Log Arch IMAGES
I have some very descriptive pictures of these arches in action, however they're all shot high resolution and the file size is too big for Arboristsite.com to take. I know, I know,.. crunch em down first. I haven't learned how to do that yet, but for now, I'll just share more experience with my three rather incredible devices.
First, they save your back. The Jr Arch I use more than anything. It instantly tongs logs up to 16", and you whisk them out of the zone. The most untrained, newbie ground guy can use this after 10 seconds of demonstration. A 1000 lb log an be move by a single man, over uneven terrain, with ease. Using the utility chain instead of the tongs, you can bundle and haul several small logs at once- fabulous for those back yard issues where your chipper is a ways away. It can also lift a tree which has been cut off, yet is still standing vertically.
The middleweight champ, designed to provide INCREDIBLE leverage, can handle logs up to 2500 pounds (5600 Kg) and just over two feet (~65 cm) in diameter. You roll this arch over direct center of the log, swing the arch to position vertical, the tongs self-position themselves, and then you pull down the tongue; yes, you pull down to lift up, sort of nice having gravity help you elevate something heavy! Once the log is up and you have a teeter-totter center, push. Or pull. I have moved huge logs, easily, out of the depths of a back yard and out to the truck, alone. It is amazing, once you overcome the forces of friction, that sheer mass can be dealt with rather effectively. Two men together can move, by hand, any log that the arch can get off the ground. This arch is commonly use in conjunction with an All Terrain Vehicle. I have mine mounted on my chipper, and take it out only when I have a takedown situation and I want the log.
Now the BIG DOG, what I've pet-named the LOG ROVER, is Future Forestry's T-40 Tractor Arch. It can be towed with any pickup truck ( I use my sport utility vehicle). This arch will lift a 4,000 # log (10,000 Kg), up to 42" diameter ( >100 cm)! This arch has no tongs, because it is too massive to position vertically. Instead, you just back the arch over the log, or hand wheel it, and affix the cable, either choker, or 2:1, than crank it up. I wheel it around, couple it and uncouple it, etc, by myself, but this arch is really a two-guy arch. This arch is built to withstand ANYTHING up to it's full capacity, and probably beyond. The winch is two-stage, meaning first gearing, a quick cable uptake, and then you easily and instantly click it into low gear for the lift. The thing is absolutely amazing. I once bundled and carried 5 cedar logs at once for milling into closet lining and another time, three oak logs, perfect, clear, straight, all 20 -24" (each 50 - 60 cm), each 17 feet long (>500cm long), ALL AT ONCE, and hauled them off to my log stow site for future milling. These logs used to be destined for chunking into firewood, because there was no other alternantive. If you have ever felt sin in whacking up a perfectly beautiful log, then this is your penance. Buy an arch and start reclaiming your Karma.
Compare the price of the big arch to say, a crane truck. You will find a price around 1/20th of the big mechanized behemoth. The arch is low to no impact, uses no fuel, is quiet, and is one of the most amazingly effective tools for doing what it's designed to do - and that is to lift and allow you to move logs. They're very low maintenence tools, so cost of upkeep is ZERO once you've purchased them. Just WD-40 the winch now and again. Ask me more!
