Chop Til You Drop: Mastering The My Winter Car Firewood Cutter
If you want to make some actual money in the Finnish tundra without selling your soul to a factory, you better learn how to handle a tractor and a giant blade.
Cutting wood in My Winter Car is one of those jobs that sounds relaxing until you realize you are one mechanical failure away from a very expensive hospital bill. It is the quintessential rural experience: heavy machinery, diesel fumes, and the constant threat of a log flying into your face. I have spent enough time in the woodshed to know that the Lumber Conveyor is a finicky beast, but once you get the rhythm down, it is basically a license to print marks. You just need to know how to hook it up without looking like a complete amateur.
Setting Up The Lumber Conveyor
The Firewood Cutter, also known as the Lumber Conveyor, is not exactly portable on its own. You need the Kekmet tractor to do the heavy lifting, and getting the two to play nice is the most annoying part of the job.
Hooking Up the Kekmet
First, you need to back the Kekmet up to the conveyor. You want to get as close as physically possible because if the alignment is off, your logs are going to end up in the dirt instead of the trailer. Once you are in position, look for the rear hitch lever on the right side of the cab. Use it to lower the attachment arms. Hop out of the tractor, walk to the back, and click the connection point on the cutter. If you did it right, the arms will snap into place and you are officially hitched.
Powering the Beast
Now that you are connected, you need power. Back in the cab, look for the PTO lever to the left of the steering wheel. Flipping this activates the drive shaft that actually makes the conveyor move. If you are in a rush, you can crank the RPMs up to make the cutter work faster, but keep in mind this is going to eat through your session time. I usually keep it at a steady pace because watching a log jam at high speed is a massive pain in the ass I do not need.
Processing Your Firewood
Once the machinery is screaming and the conveyor is moving, the actual work begins. It is a simple loop, but one that requires you to pay attention if you want to get paid.
Take a log from the nearby wood pile and drop it into the cutter slot. The machine handles the splitting automatically based on the RPM you set. The beauty of this setup is the conveyor belt. If you were smart enough to attach a trailer to the back of the conveyor before you started, it will dump the split wood directly into the bed. It is the closest thing to automation you are going to get in this frozen hellscape, so enjoy the efficiency while it lasts.
Just make sure you do not forget to actually attach that trailer. There is nothing more depressing than finishing a massive pile of wood only to realize you have just built a second, slightly smaller pile on the ground behind the machine. It is a mistake you only make once, mostly because the back pain from fixing it is a very effective teacher.
I will be keeping an eye out for more ways to optimize the woodcutting loop (Both from my own testing and keeping an eye open online), but for now, this is the most reliable way to fill your coffers and keep your fingers attached.