What I did Next summer.

[Sprucegum]

Now that the dust has settled from all the neat upgrades to the Forum I am starting a thread to document some upgrades to my campsite at the woodlot. Since we bought the place six years ago we have had a summer project to work on; first the clearing itself, then an outhouse, then a group firepit, more trailer parking spots, and finally a small cabin last summer. Next summer we are going to redo the firepit/cook area and have it done in time to spit roast a pig August long weekend! It’ll be the next best thing to going to Harrison.
   Our first firepit was a collection of rocks covered by a large teepee type tent.
 

 
 

 

The teepee works pretty good; I have the tarps on two poles that can be rolled up easily and quickly unrolled again when a shower hits us. The disadvantage comes from teepees not being designed to stay in one spot year after year. The poles are getting bowed and saggy and can no longer handle a snow load. The cheap tarps I use are only good for two or three seasons at best so its time for a post and beam structure with a tin roof.
   You won’t see any plans because I can’t draw worth a hoot and my plans always change anyway. The general idea is a central roof 12 feet wide by 26 feet long with an 8 foot wide lean to on each side. I will buy the tin roof and any necessary hardware but all the wood is coming out of my trees. I just have to find which trees it is hiding in.

[Magicman]

We always need a plan.  I have not completed my Cabin Addition and in my mind, I am already building a bunk log house.

[Don_Papenburg]

Mind plans are a lot easier to change than the ones on paper.

[Magicman]

Change and e x p a n d.      

[isawlogs]

 I do a lot of the same type plans . They are easy to work with 

  Keep the pics coming. !!!

[Sprucegum]

I have a nice little stand of spruce about 500 yards from the sawmill so I cleared a trail to it and sized them up. The lumber inventory I need consists of six 8x8 x 14, six 6x6 x 12, eight 3x8 x 12, a bunch of 2x6 rafters, and a whole whack of purlins. Some of them are hiding in these trees right here.
 

 

Well, thats the trail in. Let's see if we can find the trees:
 

 

This phase of the operation took place in mid-October. The days are getting short but the weather is perfect for playing working outside. The forks on the three point hitch work great for lifting the majority of the log off the ground. The part getting dirt ground into it is probably going to be firewood anyway

 

 

 

 

[SPIKER]

 (Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

Boy that is one smooth AX cut there

looks like some great project work going on there...

Mark

[Coon]

Looks like you got a nice dry skid trail to use.  Looks a whole lot better than mine.     Mine are now frozen though with a bit of snow. Hopefully enough snow to keep the logs somewhat clean. Starting to get the wood out later this week.     

That axe sure makes some nice fine chips too... 

[thecfarm]

What kind of tractor is that,hp? My woods are wet. My tires are dirty all the time now. Been a kinda wet so called winter. Nothing dries up now,short days and not much warmth form the sun keeps the ground wet and weekly rain does not help either. Looks like your ground is good to work on. Mine is a challenge to do anything on in most places.

[Sprucegum]

 The tractor is a Mahindra 3525; 35 horsepower two wheel drive, made in India. Its a knock off of the Massey they used to make. A basic little utility tractor with a manual transmission - suits my needs just fine and the dealer threw in an old Ferguson plow. Learning how to use that is a whole other story.

The first job I had in the woods we had to supply our own ax. I bought this one in a Hudson Bay store in Peace River in 1969. I still like it for limbing but I have gotten modernized for felling and use my Husky 359.

I made an executive decision and changed the 8x8 x 14’s to 7x7 x 14; easier to fit in the log, and they still look beefy enough to lean on if you can’t find a chair.

 

 

 

 

[Sprucegum]

That last picture shows the first dusting of white powder. The county was hauling sand out of the pit my road goes through that weekend and made it slippery. The the good old West wind blew away all the loose stuff so now my road has two strips of glare ice down the center and bare gravel in the shoulders!

The last weekend in October I took a walk in the woods behind the camp and found this blow-down mess.

 

 

 

 

The ground is real soft in here; waterlogged sand that is slowly moving, glacier speed, down the bank of the valley. I can probably get within a couple hundred feet with my D4 cat though. I bet y'all know what's going to happen next...

