Hauling Firewood in Log Form. Why On Earth Would Ya!

[flyboy553]

I recently hauled, as it turned out, 4 cords of red oak logs out of the woods and stacked it by the splitter, thinking it would be easier and faster. Turns out, it was a huge mistake on my part! What a PITA! When I cut it into rounds, they had to be moved right away so I could cut some more. The saw would cut in to other logs in the pile, rounds would pinch, man! I just don't see why anyone would haul em out that way! So much easier to buck them up in the woods and haul the rounds to the splitter.

Some of you guys have to drag them logs out of the woods by hand? Wouldnt the rounds be lighter and more manageable? How about when you get home? Now you have to get them off the trailer too! And then make a crossbuck so you can cut them, which means you gotta get them up on that! Absolutely makes NO sense to me~!

I must be missing something?

Ted

 

[ss~zoso~ss]

Cutting them in a pile can be done, it only takes one 10 cord load of 24' oak logs, and you figure it out quick, can be dangerous too so you gotta be thinking on your toes!

 

[slbraman]

Try a bow bar. Lots of post here on the subject.I usually haul all of my logs out to a heading I can get to with my truck and trailer.I haul just over a cord home to a trip and don't want any undue "beatings" on my truck and trailer rig so I pile cut with a bow bar.Reduces pinching and makes life a lot easier. Short of that I roll a log at a time out of the stack with a cant hook.If you purchase a cant hook get the kind you can roll and leave on the hook elevated off the ground.Good luck and happy cutting!

 

[flyboy553]

Must be like drinking scotch! Ya have to acquire a taste for it. I figure WHY?? I didn't like it the first time, what makes ya think I would like it the second time! :msp_confused:

Maybe if I had a grapple for the bobcat, but I don't.


Ted

 

[wampum]

I haul almost all of my wood out as logs.I cut the logs into 6 foot lengths which allow me to get 4- 18 inch rounds. But I have a front loader with forks on my tractor. When I get them out of the woods I set the forks at the height of my saw buck and simply roll one log at a time on the buck. Sometimes I roll 3 or 4 on the buck at a time,(depending on the size of the logs)even them up and cut them. My tractor is 50HP so I can bring several logs out at a time,with no mud and no lifting.
If I can not get the tractor to the logs,I will cut enough logs to form a bed on the forks.Then cut the logs into rounds where they sit and load them onto the bed of logs as already processed rounds. Unless the log is light enough to carry to the tractor easily. I use my tractor as much as I can,it saves a lot of back work.

 

[flyboy553]

I haul almost all of my wood out as logs.I cut the logs into 6 foot lengths which allow me to get 4- 18 inch rounds. But I have a front loader with forks on my tractor. When I get them out of the woods I set the forks at the height of my saw buck and simply roll one log at a time on the buck. Sometimes I roll 3 or 4 on the buck at a time,(depending on the size of the logs)even them up and cut them. My tractor is 50HP so I can bring several logs out at a time,with no mud and no lifting.
If I can not get the tractor to the logs,I will cut enough logs to form a bed on the forks.Then cut the logs into rounds where they sit and load them onto the bed of logs as already processed rounds. Unless the log is light enough to carry to the tractor easily. I use my tractor as much as I can,it saves a lot of back work.

I use my bobcat, usually just leave the bucket on. I have the forks out there also, but really only use them to pile the brush prior to burning. I fill the bucket up with rounds, haul to splitter and then once split, toss them on the trailer or pickup. This way the rounds are right at the splitter, just turn around and grab one and go. Once bucket is empty, I go cut another bucketful. Takes about three hours to cut and split and load a full cord. IF I stay at it hard!

Ted

 

[fffrosty72]

I get all my firewood from the guy I work for doing tree removal. It's faster for me to load "logs" than to cut it up with his saws and load peices. When I say "logs" it's probably smaller diameter than what you are talking about, since it's all loaded by hand. Anything over 12 inches gets cut up right there.

