Scoot for hauling logs from woods to landing with pictures.

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks Tdawg.

I found a story I wrote about doing this in the folder with all of the pictures.

Here is the beginning part:

Years ago, before I started saw milling, I used to yard logs for different people and do some logging myself for the old timer who taught me saw milling.

When I first started, I used my father’s Case 580 tractor that had a 3-point hitch and a front bucket which was an attachment to it. We’d just hook a chain around the big block bar that went between the two front loader arms and let it hang down over the top curled edge of the bucket. We’d wrap the end of the chain around a log and lift it up and carry it and place it into a pile.

Well it wasn’t long until we started breaking chains as it slid over the top curled edge of the bucket. We got a welder to weld a large piece of stock onto the top edge of the bucket with a hole in it so we could attach an U-bolt shackle through the hole.



Then we attached a small lop of hardened chain to the shackle U-bolt.

 

Then from this short loop we’d hook a piece of hardened chain long enough to reach down to the cutting edge of the bucket and back up again. From this chain we attached another shackle threw a ring on the logging tongs we had borrowed from another guy.




Well, this setup worked well for a while until the guy wanted his tongs back.

Then I went out and got a set of tongs for myself. Well at that time I didn’t know the difference between “pulling tongs” and “lifting tongs” and there is a difference. And purchased a set of pulling tongs, you know you’ve got pulling tongs if there is a hook at the top and lifting tongs if there is a ring.

That’s why we used a second shackle in the picture above. Every time I’d lower the tongs over a log they’d fall off the chain. That got old real fast.

When you hang your logging chain and tongs like this and you roll your bucket back to the chain hits the cutting edge it forces the tongs to hang from left to right as you are sitting in the driver’s seat. This makes it easy to line up on logs, whether you’re in the woods on in the sawmill yard.

After this paragraph comes the pictures of the tongs over the log pile in my sawmill yard, that I posted above.
And the story goes on from there, again posted above.
But I wanted you to see how and know why we made this hook up on my bucket to carry logs.

Jim Rogers

[Jim_Rogers]

Well I uploaded some 30 photos to a new album about using these scoots to move the stone at the retreat, that I told you about.
And I wrote up a nice story about it, including inserting pictures in order for you all to see and read.
When I pushed post, my one hour login time limit had expired and I lost the whole thing.
I hate when that happens.

You can see the pictures in my stone's album in my gallery.

I may do a write up again and post it.
But right now it's late and I need to go.
bye for now.

Jim Rogers

[BOBWOOD]

Nice post...appreciate all the photos...fancy unit there too...My father used to just spike together a bunch of crappy old poplar logs with some drift pins...(important to find a couple trees with a bend in just the right place)....then we just put a choker around each "ski" and pulled it with the old IH farm tractor...he called it a "stone boat" too...from his early days farming I guess...but we only  ever used it for hauling logs on...BOB

[Tdawg]

Nice post...appreciate all the photos...fancy unit there too...My father used to just spike together a bunch of crappy old poplar logs with some drift pins...(important to find a couple trees with a bend in just the right place)....then we just put a choker around each "ski" and pulled it with the old IH farm tractor...he called it a "stone boat" too...from his early days farming I guess...but we only  ever used it for hauling logs on...BOB

Maybe "stone boat" is just an Ontario thing, 

[beenthere]

..........
Maybe "stone boat" is just an Ontario thing, 

Grew up using one in IA, and built one to haul stones when clearing this land in WI (thanks to the glacier). Now no more hand digging as the forks on the FEL work so great.

But then we do have Ontario, WI 

[Tdawg]

..........
Maybe "stone boat" is just an Ontario thing, 

Grew up using one in IA, and built one to haul stones when clearing this land in WI (thanks to the glacier). Now no more hand digging as the forks on the FEL work so great.

But then we do have Ontario, WI 

Ha Ha, gotta love that glacial till...my back aches just thinking about it.

Ontario, Wisconsin...must be a beautiful place 

[pineywoods]

OK, down here we called them a slide. Put a box on it and becomes a "Hoover wagon" If you understand that, you're telling your age.

