Firewood Processor Built From Salvaged Equipment
"My father, brother and I all heat our homes entirely with wood. Commercial firewood processors can cost $30,000 or more, which I found hard to justify. So, I built my own using pieces of salvaged farm equipment. It allows one person to easily cut, split, and load firewood," says Jay Merriner, Winchester, Va.
His hydraulically controlled firewood processor loads split wood into a truck or wagon. "The only hands-on part is putting tongs onto the logs to lift them, and also pulling levers on the machine. The rest is done mechanically."
To process a log, the tongs are attached to the butt of the tree and an electric winch is used to drag it up to a 30-in. long chainsaw blade where they're cut to the desired length.
Tractor hydraulics run everything except the chainsaw and elevator, which are pto-driven. A right angle gearbox that comes off the pto is used to belt-drive the saw, which runs at 5,000 rpm's. Tractor hydraulics are used to tilt the saw up or down. As the saw tilts it releases tension on the drive belt to start or stop the saw.
The section of cut log is dropped on a wood splitter where it's split into 6 pieces. The wood then falls onto an elevator that loads into a truck or wagon.
Merriner says he didn't use any machine tools at all to build the firewood processor. It's built on the wheels and axles off an old truck frame. The guide that the log slides on was made by cutting off part of an old water tank. The splitter is mounted on a forklift mast, and the elevator is an old grain elevator.
"My only cost was for the saw blade and hydraulic hoses, for which I paid $250," notes Merriner.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jay S. Merriner, Sr., 185 Gough Road, Winchester, Va. 22602 (ph 540 877-9470; merriner@shentel.net).
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Firewood Processor Built From Salvaged Equipment WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 34-4-29 "My father, brother and I all heat our homes entirely with wood. Commercial firewood processors can cost $30,000 or more, which I found hard to justify. So, I built my own using pieces of salvaged farm equipment. It allows one person to easily cut, split, and load firewood," says Jay Merriner, Winchester, Va.
His hydraulically controlled firewood processor loads split wood into a truck or wagon. "The only hands-on part is putting tongs onto the logs to lift them, and also pulling levers on the machine. The rest is done mechanically."
To process a log, the tongs are attached to the butt of the tree and an electric winch is used to drag it up to a 30-in. long chainsaw blade where they're cut to the desired length.
Tractor hydraulics run everything except the chainsaw and elevator, which are pto-driven. A right angle gearbox that comes off the pto is used to belt-drive the saw, which runs at 5,000 rpm's. Tractor hydraulics are used to tilt the saw up or down. As the saw tilts it releases tension on the drive belt to start or stop the saw.
The section of cut log is dropped on a wood splitter where it's split into 6 pieces. The wood then falls onto an elevator that loads into a truck or wagon.
Merriner says he didn't use any machine tools at all to build the firewood processor. It's built on the wheels and axles off an old truck frame. The guide that the log slides on was made by cutting off part of an old water tank. The splitter is mounted on a forklift mast, and the elevator is an old grain elevator.
"My only cost was for the saw blade and hydraulic hoses, for which I paid $250," notes Merriner.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jay S. Merriner, Sr., 185 Gough Road, Winchester, Va. 22602 (ph 540 877-9470; merriner@shentel.net).
