Homemade or DIY wood tools/ equipment

[walhondingnashua]

Right now I weld in our schools ag shop (I am a teacher). But soon I will have my garage finished and be buying my own mig. I want it to be a wood working/ metal working shop. I plan on making most of the metal working "stuff" mobile so I can take it outside. The 220v plug outside is going to added to the wiring now.

Sawset, your metal bending idea is genius.

 

[SpaceBus]

if I stripped off the loader and emptied the ballast out of the tires, I might get it down to 3000 lb, but it’s probably 4200 as presently configured, before adding the ballast box. One big question for me is the weight of the 320R loader, Deere doesn’t seem to list it anywhere.

Sounds like we have about the same size tractor. What do you need so much ballast for? I thought about weighted tires for a while but my tractor drives through a few feet of snow without any drama with just rear chains. The ballast box, especially at 1,900 lbs, would be fabulous for lifting boulders with the grapple. I look forward to seeing your end product. Most loaded boxes I've seen don't weigh more than my skidding winch.

 

[Ashful]

Sounds like we have about the same size tractor. What do you need so much ballast for?

My loader has a lift capacity of 2125 lb. at 59” height with 59” of reach, with a boom breakout force fo 3327 lb at the bucket wrist pins. The ballast spec’d by Deere for this loader on this tractor is 900 lb. in the wheels (CaCl2 + iron weights) plus an additional 1100 lb. ballast box with COG at 10” off the 3-point lift arm ends, for a total ballast moment or torque of 177,132 ft.lb. relative to the front axle.

But I didn’t want 900 lb. of permanent ballast in the rear tires, since I do a lot of lawn work with this machine. So I went 400 lb. in the rear tires (BioBallast), and I’m making up for that shortage by hanging iron suitcase weights off the back of my ballast box. This will give me the Deere-spec. fore/aft stability with 1100 lb. in the box + 7x 42 lb. suitcase weights hung on the back of the ballast box, with slightly diminished side-hill stability. If I want to make up a bit for the diminished side-hill stability, I can go as high as 9x 70 lb. suitcase weights, and I’m making provisions to do that (although I doubt I’ll ever need it).

The main idea was to be able to hit that 177,132 ft.lb. number, for those rare occasions when I’m using the loader at maximum capacity, while being able to run much lighter than that for the tasks I’m doing on a more daily basis.

 

[walhondingnashua]

Kindling splitter

 

[chris5150]

Modified harbor freight truck crane with 2500 lb winch to drag, lift into the trailer and then onto the splitter.

 

[walhondingnashua]

Been a while since I posted on this one...

Just finished adding a 3500# winch to my carry all/ log skidder. The carry all/ skidder is the arm from a broken rear blade.

 

[Solarguy3500]

Debarking tool made from a broken machete.

I sharpened the broken end and it's great for sticking in behind the bark on a split and pushing it down and peeling the bark off, usually in one piece.

 

[FTG-05]

My version of the Kindling Kracker:

Blade is simply a sharpened piece of Toyota truck leaf spring. There was no heat treatment done after welding. The wedge is a piece of 2" angle iron.

Works great Pine and Poplar; not so much with Hickory or Oak.

 

[Ashful]

Debarking tool made from a broken machete.

I sharpened the broken end and it's great for sticking in behind the bark on a split and pushing it down and peeling the bark off, usually in one piece.

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That looks handy, but if you make your splitter fast enough, it becomes a debarking tool! I was splitting walnut today, beautiful straight-grained stuff from 20"ish diameter logs, almost a shame to burn it. I was using the splitter to separate the bark from the rounds, on those it was not ready to fall off on its own. These trees were logged in 2022, and stacked up in the air on cedar cabers since then. Splitter is down to 6.2 seconds full stroke and back, after the latest mod's.

 

[webby3650]

That looks handy, but if you make your splitter fast enough, it becomes a debarking tool! I was splitting walnut today, beautiful straight-grained stuff from 20"ish diameter logs, almost a shame to burn it. I was using the splitter to separate the bark from the rounds, on those it was not ready to fall off on its own. These trees were logged in 2022, and stacked up in the air on cedar cabers since then. Splitter is down to 6.2 seconds full stroke and back, after the latest mod's.

6.2? I’d have trouble waiting around on that personally. I’ve been spoiled with my kinetic splitter with a processing table.

 

[salecker]

Debarking tool made from a broken machete.

I sharpened the broken end and it's great for sticking in behind the bark on a split and pushing it down and peeling the bark off, usually in one piece.

