I'm going with esshup on this one. A stand alone splitter frees up the tractor to do other work. I just hook mine onto the back of the mule, run it to the jobsite and drop it. Matter-of-fact, It's sitting at the edge of the woods right now, covered up of course.
When the pile of split wood grows large enough, I'll need the tractor and trailer to haul it in. The splitter will remain at the site, which gives me the flexibility to have a couple people hauling wood in, while another group keeps busting them down to size.
I cut a lot of wood solo, but when the entire family gets involved it almost becomes a production line environment. Having to swap implements would cripple the effort, unless multiple tractors were used.
This sounds like a dream to me...
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
If alone I split and let it lay. When it builds up I move the entire rig fwd a bit. Benefits of a rear push splitter.
With the tractor it's hard to burn a gallon an hour. Typically more like 1/2 gallon per hr. No maintenance to a second engine hydraulic pump, etc.
If we have help we stack into racks my racks. Yes I have to stop splitting to move the filled rack, but by that time we are ready for a breather.
I don't do just a whole ton of firewood each year. I do about 8 face cord into 16 or so of my racks. I can easily haul 4 racks per trip. I carry 2 in the bed of the truck and carry 2 on the forks of the tractor on the trailer. In this pic I only have 2 in the bed as the tractor has a bucket on it and the forks are in the bed of the truck. I hope to get a picture of the tractor/trailer and 4 racks at some point.
I don't own a tractor, but thank you for thinking of me.
Yet.....you don't own a tractor yet, TJ.
But you will my friend. Oh yes, you will succumb to the call one day. And then you will know fulfillment...for a time.
But, as his nature demands, man soon finds the need for a bigger tractor....or a newer tractor....or simply ANOTHER tractor. And implements, don't forget the implements. Attachments that mow,throw,lift,split,grade,blade,dig,rig,rake,break,elevate and aggravate.
It's a wonderful journey. I envy you.
Too funny! That's where I live now - constantly in search of more for my tractor! I have a 40 HP Mahindra that I have loved dearly for the past 18 months or so but always look wistfully at the 50 HP models. And implements, oh yes, those implements! They call to me constantly!
TJ, you must join this group! Get a tractor! Get implements! Get hooked! I don't live at the farm but that tractor remains the second biggest draw out there for me, the first being the land itself. When I'm on my tractor doing anything, life stops and the whole universe becomes me and that tractor!
I was thinking more of rounds like this size... That's a 32" bar on the saw.
I realize not everybody has access to wood this size, but I'd be spending a lot of time with the saw noodling it down to a manageable size if the splitter was on the tractor.
There's a Red OaK that doesn't have any rot that I haven't done anything with except cut the rootball and some of the branches off of it. It is 54" across right above the root flare, and roughly 38" across right below the first branch, which is 34' above the base of the tree... It's been down for 17 months now, uprooted in a storm June 2012.
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