"Old Indian Tricks"

[Okrafarmer]

I certainly don't mean to offend anybody by the name of the thread-- but I wanted to start a thread about tricks people have learned to do things that are otherwise difficult or impossible. In Maine if anybody had a trick to share, that would speed things up or make things easier,they say, "here, let me show you an old indian trick." And then they would show you some handy little way of improving what you were trying to do.

I'll start out: You're in woods, in a bind with no help to be had without hiking out. You need to pull out a stuck vehicle, etc. You have two chains, ropes, or cables, but they are not quite long enough to get from point A to point B. You could get your vehicle unstuck if the chains were just long enough to meet. You have a chainsaw. What do you do?

Answer: You cut a log long enough to take up the space between the two chains. You notch the ends enough for the chains/cables/etc. to be able to grip each end. Your log takes up the space and you now have a continuous line, and you get out. Been there done that!

[Shotgun]

Answer: You cut a log long enough to take up the space between the two chains. You notch the ends enough for the chains/cables/etc. to be able to grip each end. Your log takes up the space and you now have a continuous line, and you get out. Been there done that!

I have done that many times in da UP of Michigan. I carried a hand winch and often had to cut a maple pole 3 to 5 inches in diameter as an extender. I always had some cable and a couple (at least) chains. Sometimes I had to cut a couple extenders. It's a life saver method at times.

 

Norm

[pineywoods]

My grandpa drove an old 1929 model A ford all over the La swamps. got stuck lots of times. didn't have a winch, long walk to get help. He always carried 2 short pieces of chain and an axe. Cut a 4 inch or so pole about 8 feet long. Shove it in the mud right behind the rear wheels and chain it to the spoked wheels. Back up about 2 feet and repeat the process as many times as needed.

[MattJ]

I don't post often but this one was pretty funny.  First because I don't think any indians would have a vehicle to get stuck in the woods back in the day!

The second is because my grandfather used to get me in big trouble with his old indian tricks stories.  The first was I was in 1st grade and was watching him set up a siphon.  I asked how did he learn that and he said it was with his time with the Fugarwe indians (old Johnny Carson joke, that they wander around asking where the $%^ are we), except he pronounced it with much more f-word in the beginning.  He was a master BS'er, and even explained how they made the hose from birch bark.  Story sounded good to me so next week in school I brought some birch bark for show and tell and told all about him and the Fugarwe tribe.  My parents got to have a sit down meeting with my teachers later that week after that one!

[red oaks lumber]

how did the native american know if it was going to be a bad winter? by the size of the white mans wood pile...

[Dan_Shade]

that's funny, MattJ!

[Okrafarmer]

I have done that many times in da UP of Michigan. I carried a hand winch and often had to cut a maple pole 3 to 5 inches in diameter as an extender. I always had some cable and a couple (at least) chains. Sometimes I had to cut a couple extenders. It's a life saver method at times.

 

Norm

It certainly saved me a whole lot of trouble one late afternoon. I was at least half a mile back in the woods and broke through the ice with the John Deere B. No winch, no come-along. I had the two chains, and I used this method to attach one chain to a tree, and the other to the rear wheel of the tractor (through the holes used to mount wheel weights). I cut a 10" diameter popple log to the right length to get enough length for my chains. Then I engaged the clutch, stood on the left brake so the right wheel would turn, and wrapped the chain around the outer axle and the tractor was able to come forward enough to get a new bite on the wheel, repeated, and walked it up out of the mudhole. It was getting dark and was very cold-- if I had walked home, I wouldn't have made it back with any help that night and it would have taken two people and another off-road vehicle to get it out. If I had waited until morning and come back with my dad (working second shift so not available right then) it would have frozen fast in the ice and would have been even more miserable to get out.

[jdtuttle]

Getting an ATV unstuck without a winch. Carry a flat tiedown strap with you. If you get stuck wrap it around the drive shaft axel and to a tree. When the wheel spins it wraps around the axel & pulls you out. Worked for me on more than one occassion.
jim

[CX3]

Here is a trick I use a lot in the timber. 

If felling a tree or bucking a log, and she starts to pinch faster than wanted, and of course you dont have a wedge, break off some good green twigs and shove a few in the saw kerf.  It really will work try it. 