 

[howellhandmade]

Logistics. What is best all depends on where the wood is, what kind of time and equipment you have, what sort of space you have at home, and how you want to spend your time. I cut wood into rounds to load on my truck because I don't have any loading equipment, so it has to be something I can lift. The typical firewood grab for me means carving out a day or a few hours to get as much wood as I can get home as fast as I can, then splitting and stacking it at my leisure. For a scrounger like me, time is often a factor -- if I don't get it, someone else will. If I could get more wood faster by loading it in log length, if I had the space and a way to unload it at home, I wouldn't mind bucking log lengths at home.

 

[darkbyrd]

I can drag a lot more wood with the tractor than I can carry in the grapple (which is also full of wood and tools).

 

[Circle B MN]

Unless you own equipment, it probably would not make sense to move wood in log form. If you have the means to load and handle a log, why would you do it any other way.? As for sawing a pile of logs, it doesn't work well to saw them as they are stacked. I'll take the loader and grab a few logs off the pile and lay them out. Then they get cut into rounds. Grab a few more logs and set them atop the rounds I just cut, giving them a little toss so that they lay at different angles, directions, etc. then cut them up. Repeat until you have a nice pile of rounds, then back the splitter up to it and go to town. You should only have to touch the round one time, and that is as it is going onto the splitter.

 

[lumberjack48]

You have to get a little more experience running saw, then you'll have no pinching problems.

I logged 30 yrs, i sawed all my firewood up in the woods, on less i hauled a load home with the truck. [ logging truck]
What i mean by out in the woods is on the landing, and loaded in the pickup, you can't saw it 16" out in the woods on less you have a way to haul it.

I watched guys loading long pieces on a pickup, breaking there backs, only to have to unload it at home. You still have to saw it up, handling the wood to many times.

Make your firewood experience fun, not a job. I'd take the kids to help, they enjoyed helping, we'd have a wienie roast with marshmallows. :msp_thumbup:

 

[Chris-PA]

I've tried skidding logs out to buck them, but I also found it counterproductive. Now I only do it if there's some reason the location it's in is not suitable for working at. Then again, my tractor is only 30hp with a 5' bucket and no forks, so it's not suitable for doing what others describe here. Further, one of the reasons I heat with wood is to reduce my use of fuel, so running a lot of thirsty equipment would not make sense. So now I buck it, split it and stack it in place as much as possible, and later it gets hauled out with a 12hp, single cylinder WheelHorse and a 4-wheel cart. But I can leave it there as long as I like, so that also changes the equation.

 

[Circle B MN]

You have to get a little more experience running saw, then you'll have no pinching problems.

I logged 30 yrs, i sawed all my firewood up in the woods, on less i hauled a load home with the truck.

I watched guys loading long pieces on a pickup, breaking there backs, only to have to unload it at home. You still have to saw it up, handling the wood to many times.

Make your firewood experience fun, not a job. I'd take the kids to help, they enjoyed helping, we'd have a wienie roast with marshmallows. :msp_thumbup:

:biggrin:
:msp_laugh:
:msp_lol:
opcorn:



Welcome aboard lumberjack..!

 

[branchbuzzer]

Whenever I put an 8' oak log on my wheelbarrow it's too hard to keep it from rolling off, so I usually buck it out in the woods.

 

[flyboy553]

In winter, I will skid the logs out to a landing area and then buck them up. In summer, not so much. I do not like getting the log full of dirt and mud and who knows what!

I have been at this firewood stuff for all my adult life, and as a kid too. Started cutting and selling firewood when I was 13. So I guess that makes 44 years!:eek2:

My son( 1 semester from a fluid power engineer, but ya think I can get him to look at my splitter??) goes to a gym, pays them hard earned money but won't come help with firewood! Says he likes to work specific muscles! He will come help if he feels he owes me a favor, but will whine about how sore he is for a week afterwards!!:rolleyes2:

Ted

 

[Dalmatian90]

But I have a front loader with forks on my tractor.

ding ding ding ding...we have a winner

I've bucked up a stack of logs on a landing before -- used tow straps and my S-10 to twitch the logs into a good position to cut.