[rocksnstumps]

Jim,
That's quite the heavy duty sled. Those rocks musta been huge. As Beenthere mentions, I've heard them called stoneboats around here too and the size of the rocks they moved with those things with a couple of horses in the past is impressive. Not sure about copyright so here's a link and some dimensions similar to the ones I've seen stashed in an old shed or two.

http://www.inquiry.net/images/stoneboat.gif

[thecfarm]

The stone boat that we had was about 3 feet wide. The whole front was made out of metal and had a curve in the front. Had a big hole in the center to hook a chain too. Had a lip to bolt planks on too. All the planks rode on the ground,no skids.I never used it. Most of the time we would load up the woods trailer and haul them into a wet hole. The bigger ones was hauled off with the hyds on the back.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Thanks for posting this thread Jim Its a great idea Mate  I usually just fell n buck then bring a fork full of logs at a time out on the loader and load it strait onto the truck if its a small clear felling or wide space thinning job Ill usually try and leave them in double lengths but I have done 40' long logs on occasion but it all depends on the block what lengths i take out I have skidded out two or three tree lengths at a time with chains on the fork frame to lift the logs up off the ground to keep them clean too 

Regards Chris

[Jim_Rogers]

Gday

Thanks for posting this thread Jim Its a great idea Mate  I usually just fell n buck then bring a fork full of logs at a time out on the loader and load it strait onto the truck if its a small clear felling or wide space thinning job Ill usually try and leave them in double lengths but I have done 40' long logs on occasion but it all depends on the block what lengths i take out I have skidded out two or three tree lengths at a time with chains on the fork frame to lift the logs up off the ground to keep them clean too 

Regards Chris

I'm glad you brought up the idea of "doubles" we would do that all the time. Especially after we got the feel for what we could haul, and/or carry.

When we got to the landing and picked up a double (two logs already marked to be cut, but still attached to each other) we hold one of the two over the stack and cut them to separate.
 Then set the second one into the pile.

I used to like the idea of hauling out doubles when we were hauling pine.

Jim Rogers

[fuzzybear]

Jim thank you for the idea.
   I have been pouring over old bob sled photos and any other type of sled for that matter, I plan to build two of these in the spring. My truck can haul them behind it with no problem across the snow. The only thing I will be doing differently is cutting everything directly in the bush with just the chain saw.
   I figured everything out and am just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit more then head out and try to get the trail plowed out. This just reaffirmed my ideas on how to build it.
   I plan to use 14" green Aspen split in two with a flat cut onto the bottom to install 1/2" mylar plastic for running on snow. The runners will be in direct line with the tire on the truck. (@5.5' wide) Then I'm going to use dry 6" spruce logs for the cross bunks. I should be able to put 3 cords on each sled and pull them out together.
   I am going to use a trailer type hook up with a V coupler to attach to the sled and then to the truck with the ball. This will allow me to control the sleds a little easier down two slight grades. I have build many smaller versions of these sleds for pulling wood behind the snow machine. Seeing how you built this and what it's intended use is for, has reassured me.  If they did it 150 years ago with horses I should be able to do it with my bush truck.
Thank you again.
FB

[Jim_Rogers]

Many years ago, I read stories in the northern logger about teamsters and pulling logs out of the woods on sleds.

Many a teamster was killed by jumping off the load as the horse were running as fast as they could down hill with the sled loaded behind them.

They would talk about at night they'd take the horse manure out to the hills and put it there to warm the ground and melt the snow and ice so that the horses would get some traction to get up the hill.

And they'd talk about wetting down the flat runs to get it to ice up so that the sled would slide easier.

But the stories of the downhill stuff was very frightening.

On my machine, that I pulled the scoot we had, we had a huge concrete block on the back. And if the scoot was going down hill and the scoot got going faster then the tractor the log on the scoot would hit the concrete block and more or less stop. But I do remember a couple of times that the wheels were turning slower then the machine was going down the hill.

Jim Rogers

[thecfarm]

I can remember my Father telling me he use to use hay for the hill at our place to slow down the sled. Than having to carry the hay back up the hill when the hay would get to the bottom. But this was only one hill and not that big of one.

[Bump]

I've used them a lot and built many as we have a team of Belgian chunks. The boat is just that steel or planks just a flat bottom used a lot for picking field stone as it had great floatation and didn't rut up the field. Scoots used for hauling round bales fire wood people with 2 runners 8' long just a log sawn in half the smaller the bottom had the last 4' sawn the smaller front of the skids are cut bevelled up. When pulled loaded or turning the hitch would raise the front making it ride on the larger flats at the rear for turning and hard pulling. Across the front I keep a set of tire chains when there is a descent would drop the chains so they are under the runners to hold the load back many times just leaving them there if the load starts to run up the front of the runners lower useing the chains to hold it back.

[Meadows Miller]

Thanks Jim I learnt the Doubles one from My Dad ,Grandfather and Uncles  you can either saw a long log or dock it into shorts for whatever order you need to fill and the way I see it you gotta dock it in the bush or at the mill either way Mate

You had a tractor like that too its better than a ride at the show/fair mate