Hey JDE,Looky here!!

JDE, Just what you need, thought of you when we seen this and remembered your photos with Louis next to the tree stump. Thoght maybe it would also help with your wood pile. Ain"t this something!!.
A little pricy for us though,could build it if we had the plans and steel. You probably have all the makings at your place.LOL.
Warmest reguards, LOU
http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/bfs/2018546669.html

Looks good, but the wood out here in calif is not as round and uniforn. Stan

I don't see much use in those machines, all the pictures of these operating are of the lumber logs not the firewood limbs. So to get any use out of one a person would bid against the lumber people or be clearing their own property for firewood sale.

Yeah, I've seen a few of those setups around here. Firewood is getting to be "big business" since the government started buying it for welfare recipients. Now, with government involved, price is "no object."

I've seen some beautiful big, straight trees being made into firewood. Seems odd that they aren't going to the mills instead. But, can't say I've checked lately what mills are paying for hardwood logs. Not long along, the "hot tree" to take to the mill was young hard maple, small diameter and pure white inside. That demand led to many potential sap-bushes getting clear-cut.
I do know that big red oak isn't hardly bringing anything for lumber, which is a shame. I think it's one of the prettiest hardwoods we've got around here. Much more interesting grain then hard maple or white ash.

Your right . TLAX brought out a fact that trees have limbs that aren"t perfectly round and true. Still requires a chain saw to get the job done.Couldn"t use one if the limbs were crooked,twisted.Now that the gov is involved, maybe crooked things are in the norn. POOF I"M GONE HUH?
LOU

What we DO get around here is large, very straight, and limbless red maples. If they're in the deep woods, they grow like huge telephone poles with no lower limbs. I cut many this year, and some were gigantic. I cut down many that were 12 foot diameter at shoulder-height. They don't have much market value for logs.

In regard to firewood sales, the next "big thing" I heard the NY legislators might do . . is make it illegal to sell firewood unless it's certified and kiln-dried. This silly stuff never stops. It is already illegal to cross county-lines with firewood in many areas. Of course, I suspect enforcement is darn-near impossible.

He's got some pretty optimistic production numbers there at 3 cord per hour too... Got power for mabey 1 cord per hour...

Rod

I bet you meant 12 inches?
Red maple is not too high up on the BTU list but I really like to burn it. I find that quite a few die at about 6 to 8 inches in dia. If they stand for awhile, the bark begins to fall off and its ready to burn as soon as its cut. Red maple has a nice "ring" to it when you bang two seasoned pieces together!

Nope, I meant 12 foot around at shouder-height. Granted we have many more 12 inch trees then we do 12 foot trees. Most of our big soft maples are 6-7 foot, with only a few of the giant 12 footers. This woods hasn't been logged in a very long time. We got many that are approx. 130 feet tall and are near a power-line right-of-way. I just had the power company up here, since I'm trying to get them to drop the ones near the line.
The record for red maples is 180 feet tall in Michigan. I don't know what the record diameter is at the base.

My wife and I just measured one, while on a walk in our wood lot. Soft maple, most likely it's a red maple, but there are a few silver maples in the same area. Def. not a hard maple. No tape measure with us, so we used our arms wrapped around the tree. My wife's hands couldn't touch mine. All in all, it took her arms stretched out (5 feet), plus mine (5 1/2 feet), plus an added -fingertip to armpit on me (2 feet). Comes to 12 1/2 feet and that's at shoulder height. Also went back up and measured some of the red oaks. Several are 13 feet at shoulder height.

I like big red maples for firewood for several reasons. One, it competes with my hard sugar maples so I'm glad to get rid of it. Two, it dries much faster then hard maple, and splits easy, Three - I feel no guilt cutting them down since it's not much good for lumber. Four - the real big ones in the deep woods have no lower limbs.

I have tapped big red maples now and then. Fine for making syrup, but has a lot more water content.