Nice tree

[turnkey4099]

I've been working on Steve's place this spring. Allowed one direct track through the planted wheat field to the grove. It is a grove around the "minicanyon" wheatfield on 3 sides. Sides of canyon fairly steep slope down about 15 ft with a 4-5' deep narrow ditch at bottom.

There is just one spot that I can use as a landing.

So far all I have gotten were fairly small trees 1/2 to 3/4 load size. Almost all needed to be cabled and pulled to keep out of the wheat. The ones on the right bank had to be yarded down, across the ditch and up to the landing for bucking. Lots of cable and snatch block rigging.

Yesterday I fell what may be the biggest one of the bunch:

My 28" bar on the 361 didn't quite reach all the way through the felling cuts.

That's a 20" bar on the 310.

Age playing a factore, 2 hours of scrambling around brushing it out and I had it ready to start snaking logs.

The one on the right side was cut flush at the main stem. I didn't have enough lead in the pencil to continue so came home.

Today (forgot the camera) It took 3 hours to snake all the top part. Lots of back forth with cables/snatchblocks. I getting very fond of that instant portable bridge!

Main problem was I was trying to pull them direct to the landing. First and biggest one was the stem coming off the right side of the tree. That one got hung up crossing the ditch. Cut it in half an snaked them out. One of the problems is I can only move the PU about 30 ft at a shot to keep out of the wheat so it was taking 2-3 'snakes' per section.

Played out again so quit with the main trunk still to do.

Tomorrow I tackle that huge base log. I'll try it in 3 sections. I'll have to use the tree to the left on the landing as a spar tree, pull them up there then re-rig to the tall stump on the landing (Cut that way just for that) to pull the sections to the landing area.

Harry K

 

[flashhole]

Nice job Harry, your wood gathering is always a mini adventure. Beautiful country, I hope it's not as hot and humid there as it is here in NY. Our heat/misery index is off the charts. Almost too hot to drink beer.

 

[philoshop]

Nice job there. Rigging and snaking can actually be kinda fun as long as you've got the right gear and you're not in a big hurry. :biggrinbounce2:

Hot-n-muggy here in NY for sure. I'm not havin' any problem with the beer though.

 

[zogger]

Need you one of those capstan winches. Or a regular electric one at least. Lewis winch from a chainsaw engine? Something anyway. That would make it loads easier on you and the equipment and get ya more wood faster. Not sure if the cost would make it worthwhile, but the savings in wear and tear on the old bod should be factored in.

Most of my experience running a winch was the capstan try net on a fishing boat. Amazing what one hand pressure could grab and tow out then, or let slip easy. Big fan of that tech.

hand operated line puller one is the cheapest, and is cool because it can use any length rope

site sponsor baileys has them, I don't know who else

Bailey's - Maasdam Pow' R-Rope Puller

that's about the cheapest and most practical puller thing I have seen

 

[turnkey4099]

Nice job Harry, your wood gathering is always a mini adventure. Beautiful country, I hope it's not as hot and humid there as it is here in NY. Our heat/misery index is off the charts. Almost too hot to drink beer.

Hot, humid spell ended 2 days ago here. Hit 100 twice and remained in the 90s for almost a week. Humidity at 70%+ at 7am was common. Felt nice yesterday with a cool breeze, not so cool today. My bottle of ice was half melted so it tasted like ambrosia on the way home.

I'm about done at that grove. One more tree to pull off the right bank and quit until after harvest. I have told a friend he can have at it after harvest if he get's permission from Steve. He is working 2 jobs and is in the guard so I help him out when I can. I'll loan him any cabling/snatchblock equipment he needs or even work with him some. Kinda unfair of me though to take the "no clean up stuff" and leave him everything that will fall into the field.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Need you one of those capstan winches. Or a regular electric one at least. Lewis winch from a chainsaw engine? Something anyway. That would make it loads easier on you and the equipment and get ya more wood faster. Not sure if the cost would make it worthwhile, but the savings in wear and tear on the old bod should be factored in.

Most of my experience running a winch was the capstan try net on a fishing boat. Amazing what one hand pressure could grab and tow out then, or let slip easy. Big fan of that tech.

hand operated line puller one is the cheapest, and is cool because it can use any length rope

site sponsor baileys has them, I don't know who else

Bailey's - Maasdam Pow' R-Rope Puller

that's about the cheapest and most practical puller thing I have seen

I have a "Rule" winch run by what looks like a homey XL2 engine. About the same as a Lewis. It was given me last year by a family where I removed a huge Box Elder blowdown that was trying to eat their house. Well used and the gear box locks in gear if not careful. I tried it once and found that the truck will pull way more that it will and 20x times faster. About the only use I have for it is in places I can't get the truck.

