firewood cutting with a bad back
- Thread starter Jacampb2
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Bbqman
ArboristSite Member
Bbqman
ArboristSite Member
That's the black gold knees elbows shoulder this is it three generations were right
I used to cut all my firewood in the woods and then load it onto my truck. But I have trouble getting anyone to go with me for safety. So now I drag the uncut logs into a field and cut them there where I do not have obstacles in the way for cutting and carrying. It is a bit slower, but lets me wok alone.
Another way is buy a pellet stove.
Fatherwheels
Addicted to ArboristSite
Another way would be to sell the standing wood to someone else,
and put the proceeds towards a pellet stove, just be very careful
who you sell anything to or let on your land, some people seem to
pay good money, but take half as much again as they paid for, they
are not worth the trouble as its almost impossible to watch them,
they come and go at all hours deliberately to throw you off, then there
is the insurance issue, make sure you get everything in writing if you
go this route, disclaimers too so you can't be sued.
and put the proceeds towards a pellet stove, just be very careful
who you sell anything to or let on your land, some people seem to
pay good money, but take half as much again as they paid for, they
are not worth the trouble as its almost impossible to watch them,
they come and go at all hours deliberately to throw you off, then there
is the insurance issue, make sure you get everything in writing if you
go this route, disclaimers too so you can't be sued.
I have the same problem with solo cutting. And the same concerns. How are you dragging the logs out? I might need to try the same idea.
Around here no one will pay for already cut rounds, let alone standing trees they have to cut. There's just too much wood. I would not want random non professional people cutting on my land anyhow due to insurance and liability issues.
For me it's much easier to cut my trees into logs and haul them to my nice flat processing area where I buck and split. Bucking in the field means I have to carry the rounds to where I can load them into a vehicle. On our land that's often on steep slippery slopes. Pulling logs to where I can grab them with a grapple is a lot less work. It does require equipment but a lot of it I already had.
For me it's much easier to cut my trees into logs and haul them to my nice flat processing area where I buck and split. Bucking in the field means I have to carry the rounds to where I can load them into a vehicle. On our land that's often on steep slippery slopes. Pulling logs to where I can grab them with a grapple is a lot less work. It does require equipment but a lot of it I already had.
Cricket
ArboristSite Operative
Cricket
ArboristSite Operative
Same here - grab them when the swamp is low, haul them up in whatever length they start in mostly, and cut them up at my leisure... in the shade... when it's convenient.
Another possibility to help you guys is this machine. Ok the young man using it looks fit and healthy but watch the end of the video where he is picking up large rounds. You could also use it to pick up a large long log to buck off the ground if you could tie the handles down to something while you saw the log.
Dudders
ArboristSite Member
That's one smart tool, for sure - I like the way the clamp tightens on the load automatically. Simple is good. I see difficulty with it on rough ground though: those small wheels will get stuck in any holes or against any bumps. So much effort will then be needed to overcome this resistance that I'll likely put my back out... 
I fully agree ATpro, I would LOVE to find a bowblade for my saw or a complete saw with bow to help save my back. The bending over repeatedly is what really kills my back.
I think that with some larger diameter wheels and a means of holding down the handles (perhaps by hooking under a truck fender or low branch,), it could lift a 10 foot long heavy log nearly to waist high for easy buckingThat's one smart tool, for sure - I like the way the clamp tightens on the load automatically. Simple is good. I see difficulty with it on rough ground though: those small wheels will get stuck in any holes or against any bumps. So much effort will then be needed to overcome this resistance that I'll likely put my back out...
Dudders
ArboristSite Member
I've always had a back problem, since a scrum collapsed in schooldays rugby - that's 50 years of intermittent agony so far!
Still like to split all my logs with the axe, and this trick means I don't constantly have to pick logs up from wherever they've landed on the ground.
Still like to split all my logs with the axe, and this trick means I don't constantly have to pick logs up from wherever they've landed on the ground.
One thing I have done in the past when using longer bars and having less oil circulating than what I like to see is mixing some diesel fuel in with the bar oil and seemed to help some. That being said, I haven't run anything that was 4" longer than manufacturer recommendations.
I had 3 level Lumbar fusion in '09 that was a failure, they just didn't fuse properly, this cost me more than a person could ever know. Now I need a another fusion higher up, keep putting it off. Here on the farm I'm fortunate to have access to two loader tractors one has the controls for a grapple so we bought one some years ago and it helps a lot. I wear a Mueller back brace and two shoulder braces when I feel like doing what I can.
One thing I've found for limbing up when stuff is on the ground is a Ryobi battery powered pole saw not fast but no slug either. Stops me from bending over so much.
You'll just have to learn your limits and take lots of breaks.
I'd like to have a Echo CS-2511P, lightest rear handle saw in the world with about a 18" bar just so there would be less bending but not sure a dealer would be willing to do it. For now my Stihl MS-180 and the Echo CS-310 gets the most use.
