Chris - A primary consideration might also be PPE. I have been cutting wood for over 70 years and only started wearing chaps, hearing protection, and steel toed shoes about 20 years ago. Never got cut badly but hearing is shot. Toes broken many times before I finally wised up. PPE is expensive but the result of not wearing it is life altering. You set a fine example by what you wear so encouraging the new guys is important. Stay safe - Dud
What????? Just kidding...yes PPE is a topic I have talked about and a emergency medical kit! BUT... the only people who will listen are the ones who have NEEDED it after the fact, unfortunately.
You know how I hate to correct you, but you forgot to mention that you also started with a cast iron backbone, AND those wonderful, indestructible blue tights!! - I started with a sledge and steel wedge. My BIL and I found some downed logs. Good place to start. We couldn't get the wedge to stick in the wood without a lot of trouble. Then if we hit it just the slightest bit off center the wedge would fly over into the next field. So one of us would split, the other would retrieve the wedge. We worked a couple days on that log, finally decided to cut it up with the chainsaw. Much later, found out that log was a wind exposed cottonwood! So we learned. And got better. And made $7/hr. altogether. Enough to pay for truck and chainsaw gas. We thot we were in tall cotton! My BIL got smart quicker than I, so in about a week, I was on my own... stupid eventually spells success! I have many other stories like that, but it's the darndest thing, they all end the same way, me without partners! So you're lucky, you got Tony and Burt and Kenny and the lady fire chief! Wish I'da thot of handing out chewin' gum like Diamond Jim! Or, at least, grow a beard like Red Green! - Keep on Chris. Good luck!
This is very true! Firewood can be very affordable to get into. Ill echo what others have added - You need PPE (chaps, eye pro, ear pro, boots) Seen several people cut their chaps when first learning and that was after formal instruction. It only takes one mistake. There are some little things you need like a round file for sharpening, a scrench, a gas can etc.... but your point still stands.
Hi Chris, I started out exactly as you did. A 57cc Poulan, a Kelly 8lb maul and an already old Nissan 1500cc flatdeck ute. Two full cords on my days off. (cord a day) Fittest I've ever been. Worked up to 50 corda yr. Happy days. Thanks for the videos, hope the young ones take your advice. Cheers from HB NZ
Yup. That’s all you need. My homemade splitter was hooked to a 1951 Ferguson tractor. !!! It would split any thing, but the cycle time was about 4 days, so this year I upgraded to a Case garden tractor, hooked it up to the splitter. It will split anything. And the cycle time. 1 day !!!! Quite an improvement. 🤭🤭. But you get my meaning. I split a lot more wood. Have a great day 👍🏻👍🏻👋👋
Yup, time is the first thing to get better with as far as equipment. My glacier splitter was a bout 15-17 seconds and my Eastonmade Ultra is 4 seconds...I can make 3-4times as much wood with it!!!
Yup that’s all you need. After that you just need a little patience. The last thing you want to do just starting out is sell green wood!!! That is one way to end your business before you get started! See you tomorrow, Chris👍🏻👍🏻GNI
Drying wood is important and some places and situations it’s harder than many make it seem. Remember when 15% was the standard now it’s 20 and for many close to 20 is good enough. All have a great day!
Started with borrowed everything to get the firewood business log rolling. Used my grandpas small ranger, a ms250 18" bar, my dads 18ft car hauler trailer, my brothers 30 ton splitter. I did sell ax split firewood as a kid about 10-14 yrs old but only could do about 20 facecords a yr. Back when I thought $65 was alot for wood. Now i don't sell my premium seasoned wood for anything less than $100/ facecord. Id say that $60per facecord is break even price for time,gas, effort, $80 u can slowly save $ to reinvest, $100 / facecord , u can afford to buy better saws and a faster splitter, $120-$160/ facecord delivered u can have $ to buy semi loads of logs and have a 3/4 ton or 1 ton truck and dump trailer and be able to sell everything u can split in a year. Then be saving up for a commercial eastonmade splitter or smaller firewood processor. I thought $4280 was alot for my supersplit HD,90 lb fly wheels not the 70 but it really makes me wish I upgraded sooner. 2 second cycle time vs 30 ton 15 second cycle time makes all the difference in the world. Using a 572 and a 661 makes cutting 1 cord way easier than any rancher or ms250. I get most of my wood from logging them out myself. But have a logger than can bring me 12 cord loads for 9 Benjamins. Its Easier to sell firewood once u have 150 + contacts of past buyers. Takes yrs to develop relationships and being honest and always delivering quality dry wood matters most. For those just getting started just go out and get to work with what you have . U can't get anything done sitting inside
I honestly believe some of those selling wood with just these 3 items are making the most money!💰 The guy who has to have every gadget and tool that they believe will make less work for them are just spinning their wheels trying to pay for everything! 👍
Firewood is such a great thing to just release your mind. Recently got a 462 and upgraded our splitter to a hydraulic 27 ton.... slow steps but now i can process all the downed tress on my property and start to properly stock up my mountain wood pile
I started with a Stihl O31, 50 cc and a mall. I had a 1967 International pickup. A few years later I got a Jonsered 910 and I was blown away by how much better it cut.. I am old now and back to a 50cc Echo 501P. I love it but I am old.