[thecfarm]

Nice tractor. I keep looking at those tractors. I have 2, but I'm always looking. They look like a beefy tractor. Sand you have,that explains the lack of rocks,the rocks are all ground up.

[isawlogs]

 Sand is a comodity I don't have here, I do though have rocks that you could hide a tractor behind 

  Nice set up, I also have looked and keep eyeing those tractors, one will eventualy follow me home, I am really hopping that it will have a front diff on it though 

[Coon]

Ahh, I see you do have some wetter land.     You have much the same mess to clean up as I have.    We have over a hundred acres of timber with wood scattered about just the same with most of it being WET.... I guess it's just the nature of the beast. 

[Sprucegum]

Another weekend in the woods. I drive up Friday nights after supper and get there in time for a hot toddy before bed. Up again at the crack of dawn, about 8:00 AM this time of year. Down in this little valley the winter sun doesn't hit me until 9:00 AM but I am up and out way before that. This is the first weekend in November and the ground is still not frozen enough to hold me up. I drove the cat as close as I dared and by the time I said to myself "Far enough" I was already one cat length too far.
 

 

 

 

I tried stuffing small trees and branches under the tracks with limited success. One side finally got a grip on some hard ground but the other side wasn't going anywhere so I got out my long chain. A wrap around a good solid tree and hook onto the track; it came out pretty slick then. So I am back on solid ground 20 feet behind where I quit and only half the day gone; I might get something done yet!

I spent some more time limbing and found the resident Ravens secret stash. He must be stealing from the coyotes that have been yipping around here.
 

 

The first tree that fell broke off the second tree about 16 feet up then wedged the tops in between two others. There is lots of stress in the trunk and will be an interesting bit of work with the saw. It jumped sideways about 5 feet when it cut loose, that's a lot of weight flying around. I bucked it into 2 fourteen footers and a twelve.
 

 

I will show the skidding pictures in the next post. The speed I type I may never catch up to present day 

[thecfarm]

You have the rest of your life.  How are you getting the logs out? Hooking them onto the blade?

[Norm]

Great project, thanks for taking us along.

[isawlogs]

 Theres a hitch on the back side of the dozer for a pin, he must be hooking the chain to it.

  I have hooked a small round in front of the tracks with chain and drove it under to get out of holes like that too. I remember the first time I had to do that with a wheeled tractor, I never thought it would take me out . 

[Sprucegum]

We got a little skiff of snow since I was here last. It will help keep the logs clean as I skid them and its not deep enough to keep the ground from freezing. Still not frozen enough to gamble again so I will drag out the cables. I have 3 fifty foot cables from work; the customer decided he wanted sixty footers after these were built so they would have landed in the dumpster. A lot of these young fellas with their nice cars don't like to park beside the dumpster  but I don't mind. The cat is sitting on the smart side of the divide between hard and soft ground.

 

 

I had to change direction a bit a the start of each pull and since I am using three separate pieces of cable rather than one long winch I had to pull 50 feet, back up re-hook, pull another 50 feet, etc, etc. By the time I got four logs out I had pretty well used up my allotment of footprints for the day.

 

 

Those four logs were just the right size for this trip; any more and I would not have made it up the hill. That white strip in the woods is the lower road and in the upper left-hand corner is the hairpin curve that is immediately followed by a very steep stretch of road. The chain has to be set the right length so the logs will come around the curve without dropping off the road but they must be far enough back so the cat can straighten out and pull with both tracks before the full weight of the logs hits the steep part. Working 3 levers and 2 pedals and watching the bank leaves no time for action photography. Made it to the mill.

 

 

Next weekend I will clean up the logged area and drag out a bit of firewood

[thecfarm]

I know what you mean about the walking part. I'm cutting a bog off that never freezes,I only have a tractor,no way for me to get onto it with,I would sink. It's just about all junk,half rotted wood just for the OWB. I have a couple 50-60 foot of cable too. That gets real old,real quick. Sometimes I am walking through a couple feet of snow. After a few times the wood leaves a nice path,but than it's time to move over a few feet for the next bunch of trees.Woods maybe froze up here now. But after making 2-3 trips the roads may start to break down too. Was down in the single digits a for 2 nights,but today suppose to be in the 40's.