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New Toy, I mean tool!

Started by ARKANSAWYER, May 14, 2006, 08:07:43 PM

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ARKANSAWYER




   Well I finally found a Knuckle Boom Loader that I could afford.   I bought it a week or so ago and just got it home and ready to work.   It is a good thing as I have a TT load of cedar coming in the morning and a TT load of pine Tuesday.   Now I can just sit on the log yard on the highway and saw and sell.   James and I have been sawing so much that I can not haul enough and since I have given up the road I need lots to saw to keep my 10mbdft a week habit.   Now if the Banker will give me some more coin I can get my LT70 and do 3 loads a week.
ARKANSAWYER

leweee

Congrats on the new toy.....ah tool Arky 8) We all want to see more action shots of that tool at work. ;D
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

jpgreen

-95 Wood-Mizer LT40HD 27 Hp Kawasaki water cooled engine-

Buzz-sawyer

Very nice David!
That is the missing ingredient for all who handle logs eh?
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

pasbuild

She's a bute , grease her up and get ta work ;)
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

mikeandike




sure easier on the old back eh?

I lucked into a great deal also. Beats the heck out of tearing up both trailers
and the winches etc.

Looking for a slabber
WMLT40HD

J_T

Nice 8) You get use to it you will wonder how you ever made it before .Know a man took his grapple off and put a buckett on dug a long dranige ditch then put his grapple back on . Best thing unloading you can turn em the way you prefer to saw them . 8)
Jim Holloway

sawguy21

Arky, that is a unique setup. Looks like the grapple got a little cozy with the fender at some point :D You will be a lot more productive now. Good find. That Mack looks DanG fine too. I'd like a picker set up like that. 8)
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

BBTom

I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I am just downright Green with envy. 

It looks like a great find, but can LBJ get up to the cab?  I am sure that she would not want a piece of equipment hanging around that she cannot get into, so I will take it off your hands, only to keep peace in the family!! ;D
2001 LT40HDD42RA with lubemizer, debarker, laser, accuset. Retired, but building a new shop and home in Missouri.

OneWithWood

There is no stopping you now! 

You'll be workin' for the bank in no time  smiley_whip

:D
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

WH_Conley

The way Arky does things he will probably own the bank before long ;D
Bill

ARKANSAWYER


  LBJ can get into the truck with no trouble and can get up on the bed under the KB loader.  She just has not figured out how to get up in the cab of the KB loader yet.   It will not be long before she gets it worked out.
  I unloaded some cedar today with it and then set it out to buck it off.   I can lay out behind and to the side and while James bucks it off I can pick out and sort the logs into piles.   Works well and we do not have to chase the logs around with the tractor and our backs do not get sore.
  Pine coming tomorrow then I will have enough to keep me busy till I slip off to the OPEN HOUSE Saturday in MO.
ARKANSAWYER

Kelvin

Tell us more about it!  HOw much did that set you back?  Have to do any work on it?  What are capacities?  How about age?  The loader looks older than the truck, did it get put together recently or was it all the same age?  What is the truck?  I imagine its diesel and a stick shift with 2 speed rear end?  Limited slip rear differential?  Are both rear axles drive axles?  Where did you find it?
I'm trying to find out if something like that is more economical to run then a new forestry type trailer.  Trailers can be insured cheaper, and i've already got a dump truck, probably even the trailer to moount one to, but that rig looks good!
KP

mikeandike

I would like to know the make of the truck? Ford? What year?
Mine is 1985 Mack r686. two stick 5 speed. No frills. I lost 8 pounds
hauling 3 big burl logs 1 hour in 90 degree heat. Hot, hot ,hot, but
handy as a pocket in a shirt.

I knocked a hydraulic coupling loose and lost a bunch of fluid, dropped
the last BIG burl log and it rolled END over End about 40 yards before
stopping, I was real glad I had everybody standing back....way back.

By the way insurance is 800 dollars a year.
Looking for a slabber
WMLT40HD

sawguy21

Looks like a Chebby Brigadier to me.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Gary_C

Looks like a great loader for you. Now you are going to get spoiled with that knuckle boom and grapple.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

iain

Arky you were right the first time its a toy 8) 8) 8)
till either you stop thinking about how good it is or you've blown a couple of hose's

plank till your hearts content


iain

scsmith42

Arky, that is one cool tool!
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

woodmills1

Once you have a grapple loader you will wonder why you moved logs any other way.

good looking truck loader.....................


one of the yards I deliver to has 2 of those.  First one lays out the logs gor the scaler.  When he is done the boss picks up 5 or 6 logs with a huge wheel loader with forks and scoots them over to the second grapple that restacks them.  Amazing how much wood they move and scale quickly.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

ARKANSAWYER



   Here is a load of SY pine that came in Thursday.   There is about 5 to 6 mbdft per load.  Most stems are 60 to 80 ft long.   This load cost about $1,100 in coin.




