Look what the wind & rain brought me!

[aquan8tor]

Went up to the cabin yesterday to find a new milling project!!!


Its hard to tell the size from the pics because the trunk sunk in the mud near the rootball, but the base is 40". The only problem is going to be moving it!!! I did some rough calculations. For an average 66lbs/cu. ft. green, a 10' x 36" section of this tree would weigh almost 4800lbs. There's no access to the tree from anywhere close, and even if I had a portable winch, I couldn't get a cord around it!!!!! I wont get to it for a while anyway.

 

[Ekka]

Your pics are way to big in size an MB

Please reduce, not many will view at that size.

Ta

 

[Marc1]

Nice.
A Lucas Mill would be just the ticket for that job.
What sort of tree is it?

 

[CaseyForrest]

Looks like a Shagbark Hickory, Im probably wrong though.

 

[aquan8tor]

The bark at the top looks like a little like a shagbark, but the trunk looks like a white oak. The leaves had already completely fallen by the time the tree fell, so i.d. is questionable. The other shagbarks in the area have the scales on the bark all the way to the ground. I'm 90% sure its a white oak. Sorry about the pics. I dont know how to resize them on this pc. Just picked up this laptop to go back to school this fall. My desktop had an image resizer built in. Sorry bout that. Maybe someone else can help. I agree about the lucasmill!! That would be a PITA to haul in though!!! I'll be carting the boards up a steep hill one at a time. Literally. Its hard to describe the topography of the localized area, but it kind of sits on a big "shelf" or terrace, too steep to get the little 4wd tacoma to. Not that a bigger truck could handle it either.

I can pull the pickup to the edge of the hill and maybe drag some cut cants up. Or, maybe I can bribe my uncle to let me use his honda foreman. I dont know if it could pull that much. If I quarter it, it'll still weigh 1000 lbs.

 

[aquan8tor]

What are people's results with different cant hooks/peaveys?? I'm probably going to be alone with this tree. I might be able to enlist one person to help move some of the trunk sections, but I need a cant hook that I can depend on. What's the biggest that is available?? I cant find one bigger than 60", which I dont think is enough to move a log this big. Any thoughts??


HELP!

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Sorry about the pics. I dont know how to resize them on this pc. Just picked up this laptop to go back to school this fall. My desktop had an image resizer built in. Sorry bout that. Maybe someone else can help.

Here ya go:

For a free picture editor, see

www.irfanview.com or

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/imageediting/tp/freephotoedw.htm

 

[aquan8tor]

thanks for the link!

test pic.

 

[aquan8tor]

well, that didnt work. keeps saying image upload failed. I'll try the other program later.

 

[bookerdog]

Nice

Nice tree goodluck.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

That looks to be in pretty deep. How are you planning to the trunk loose from the root ball? lt looks to me like a shovel will be involved.:bang:

Have you thought of rigging something like a low level spar pole to drag the cants uphill? It would require some good ropes, pulley or two and a decent sized tree but it would beat carrying the boards uphill one at a time.

 

[aquan8tor]

I dont know what a spar pole is. I've thought about getting a long rope/chain and dragging the cants up the hill, but its a good 100' or so from where I could get the truck to. As far as the trunk and the mud are concerned, yes, I'll definitely be using a shovel!! I've got a 42" bar for my husky, but I wont be putting it into the dirt around the base for sure. The trunk section will be the last to get cut up for sure. Anyone think bailey's 78"
cant hook would roll sections of this baby?

 

[woodshop]

What are people's results with different cant hooks/peaveys?? I'm probably going to be alone with this tree. I might be able to enlist one person to help move some of the trunk sections, but I need a cant hook that I can depend on. What's the biggest that is available?? I cant find one bigger than 60", which I dont think is enough to move a log this big. Any thoughts??
HELP!

One of the reasons few make cant hooks bigger than 60 inches, and also ones that only grab well up to say 20 inches, is because any bigger than that and we are talking upwards of half ton and more of log. Don't know about you, but moving that much weight from a dead rest would be pretty tough for me. I use a floor jack to move anything over 15 inches. I use the cant hook only when I get that monster into say 14x14 cants, and even then its a chore. I often start raising the cant with the floor jack till its say 30 degrees off the ground, and THEN put the cant hook on it to push it over the rest of the way. That way you are not lifting all that weight from a dead rest on the ground.

 

[aquan8tor]

I'm just worried about even getting in to be able to slab it!! Once I get it cut at the crown, I'll have to cut cookies out just to be able to get the alaskan into the cutting position! I really want to quarter saw this one. I'll probably end up bringing the ripsaw into the woods with a cart & quartering the log so that I can quartersaw it. Have you ever used your ripsaw at an angle?? If I can get it quartered by just plunging the bar in (20" so I just get about halfway) with a ripping chain on it in my mini-mill to get some quarter-sections, I'd like to put the quarter up on some notched blocks & alternate cutting on either surface to get real quartersawn boards. They'd only be one square edge and different widths, but they'd hopefully have some beautiful grain. This is all about a month away anyway. I've got a 20" cherry to deal with first.

 

[aquan8tor]

I just looked at your pics from your big oak. Are you using the jack to roll the log sections??

 

[woodshop]

btw... a huge tree that far back and inaccessible is a perfect candidate for my csm/ripsaw method. I also like the idea somebody mentioned of maybe milling into cants and then putting a chain around them to winch/haul them down that hill to the flats where you can mill them easier.

 

[aquan8tor]

Its got to go up a hill unfortunately. Its on a flat now, so sawing would be easy. But, and its a big but; the flat its on is kind of a terrace in between an accessible area and a completely inaccessible area.

 

[woodshop]

I'm just worried about even getting in to be able to slab it!! Once I get it cut at the crown, I'll have to cut cookies out just to be able to get the alaskan into the cutting position!

No need to waste good log by cutting cookies out of it just to mill it... like I said, use a floor jack to move it out of the way after you cut it into 8 ft (or whatever size) logs.

 

[aquan8tor]

I didn't think it would work. SWEET. If you've done it, then I've got my solution. YOUDAMAN. Thanks. I didn't get for some reason that you were rolling them with the jack. Do you flip your cant between sawing to quartersaw it??

 

[woodshop]

Its got to go up a hill unfortunately. Its on a flat now, so sawing would be easy. But, and its a big but; the flat its on is kind of a terrace in between an accessible area and a completely inaccessible area.

UP a hill... that's different. Then you're only options unless you know somebody with a skidder, is to mill it where it sits and haul the boards up that hill a few at a time in a wagon. I've done that... slow but eventually you get there. That's assuming you can even get a wagon to it. You did say inaccessible.

btw, just curious who is that pretty women in your pics? Would that be Mrs aquan8tor?