[tyb525]

Similar to Okra's tip,

Once I got our IH 656 stuck in a swampy area. Though I was gonna skid out some locust, but the ground was only frozen a few inches on top, underneath was bottomless mud. It's a narrow front so of course it just wanted to plow itself right down into the mud, and the rear tires worked great at digging holes in the mud.

Luckily, I had plenty of cables and chains on the tractor (always good to carry!) The axles are just flush with the wheels, but there was enough room for me to wrap a cable around both axle ends a few wraps (one cable per side), hooking them onto the rim, and then hooking the loose ends onto two big trees. I "drove" the tractor forward, pressing the brakes to try to get the wheels turning evenly, making sure one didn't turn more than the other, and slowly but surely the tractor winched itself up and out of the mud hole. I was able to make it the rest of the way out without breaking through again.

[pineywoods]

Chains, straps and poles on the rear wheels of a tractor are a bit on the dangerous side. Very easy to flip over backwards. Always do this in REVERSE.

[Magicman]

But if you still have an 8' Bushhog hooked up, it will keep you from rolling over backwards.  How do I know this 

[Okrafarmer]

Chains, straps and poles on the rear wheels of a tractor are a bit on the dangerous side. Very easy to flip over backwards. Always do this in REVERSE.

Yes they are, for a couple reasons. Most people only see one of the reasons. First, it could make your tractor rear up and go over backward. Often fatal for tractors with no roll bar, still a bad day even for tractors with a roll bar. The second reason is, for tractors with no roll bar, the log may be able to keep going up, around, and over the the back of the tractor and come up and clean you right off the seat. Pineywoods is right in that going in reverse will eliminate both these issues. However, if you are in that kind of a bind where you feel you don't have the option but to go forward, you can carefully do it just make sure you  use low gear at an idle and make sure there is no way whatsoever that your foot (or hand, as the Case may be) can slip off the clutch control. An added safety mechanism is to have your hand, if possible, on the kill switch for the engine. At the first sign of trouble, you instantly kill it. That's for your information only-- I won't stand for being liable if you kill yourself that way. All I know is I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself if I took the precautions I mentioned.

[Toolman]

Here is a good trick that my great-uncle showed me years ago. Him and I were deer hunting and he shot a 7 point buck. We ended up tracking this deer for about an hour till we found him. We had a long drag ahead of us. It was a warm day and we both were sweating and ran out of drinking water. We started getting pretty thirsty. Fortunately in the Penna mountains we have many wild grapes. He showed me "an old indian trick". He cut a long grape vine off as far away from the ground as possible and placed the end directly into his canteen. You should've seen the water pouring out of that vine! It's crystal clear and has a good flavor also. We made it back with the deer, our thirst quenched, with some water still left over in our canteens. I've shared that trick with alot of guys over the years. It never fails!

[Okrafarmer]

Nice! Were those muscodine grapes or some other kind? Folks don't try this with poison ivy!

[Toolman]

Uh, no! Please know the difference! It would be obvious though, the yellow/black goo that comes out of those vines would'nt be too pleasing to that palet.

[bandmiller2]

Probibly shouldn't admit this but if you get a part to install on a machine read the directions especially the warning part thats almost always the easiest way if your carefull.Frank C.

[whiskers]

Two chain binders can be used as a winch taking in a couple of chain links with each reset. Loaded a tractor onto a trailer once this way cause someone forgot to load the tugit.

[Okrafarmer]

Two chain binders can be used as a winch taking in a couple of chain links with each reset. Loaded a tractor onto a trailer once this way cause someone forgot to load the tugit.

Ha! My dad and his friend loaded a non-running International TD-6 onto a trailer using chain binders in 1980. Seems they traveled over an hour to get where they were going and weren't going home without it!

[whiskers]

[
Ha! My dad and his friend loaded a non-running International TD-6 onto a trailer using chain binders in 1980. Seems they traveled over an hour to get where they were going and weren't going home without it!
[/quote]

He sounds like someone I'd like to know. If the td-6 is still around and for sale let me know I'll bring my binders and be right there. Been looking for a dozer for a while now and haven't found anything in my price range on this coast. Seems like what ever I'm looking for is in Oregon or BC.