One thing I've found for limbing up when stuff is on the ground is a Ryobi battery powered pole saw not fast but no slug either. Stops me from bending over so much.
You'll just have to learn your limits and take lots of breaks.
I'd like to have a Echo CS-2511P, lightest rear handle saw in the world with about a 18" bar just so there would be less bending but not sure a dealer would be willing to do it. For now my Stihl MS-180 and the Echo CS-310 gets the most use.
You must be doing better than me after a youthful abuse of both Rugby and hockey has left me with a knackered back and wrists. I used to love splitting using the tyre method and a Fiskars X27, but the jarring hurt my arthritic wrists caused by all the penalty flicks and aerials!
We have a Danish Aduro stove which is very efficient and needs smaller stuff so I came up with this system to save both back and wrists. I know this thread was initially about cutting but splitting is just as painful with a bad back
With all these ideas on saving backs, still the best and easiest solution for bucking firewood were bow bars. Been running one for fifty years with no problems, if used right and understand their limits they are as safe as a bar. They were never made to limb or use for cut down, they were made for bucking and nothing made does it better or safer. They got a bad rap because stupid people used them improperly, just as many people use a bar saw improperly everyday and the results are the same " Accidents " only now folks suitup with all kinds of Armor to avoid whacking themselves with the bar. Some folks should just never get behind the trigger of a chainsaw.
Ran Butcher Shops off and on for 40 years and when train people to operate the machinery and using the knifes I could tell within three or four weeks if they were going to make it or not. The first thing you teach them is safety and proper way to preform their task observing all the time proper safety. Regardless of how much you stress safety some folks still can't follow along, that's the ones I culled real fast before something bad happened.
Ran Butcher Shops off and on for 40 years and when train people to operate the machinery and using the knifes I could tell within three or four weeks if they were going to make it or not. The first thing you teach them is safety and proper way to preform their task observing all the time proper safety. Regardless of how much you stress safety some folks still can't follow along, that's the ones I culled real fast before something bad happened.
I cut by myself also, but I'm also cutting about an hour from home. My process has evolved over the years as I've gotten older and funds have become more available. My process now looks like this.
In the woods, I fell and limb the trees, mostly large hickories, then drag them out into a pasture where I use a front end loader with forks to stack them. I'm lucky that the property owner now has an FEL and allows me to use it. I'm cutting an hour from home, and I'm back across a creek bottom so ground conditions need to be dry or frozen in order for me to be able to haul logs back home. I can get my truck and/or a tractor back into the woods when the ground is a lot less optimal. The truck (2000 F350 4wd crew cab) can drag more weight, and drag it faster than the tractor, but the tractor can skid logs when the ground is still pretty soft. The barn for the tractor is about a 3/4 mile walk from where I stack logs, but I've been on this property all my life so I enjoy the walk when the tractor is available. The FEL is absolutely required if I'm going to stack the logs. I can do about 3 cords a day (fell, limb, skid, stack), and I burn about 6 cords a year in my add on wood furnace. So 2 long Saturdays a year gets me what I need on this end.
I used an old 10K tandem axle equipment trailer to haul loads home. The trailer is 15' long and will transport around 2 cords at a time. I built a log arch that mounts in the rear stake pockets. I added a 2" receiver to the front of the trailer, and put a 13K winch in it to use with the arch. It takes me about 2-1/2 hrs to get a load winched onto the trailer, or about 90 minutes with the FEL and forks (but there's another 40 minutes of walk time to the barn and back).
Back home, I use an old tractor/loader to drag the logs off the trailer. If they are over 8', I cut them to my final log length at that point and use the FEL (also with forks) to stack them on some RR ties. I can stack a full trailer load on a pair of RR ties. The RR ties keep the logs off the ground and allow me to pick them back up easily with the forks. In the winter, I use the tractor to bring up about 3/4 cord at a time. Those get stacked next to the basement entry, also on RR ties. I cut my rounds off that stack, put them on the splitter, then drop them into the basement. I really only pick the wood up off the ground twice by hand. Once to put the round on the splitter, and once to put the split into the wood furnace. The splitter has a table so that I'm not picking it up off the ground. I stack some of it in the basement, so that could be a 3rd time for those splits.
This whole process minimizes the amount of time that I'm running a saw by myself out in the woods, and minimizes the number of times that I have to pick something up off the ground. As a slight bonus, the RR ties do get the logs up off the ground a little bit for cutting into rounds. When I used to cut everything into rounds in the woods and stack them into the truck or onto the trailer, I probably had less overall time wrapped up in the process, but I expelled a LOT more energy doing it. Late one day, while loading the last of 2 cords of hickory onto the trailer, I stepped into a hole while carrying a large round. I was too tired to try to split it first, and it was actually too heavy for me to carry. On my way down, I was fortunately able to off load the round to the side and land safely without injury. That little trip and fall cost justified the purchase of my tractor and started the evolution of this process. Eventually, my tractor will have to be replaced, at which point the process will evolve to include a newer tractor with a grapple