  You got to reach in from the end and grab it about 8 feet up.   This will allow the butt to catch in the forks on the bottom of the boom then lift up.




   Once you clear the bunks you can just let it down and slide it up on the pile.   You can also keep them in the forks and sit them pointing straight out from the KB loader.




  Then you just let them down on the pile and start over again.




  Here we are pulling cedar out of a pile and laying them out to be bucked off to length.   You can them pick up the logs and stack them up for the tractor to take to the mill.  Sure saves the back and goes pretty quick.





  The truck is a "79"  Chevy Brigadier with 15 speeds w high/low and a 555 Cummins and runs good but the brakes are poor and there are some air leaks.  Fun drive home in these hills.   Now that on the log yard it is home and does not need to be insured or tagged.  The loader is a Barko 160A and has a reach of 27 ft and can lift about 7,000 lbs all the way out.   Can lift about 10,500 lbs about half way and around 20,000 lbs up close.  It was made in the mid "80's" and has a Dietroit 353 engine.   I dropped $12,000 coins for that little set up and so far it has been worth every one.   It allows me to unload Tractor trailer rigs easy and then set the logs out to be bucked.   
  I was spending up to 6 hours a week to go fetch logs on my goose neck to keep us in logs to saw.   Just could not haul enough to keep up with full time sawing.   Then we still had to unload and buck them off.   Now it takes about 2 hours to unload two TT loads and we have all we can saw for a week and a half.   Growing pains for sure.
ARKANSAWYER

jpgreen

In tha last picture it kinda looks like an alien that eats logs..  :D
-95 Wood-Mizer LT40HD 27 Hp Kawasaki water cooled engine-

dail_h

   When you get used to That heel,you are gonna love it
World Champion Wildcat Sorter,1999 2002 2004 2005
      Volume Discount At ER
Singing The Song Of Circle Again

getoverit

I really dont mean to hijack this thread, and I love the new toy, but....

I dont understand how you are making money at this. smiley_contract_point

If there is 6000bf of lumber on a truck load and you paid $1,100 for it, then you have $.19/bdft invested in it. If there was only 5000bf of lumber in the load then you paid $.22/bf for it.

Here in Florida, kiln dried SYP is selling in the box stores for about $.54/bdft.

That price includes transportation, kiln drying, planing to size and a profit margin for the box store.

Assuming that you make about $200 a thousand profit for your sawing, and adding $190/mbf for the cost of the lumber, this adds up to $390/mbf for it in rough sawn state.  540 - 390 = 150

so for $150/mbf they are able to kiln dry it, plane it to size and transport it to the store and then the store is able to sell it for a profit also.

How is this done?
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and sleep all day

dail_h

   Mirrors ,GOI,and a bigger truck ;D
World Champion Wildcat Sorter,1999 2002 2004 2005
      Volume Discount At ER
Singing The Song Of Circle Again

ARKANSAWYER


  Getoverit has a good point!   Well the big boys are sawing 150mbdft + per 8 hour shift that puts their sawing cost at about $0.10 bdft and buying smaller logs that only cost about $28 per ton and deal in large loads.   Also it only takes about two days to dry 100mbdft of lumber down to 19%.    Our Brothers up north across the line get free logs from the Goverment or pay very little for them so it keeps their cost down.
  As for your math you are right on.  I figure I paid $0.20 a bdft for the logs and get $0.20 bdft to saw.   I sell most of what I saw for $0.45 to $0.80 bdft and try to saw any where between 7,500 to 10,000 bdft a week and sell just about all I saw.   I even sell the slabs for some change.   So in a good week I make $2,500 and a poor week I make $1,875 over cost of the logs.   I can not beat the price of a 8 ft 2x4 but they buy all of mine as they are better quality.   As for 2x6's 10 ft and longer I can beat their price everyday of the week and their quality stinks.   Get into timbers and special cuts and I am in gravy.   I even have wholesale markets for my pine but the profit is not there like in retail sales.   Which is why I dropped the coin for the land on the Highway to boost sales.  Sales are to the point I can not get any invetory and I am sawing off of list and putting in customers piles.  Such problems. ;D
ARKANSAWYER

J_T

Arkey yuall get faster 8) 8) No one mechioned over run  ??? Now you need a buck saw :D :D
Jim Holloway

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