"Twister" Boosts Firewood Business

"Twister" Boosts Firewood Business 28-4-7 If you're in the firewood business, or have thought about getting into it, you might want to check out the Twister. It's a machine that wraps bundles of firewood in stretch plastic and is the best idea Chuck Sheely ever had. "My dad had a campground with 300 sites, and I was bundling about 40 cords of wood a year to sell to campers," recalls Sheely. "I built the first one for myself and then built more for friends." It worked so well, Sheely started manufacturing the Twister. He has satisfied customers throughout the U.S. and as far away as Chile. Many of his customers are part time loggers who split and bundle firewood on the side. A bundle of firewood can be wrapped in 12 to 15 seconds in either a square or rounded shape. The patented tension spring clutch adjusts how much the plastic wrap stretches, producing bundles that are self-tightening. Because the ends are left open, firewood can be bundled wet and left to dry in storage. The machines are designed to wrap firewood from 12 to 24 in. long, but they have been used to wrap everything from kindling to surveyor's stakes. "I have one customer who uses his to wrap rejects at his arrow factory and sells them for kindling," says Sheely. To use a Twister, wood is stacked in the square or round form, and the plastic wrap is held in place with one hand while the revolving wheel behind the form winds around the bundle with many layers of stretched plastic. Labels can simply be inserted at any point and wrapped in place. For big jobs, Quick-Load baskets can be used. Sized to fit the holders on the Twister, helpers can fill the baskets while the operator is wrapping. When a bundle is finished, a basket is simply dropped through the form leaving the wood behind, ready to be wrapped. Twisters come in a number of models and sizes. Prices range from $1,695 to $2,300, depending on the size of motor and bundle size and shape. Sheely also makes conveyer elevators designed to feed firewood from an automated processor to a table where baskets can be loaded for bundling. Although every elevator tends to be a special order, a 25-ft. elevator with a hydraulic motor running off a 5 hp gas engine will run about $5,500. "A 25-ft. elevator will handle more than two cords per hour and keeps ahead of any processor on the market," says Sheely. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chuck Sheely, Twister Industries, 2266 Hwy. 65, Mora, Minn. 55051 (ph 320 679-9835; email: twisterindustrie@netscape.net).

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