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Sawmill & Woodlot's Wood Processor Review Timberwolf PRO-MX by Bill Gove reprinted from Sawmill & Woodlot Management
There is one vital function of the fire wood processor that has produced a variety of designs, a function that has sometimes separated the men from the boys. Every processor, regard less of make, has to incorporate a means to move the long length of firewood for ward to be cut. Different schemes have been used�chain feed, overhead grapple, sliding pressure plate�and some of them work quite well. Cost has been a determining factor in the extent of the design sophistication. Manufacturers are always making improvements, and I recently had the opportunity to view one of the better schemes yet devised for advancing logs under the cut-off saw. It�s known as the �top roll.� The idea was first applied and patented by Jeff Weeks, a manufacturer of wood splitters and processors in a shop in Belchertown, Mass. Weeks developed the Valley line of firewood processors. I reviewed two of the Valley models in the Dec/Jan. 1998 issue of IS&WM. The Valley line of processors, however, has recently been bought by Timberwolf Manufacturing and combined into their extensive line of wood splitting equipment. Timberwolf purchased Valley in part to obtain the rights to use the �top roll� system. Timberwolf has now made the top roll available as an optical on new machines as well as for retrofitting older models. T chose to visit an operator in western New York who had a fairly new Timberwolf PRO-MX with the top roll. I reviewed Timberwolf�s larger PRO-HD model (IS&WM, April/May 1998), so this visit gave me an opportunity to check out the smaller PRO-MX model. Owner Roland Michalski
lives in Lima, N.Y., an agricultural area that supports some logging and
firewood operations. Roland, who used to operate heavy construction
equipment, now raises a few beef cattle on his farm, and is in the process
of slowly building up a dealership of Timberwolf wood splitting equipment.
With the equipment in hand, he operates a part-time firewood enterprise.
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