Moving Logs to Mill

[drivadesl]

I've know a guy who has felled a few oaks, (today) and I am taking most of it for fire wood. He's just looking to clear his yard of it all. The trees were roughly 24" at the base, so I asked that the arborist, cut a few lengths at 8.5' thinking I would take them whole, to mill later. I don't have a mill, but will eventually get one. I've got the chain saws, (MS-361, MS-660) and a good wood shop, so the next step is the mill. I don't think the guy wants to have the logs laying around until I get the mill, which won't likely be until after christmas. SO....any suggestions on how to move these into my F250. I don't have a trailer, but I was thinking maybe to use a come along to move them the 40' to the truck, (yard is fenced) but then need to lift them. Anyone ever do this before without big equipment? Was thinking maybe renting an engine lift to raise them to bed height, front first, move the truck under it, then lift the back and use the come along to slide them in. Am I crazy?? Any other ideas how to do this? I figure these logs to weigh in the 8-900 lb range. Thanks.

 

[woodshop]

I've know a guy who has felled a few oaks, (today) and I am taking most of it for fire wood. He's just looking to clear his yard of it all. The trees were roughly 24" at the base, so I asked that the arborist, cut a few lengths at 8.5' thinking I would take them whole, to mill later. I don't have a mill, but will eventually get one. I've got the chain saws, (MS-361, MS-660) and a good wood shop, so the next step is the mill. I don't think the guy wants to have the logs laying around until I get the mill, which won't likely be until after christmas. SO....any suggestions on how to move these into my F250. I don't have a trailer, but I was thinking maybe to use a come along to move them the 40' to the truck, (yard is fenced) but then need to lift them. Anyone ever do this before without big equipment? Was thinking maybe renting an engine lift to raise them to bed height, front first, move the truck under it, then lift the back and use the come along to slide them in. Am I crazy?? Any other ideas how to do this? I figure these logs to weigh in the 8-900 lb range. Thanks.

You're not crazy, I have many times gotten 1000 lb logs into my van by myself by jacking up one end with an automotive floor jack, then blocking that end, then jacking up log close to center, remove the blocking on end, drive my van under the end of it, then let jack, and thus that end down into bed of my van. Then jack up other end of log and once it is somewhat level, push it into bed. Believe it or not, once one end is in the bed of the truck, it doesn't take much to push it into the van if only one end is sliding on something like plywood. Lift, no, push forward, yes. I have never tried it, but always thought if I had an even larger log, I could use short pieces of 1 inch wooden curtain rod dowel to kindof roll it into the bed. I have used those dowels to move very heavy machinery across my asphalt driveway, as well as my concrete floor in the woodshop.

 

[Wismer]

These are fantastic units http://lewiswinch.com/

take a look at their website. If you click on "see the winch in action, at the bottom of that page it has some great pictures of a guy loading a log into the back of his truck. he has some kind of frame made up to load the log in, even if you are not interested in the winch itself, you could use the same idea but with your come-along?

just an idea


Craig

 

[drivadesl]

Thanks guys for your replies. I've moved/rigged some equipment over the years, and shapes/weight play a big part in how to handle things. Not to often do you have to lift a log this big, for me anyway. I would use my tractor to move these if I could access the area, but that just won't work.

The video definitly gave me some ideas, as I have a similiar rack for my truck that I built some years ago, that I completely forgot about. Its gonna need some upgrading and strengthening for it to work, but if I can rig a chain hoist to it, that should lift the end of the log no problem. I have to look at my truck rack a little further to see how much work its gonna need.

Woodshop, when I wrote this thread, I had you in mind, cause I read your posts, (always excellent) and know you've been there with most of this stuff. Thanks for the input. If the rack doesn't work out, I can buy a cheap floor jack which will also do the job. I'll update this post when I get things underway.

 

[Semi-Hex]

Some of the accessories for chainsaws are great. I would end up destroying my chainsaw but it would be in a way no ones ever heard before.

 

[John Bartley]

I know this is an old thread, but ... here is a calculator for log weights.

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl

An Oak log, 20' small end, 24" large end and 8' longs weighs about 1400lbs, so you may want to rethink the size of your loading equipment?

Just a thought ...

cheers eh?

 

[stonykill]

talk to the guy. If he can let the logs sit for a few weeks, see if you can mill them in 1/2 on the spot. Thats always what I try 1st if I'm picking up logs where there isn't any big equiptment. Otherwise , I use jacks, come a longs, long levers, brute force, long board ramps, and any combination of the above to get then in the back of my Jeep, or in one of my trailers.

 

[sILlogger]

if there is a tree near by put a pulley up in it(get a big enough system and make sure everything is sturdy(use your truck to pull them up to the tree and them use another truck to lift the logs up in the air and back you truck underneath them..hope this makes sense to everybody

 

[drivadesl]

Thanks guys. Right now I'm trying to mill them as I bought an MKIII and started on it last week. Just need some time to get it done. Theres roughly 9 logs that I can mill, but the owner is pushing to get these out of the yard, so I may end up moving some of these afterall. All the ideas are good, the kicker is all of it is behind a fence, so pulling with my truck might be tricky, I'd be worried about damaging something. I'll likely end up tying off to a tree, and using a comealong to pull them up to the truck. I would jack these up to get them into the pickup. Hopefully I will have enough time to mill them, then wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[IndyIan]

Assuming the yard is fairly flat and you're not buried in snow, you can roll the logs 40' using a peavy with out much trouble. I have moved logs that big with an arch and my atv which leaves virtually no trace as well. I can't help you with getting them into your truck other than be careful!

 

[dustytools]

Im thinking like Stonykill here. Maybe mill them in half or quarter them on site. Itll make handling them a lot easier. Best of luck to ya!

 

[woodshop]

Im thinking like Stonykill here. Maybe mill them in half or quarter them on site. Itll make handling them a lot easier. Best of luck to ya!

I've done this many many times where I can't mill the logs on site for various reasons, usually the mess and noise involved. I quarter or slice them into cants with the csm (throw a tarp down to catch as much sawdust as you can) and manhandle the chunks into back of my van. Then dump them in my driveway where I can slice them into boards at my leisure and make as much of a mess as I dang well please!!!

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

If you can get you hands on some heavy pulleys and long cable/ rope you can give yourself one heck of a mechanical advantage. I've been able to pull thing from places that seemed impossible at first but with a bit of ingenuity it was simple.