Young’s Firewood Grows Business By Automating

Problems in the oil importing business created a successful niche market firewood processor

Timberline / January 1997

Philip Young has been in the wood products industry for 40 years. For years, he ran crews, logging pulp and saw logs near the Atlantic coast of Maine, at Cushing.

In the 1980’s, Young says, everything changed for his company. “In the early 1980’s, the oil embargo came along,” he says. “Everyone suddenly wanted firewood in a big way. We were logging but saw an opportunity and moved into it.” Young began his operation with a homemade splitter and a sawing machine, cutting the wood into four-foot lengths, splitting it, and then reducing the size when an order came in. The machinery was run off electricity. One employee helped Young and his son.

Business was brisk, and by the time the embargo was over, the company was doing well enough to survive without the support of high priced oil. “A lot of people have summer homes or cottages around here,” he says. “Even more have built new houses, and they generally include a wood stove or two. We’re right on the ocean here and a wood fire makes a nice addition to an evening as well as covering when storms blow in and the power lines go down. That has lead to a steady demand for wood.”

About six and a half years ago Young decided to automate his business. “We had a fellow who’d worked for us over 18 years,” he says. “He was a very good worker but we had a problem with government regulations. In Maine, workmen’s compensation for a forest products industry person was the same whether you were sawing trees, working a skidder, or using a machine to split firewood. It was costing us $50 in compensation for every $100 we paid in wages. We didn’t see how we could continue doing that.” The solution, for Young, was a Multitek Firewood Processor, Model 2040XP. “We wanted to buy a machine that would be a one-man operation,” Young says. “I found what I was looking for in the Multitek. A lot of people will tell you what they can do and not come through. The Multitek was everything the company claimed it would be. It took all the work out of sawing and splitting firewood and has allowed us to make a good living at the business.”
Young’s Multitek has a 80 HP John Deere, water-cooled diesel engine, a four drag chain live deck with an extended deck added to allow for more production, and a 3/4 pitch, 11 BC saw chain. The unit comes with a choice of four-, six-, or eight-way splitter. Young chose the eight-way splitter because, he says, his customer base includes a large number of people with cook stoves, so they prefer the wood split a little finer.

Young has been exceptionally pleased with his unit, he says, because it has given him a great deal of flexibility. “With this machine you can produce wood at almost any length,” he says. “We have a lot of customers who need their wood cut to 13,14, or 15 inches in length. Most of the machines I’ve seen can’t cut the wood to the odd lengths, so we can offer our customers better service.”

When the wood arrives, it is stacked in the yard. “We keep stacks of wood drying in tree lengths, stacked up as high as I can stack it,” Young says. “Then when we get an order we cut it and split it. We are also always running green wood. We have an old International for the yard work and stacking.”

When the wood is ready for processing, it is brought to the Multitek in tree lengths and loaded onto the extended deck about two cords at a time. An overhead, in-feed shuttle grapple grasps the log and brings it to the saw where it is cut to length. Each piece drops into a pan in front of a splitter head that quickly splits the log. While Young’s system has an eight-way wedge, he says by positioning the wedge up or down he can split the wood into larger or smaller pieces. The split wood then moves to a conveyor and is dumped into one of the company’s two International trucks, one with a two-cord bed and one with a three-cord. “The whole process is like clockwork,” Young says.

Young is quick to point out that automation is not a cheap way to go but he says it has certainly paid off for his company. “What we were paying in workmen’s compensation has pretty much paid for the machine over the six and a half years we’ve been running it,” he says. “When you figure how much easier it is to run the machine and the production levels we’re getting it’s not too hard to see the machine is paying for itself.”

To further increase production, Young says he has put his machine inside a building on a slab. “That eliminates weather problems,” he says, “and we can produce all year.”

Young’s production is strictly in hardwood and is generally mixed species. If a customer wants, however, he will try to utilize a particular kind of wood for most of a load. Birch, maple, oak, and ash make up most of the inventory. Production is in the range of 1,500 to 2,000 cords per year with a mixture of green to dry wood.

Because he pays a premium over what wood can be sold for in the pulp markets, Young has no trouble getting log loads cut the way he desires. “You have to cut the wood a little differently for the machine,” he says.

“We can take wood up to about 20 inches and down to about five or six inches on the top. We don’t like logs with too much sweep, and they have to be limbed well for the machine to run smoothly.”

The firewood business can be a profitable one for an owner willing to take the time necessary to build a business in the right area, Young says, but it isn’t for everyone. “The best place to establish a business like ours,” he comments, “is on the outskirts of a populated area, especially if you are in an area where there are summer homes and cottages. Not every area has people interested in burning wood, so you have to feel an area out to see if there is enough business to keep you running.”

According to Young, you also can’t expect overnight success. “It takes time to build up a business,” he points out. “You have to start out small and build up. It takes time for people to get used to you and begin calling back.”

The business, like any other, also calls for a certain amount of commitment. “You can’t run hot and cold,” Young says. “Even though the business is very seasonal, you have to keep at it all year. We generally begin to put up several hundred cords early in the year. We like our wood to season for a year so the customer is getting good value. You always have to be looking ahead.”

For the person who sticks with it, the business is a rewarding one, Young says. “We enjoy it,” he comments. “The Multitek has taken the extremely hard work out of it and made the business a lot more enjoyable.”