StoneHeartFarm -- Not sure what the winter will be like, but being a former boy scout I like to be prepared. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
Bayrat -- I've never sat down and figured out how much time it took. Fact is, I've never even pondered the question till now! My attitude towards firewood is sort of like making deposits into my savings account -- just something you do whenever you can. In fact, right behind me as I took that photo is the start of a stack of logs for the winter of 03-04 (see the attachment). Come next spring (May or June) we'll move any split wood left over up front to be the first to burn the next winter. Then over a weekend I'll spend a couple of hours cutting up the logs into stove-length pieces. While I'm at work the following week the wife will fire up the splitter and create huge piles which we stack together when I get home every afternoon. Even the dogs help by bringing the smaller pieces! Very much a family affair! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I've been experimenting and think the backhoe will help process wood. If the wife uses the hoe to scoop up the logs and hold them up for me to cut, I won't even have to bend over to use the chainsaw! Okay, maybe that's pushing the easy life a bit too far. Gotta justify the Kubota somehow, though! Wait a minute! Wrong Webpage! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Pete' put some forks on the loader and use that to hold the log at comfortable sawing height. Or else build a wooden stand to drop the log on so its at a comfortable height.
<font color="blue"> If the wife uses the hoe to scoop up the logs and hold them up for me to cut, I won't even have to bend over to use the chainsaw </font color>
Sounds like the perfect justification for a backhoe "thumb" Pete [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
I really would like some forks for just that reason...and a few more. But keeping the wife's 57 Dodge running is eating away at my discretionary $$$. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Two pieces of pipe/square tubing, two pieces of flat iron, four bolts with eight nuts And your away.
Cut the pipe to the length require to extend from the back of the bucket to perhaps two feet beyond the cutting edge. Drill holes in the pipe, bucket and flat iron and bolt the pipe on the inside of the bucket using the flat iron as washer or back plate on the botom of the bucket. Use double nuts rather than a lock washer. The pipe or tubing should be about 2 in stuff so it will not bend when you poke it into the ground.
Also make sure you have some extensions on the top of the bucket that will not allow a log to roll back into your lap if the loader is raied and the bucket is curled up.
I used the spring bars from a load equalizer hitch as they were handy.[broke one end of one and could not get a repalcement so had to buy a new load equalizer.] My 7100 turned one inch tubing into pretzels.
It's not expensive and doesn't even take much time to make and install. And its all easilly removable.
Long logs may have a tendency to make the tractor want lift a rear wheel off the ground.
The concept I have described can have many variations and use other material.
Pete, I thought I had a firewood pile but you win hands down. Of course my neighbor is not a ski resort so I guess you need to win. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Mark -- We <font color="blue"> DO</font color> get a bit of the stuff. On the plus side (besides the bobsled run) it gives me plenty of FEL practice. See attachment
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