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I'm going in

Started by Kevin, January 04, 2011, 05:15:47 PM

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Kevin

No snow yet but that won't stop the cutting, just the skidding.
There's nothing like getting tangled up in cedar branches  :D


I expected to get a few more pictures but my batteries died just after getting a start on clearing some tag alders in preparation to drop a cedar along side the trail.

Jeff

Do you have the mill on site too?
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Kevin

Not yet Jeff, I'll bring it back in come Spring.
Where's your mill, at home?

Here I am dispatching a few alder ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l71hiz4hDqo

Jeff

Yup, my mill is out in the FF campground with a tarp over it. :)
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

lumberjack48

Good video Kevin!  this reminds me of cutting a strip road back in the 60s, I've been in a wheelchair 22 yrs now, I'd give anything to be back out there. 8)
Third generation logger, owner operator, 30 yrs felling experience with pole skidder. I got my neck broke back in 89, left me a quad. The wife kept the job going up to 96.

Kevin

Thanks, it's always nice to get back out there.
I can usually put in about four hours then I have to get a change of clothes.
At least with the lack of snow I'm not digging out the base of the trees.
The alders create more work but they have to be cut.
In other places the trees are so tight there's always a good chance of having them stall out in the tops and then they have to be twisted out with the logrite or pulled down with the log arch.

g_man

Kevin I am Curious to know why you need more snow to skid. Are you just trying to keep it clean or do you need things to freeze up for your equipment?  I have never cut cedar but I haul some for a neighbor to a local yard once in a while. He and his wife cut it in the summer and use a lawn tractor and brute force to get it out. He drives the tractor she supplies the brute force.

Kevin

Snow to keep it clean, I do my own milling.
Snow also for skidding in a log arch, without the snow the skis get banged up.
The logs away from the trail get winched out using a skidding cone and it also works better in the snow.
We aren't getting much but there's almost enough to skid on now.
I cut one last week that was about thirty inches, I see some nice wide boards coming from that one. 8)

g_man

Wow 30" cedar. It is hard to find a 14" cedar around here. I have some fir to cut but I need things to freeze up before I can get to it. I was thinking of going in to  knock some down, like you are, while I am waiting to get the tractor in. But I'm not sure I can do much before it gets counter productive. How many big cedars can you have on the ground before they are in your way?

Kevin

They are spread out over many acres so they never get in the way but if I let the snow pile up on them I lose them so I try and get a few on the ground and then get them out.
I have a few large cedar but some don't pass the back of the axe test and I leave them standing.

Kevin

Here's the tree bracket that supports the winch up high on a tree out of the snow.



Here's a cedar getting winched out ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncnugS6DZH0

Mooseherder

Kevin,  I Love your videos.  Are you cutting on your property?
That winch looks like it works great. :)

Kevin

I'm trying to cut on my property but the snow isn't co-operating  :D
The winch works really well for its size, it will pull logs through brush and around trees.
Sometimes you need a redirect but that's it.
Nice day today!


SwampDonkey

We also have some big white cedar up here to. Every time I find a bunch I don't have the dang camera. I wanted to get back to one site this summer to take a picture of a pair of twinned cedar, both around 30" and independent trees, but if you were an acrobatic and young fellow you could straddle both with your feet, they were that close to one another.  ;D

The cedar woods is one of my favorite stands of timber to walk in winter when the ground freezes. It's like a park as long as it's pretty much pure cedar and no balsam fir regen into it. The mountain maple can get nasty in some spots though. Only place we were getting alders on the woodlot here was in the old winter roads and high use trails. Other than that there is hardly an alder on my cedar ground. I mostly have old remnants left and in under coming back to cedar, spruce and some fir. I wish cedar wasn't cut so hard around here. They don't get enough for the wood. It takes 200 + years to get those 30 inch cedars.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Paul_H

I like the winch you have,Kevin.What make is it?
With your climbing abilities and some more rigging,you could be a highleader :)
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Kevin

I like letting them stand too but if I don't take them the woodpeckers will.
The middle is gone out of many of the large ones so I test them before cutting.
If the heart is gone the woodpeckers can have at em.


Kevin

The winch is the portable winch out of Quebec.
I don't imagine there are too many openings for that job these days is there Paul?
Maybe I could be a cheerleader.  :D

SwampDonkey

Skidding cones and winch sleds were introduced here to woodlot owners in the past, but I don't think many made use of them. I never saw one being used other than a training course at the marketing board.

The cone as well as your winch and arch skidding system would be ideal for the hobby woodworker going in for a few logs to mill up once in awhile.   :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Mooseherder

We don't have too many Cedars left on our property in Maine and the biggest one we have is a two stem leaner.
There is also one with a Burl at the base.   I sure wish there were more there.  Your woods look great. :)  

SwampDonkey

Kevin, nothing wrong in cutting a big one. What I see here is they cut every stick. That's the part I don't like. When dad and I cut cedar we took out the smaller rails mostly to thin some areas. There was always a market about 5 miles away for them in Bridgewater, Maine. We used skidder and the ground was nice to work on since it didn't rut and fill with water. After a short number of years dad couldn't even see the main trail leading out of the woods into the field and the overhead canopy was left so that it was still fairly tight. The tendency here is to open it up too much. And the result is not pleasing. Dad had stumpage cut before he sold off the farm and his one comment was that the crew didn't know much about how to cut wood the proper way. Cutting trees to the ground is only one part.

I like the way your working your woodlot Kevin.  I see a farm nearby here that 3 brothers hack to death every chance they get, it was their father's. I've heard several comments from folks in the area that can see they are just trashing it. So not everyone looks after their ground. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Kevin

Not much negative impact where I am, I can barely get the argo down these narrow trails in places.
I tend to move around from year to year and the harvest is minimal in each area.
There are some nice hemlock and larch but I've yet to cut one without shake so I leave them alone.


Tom

You still impress me, eh? :)

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