Setting Up a Machine for Firewood on a Tasmanian Bush Block
Grapples, splitters and chippers turn a skid steer into a firewood operation. What to buy, how to work safely and how to keep a wood heater fed all winter without a chainsaw injury.
More Tasmanian homes heat with wood than in any other state, and a bush block supplies it. The hard part is not the cutting; it is the lifting, splitting and carting, which is where a compact machine takes over.
The three attachments
Log grapple. Lifts and carries logs and rounds from where the tree fell to where you split. A rotating grapple turns logs in the air for stacking; a fixed grapple is cheaper and fine for a home operation. On the excavator, a hydraulic thumb does much of the same work.
Hydraulic splitter. Runs off the skid steer's hydraulics with far more force than a petrol splitter and no separate engine. Horizontal splitters suit rounds you can roll on; vertical splitters take bigger, heavier rounds.
Wood chipper. For the branches and tops, turning slash into mulch and reducing the fire load on the block.
A working method
- Fell and buck with the chainsaw in autumn, when the sap is down and the ground is still firm.
- Grapple the logs and rounds to a hard-standing splitting area near the shed.
- Split with the machine, stacking straight into a trailer or wood cage.
- Stack under cover with air around it. Peppermint and stringybark season in a year; blue gum wants two.
- Chip the slash and spread it on tracks or the garden.
Safety
The machine removes the two most dangerous parts of firewood, lifting and hand-splitting, but adds its own. Keep everyone clear of the grapple's swing, never reach into the splitter, wear eye protection around the chipper, and treat a log held in the air as a load that can drop.
Tracks and mud
Winter firewood work means wet ground. Widest track setting, track mats at the gate and a clean-out of the undercarriage at the end of the day. Cutting and carting in autumn avoids most of it.
Machines
The RS06 skid steer runs the grapple, splitter and chipper for a home firewood operation; the RS10 handles larger rounds and volumes. An R18 PRO or R22 PRO with a thumb or rotating grapple does the felling clean-up and stump removal. See the attachment finder for what fits each model, and the Forestry and bush block guide.