Most important firewood tool...

[Whitespider]

Here's a shot of the log lifter in action today...

I'm building one of those... gonna' be a HEAVY DUTY model for up to 24+ inch diameter, long, heavy logs. Plan on giving it a test Saturday... pics will be posted if it works. If it don't work, y'all should just ignore this post.

 

[cnice_37]

A saw, cant hook and maul is all I usually use but I am a old timer.

O ya fuel, oil file, and scrench.

Oil file? Maybe that's why I cut so slow, I've been forgetting to sharpen my oil! :hmm3grin2orange:

Haha - someone on here has that "punctuation kills" sig

 

[cnice_37]

I'm building one of those... gonna' be a HEAVY DUTY model for up to 24+ inch diameter, long, heavy logs. Plan on giving it a test Saturday... pics will be posted if it works. If it don't work, y'all should just ignore this post.

I've got a Timberjack and like the other guy said, its not the tool that is limiting me. I don't think mine needs to be more heavy duty, just me.

To get the leverage on 24" + wood, any decent length, you need a looooooong handle and some way of reaching that with some muscle behind it. That long handle would make the tool cumbersome and probably end up staying in the shed.

I was able to roll some 22" read oak, but had to have max 10' sections, and a whole lotta leverage. No way in hell I could also lift it up on the foot.

My one complaint with using it in the 'perched' position (if you don't it's just a cant hook) - sometimes the logs roll right over and off the back. Not a bad tool for the money, and if you have smaller wood (go see a doctor) then this tool works well enough to warrant.

 

[Whitespider]

To get the leverage on 24" + wood, any decent length, you need a looooooong handle...

Or change the placement of the pivot foot, which is my plan/design (almost completed) and made totally from pieces of scrap steel and a two-piece, heavy duty floor jack handle. We will see...

 

[zogger]

slip on cheater bar

I've got a Timberjack and like the other guy said, its not the tool that is limiting me. I don't think mine needs to be more heavy duty, just me.

To get the leverage on 24" + wood, any decent length, you need a looooooong handle and some way of reaching that with some muscle behind it. That long handle would make the tool cumbersome and probably end up staying in the shed.

I was able to roll some 22" read oak, but had to have max 10' sections, and a whole lotta leverage. No way in hell I could also lift it up on the foot.

My one complaint with using it in the 'perched' position (if you don't it's just a cant hook) - sometimes the logs roll right over and off the back. Not a bad tool for the money, and if you have smaller wood (go see a doctor) then this tool works well enough to warrant.

A longer heavier cheater bar that slips on the handle maybe? Most of the time with the stock handle, then have just a pipe for the end for some more leverage?

 

[Wood Doctor]

Thumbs Up to Lifters

Or change the placement of the pivot foot, which is my plan/design (almost completed) and made totally from pieces of scrap steel and a two-piece, heavy duty floor jack handle. We will see...

+1. A log lifter is sometimes indispensable. It will save a dozen chain sharpenings in its life and likely double the lifespan of the chain. One of my logger friends said his paid for itself in less than six months.

I'm working on a pile of 50 rejected logs collected at a saw mill. The log lifter is also reducing the time required to buck the firewood rounds to length almost in half. :msp_thumbup:

 

[Coldfront]

I made this a few years ago out of an old axe. Since then I cut the beak down a little bit on the hook.

View attachment 199281

 

[redheadwoodshed]

Amen to that! I had the plesure of being the opposite end to my dad on a 6' misery stick. Falling trees."Quit riding the saw!" every twostrokes. We "bucked" them with a very worn one-lunger drag saw. Not a bad operation for those days. While the saw was cutting one round I could work up and load the previous one. Much more relaxed work than today but he productions was waaayyyy less per hour.

Harry K

That made me chuckle when you said quit riding the saw, no matter how hard and fast you pulled your stroke, the old man would always hit you with that.

 

[046]

+1 .. only recently upgraded to power wheel barrel... first a Muck Truck 2 years ago, then about 4 month ago scored a Dr Powerwagon on Craigslist. they don't come up very often, but if one is patient....

DR powerwagon is much bigger and holds a lot more wood, but muck truck is more versatile. you can mount a 2in ball and tow your implements/trailers around.

By far, the wheelbarrow is the one I use the most, closely followed by the sawbuck that I use to cut lengths and bundle logs.

My wheelbarrow is indispensable and the old single wheel variety works the best for carrying split logs from the truck or the splitter to the main pile and from the main pile to the house. I can pack 30 logs into it.

 

[Nosmo]

Log Lifter

Just thought I would toss this idea out there for someone who is thinking about making his own log lifter.

The bottom section on mine is 1" plumbing pipe as well as the handle. It would be no trouble at all to use a 4 foot section of pipe as the handle for normal use. To be able to add an extension would be easy.

Just leave the end of the handle threaded and put a couple on it. When it seems more leverage is needed another section of pipe could be added.

Nosmo

 

[logbutcher]

Are we Mainers the only ones to use a pulp hook ? Will all those harvesters who use one kindly raise their hands ?
# 1 tool kept next to the saws, used more than saws.