And these days I'll use my Ranger to pull reasonable size logs up a steep hill to a spot I can comfortably buck and load the Ranger...faster then repeatedly throwing them up hill to reach the truck.

 

[chucker]

You have to get a little more experience running saw, then you'll have no pinching problems.

I logged 30 yrs, i sawed all my firewood up in the woods, on less i hauled a load home with the truck.

I watched guys loading long pieces on a pickup, breaking there backs, only to have to unload it at home. You still have to saw it up, handling the wood to many times.

Make your firewood experience fun, not a job. I'd take the kids to help, they enjoyed helping, we'd have a wienie roast with marshmallows. :msp_thumbup:

WELCOME TO THE SITE OLE FRIEND.... !! HI THERE DUANE!! GLAD TO SEE YOU HERE !! how you doing bud.. so you moved from the battle area hey... dont be giving these young guns to many chewings for being wet behind the ears!! lol

 

[Craz z]

Here in Montana I witnessed for years all these guys with 6 footers too and wondered why they did that.

I started this year trying it out as well. Only advantage I can see is time out in the woods is cut in a third of the time. However the work is 3 times more grueling and thats choking and draging to trailer with a 4 wheeler.

I assume the guys i've seen with this method have a winch to skid onto the trailer. Also most guys are on lodgepole and skinny sticks maybe they justify the work as not having to split to burn.

I liked the fact that I could fell, limb and get a full load quick and still be able to fire up the saw after work every night just to feed the CAD seems like the saws get worked and sit with me dreaming of firing em up waiting to go the hills again.

the way i see it at this point after killing myself with this method is number one I gave it up after 3 loads.

I spend more time hunting for the big logs less work then the toothpicks. i'd rather muscle 30-40 maybe 50 rounds then bending over and cutting 300 toothpicks.

the choke and drag adds a ton of chain wrecking molecules to the log aka dirt rocks etc.

I believe that energy cannot be created nor destroyed either method of loading or unloading logs or rounds expends exactly the same amount I'm pooped at the end of the day.

 

[bert0168]

Why?

Because I can get more wood on the trailer with the winch and a-frame faster and with less mess on somebody's lawn in log form.

This one took all of 30 min to get on and 15 min to get off, then I can cut at my leisure.
8' long x 42" at the butt and about 4600#'s

Now, if I had to buck it, noodle it and load it on and off by hand, how long do you think it would take?

 

[logbutcher]

Depends !

It's all about DEPENDS. ( No. not that "Depends" you evil one :msp_ohmy.
All about the terrain, your gear, your time, your body ( GoodBody here ). No FELs, no bobcats, no way to get that pickup anywhere in this woodlot.

For this woodlot: fell, limb, score ( for Birches only ), buck, pile brush, hump, trailer, stack butts. It's what I do in winter for the following winter's firewood.
Why ? This woodlot is rolly, some boggy, bony, often thick spuce/fir. So I chose the wood based on the access for the trailer and ATV, and sustainability for the years we got remaining ( "First you live.........").

Winter is the ONLY time for harvesting for us : hard ground, snow for skidding lengths to trails, cool, no mozzies or flying biters.
Besides, if I left logs or butts to pick up later, I'd lose them ( C.R.S. ). This is a basic low tech operation that gives us some $$$ for sawlogs and pulp, but more for the 6-8 cords ( the true ones ) to heat each year.

No splitting and stacking until spring when there's room in the woodsheds, and open racks for shoulder burns. Why anyone cuts when it's hot is another question.

The only envy I have is Oak Envy, not much here. Got Oak ?

It's what's been done for the 12 years owning this woodlot.....and why we bought for rural beauty, distant neighbors, and heating. "Our way."