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Need help with ways to get wood out of woods

Started by JohnG28, January 17, 2010, 07:13:51 PM

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JohnG28

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestions...in the coming spring, I will be working on several acres of family property in the southern Adirondacks...plan on cutting roughly 24" dia trees, but they will be 100-200 yards from where they need to end up for firewood cutting/splitting...any ideas of ways to get larger sections of wood this distance, other than cutting into blocks and hauling by hand...I dont have an atv aviailable, and there is no road or vehicle accessibilityto the area...I realize its not a huge distance, but will probably be a 2 man crew and will get tiring fast...also, cutting area is slightly downhill from area wood needs to end up...thanks for the help
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

barbender

do a search on the yankee yarder, it's a small gas engine powered winch. I've never used one personally but I think it would work for something like your situation. If the trees are that big, you would probably have to cut them into 8-10' lengths and have some kind of arch or a skidding cone.
Too many irons in the fire

shinnlinger

I have seen where folks back a truck on the landing and jack it up and take a wheel off and replace with a rim.  THey then mount another wheel on a tree back where the trees are and run a big rope around both (Think ski lift)  you choke your trees on the main line and pull the trees to the landing.

There was also and article in Sawmills and woodlot a few issues back where they used hand pulled sulkies. 
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

steveforest

I sometimes use a long cable run through a block attached to a tree. Drive truck or tractor downhill to yard log. By using a block, the log will run straight to the road, and less likely to hang up. A car hood makes a good sled.
Don't mess with success

Magicman

I've used as many as three blocks to skid logs out.  Plot your path out and change the blocks to different trees as you skid it along.  I use nylon straps to secure the blocks to trees.  You also want to keep from "barking" the bases of the other trees.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

TimRB

I just bought a portable winch from (wait for it) Portable Winch Co.  If you Google, you'll be able to find links and videos.  This thing is not cheap, but it absolutely will do what you need to do.  My neighbor and I recently hauled some logs up a fairly steep incline, and after we were finished with that, set his 500 gallon propane tank in place.  No problemo.

Tim

Magicman

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

TimRB

"TimRB,  Welcome to The Forestry Forum."

Thank you very much.  I am not a pro logger by any stretch of the imagination, but I do cut a fair amount of firewood.  (Even that is not much compared to you guys who live where it actually gets cold.) Anyway, I mostly will lurk, probably, and contribute where I can.  My brother is on here too, so I have to be careful not to say anything stupid. On the other hand, he already has been witness to plenty of my stupidity, so maybe I should just relax.

Tim

shinnlinger

Those winches look nice, but they better for $1200.  Could you drop all the trees and then rent a tractor to pull them out for the weekend????
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

wolfram

John, are these 24" diameter firewood trees or potential sawtimber?  If you can get some sawlogs, you might be able to pay for a nice winch with the proceeds.

JohnG28

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies, some great ideas already...I have been thinking of some kind of winch system would probably work the best, there are a lot of trees to use as anchor points and for leverage...unfortunately there is no way to get a tractor or the like into the area, short of cutting in some kind of road, which is not an option, family likes having the land stay as untouched as possible, and I agree, not a huge plot of land but it abuts over 300' of lake frontage and like to keep it somewhat wild...I had thought that maybe with an electric or small gas powered winch at or near landing point, with cable and series of pullys into the woods, or maybe make landing half way, get wood there, and reset to final landing point...I dont know about logs being processed, not sure of availabilty for such to be done in the area, I dont have any milling equip and none in budget anytime soon, although there is some nice wood, black cherry, maple, walnut, as well as ash and birch...most of what I would be cutting for would be firewood, was planning on starting with some standing dead, believe was black cherry, 2 side by side, prob 80' each
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

