Log splitters

S

Smiffy

Well-known member
I haven't seen anybody doing billets in this thread yet
When I was at college they set up a processor
Log splitter and chainsaw man
And billet splitter and rocking circular saw
All next to eachother with a big pile of ARB waste
Each set up had three people working it
And we had a race see who could fill a trailer with logs quickest
The billet splitter was self loading and along with the circular saw won by miles
the processor just jammed up constantly with ARB waste and was difficult to load
the chainsaw is slow in comparison to circular saw and the small splitter only split one chunk at a time whereas the billet splitter can split a 4ft long piece 6 ways in one go
and if you want to dry them billets stack far more quickly and efficiently than 8in logs
 
Lancs Lad

Lancs Lad

Well-known member
I haven't seen anybody doing billets in this thread yet
When I was at college they set up a processor
Log splitter and chainsaw man
And billet splitter and rocking circular saw
All next to eachother with a big pile of ARB waste
Each set up had three people working it
And we had a race see who could fill a trailer with logs quickest
The billet splitter was self loading and along with the circular saw won by miles
the processor just jammed up constantly with ARB waste and was difficult to load
the chainsaw is slow in comparison to circular saw and the small splitter only split one chunk at a time whereas the billet splitter can split a 4ft long piece 6 ways in one go
and if you want to dry them billets stack far more quickly and efficiently than 8in logs
Hey....you never asked...
20171202_142205-01.jpeg

It's ok but obviously needs decent clean straight timber to split down, more of a European thing. But once you get going it's fast...👌
 
Lancs Lad

Lancs Lad

Well-known member
As an aside of anyone in Lancs/nwest comes across any interesting timber....elm,walnut etc please lmk im doing a bit of milling so might be interested in relieving you of it..👍😁
 
M

Monkeybusiness

Well-known member
I saw one of these working at a French forestry show (they seem to dry all their firewood as billets over there) - it was incredibly fast!
 
Lancs Lad

Lancs Lad

Well-known member
As Druid says, that's a beast of a thing😮, but thank you for sharing it. I was hoping to get something a little lighter as my needs are more domestic, but it's an impressive setup. (y)

This is similar to mine, now yes it looks a bit of a joke but seriously for clean timber from my experience it's the fastest splitter out there.
 
J

Justme

Well-known member
I haven't seen anybody doing billets in this thread yet
When I was at college they set up a processor
Log splitter and chainsaw man
And billet splitter and rocking circular saw
All next to eachother with a big pile of ARB waste
Each set up had three people working it
And we had a race see who could fill a trailer with logs quickest
The billet splitter was self loading and along with the circular saw won by miles
the processor just jammed up constantly with ARB waste and was difficult to load
the chainsaw is slow in comparison to circular saw and the small splitter only split one chunk at a time whereas the billet splitter can split a 4ft long piece 6 ways in one go
and if you want to dry them billets stack far more quickly and efficiently than 8in logs


Billets need too much handling before they are actually ready to use.
You dont billet & then cut to length in the same operation as in your example.
Normally the cutting to size happens months later once seasoned.
So you billet, manually stack, manually unstack, cut to length & then use.

Not many processors (unlike mine) are suited to arb waste so were taking part in a contest they were not designed for.
I guarantee that with my processor with me & one helper I would have been done well before the billets.
 
J

Justme

Well-known member
I saw one of these working at a French forestry show (they seem to dry all their firewood as billets over there) - it was incredibly fast!

In the time it took them to just billet that length I would have cut & split it all & been on to the next one.
 
S

Smiffy

Well-known member
Billets need too much handling before they are actually ready to use.
You dont billet & then cut to length in the same operation as in your example.
Normally the cutting to size happens months later once seasoned.
So you billet, manually stack, manually unstack, cut to length & then use.

Not many processors (unlike mine) are suited to arb waste so were taking part in a contest they were not designed for.
I guarantee that with my processor with me & one helper I would have been done well before the billets.