Hi Chris,Ed from Vermont,i started out with a 38 cc chainsaw,a splitting maul and an ax,i now have a 52 cc saw and a 62 cc saw,a wood splitter,4 wheeler and a small trailer,also a truck and bigger trailer,it took me about 20 years to get that far,but i cut wood for myself and everthing i cut for wood is free wood,all kinds of it
very well said i sell wood at times as well as milled lumber . i started as a hobby and the sales upgrade the equipment. Very good advice for some one starting out. you need customers so slow and steady
Everything you said is spot on i started with a few used saws a pickup and trailer and a hydraulic splitter on a tractor. Slowly upgrading everything as i save up and build a bigger list of customers
Thanks for sharing Chris you said it all. I use two different box store splitters, one on each end of my feed table. The first is a big splitter I just brake them in half or quarter them , then send them to the other splitter. The tractor does the lifting. Keep on cutting
Now that I have 80 acres of trees, I would like to upgrade my 22 ton I beam splitter. I’m pushing 70, but still able to, just not sure whether a horizontal or vertical would be best. Probably just filling my wood stove and a roadside stand. My property is in southern Missouri so the season is far warmer and shorter than yours.
I would just keep using what you have ...unless ...you have a few bucks and want to have some fun and work less ans easier...get an EASTONMADE axis...maybe!
great advice Chris. great analogy, trucks have a built in trailer....lol. I've split a lot of firewood using an ax, a maul, a chopper 2 but i like the Fiskars too. its nice and light and swings fast.
My startup kit for cutting for myself was a trailer i made and pulled with my chevy cavalier. Poulan wildthing (slow as heck cutting but got me started) and a splitting maul. Also had an atv and wagon which had to make an extra trip to bush just to get it ther and back.
@InTheWoodyard That is affirmative. Waiting for the second Conex Trailer Load to arrive. Macy and Peri are protesting. They want a cease and desist order on Cat Chewy until more Girl Scout shortbread cookies show up.
Never sold firewood. But have been producing my own for 50 plus years. Have always depended on your basic starter setup. A pickup, chainsaw, and ax. Always had a wood supply from family land. Wondering, what is your main wood supply source??
i have a rancher 450, the Fiskars line of axes, a 30 ton Oregon splitter that i pull with my atv and a small utility trailer. all i need to start selling bundles of campfire wood. as a mix of hard and soft wood.
Agreed, $200 at harbour freight for a 5 ton and it'll split any poplar birch and maple you can lift onto it all day. Do about a face cord an hour with mine. Pair of log tongs are a game changer too, screw a pickaroon, azura log tongs are $25 each and way easier on the back.
I see a lot of guys out there right now taking on big debt to buy a brand new Firewood equipment so they can find out whether or not they have a market for Firewood. That is very bad decision if you build a business and grow it with cash instead of debt, you will know exactly what you need.
I've wondered on a regular basis how many mountains you would have if you ran the processor a solid four hours , five days each week. Not, limbing or stacking, bucking or chucking. Just two guys putting logs through the MB.
With the population around you you should have invested in equipment sooner but anyway you got there chris . I'm thinking of getting into the firewood business but I'm 53 years old but I do have 50 plus acres but I don't have as much population of people around me also the hardwood is gone scarce here to buy it in the truck loads ..how is your sales of soft wood going ..I'm based on Ireland
Is your trailer 6x12 and can you get 1.5 cord in it? I found a supplier in my area who says he will deliver 1.5 cord in a 6x12 dump trailer? Is black locust any good tor indoor Pacific Energy wood stove use?
Locust is really good firewood. Seems some stoves say not to burn stuff like locust or ironwood because it burns so hot. I know mine has some sort of warning like that on it but I mix the really hot burning stuff with something like ash or maple.
Probably the cheapest way to upgrade an old splitter, is the engine. Find a engine from a bad pressure washer, that spins at 3,600 Where most OEM splitter engines that are older flat heads spin around 3,000rpm an easy way to shave about 4 seconds off the rams round trip. . The other way is find a old husqvarna 61 saw very capable with no changes, can handle a 28" in soft wood. And supriseingly efficient as a 61. it can be upgraded to a 272xp the grandaddy to the 572xp. As the main case is identical between a 61 and a 272 and a few other saws. Granted, it doesn't have all the features of a newer 3 or 500 series saw, but it definitely gets the job done. . About 1997 was the end of new sales of 200 series saws.
Black Locust is 26.8million btus per cord , white oak is 25.7, red oak is 24, ironwood is 27.1. Black locust is great firewood as long as it's dry. Removing the bark helps it dry faster. It can be stringy but not as tough as elm
Chris did you Catch Hell from your spouse when you split that much wood while having kids in high school? I do and I only do 15 full cords a year but my wife likes that extra money. Cutiing/splitting is a full time hobby not a job to do as much wood as you do. Thanks for the videos.
You're wrong. You need one more thing, the wood. You are mentioning the wood, but you aren't including it in the list. You need 4 things. But them there is the gas to run the equipment, so perhaps it's 5 things. Oh, but you need bar oil, so perhaps it's 6 things.
The title says ...TOOLS. Yes ..of course you need a few other things too. Ability, time, effort, trees, gas, gas can, oil, scrench, file, wedge, ambition and a strong back and a weak mind helps too.