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Are burning the bark?
It's BTU's as well

 

[Solarguy3500]

Are burning the bark?
It's BTU's as well

This oak has been sitting for a bit and the bark is mostly falling off anyway. I also find that sometimes it dries a little quicker with the bark off. It will get put aside for use as kindling or for burning down a big coal bed prior to shoveling ashes out of the stove. It won't be wasted.

 

[Ashful]

6.2? I’d have trouble waiting around on that personally. I’ve been spoiled with my kinetic splitter with a processing table.

Yeah, I've been on the fence over switching to kinetic, for years. Trouble is, I don't think they can handle much of what I tend to split, on a regular basis. I probably spend as much time with my splitter vertical, as horizontal, as I'm often doing single rounds weighing 3x to 8x as much as me!

 

[webby3650]

Yeah, I've been on the fence over switching to kinetic, for years. Trouble is, I don't think they can handle much of what I tend to split, on a regular basis. I probably spend as much time with my splitter vertical, as horizontal, as I'm often doing single rounds weighing 3x to 8x as much as me!

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I used my front end loader to lift the rounds up to the splitter table. Rounds any bigger than that get left behind! I’m over it. Just doesn’t seem worth the fight anymore.

 

[stoveliker]

Yeah, I've been on the fence over switching to kinetic, for years. Trouble is, I don't think they can handle much of what I tend to split, on a regular basis. I probably spend as much time with my splitter vertical, as horizontal, as I'm often doing single rounds weighing 3x to 8x as much as me!

Even the orange store sells a 42 and a 60 ton kinetic splitter - would that not be enough for those straight grained pieces?

Edit: maybe these are harder to modify, if one wants to, than hydraulic.

 

[Ashful]

The largest rounds I've ever split weighed 1400 - 1500 pounds each! I really suspect that if I could manage to use my front end loader to get one of them up onto one of those splitters, that the chassis of the splitter would collapse under that sort of weight.

Admittedly, most of the "big stuff" I split is closer to 500 lb. each, but even that is an awful dangerous thing to handle on a splitter table. What happens with the two 200-300 lb. halves, after that splitter whacks thru it? You could break your leg or permanently damage your knee if one fell off the table onto you.

Kinetic splitters look great for normal size stuff, and if all I ever did was 12" diameter rounds (74 lb. in oak), I'd surely own one. But I'd not even want to think of using them for stuff this large, I just don't think they're safe or practical for this real big stuff. Owning both, and swapping between two splitters based on size of round, seems even less practical and efficient than just making the hydraulic one that can easily go vertical as fast as possible.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, I can see that, given that I've not seen vertical ones.

 

[walhondingnashua]

My version of the Kindling Kracker:

Blade is simply a sharpened piece of Toyota truck leaf spring. There was no heat treatment done after welding. The wedge is a piece of 2" angle iron.

Works great Pine and Poplar; not so much with Hickory or Oak.

Big fan of the kindling splitter. Gives my 10 year old something productive to do. He really enjoys it. We all waste so much money on toys. All a boy needs is something to hit something else with.

I know its been stated may times, but having a welder and some scrap metal is worth having...

 

[Ashful]

I know its been stated may times, but having a welder and some scrap metal is worth having...

 

[walhondingnashua]

Just finished up my DIY saw clamp. Have had the idea to do it for a while but just never really got at it. Really happy with how it turned out. I like it so much, I may make something similar for my tractor.

 

[Ashful]

Nice! Rubber jaw pads?

I've been debating doing the same thing, more like a scabbard on either side of my tractor's ballast box, but have always had a concern with heavy saw motors possibly bending the bar at the mount, when bouncing over any rough terrain. Probably an unwarranted concern, since I don't usually go speeding and bouncing along with the ballast box mounted.

 

[walhondingnashua]

No rubber yet just some cheap foam I had. not really sure how thick I need yet and need to be able to change it it I carry my little ms170. I went with a clamping idea to keep the saw from bouncing around at all. If I make something similar for my tractor, it will also tighten. I don't think I will use a hinge and just put more then 1 bolt that I can tighten.

 

[Ashful]

I guess you'll want whatever rubber or foam you use to be oil resistant. Many rubber materials will melt and go gummy under constant exposure to bar oil.

 

[walhondingnashua]

I guess you'll want whatever rubber or foam you use to be oil resistant. Many rubber materials will melt and go gummy under constant exposure to bar oi

Speaking of bar oil, I ran out yesterday when the puppy decided the jug was a chew toy and threw oil all over my garage floor. I usually use the Stihl synthetic but I may try to find some of the GDP stuff. I have seen good reviews on it.