Got my oak to the mill

[Farmall Guy]

I dont think I posted over here about the big oak blow down I cut up over the winter. I ended up with 10 logs ranging from 18-40" out of 2 trees that were involved and a lot of fire wood to boot. Yesterday after trying to sell them to several folks and not getting any offers I finally got it to a freinds mill to be milled into flooring for my house.

I got 2 9' logs out of this section that were 40" across. This tree was a blast to cut up, I did alot with my 066 but this pushed me over the edge and I bought an 880. Glad I did, pulled a 41" bar through this and still wanted more. My buddy should have it milled up with in a couple weeks then I'll stack it inside and let it dry. In a year or 2 I should be ready to lay down a 1 of a kind solid oak floor with a great story to go with it.

These 6 logs came from the 2 main limbs that forked off of the big trunk. I didnt get a pic of all 10 once we got them pulled out of the swamp, was quite a project but a lot of fun too.

Once I get the lumber back i'll post a couple pics, when I get the floor down I'll show some of the finished product.

Once I get the 880 broken in right I may give milling a try, got an alaskan mill but I dont want to run the saw on it until I have a good 10-12 tanks of fuel through her. After that I might have to start making some more table's and what not.

 

[BobL]

Nice - real nice!

Can't wait to see the milling pics.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Great looking oak. So what kinda equipment did ya have to bring those big logs out of the woods, and then to load and transport?

 

[Farmall Guy]

My neighbor brought his 555B ford backhoe down with 100' of cable and 3 snatch blocks. we ran the cable to the logs, hung a snatch block on his bucket then hooked the end to my 310D john deere. For the big logs we did the same thing but we also put a snatch block at the log, ran the cable through that and then anchored it to a tree to increase the pull. Worked real good, not as good as a skidder would have done but this didnt cost us anything either.

When it came time to haul them to the mill on the other side of town I called our fire chief, I sold him my old f800 ford dump truck last summer. We loaded 5 logs into the truck and made 2 trips to get them all there. The 2 big logs were all my backhoe wanted to lift (probly would lift a little more but this was at the hairy edge of my comfort zone) The but log I had to rig and lift with the loader, all the rest I used the back bucket to set 1 end on the truck then reposition the chain, lift the other end up and slide it in.

I'm looking forward to getting the lumber back to see how it turns out. I just couldnt see cutting it up into fire wood then paying more for the fake hard wood flooring in a couple years, when I can put a little time into finishing this and have the real thing.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Looks like you were well equipped to get the logs moved! Why would my wife ever wonder why I want a backhoe? Great job!

 

[forestryworks]

damn nice oak.

 

[Farmall Guy]

Thanks, that backhoe was one of the best investments I ever made. I use it for just about everything, really nice for cutting fire wood. Just pick 1 end of the log off the ground leaving 8' or so hanging off the high end, then cut rounds off and repeat. Keeps the chain out of the dirt and when its all done we use the front bucket to move it when we want it.