#2. (Tin hat "pros" :frown: excluded ) Training to use tools right: yes: GOL ( no, not boring you fool, planning), and for Maine: CLP, and all the real pros that you worked with telling you how.
Let's see, how many of you have ever taken say a Basic First Aid class ? How about Wilderness Medicine ? ( You do work the woods, don't you. And usually alone ? ) Thought so.
How about any of the North American programs for loggers ? Thought so.
Why ? We learned the hard way that peace training sweat pays off in the real world. Thousands of hours simulating, one minute for real.

#3. Repeat: Your brain. Good call previously; thanks.

Scold out.

 

[wudpirat]

I raised my hand

I learned about pulp hooks in the 60's while deer hunting in Washington county,
I don't leave home without them, 3 plus a pickeroon.
Heard some interesting stories from the old time river drivers. they were made of stearner cloth than me.
Not a job I'd like.
Honest, hard working, give you the shirt off their back folk, just don't leave a full bottle on the table and expect it to remain full. :biggrin:

FREDM

 

[Farmall Guy]

My top tool for fire wood has to be my backhoe, I use it for..... well everything, no need for a saw buck just pick up the log off the pile with the back bucket and cut until I get to the bucket. If I cant split a roundby hand and dont want to get the splitter out a well placed tooth usually dose the trick. when its time to move all the splits into the pile a 1 yard front bucket can move alot of wood in a hurry.

After the wood stcked a 36" pickeroon has got to be about top of the list, useing it to load the OWB was great last year. I'm just getting my wood shed put up this year so that will be a great improvment over last year. Digging through 3 feet of snow for wood got real old real quick, I ended up just shaking the pile with the skidsteer every couple days. what ever fell out is what ended up in the boiler, I cant wait to get the shed all filled up and stand inside while getting wood to fill the OWB.

 

[les-or-more]

A couple of young kids that wanna work would be good implements :biggrin:

Its too much work hiding the #### under the woodpile

 

[zogger]

Or a sleeve fit

Just thought I would toss this idea out there for someone who is thinking about making his own log lifter.

The bottom section on mine is 1" plumbing pipe as well as the handle. It would be no trouble at all to use a 4 foot section of pipe as the handle for normal use. To be able to add an extension would be easy.

Just leave the end of the handle threaded and put a couple on it. When it seems more leverage is needed another section of pipe could be added.

Nosmo

If you just used an 1/8th or 1/4" larger diameter bare pipe for the extension, you could slide it down or out to what you needed. Basically just a cheater bar. And if the other end of that pipe was one of those debarker spud tools......or something else...dual purpose.

 

[zogger]

Vids or it didn't happen!

My top tool for fire wood has to be my backhoe, I use it for..... well everything, no need for a saw buck just pick up the log off the pile with the back bucket and cut until I get to the bucket. If I cant split a roundby hand and dont want to get the splitter out a well placed tooth usually dose the trick. when its time to move all the splits into the pile a 1 yard front bucket can move alot of wood in a hurry.

After the wood stcked a 36" pickeroon has got to be about top of the list, useing it to load the OWB was great last year. I'm just getting my wood shed put up this year so that will be a great improvment over last year. Digging through 3 feet of snow for wood got real old real quick, I ended up just shaking the pile with the skidsteer every couple days. what ever fell out is what ended up in the boiler, I cant wait to get the shed all filled up and stand inside while getting wood to fill the OWB.

Hey man that's spiffy, I want to see the trick backhoe operating and split some big rounds with the bucket teeth! Ka BAM pop! That would be slick!

 

[zopi]

two 20 year old guys that work for me...I took them out to a customers estate the other day, who has been hounding me to split this nasty old pile of junk...I mow the place, they spilt, I pass the labor and gas along, and maybe a couple extra for the beer, uhhh, I mean wear on the splitter...no prob.

no money in splitting wood.


Hookaroon...indespensible, esp as one gets older and lazier...

want a mini skid with a side split...can walk on those big rounds without strain...

 

[Steve NW WI]

I ain't as young as I used to be. Aleve gets my vote here.

 

[timber_horse]

Aside from the saw and splitter, my horse with logging arch and the lifting tool is the most important tools for me.
Since I already ovned the horse the arch was a smal investment that realy improved my prduction, and did my forestry work even more fun.

The horse has to be trained for it and suited for the woods, and he has to like it. Normaly we do small diameter logs as you can se.

 

[Somesawguy]

Are we Mainers the only ones to use a pulp hook ? Will all those harvesters who use one kindly raise their hands ?
# 1 tool kept next to the saws, used more than saws.

#2. (Tin hat "pros" :frown: excluded ) Training to use tools right: yes: GOL ( no, not boring you fool, planning), and for Maine: CLP, and all the real pros that you worked with telling you how.
Let's see, how many of you have ever taken say a Basic First Aid class ? How about Wilderness Medicine ? ( You do work the woods, don't you. And usually alone ? ) Thought so.
How about any of the North American programs for loggers ? Thought so.
Why ? We learned the hard way that peace training sweat pays off in the real world. Thousands of hours simulating, one minute for real.

#3. Repeat: Your brain. Good call previously; thanks.

Scold out.

It appears that most people don't even know what one is. They are hard to come by online.

I've taken First aid and CPR, No wilderness Medicine, but it's on the list when I get a chance.