There is no way any processor will beat a billet setup on mangled arbwaste
Not the proper rubbish that most tree surgeons produce
Processors are great on sub 15in clean stuff but bigger and twisted need a different approach
A billet splitter and circular saw is more comparable to chainsaw and splitter except you do in the reverse order
There is no more handling required if the two are set up next to eachother
And once split into billets the circular saw deals with it better than when in whole sections in a processor and quicker than a chainsaw can
The self loading tables of a billet splitter work better for ARB waste than the self loading processors and log decks simply cannot cope with ARB waste
I'll reiterate this is ARB waste I'm talking about
Not piles of rings where obviously a splitter is fine but a multitude of lengths and shapes anything a chipper won't take and seeing as over 50% of tree surgeons now have a mechanical aid to load on the job these lumps are getting bigger
 
J

Justme

Well-known member
There is no way any processor will beat a billet setup on mangled arbwaste
Not the proper rubbish that most tree surgeons produce
Processors are great on sub 15in clean stuff but bigger and twisted need a different approach
A billet splitter and circular saw is more comparable to chainsaw and splitter except you do in the reverse order
There is no more handling required if the two are set up next to eachother
And once split into billets the circular saw deals with it better than when in whole sections in a processor and quicker than a chainsaw can
The self loading tables of a billet splitter work better for ARB waste than the self loading processors and log decks simply cannot cope with ARB waste
I'll reiterate this is ARB waste I'm talking about
Not piles of rings where obviously a splitter is fine but a multitude of lengths and shapes anything a chipper won't take and seeing as over 50% of tree surgeons now have a mechanical aid to load on the job these lumps are getting bigger


You cant billet most arb waste as its short angled & thin.
Truly big stuff gets milled.

The whole point of billeting is to let it season in the billet & then cut to the size needed once seasoned.
Even when done together its double the handling of a processor.

Pic from a recent job doing arb waste.
Over 3 days we did 74m3 with two people.
Following week we did another 74m3 over 3 days.

121725030_10157660177612816_4604583137438824854_n.jpg121673949_10157660177797816_4200029206418376966_n.jpgIMG_20201028_165104.jpg
 
Lancs Lad

Lancs Lad

Well-known member
You cant billet most arb waste as its short angled & thin.
Truly big stuff gets milled.

The whole point of billeting is to let it season in the billet & then cut to the size needed once seasoned.
Even when done together its double the handling of a processor.

Pic from a recent job doing arb waste.
Over 3 days we did 74m3 with two people.
Following week we did another 74m3 over 3 days.

View attachment 19609View attachment 19610View attachment 19611
Tidy, that your cord? Or bought in? Just looking for ideas for stocking up. I've only used arisings but just musing cord.
 
S

Smiffy

Well-known member
You cant billet most arb waste as its short angled & thin.
Truly big stuff gets milled.

The whole point of billeting is to let it season in the billet & then cut to the size needed once seasoned.
Even when done together its double the handling of a processor.

Pic from a recent job doing arb waste.
Over 3 days we did 74m3 with two people.
Following week we did another 74m3 over 3 days.

View attachment 19609View attachment 19610View attachment 19611


The billiting itself is completely irrelevant I'm talking about the machinery and what can make 8in logs out of ARB waste the quickest
A billet splitter doesn't have to split whole billets in fact on small stuff you can run it through the circular saw first and stack rings in the splitter
And being 30-60t and having a selection of splitting knives with hydraulic adjustable knife height twisted bits can be split out on them.

Yes a processor can go quicker on straight stuff like you have posted a pic of but once it gets bigger or twisted they become slow and cumbersome
And very little large timber is economically viable for milling so most of it ends up being turned into firewood or biomass
 
J

Justme

Well-known member
Tidy, that your cord? Or bought in? Just looking for ideas for stocking up. I've only used arisings but just musing cord.


Thats not cord.
Ah you mean in the background.

No thats a clients site where we processed his arb waste of around 100 tonnes over 6 days.
 
J

Justme

Well-known member
The billiting itself is completely irrelevant I'm talking about the machinery and what can make 8in logs out of ARB waste the quickest
A billet splitter doesn't have to split whole billets in fact on small stuff you can run it through the circular saw first and stack rings in the splitter
And being 30-60t and having a selection of splitting knives with hydraulic adjustable knife height twisted bits can be split out on them.

Yes a processor can go quicker on straight stuff like you have posted a pic of but once it gets bigger or twisted they become slow and cumbersome
And very little large timber is economically viable for milling so most of it ends up being turned into firewood or biomass


The sy=tuff in the pics was about 50% of the total job & was the straightest bits but even that was bent.

The rest was your more typical arb waste odds & sods.
This was a very small job we did this week.
124929699_406456044071777_5312474542909316396_n.jpg

And this even smaller one from a few weeks ago.

bits.jpg


Arb waste comes in various flavours ;)
 
Top