Gonna be interesting tomorrow trying to get those huge chunks across the ditch and up the bank. I'll rig for 2x ma and try to pull the entire thing off the remains of that old shed then cut chunks I can pull.

One of the greatest things for this type of word is a "cable grabber" that can be clipped onto a line anywhere - fabulous for, in effect, making a long cable short. Dunno what the technical name for one is.

Harry K

 

[zogger]

I have a "Rule" winch run by what looks like a homey XL2 engine. About the same as a Lewis. It was given me last year by a family where I removed a huge Box Elder blowdown that was trying to eat their house. Well used and the gear box locks in gear if not careful. I tried it once and found that the truck will pull way more that it will and 20x times faster. About the only use I have for it is in places I can't get the truck.

Gonna be interesting tomorrow trying to get those huge chunks across the ditch and up the bank. I'll rig for 2x ma and try to pull the entire thing off the remains of that old shed then cut chunks I can pull.

One of the greatest things for this type of word is a "cable grabber" that can be clipped onto a line anywhere - fabulous for, in effect, making a long cable short. Dunno what the technical name for one is.

Harry K

Ha, ya got me, I don't know the name either, but have two of them for pulling barb wire tight. Slides one way, pinches and pulls the other, similar to climbing ascenders. The more you pull, the tighter it gets.

Hey, good score on that winch tool you got given! Perhaps needs a rebuild to make it work better and safer. Got any pics of that thing?

All I have for a puller now is an el cheapo two ton comealong. it works, but ya..sorta slow and tedious. Has helped me with some big trees though, some firewood, and one nice red cedar i felled at the pond edge and dragged out of the woods to use for deck pillars at my boss's house. .didn't even tell him I was going to do it, just noticed the old ones were sorta rank and rotten and just went for it.

 

[turnkey4099]

Not a very good effort today. Got the first two sections pulled up to the landing and bucked but it took me 3 1/2 hours. All worked well but I had problems keeping my head straight on just what each cable was doing. 1st pull resulted in me two-blocking the tackle which yanked one end loop so tigh around the hook I'll hae to unbolt the clamp - thus breakdown the cabling to replace a 50' cable.

1st section:

That one was approaching a full 20" bar worth. 28" bar was still reaching through but barely on the big end of the second section

2nd chunk I was watching the wrong end and two-blocked again resulting in a jolting stop and all the tackle going slack. Thought I had snapped a hook, broke a cable or something. An hour later after straightening out the tangle mess I couldn't find anything broken. completed the pull, retrieved most of the tackle, bucked up both chunks and left dripping sweat. At least I left the spar tree tackle in place so I won't have that to do next time (probably tomorrow).

I suspect I'll have to cut the remaining section in half

Here's the "Rule G1800"

Harry K

 

[zogger]

More great pics and a cool old winch!

 

[ShaneLogs]

Nice job, Harry and what a cool looking winch

 

[turnkey4099]

It's done!!!...well except for going out tomorrow to bust the rounds down to loadable sizes and bring em home.

As I hoped, I managed to pull the entire remainder off that smashed shed...to bad that I thought I could pull it all the way up. Stuck it in the creek

Bit of re-rigging and chopping in half:

Another re-rigging and both chunks at the landing. This is the last one:

Not many problems except for the ones I caused. Tried to yank a cable clamp through the homemade snatch block, not once but twice. Managed to free the first one, second one came home permanently attached to 60' of cable until I can tame it with a BFH

Next...and last tree until after harvest. I'll have to cable that one. I looks like it leans in from the landing but over there it has a bit a back weight toward the wheat. All the rest have a serious lean to the wheat field. I don't expect to do many of the remainders unless Ben (my buddy) asks for help. Probably will as he was running a Wildman last I saw a few years ago.

Harry K

 

[ShaneLogs]

Nice work, Harry! Good wood too

 

[zogger]

Lotta work! You are one determined little boy there!

Hope you find some more trees around, we all like your wooding expeditions!

 

[turnkey4099]

Lotta work! You are one determined little boy there!

Hope you find some more trees around, we all like your wooding expeditions!

I should hang up my saws. I made two very serious errors on this job last week. cutting the top off that tall stump I couldn't see what I was doing and cut clear through the hinge. That wasn't enough but I used that stump to cable and pull a big tree, put tension on it, undercut, back cut and was admiring how well my sharp job was, saw throwing good rooster tails, shut down, walk back to truck, bit of 'pull and it was down. Went back to check the stump. I only left about 1" of hinge on one side and almost none on the other. I WALKED UNDER THAT MOTHER ON THE WAY BACK TO THE TRUCK after making the cuts.

Got more locust than I will probably ever use already. Have access to a good site for Willow and, if I continue working, will cut and sell it as long as I can find a buyer.


Harry K