate the compliment! The Split Force conveyor makes for easy filling. Have a video coming up where I’ll go over the cribs and my storage process. All of the wood in the cribs is for sale. Thanks for watching!
I've been looking to start a firewood business when I retire. However, this doesn't look efficient enough to make enough firewood to bring much profit if any when you consider the capital investment, cost of transportation, labor etc. I'd love a $ breakdown of this side hustle.
All depends on your market. We can sell a face cord in my area for $250+ all day long. Other places I’ve been, you’re lucky to get $75. People here pay for the convenience and the experience for back yard burning or the novelty for cooking/smoking. The wood comes from tree services or small clearing operations looking for a place to lose it. We can easily put out 15 face cord a day without killing ourselves. That’s cut, split, bagged on pallets, moved, and covered for drying.
Rough costs below. This is assuming a 3 man crew, and not including delivery, which we charge extra for to cover the cost of the truck and fuel.
Split Force - $25/hour x 8 hours = $200
Saws (includes fuel/oil) - $15/hour x 4 hours = $60 x 2 saws = $120
Tractor/Mini X - $50/hour x 4 hours = $200
Labor (includes payroll taxes etc.) - $25/hour x 12 hours = $300 x 3 guys = $900
Firewood bags - $16/each x 15 = $240
Misc. (chains, grease, etc.) - $75
Total costs - $1735
Total revenue - $3750
Profit margin - 53%
It’s hard work, but the profit margin is pretty respectable. Trim the labor down a bit and it gets better. Again, this only works in special markets, and wouldn’t fly where people heat their homes with wood. The math works for us. Thanks for watching!
I’m not sure what a face cord is. I think it is 4x8x16”. ?
Have you ever tried dumping the Log Lift bags?? I've tried but they seem to destroy the pallet or the draw lines just simply rip or both.. I just can't seem to find a way to not wreck everything.. bags are too expensive to only use once for me and the skids are hard to come by in my area with everyone wanting to build the next best thing for free.. a video of how to empty the Log Lift bag without destroying it would be a great video
When we first started using the bags, we tried dumping them. We were told that's what the 2 loops on the bottom of the bag are for. Our experience has been the same as yours, rips or damages the bag every time. Eventually gave up. If I ever come across a way, will definitely put it in a video. Thanks for watching!
@FoxfireProjects It might have worked if it was one continuous strap to the other side of the bag... maybe.. just sucks buying 500 bags and finding out they don't work the way they advertise them... now I'm stuck trying to sell a bag my customers don't even want
@@buckinfirewood Definitely feel your pain. That’s when we increased our prices a bit and absorbed the bag into the cost of the wood/delivery. Just leave the whole thing and let the customer dispose of the bag (many of them are returned). If we ever figure a good way to dump, I’ll certainly let you know!
I just watched a video of someone who shows how they do it. Not sure I can get that high with my tractor, but looks like he figured it out.
ua-cam.com/video/TqlrfZ30EJ0/v-deo.html
Okay, just subscribed as I have enjoyed past videos, but help me here. Without digging through past videos to find out, do you drop the whole bag at the customer and have to retrieve the empty at a later date? Reno
Thanks for the sub, glad to have you! We factor the cost of the bag into what we charge for the wood. No deposit and no retrieval. The bag is the customer's once delivered. We do however get many of them back on return trips from repeat customers.
What is the cost on those bulk firewood bags ? They really save some time on stacking and especially how you deliver with the Crane.
Paid around $15/each last time I ordered. Appreciate you watching!
Aint you a bit scared? Almost every time you pusg the pedal, your left thumb are dangerously close to the egde.
Good work with the video and the firewood!!!
I definitely think about it when using. I don't listen to music, or multi task when running the machine, try to only focus on the wood and where my fingers are at all times. Appreciate the kind words. Thanks so much for watching!
Can you dump the bag after?
They have dump straps built in to the bottom. We've had mixed results dumping. Larger wood tears the bags occasionally. It's a great system. Appreciate you watching!
