Retired but love to work. Pinestraw…Lawncare…Firewood….Hunting and Fishing ....My Email is rickykinard@gmail.com Fan mail : Rickykinard P O Box 626 Prosperity SC 29127
Hickory is so stringy, but man it's great firewood. Before purchasing my splitter, I split hickory with a maul. I kept my machete at hand to cut those strings. I love hickory in wood heaters, but not around a fire pit with all the sparks. I'm envious how well you two work together. Thanks.
Rick mini excavator are more now them if you buy a 12 tons one ☝️. Your in a better spot in your state plus the USA 🇺🇸 for good use one ☝️ just watch the hrs on it anything over 10,000 hrs are getting into parts replaced plus parts are out to lunch on prices $$$$. There nice mini hydraulic logs trailer on the go for lifting timber RICK again there over priced from Covid 19 . Minus wages now is $35 per/ hrs anyone start out to hope to have food on the table if lucky 🍀. Sorry if your making over $100 plus a hrs in Canada 🇨🇦 you will probably might be alright 😊. Tks chisel head ( Trudeau) 😮
GOOD MORNING RICK & DONETTA everything is snow ❄️ white here this morning with first frost . Great for the turnips make them sweet for cooking this fall . Rick diesel fuel ⛽️ truck just left my wood yard drop of $24685.00 in diesel fuel ⛽️. GOD BLESS HOW A SAFE DAY IN THE WOOD YARD . Tks million for your time in make this video. 😊
I’m in the same boat with everyone telling me I need a tractor. If all I used it for was pushing around firewood and lifting logs I would never recover the money just by firewood sales. Eventually I would but i would be working for 2-3 years just to pay for the tractor if I bought new. Take care you two👊🏻
Wow, 😲😲 you got to lower your forks, that’s gonna hurt if they make contact with your head or body. Stay safe & keep the videos coming. Dave from Maine.
Im looking at a Mini excavator also, still trying to justify to myself!! I have a dilemma if I really need or want it!! Stay Hydrated and Have a Safe Day
Was wondering about the excavator. Good luck Kay. Been hot here last few days. Sharpened the blade on my saw bench and used it to cut some hardwood yesterday. Have a great day.
Hickory. My favorite firewood! My buddy and I used to purchase a tractor trailer load of hickory logs every summer and made our (2 families) winter firewood from that. Hickory is by-far the best firewood in my opinion. We would both have 3 full ricks of firewood for the winter which warmed both our homes till spring. Is that delivery a full rick? Curious. Thanks.
I do firewood and have a mini excavator. I didn’t buy the excavator to do firewood. I bought the excavator to dig ditches put in culverts. And clear brush. I got a forestry mulcher to help maintain trails. Personally I don’t think the machine could pay for itself just doing firewood. If you had other jobs for it maybe. I have a small wheel loader I use to move firewood logs and totes ect. I find the wheel loader is a better suited machine for logs and lifting. Peace
Hi Rick & Donita appreciate Y’LL great little video 😊. May the sun ☀️ been on your face and light wind 💨 on your back . 😊 I been THINK SAFETY and alway put SAFETY FIRST. I like my 16 and 24 way splitter wedge the best on 4’ or 5’ foot 🦶 hardwood round . 😊
hi there well i got you by over 10 years and a lot of strange ways of looking at things , from what i know and watch i wound put my money (and i did ) in a big skid steer , and look at trading in the tractor if needed but i am not sure of how much you need it , now days a piece of equipment has to do several jobs . wood is heavy you need more lifting ability. i have seen so many people on y/t with tractors limited ,those big ones when they brake down one piece can brake a leg , i have an inverted splitter on the bobcat that brakes them down then the big bucket and the table , fast and easy could go on this for ever john
That’s a mighty expensive purchase to only lift logs and clean up in the wood yard. If you were considering another side business and using it for what it was designed for, but that opens another can of worms. A heavy duty trailer and a diesel pickup to move it around. My suggestion is to get away from that big wood and use your grapple on the front end loader to lift manageable diameter logs to a comfortable height for cutting. You will never recoup your investment and yet another piece of machinery to maintain.
Rick, more equipment makes for lighter work. Just think, maybe just maybe you could get a vertical splitter to mount on the mini excavator to bust up the big rounds. Jake @ Dude Ranch has one on his mini excavator about the same size as the one you’re looking at. Good luck with your decision. Dave D from Maine.
I love doing firewood. I decided if I wanted to keep doing it I needed a splitter with a log lift. It take year for it to pay for itself. I do firewood because good exercise. Beats going to the gym. I am amazed with them mini skid loaders. A mini excavator would definitely be big help. If it something that help ya do the things ya love I say go for it.
The Morgan's use his min-excavator or more than firewood. I know i am in my mid-40s, and i am looking at the same thing at times, but I'm just not there yet.
Rick, 39 year old point of view, I’m not here to tell you to do whatever your heart desires, because that’s easy for people who aren’t footing the bill to say, but I am here to tell you that you worked hard your whole life and there comes a time to work smart. IF you can afford it, I would do it and try to get a cab with HVAC. You can’t live the golden years worrying about how much money you can squirrel away to leave behind, but you also can’t blow it all in the first decade and then live another 15-20 after that. Something that might make your decision easier is that equipment like this kept under shelter and maintained meticulously, will probably be able to be sold for the same if not more in another 10 years.
