Getting into the firewood business has been a learning curve @ 100 Acre Firewood that is for sure. I stubbled into the business sort of by accident really.
As I mention in our About Us page we have had our Prince Edward County farm property for about 18 years or so. As luck would have it A LOT of the property has ash trees - over the past 4 or 5 years these trees have been killed by the Ash Boring Beetle.
Honestly I didn't really notice this happen until Hydro One called me and said they were coming through to clear our all the dead ash trees along our road frontage with power lines. When they did this we were left with a complete wasteland of woodchips and ash tree logs.
At the time I was sort thinking it would be cool to get lumber mill and convert the logs into lumber then use the lumber and maybe sell some. I talked to a few close friends and neighbors and they talked me out of the milling business. Their point was lumber is MUCH hard to sell then firewood and the processing is super hands on. Additionally the lumber you are making would not be certified for building so the chances of sell are lower. I also do not really look at myself as someone who is interested or good @ being a wood "craftsman" - making furniture and what not.
At a later date I may revisit the whole wood milling idea but for now firewood seems like the path forward. I also really enjoy the process for firewood; cut the tree down - process and split the wood - stack the wood. It is simple and has a clear start and finish - I love that. The activity of stacking is strangely enjoyable for me too - helps clear my head and gives you a decent work out at the same time.
Based on the volume of ash trees 100 Acre Firewood needed a way to automate processing the 1000+ ash trees that we have into useable firewood the people can use to heat their homes. I looked at a bunch of options and end up deciding on the Halverson HWP-150. There was a bunch of reasons for this:
- We already have a Bobcat to attach the HWP-150 to
- Skidsteer mounted processors are portable
- The cost was reasonable vs. larger stationary processors
- Flexibility down the road to do firewood processing offsite
- Being able to process from the comfort of the T76 cab
- Great local dealer support from Jay's Forestry Equipment
Once I decided on the Halverson HWP-150 I started to shop around for a deal. I am Scottish to my core so finding a deal is super important. I thought about used but the pricing was totally out of whack vs. buying new. After looking around and talking to a bunch of dealers and distributors I came across Jason Morden & Jay's Forestry Equipment. After a few calls and e-mail I knew Jay had me covered - great guy with excellent service and prices on all this equipment. The great thing for me is Jay is only about a 1/2 drive from my farm - so it is easy to bug him and pick his brain on stuff anytime!
So Jay and I made the deal on the HWP-150 and about 3 weeks later it was delivered. Jay dropped it by our farm and help me set it up with the Halverson control/wiring harness.(Not my not favorite thing - but we can do a separate blog post and video on that) Watching a good operator like Jay process some wood with the HWP-150 was amazing. Here is a quick video on the deliver process and a few shots of Jay processing some logs:
Overall I am loving the new Halverson HWP-150 processor - it is most definitely a learning curve and getting as good as Jay is going to take some time. I really have no complaints or issues yet except for the Halverson controls but this is really a Bobcat issue that I will get into later. At this point I can process a little over a cord an hour with straight logs - this will get faster as I become more skilled and get setup dialed in. Looking forward to many years of processing with the HWP-150. If you are looking for one of these units in Eastern Canada I encourage you to get in touch with Jay's Forestry Equipment!