Hey love the videos! How does the wood dry in those bags? Also if it does dry how long does it typically take compared to being stacked on pallets? Thanks
Appreciate the kind words. The wood dries really well in the bags. They are made out of a mesh material that lets air flow through. We fill the bags and let them sit for a year. They are sub 20% moisture content at that point and ready to sell. Doesn't really matter if you cover them, though the wood looks much nicer if just the top of the bag is covered. I've got a video coming up where I go over the bags specifically and show them up close. Keep an eye out for that one. Thanks so much for watching!
Oh wow thanks for commenting back, I have been watching a bunch of your videos, I just watched the one called face cord vs full cord. I thought one of those bags would be more than a face cord but you were right on the Money with them measurement wise.
You have a great set up for a one man operation.. a full cord seasoned by me runs 225-275 so I’m considering trying to start my own business… thanks for being so responsive.
@@waterboy5164 You’re welcome. Good luck with your new business!
Question about your barn. Do you season wood in the barn? Do you need to keep doors open for air flow?
Tia
We do, it works really well. No doors on the barn, just an open center aisle. Pallets line the floors, and 1x boards line the walls to leave an air gap all around. Constantly have a breeze blowing through. Dries really well, and has a great color never being rained on. Appreciate you watching!
@@FoxfireProjects Thanks a million. i have a pole barn that i have been storing dead dry ash. it in the city limits. i cant leave door open to possible theft I do have roof vent full length of barn. i guess ill have to try it see what happens. Kevin
@@kevinwilliams691 Should work just fine. Could always plug a box fan in, if you have power there, to circulate a bit of air.
@@FoxfireProjects AWSOME IDEA. I DONT HAVE POWER IN BARN . BUT I'VE SEEN SOLAR POWERED FANS ON SOLAR KILNS. I'LL LOOK INTO IT . THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP. KEVIN
How much was your splitter
Around $20k USD. However, that was back before the pandemic and all of the pricing/shipping increases. I'm sure like everything else, they have increased a bit these days. Thanks for watching!
How many bags can you do an hour on a good day?
On a good day making normal sized firewood, I can do 3 bags per hour working alone. That includes moving the full bag and hanging a new bag on the rack. Times would improve a bit with help feeding me the rounds. Appreciate you watching!
if you dont mind me asking what bags do you use.
We use Log Lift brand. Purchased through NNZ. Never had a failure, and have many bags reused multiple times. Thanks for watching!
@FoxfireProjects thank you for the quick reply I enjoy your videos.
Where can I buy one at
I purchased mine through Empire Attachments. Email Mat, he can get you all the info you need msavard@empireattachments.com Thanks for watching!
I am thinking about buying a split force 13/20t. What dealer did you go thru? How was the buying process? Would you buy this splitter again? Would you recommend this splitter to for knotty wood? I feed 2 outdoor wood stoves looking for a splitter to load into a full size dump truck. Thanks
I purchased mine from Mat at Empire Attachments. Buying process was super easy, even back at the beginning of the pandemic when I purchased mine. I would not hesitate to purchase it again, it’s a great machine and serves me well. Never had an issue with knotty wood, the single wedge makes that pretty easy. I have a couple customers I provide boiler wood for, and it works great for that, as well as small stuff like I’m making in this video. I’m actually planning an outdoor wood boiler on my new home build, and will use this machine to keep it fed. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
@@FoxfireProjects I love the outdoor boilers. My friend heats both his and his parents' home with just one. But, oddly, I'm more drawn to a masonry heater. There's something about that old technology that's not only beautiful, but extremely functional and efficient.
@@FoxfireProjects Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to answer my questions.
I’m with ya! Had a soapstone fireplace growing up. Held heat like a champ!
Are you kidding? The garden is on the property and the property is the channel. Include the garden as part of your channel and expand the variety of content.
Where do you get your bags from? And what do the roughly closed? If you could post it in your next video that would be greatly appreciated