Go for it. It’ll extend your ability to do this longer. My dad is a lot like you. He’s a few years older and had to retire. But he doesn’t have something like firewood to and has fallen apart due to being sedentary.
Rick I can say from Covid 19 everything is over price up 🆙 here in the 709 . You can take the chainsaw cut your logs 🪵 to size for your tractor to handle them . Do don’t need to lift 16 foot 🦶 or 20 foot 🦶 log 🪵 with your tractor 🚜. Cut them to 4’ 8’ ect to be SAFE for you and tractor. Excavator are a great 👍 pcs of equipments small one ☝️ I got is 12 tons , John Deere , 4 320 cat are 20 tons . 4 CAT LOADER 930 , 2 950 and 988B . 5 semi logging trucks plus 11 logging trailer . I keep going for days in logging equipments. I’m older them you think 🤔 about getting out soon 🔜 get to old , money not there like 👍 it’s was . Two front logging tires 🛞 for semi in the mountains run was $4375.87 that with 35% off come on own 2 tires . Take my 988B tire 🛞 it $37000.00 around # per tire 🛞. Diesel is $9 per gallon. Plus run a hunting and fishing lodge . Lobster 🦞 fish and crab 🦀 fishing .Lobster boat 🛥 lost a Diesel engine little over $100,000 for a new one ☝️. End of September got 1700 acres of cattle 🐄 corn 🌽 to be put up 🆙. I was thinking work from the day I was born probably work to the day I die . that make world 🌎 go around Rick .
Great video. I surely enjoyed it for many reasons. I turned 67 couple of weeks ago. I know what you’re thinking. I figure I might have 10 years left. Who would know. Only one person knows. I’d like to get some things, but we don’t have the means to do so. Both vehicles will need replacing soon. So, we just get along as best we can. I hope to do wood and other work as long as I can. So, in your situation. Go buy it. Enjoy the help it gives. There will come a day that we can’t do what we are doing and like to do, no matter what that may be. Time is running out, and we can’t buy more. Thanks so much for the mention. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Of you go to get the new tool 👍🏻👍🏻👋👋
I'm 72, I'm thinking of buying one to help me cut wood in the air, not on the ground. If Ms. Donetta is backing you, I'd go for it!! Stay Hydrated and Have a Safe Day
I do understand where you’re coming from, I bought my Yan Marr tractor two years ago to help me in the wood yard and I can’t believe how handy it is. I am 60 and believe in very good shape, but when it comes to lifting things we all need help. I am a small operation selling only bundles, 10 to 15 cords a year. And we burn four cords in our woodstove for heat. I do still have a note on my machine, and will take a few years to pay off. But it makes a world of difference in the wood yard.
If it can save on your body, generate enough money to pay for itself or at least not cause a financial bind, and be used for other things other than just firewood - I'd say do it.
I am 8 years older than you and at your age I also picked up those rounds about like you do regularly. However, about 5 years ago, I picked up a relatively heavy load and felt something pop in my lower back. From that point, I could never lift very much anymore. My surgeon said I was looking at a 7-1/2 surgery to "hopefully make my life better". That's not what I wanted to hear. I take it easier now and don't strain my back. As long as I don't lift much, it isn't hurting anymore, but my stamina doing things standing are limited. I use any and all leverage or hydraulics I can to not hurt it again. Then, about 3 years ago, my knee started swelling from arthritis. My dr. said my only hope was replacement. I am also fighting that by taking care of my knee. Trust me; surgery is NOT a guarantee. What all that said, I think you are thinking right regarding hydraulic assistance. Those trackhoes are known as "Mini EX". I worked on construction all my life, not as a contractor, but as a project manager. The last 15 years of my career, I saw a mini ex brought to every project I had by the contractors. They were indispensable for many things and cheaper (and cheaper to run and maintain) than a full-size hoe. If you decide to bite the bullet and buy, make sure you have a thumb bucket! I have also seen several other small lumber contractors online that use a much larger farm tractor than yours and just added a grapple. It worked great for bucking logs off the ground and also loading logs on a mill. Just my opinion. Hydraulics is your friend brother! If it was my decision, I would go with a larger tractor and grapple for firewood. But I don't know your situation and what all you have plans to do. Best of luck and hope this helps in some way.
I have a grappler for my tractor now. I have thought about a bigger tractor but that tractor would be a lot more money than the mini will cost me. Thanks for commenting
If I was going to do it, it would have a cab heat and AC if you value your well-being I’m about your age. It would be a better investment. Especially in your environment but it’s your call.
I think you should give it serious consideration. It will allow you to work more safely. It could extend your working life because you could avoid a good deal of heavy lifting. Dude Ranch DIY uses an excavator to hold his logs while bucking and it sure makes him more productive and reduces the physical requirements. Your wife appears to be supportive and that of course is important. Good luck.
We used to have a name for boots like that …. The equipment to make it easier on you is always a good idea, I’d hold off awhile, think everything is still overpriced. Come November, if the voters make the wise choice, things will change for the better, if not, and we keep on this path, pray for the USA.