4genlgr

for getting wood out of tight spaces how about a horse  that's about as gentle on the land as you can get. there are horse loggers around just not sure how to find one, try a google search.  with size your talking i should think the r would be logs  some of the sawmill members might be able to help you there even standing dead trees can be sawn and make some interesting lumber
pay some, sell some, and maybe come out even, who knows

footer

Might not be economical, but you might be able to find a local tow truck that has a winch with plenty of cable to reach the 100 to 200 yards. he could pull in, string out his cable, pull em in for ya, and be done.

footer


JohnG28

Id love to have them helied out, lol, if only...the horse pulling could be an option, have to see whats avail in the area...thanks for all the input, really appreciate it all so far
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

Ron Scott

~Ron

John Mc

If you are in the Adirondaks, there is bound to be someone not too far away who can saw a few logs for you. If you really do have a bunch of 24" trees, there ought to be something worth sawing. Even if you are not looking at a commercial deal, sometimes it's fun for a landowner to be able to say, "this was made from wood cut right here on this property". If you sell a couple good logs and pay for a winch or other equipment, so much the better.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

mahonda

my two cents cause i can't afford any more I'm a logger and a firewood cutter ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkZZFSqEP5A
"If your lucky enough to be a logger your lucky enough!"
Burly aka Dad

JohnG28

I had come across one of those chainsas winches while searching online, they look pretty interesting...I also looked at a small gas engine powered winch, which looked very nice, although I dont have the money for one...maybe I can find somewhere that rents either out for a couple of days, I would imagine my 361 would pull with the chainsaw type winch...thanks to all for the replies, and your 2 cents, its appreciated :)
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

michaelk

What town are you in? I know of horse loggers in Luzerne,Schroon, and Plattsburgh. I also know a guy for hire with a portable sawmill and small tractor with winch. There is help available. You'd be amazed what a horse can do. Thought of a snowmobile? Mike

567paloggger

i would cut the tree up into firewood lengh and buy a pull wagon for 85 bucks from home depot and save up for a atv for next year i do alot of logging with a atv it helps out alot

John Mc

That wagon might help, but he did mention an uphill run to where he's taking the wood. Pulling by hand will get old quickly, if there is much of a slope.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

icolquhoun

Hey new to the forum/logging, and all this stuff in general and in the same situation.
I have VERY hilly/rocky land and have set up my recently acquired LM2000 in the middle of it.
I need to get logs up and downhill.
A juniorarch, two 2 ton come alongs, chokerchain, a 2 wheel drive atv with a hitch with a chain grab, and a peavy is all I currently use (saving for a tractor).
I just moved a 28' long 18"DBH red oak roughly 550' over very rocky/rough terrain using nothing more than a nylon wrap around trees with choker chain hooked up to the come-alongs.  It took a full day, but was actually pretty easy considering the land it had to traverse!
next on my buy list is a few LONG reels of cable and some self releasing snatch blocks.  I plan on using the atv on flat ground and routing the cable how I want the log to run using nylon webbing off trees as well as self-releasing snatch blocks, and getting "bumpers" set up on all surrounding trees/rocks.  hook the cable to the atv as well as the chokerchain and drive the atv (could be a truck out on the side of the road in your case) to get the log out.
very little impact on the woods, the truck/car/atv stays where it should, you stay safe, etc etc

Kevin

Welcome icolquhoun.
I use an arch and the portable gas winch.
The arch is loaded with back weight from the log so the tongue sticks up and then levels off when you winch it ahead.

JohnG28

Welcome icolquhoun, and thanks for the input, that sounds like it could work very well for my situation actually...i do think that if rigged right i could get a run of line to the driveway on our property where i could pull with a truck...i will definately look at it in the coming months and try to come up with a map of how i could work it...and thanks very much to all for the help, i would still be scratching my head as to what to do, heck, i might even be able to get some saw logs out without any money(that i dont have anyway) up front...that would surely get me started on purchasing some more helpful equip for the future...also have a lawnmower engine that i was thinking might be able to build a homemade winch from when i get time, someday, buddy does some welding, need to do some designing in meantime...thanks again to all, ill be sure to let everyone know how things go
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

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