getting cant out of van painlessly

[woodshop]

Milled some maple yesterday. There were more logs there than I could handle in a day, so decided to buck a 4 footer and slice it into two large cants to throw in the van and mill later. I did it freehand using my 365 with 28" bar. I'd go into it from each end making rooster tails. Not sure I saved any time doing that instead of using my csm, but anyway... on anything larger than my bar can reach to the middle, I don't freehand anymore. Just too much work and the csm goes pretty fast. At any rate, was able to get the 350lb cants into the van using my jack, raising them little at a time onto chunks of wood till they were almost level with the van, then shoving them in and up to the front of the van. I usually then am able to manhandle them out same way, by sliding them on the plywood to the rear. Was pretty tired though, full day milling, and when I went to unload my haul, it was difficult to get behind them to get them moving. So... took one of my plastic wedges and popped it between the plywood floor and the cant to raise it up just enough to get a couple 3/4" wooden dowels under that end. That made it SO much easier to get moving. Then put a couple more dowels in it's path so it literally rolled out the back of the van with just a little push to get it going. I was then able to stand it on it's end and "walk" it to where I wanted it.

It took a full hour to go from log stuck in frozen mud to milled into two cants and loaded into van. At least a third of that time was spent hacking away frozen mud from the maple bark so I wouldn't toast my round ground chisel. Lot of work but there should be about 75 bd ft of maple from each one. Judging by how the rest of the log looked when I milled it into 5/4 and 8/4, that hour of putzing around was worth it for that 150bd ft.

A day's haul, 3/4 ton of maple boards and cants.

The cants, couple 3 foot chunks and two 350lb 4 footers

Easy out... saves back after long day milling

 

[TNMIKE]

Youve got the van thing down

You really know how to use that van. You ought to do a testimonial commercial for them. Is that a one ton chassis? great post

 

[woodshop]

You really know how to use that van. You ought to do a testimonial commercial for them. Is that a one ton chassis? great post

It's just a standard 2 wheel drive 2005 Chevy Astro. It was the last commercial mini-van made with a full chassis. Payload is I think 1700 lbs. I regularly have over a ton for short hauls, and even fully loaded I get an honest 20mpg. Unfortunately, they, along with the similar Ford Aerostar, have been discontinued. You now have to step up to a standard van which gets you a little more capacity but along with the larger vehicle costs you significantly more fuel to run down the highway.

 

[BobL]

Great photos WS. What you are doing is exactly what I want to be be able to do. My current Van is supposed to haul 1800 lbs but the motor is stuffed and it is a bit too narrow between the back wheel arches so I'm still looking to upgrade. I am looking at something that can haul about 2800 lbs as well as simultaneously tow at least the same amount.

I'm also thinking about making a rack along one wall that would allow the saws and mills to be securely held in event of a minor load shift or (cross fingers) even an accident. I have visions of a 25 lb saw barreling down the inside of the van and spearing me in back - Ughkkk!!!

 

[zopi]

nice haul.


<snicker>

have you thought using a couple of ramps to slide those big cants up...might be easier or faster than jacking..I have become a large fan of parbuckling..once I found out how to do it, move big logs became eeeeeezeeee...well...sort of.

I've got to load a pretty good sized one tomorrow..40' of pine trunk, came down a week or two ago..stopped and offered to make it evaporate...<G> I love this.

i'll buck this one at 17 feet...'s all the lt15 will cut...gonna be the top sills for my new saw shed...

 

[reachtreeservi]

Good looking setup there WS...

 

[woodshop]

I'm also thinking about making a rack along one wall that would allow the saws and mills to be securely held in event of a minor load shift or (cross fingers) even an accident. I have visions of a 25 lb saw barreling down the inside of the van and spearing me in back - Ughkkk!!!

I am aware of this danger, and think about it often. Our vans at work (full of tools and equipment) all have metal barrier/cages that protect us from flyng objects from the rear in the event of an accident. Unfortunately, not in my mini-van which doubles as the family passenger van when I take out the plywood and pop the seats in. I think of not only saws and heavy tool boxes flying forward, but how about all those heavy wet boards coming at me at 30 mph from the rear of the van? Or how about a 300lb cant? Ouch!

As for par buckling the cants into the back of the van zopi, or using ramps, the logistics of having to carry ramps heavy/large enough for that gets tricky. You can see in the pic how crowded the back of that thing gets after 3-400bd ft of lumber plus couple hundred lbs of mills and saws. It is a relatively slow process using the jack and blocks of wood to get them in. However, it works and that jack is essential part of my system anyway as I use it to move large logs around and get the cants up onto my horses so I have to bring that anyway. Most of the time I'm milling into manageable boards anyway and don't have to load large cants.

 

[BobL]

I have loaded 6ft x 250lb trunks into my van by standing the trunk up and using a sack trolley to get it over to the van door. (That is the easy part).
Then you push the top of the trunk over onto the van floor and lift the bottom and push drag it into the van. Its possible with 2 people but a carpeted floor does not help. That's why I like the roller idea.

