Wood Cutters, Firewood Burners! tool suggestions?

dr_frankenstein56

Hey guys, need some help.
I burn about 8 cords of wood a year and I generally do all of the processing myself. from downing the trees to chopping the wood and here lies my questions and need for suggestions. Im thinking about a new chainsaw... I have a gas craftsman 18" with 42cc motor. she has been good to me, but is awful slow on hardwood even with a fresh chain. what do you guys use where there are real trees and people who burn lots of wood? How many of you guys use a wedge and a sledge vs splitting axe vs log splitter? Its hard for me to get answers like this down here because there arent exactly alot of trees here in the desert
Thanks guys!

Aj

bbass2

I've just started this year since the new house has a wood burning fireplace. For splitting I use a Fiskars x27. If I run into something heavily knotted then I'll run it through my father-in-law's log splitter. A new saw isn't in the budget yet so I'm using an Echo a little smaller than yours. It handles things ok until you get around 16" diameter.

I have a fallen tree out back now that's 24ish" diameter and borrowed a friend's Husqvarna 445 with a 20in bar to take care of it once the weather gets better.

Andrew Dzikoski

If you're hand splitting with an axe or maul get a good length of chain and bungji cord. take a bundle of 5 or 6 logs and wrap them with the chain and bungji cord. This will help with faster spliting and less bending over as you can split each each say 4 times and they will all stay with in the bundle. Good life hack I saw. If you go on you tube just type in wood splitting hack.

honorknight7

I used to cut firewood for myself as well as for sell for many years (over 10 years) when I lived in Susanville CA, would cut 40+ cord a year - use 4-5 myself and sell the rest, went out and did it myself (yes I do know you shouldn't go out cutting yourself - but didn't have help available - and didn't want to split the profit )
I started out with two crappy chainsaws (bought new at about $75 each but forgot the local store there I got it from) the next year I went to the local saw shop that the logging company there uses and they talked me into a
Husqvarna with a 28" bar was around $250 at the time, they also got me into having 3 chains that they would "Square Cut" sharpen for me for $3 a pop, so I always had 3 fresh square cut sharpened chains, Man I have to say the square cut they did was FANTASTIC ! I would fall and cut trees from Cedar to Juniper & anything in between, and Never had any trouble (unless I hit rocks in the dirt on accident - even then not much trouble) - I got the 28" bar because I would fall 50"+ diameter trees anything that was larger then my bar I would use wedge and maul to finish off falling (plastic wedges in case I had to touch up the cut on the fall with the saw
I also used a log splitter (was splitting way to much wood for just the maul and wedge) but did use the maul on some like the Lodge Pole Pine & some of the Cedar I would get because it was usually faster to swing the maul to split then time it takes to set on the splitter and wait for the process and such because it split so damn easy (also the wife would run the splitter while I was doing something else), The splitter was a 27 ton I charged to my Sears account (around $1000 back then) and I used it for over 10 years without any problems and sold it in good working condition after that (though I did drain the fuel and oil and replace the filter as well as re grease everything along with cleaning the carburetor and filter every year before I started the cutting for the year, and at the 5 year mark I took it in to have the hydraulic system checked out and the fluid replaced)

overall the best thing I did was get that Husqvarna saw with the special cut chains, it was very light and man it made the job easier, I would just drop the used chains off on the afternoon when coming back from the cutting and pick them up in the morning on the way back out (they would open up at 5am) also I'm not trying to sell for Husqvarna lol, any saw that it strong - light- and works good should work as good as what I experienced

dr_frankenstein56

Thanks Gents, I really appreciate the advise. Like i said, wood burning isnt common around here but i get the trees for free from a local golf course. I will look into a HuSky! I have had a Husky dirt bike for years and its a monster... id imagine the chainsaw would be just as good.

I really like the idea of wrapping a chain around the bundle and doing a "Lot" spit... sounds efficent.

Aj

0patience

Having worked in the logging industry, Husky and Stihl are the preferred saws here.
I own a Stihl 045. It's probably 20 years old now. Still cuts through anything.

The square cut is full chisel tooth chain.
It is the preferred chain of just about anyone here anymore.
If you can find the Oregon Chamfered chisel tooth, they are harder to sharpen, but they cut fast.