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I am a retired math and computer studies teacher, who has been a do-it-yourselfer all my life, due in part to necessity. We live on a fifty acre lot with lots of bush for firewood. I have been retired for twenty years and like designing and making projects in steel, mostly. I constructed a forklift and log splitter for the same 420 John Deere tractor. With this equipment and a winch for the forklift, I have eliminated the need for any and all lifting while cutting and splitting fire wood."
Cutting firewood is a big enough job as is, especially when you add the lifting and stacking. We've showcased a few cutting and splitting machines before, but this unique tractor-powered attachment Hank designed takes firewood processing to a whole new level. The first time he used it, he managed to cut seven cords of wood.
Nice project, Hank! Thanks for sharing it with us!
See it in action here
Q: What is it?
A: It's a grapple with four logging tongs, used to pick up a log and lift it to a standing working level for cutting into four stove length blocks, and for stacking the blocks away from the log pile. It eliminates the danger of chainsaw kickback, cutting logs on the ground, and manually lifting heavy blocks of firewood to move them away from the pile of logs.
Q: What is the main power source for your project? (e.g. electric motor, gas engine etc.)
A: A 420 John Deere farm tractor.
Q: What components are used to perform the work for your project? (e.g. hydraulic cylinder(s), hydraulic motor(s), sprockets, pulleys etc.)
A: Hydraulic pistons and a large rack-and-pinion for rotating the boom on which the grapple is mounted. One piston opens and closes the four tongs of the grapple. These tongs are spring loaded: when the first tongs grasp the largest diameter part of the log, the remaining ones can keep closing till the smallest diameter of the log is contacted. All tongs can close to diameter of zero inches. If a log is 18 inches at one end and 10 inches at the other, both tongs will bite into the log, so that when the blocks are cut no blocks will drop. If the tongs were connected all with the same rigid openings, only the largest diameter of the log would be grasped by one of the tongs.
Q: There's a small platform with wheels behind the tractor. Can you tell us about that?
A: The small platform with wheels is a platform I had from a previous project that went obsolete when I came up with the grapple idea. The wheels are used to maneuver the grapple for hooking up to the three point hitch of the tractor, and parking it in the barn where there is not enough to room to move it around with the tractor. It actually has three wheels. The one is a caster on a jack so the unit can be rolled around by one person. This is actually a trailer jack from Princess Auto. It was added after the photo in question, so it is now a tricycle unit.
Q: What design/build challenges were overcome?
A: Mounting the rack and pinion to swing the boom almost 180 degrees. Getting a small diameter hydraulic piston to pull the grapple tongs to close them. Holding blocks of different diameters by using springs to allow the four logging tongs to hold all the blocks once they were cut.
Q: If you had to build it again, what would you do differently?
A: If I were to begin from scratch, I probably would not have used the rack and pinion unit. I also would have used a four spool control valve instead of power beyond valves. I would also have made the unit that holds the boom smaller. However, I had these all as things collected or donated on hand. The rack and pinion unit allows for more rotation than a piston on an arm to rotate the boom. Plans are to install outriggers for stability.
Q: Which Princess Auto location do you visit most?
A: Barrie ON