WS: Cargo barrier is a really good idea and is definitely at the top of my wish list for the new van. I think the cants and boards are probably OK if they were tied down together as they'd probably only slide along on the floor anyway. It's the fact that the saws are on top of the timber and at a height to do potential major damage.

I thought it would be useful to have a rack maybe even with built in drip tray that the saw could slide into.

Cheers

 

[woodshop]

...I thought it would be useful to have a rack maybe even with built in drip tray that the saw could slide into.
Cheers

...If I had a dedicated min-van or van just for milling/carrying lumber I could and probably would rig something up like that. It would be hard to attach any rack system though to a family van. If it were effective, it would have to be bolted down pretty secure. Would be a pain to remove every time I would want to put the seats in and carry people. We do have another car that gets used for most transportation, but once in a while we need the seating capacity (8) that the mini-van has, so can't really set it up just for milling/wood carrying just yet.

You make a good point though, and I appreciate your concern for safety

 

[oldsaw]

My van days are over for a while. Wife got a newer one and it's too nice to take to the woods. Now I rent a trailer for the VW. $20 for a day, just hose it off. Now that I've rented a couple of times, they even spray it out at no charge.

Looks like a project. Have fun with the cants. I sure miss my wife's Windstar. More room, more power, and it would fit a lot of stuff.

Mark

 

[BobL]

Would be a pain to remove every time I would want to put the seats in and carry people.

Yep agree 100% - I also wanted to take out all the back seats of our van permanently but wasn't allowed to. Last year I was allowed to out take the very back seat so that BIL mill could fit and was thinking of taking out the remaining middle seat but now I'm concentrating on getting another van.

Something that someone at work said that sounded like a good idea - get a sack trolley and bolt/weld 6 small rugged castor wheels to the back of the trolley and then back it up to back of the van and tilt/push it into the van a bit like a ambulance stretcher/gurney. Could be worth doing if you hand to move a lot of stuff like that. Also if you have a strong cargo barrier you can stand t

 

[wdchuck]

Well done Woodshop, getting the most out of what you have.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Nice picts woodshop.... thanks for posting them!

It's too cold to do any sawing here at the moment... At least it's too cold for me!! lol

Rob

 

[820wards]

Milled some maple yesterday. There were more logs there than I could handle in a day, so decided to buck a 4 footer and slice it into two large cants to throw in the van and mill later. I did it freehand using my 365 with 28" bar. I'd go into it from each end making rooster tails. Not sure I saved any time doing that instead of using my csm, but anyway... on anything larger than my bar can reach to the middle, I don't freehand anymore. Just too much work and the csm goes pretty fast. At any rate, was able to get the 350lb cants into the van using my jack, raising them little at a time onto chunks of wood till they were almost level with the van, then shoving them in and up to the front of the van. I usually then am able to manhandle them out same way, by sliding them on the plywood to the rear. Was pretty tired though, full day milling, and when I went to unload my haul, it was difficult to get behind them to get them moving. So... took one of my plastic wedges and popped it between the plywood floor and the cant to raise it up just enough to get a couple 3/4" wooden dowels under that end. That made it SO much easier to get moving. Then put a couple more dowels in it's path so it literally rolled out the back of the van with just a little push to get it going. I was then able to stand it on it's end and "walk" it to where I wanted it.

It took a full hour to go from log stuck in frozen mud to milled into two cants and loaded into van. At least a third of that time was spent hacking away frozen mud from the maple bark so I wouldn't toast my round ground chisel. Lot of work but there should be about 75 bd ft of maple from each one. Judging by how the rest of the log looked when I milled it into 5/4 and 8/4, that hour of putzing around was worth it for that 150bd ft.

A day's haul, 3/4 ton of maple boards and cants.

The cants, couple 3 foot chunks and two 350lb 4 footers

Easy out... saves back after long day milling

Nice wood pictures. Digging them out of the frozen mud was worth the effort.

jerry-

 

[woodshop]

...It's too cold to do any sawing here at the moment... At least it's too cold for me!! lol

Well it was 9 degrees at 7 this morning, but as the Sun came up it went up to 20 so I took advantage of the day off and milled up those cants I have pictured in the beginning of this thread, among other things. I don't mind working in the cold as long as it isn't TOO windy which just sucks the heat out of you no matter what you wear. Today was nice so far... and still have couple hours of daylight to go back out and mill a little more. Here are those maple cants I just milled... sliced them 1 1/8 inch which will give me 4/4 rough after it has dried to 15-20% MC by middle of summer.

Here is part of this months milling... you're looking at about 2 1/2 days worth of milling/stickering. I know... Sawyer Rob's/Aggies/Zopi's soon to be mill and several other bandmills could knock this out in a day or less... if I had room I'd have one

 

[zopi]

Very nice!

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

You're making me jealous! I was supposed to get a good milling day in Sunday but I came down with a stomach bug that put me OUT. I'm just now getting a little energy back.

Hopefully the weather clears up and I can get some milling in tomorrow. My saw has been set up and ready to go since Saturday evening.

Nice pics BTW