Consensus - Easier to load in log length or buck up on site?

[Ashful]

I haul my wood (11 cords last year) in a mix of rented trailers, and occasionally in my half ton pickup. I've not yet run into a situation where I run out of space for wood. I always hit the weight limit of the vehicle or trailer, long before I run out of space. I'm usually hauling green eastern hardwoods, most often oak or ash. Dry and seasoned, oak and ash have similar densities, but oak is 30% heavier when green.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/weigt-wood-d_821.html

 

[mywaynow]

As much as possible on site for me. Few factors that affect that are available time vs. need to remove quickly, permission to have a splitter on site as not everyone will let you run a loud and dangerous machine for hours on their property, and access to the wood. It is easier to move one splitter to 30 logs and throw splits directly onto the truck or trailer.

 

[Ashful]

Hours? Geez... I buck it up and roll it onto the trailer as quick as I can. I can take a full 20" DBH tree off your property in an hour, leaving the branchwood in a neat pile for you to burn.

Only time a round gets broken down is if it's too heavy (or not round enough) to roll. That rarely happens on trees under 40" diameter.

Do it quick, stay out of their way, and leave minimal mess. That way, the same landowner is likely to call you back next time there's a tree to be taken.

 

[MasterMech]

Whether this matters depends on whether volume or weight is the bottleneck in your carrying capacity, which in turn might depend on what you're cutting. Don't some trucks run out of rear springs before they run out of space, at least with something like green oak? It's been years since I owned a truck. I didn't burn wood when I had it, didn't work it hard for anything, and it was just a Ranger to begin with so I don't have a feel for what your heavier trucks can and can't do.

My Canyon (similar in capability to Ranger/S10/Dakota) will most certainly run out of spring before the bed is full of green wood, especially oak or similar. That's roughly 1/4 cord, perhaps a tad more. My old C3500, the ride starts to get tolerable once there's 1/2 cord of green oak in the bed. Seriously, the damn thing was born to haul wood as far as I'm concerned.

 

[JrCRXHF]

Just depends on your equipment i get most of mine in 4-6' lengths and then i cut them up by the spliter but i have a kubota to move them around with.

 

[bigbarf48]

I always buck on site. Unless its very small wood its not feasible for me to leave it in log length. Im a one man operation with a chainsaw and some 2x8 ramps

 

[Flatbedford]

I cut and sometimes halve or quarter the rounds on site. I prefer to leave the sawdust in the woods whenever possible. I couldn't imagine handling more than 18" cuts of most of the trees I have dealt with recently.

The only way I'm gonna deal with log length is if I get some help.