Skyline for super low impact (don't laugh west coast folks)

[thenorthman]

that snatch block trick is skookum! like a poor mans christy carriage... I may have to steel it...

So I take it yer just hand dragging the line back out? 

[dustintheblood]

Was going to hitch up the border collie named "Chunk" with a harness and rope to draw it back down to me, but then my helper had the picture of the dog hanging 12' up in the air.

[Ljohnsaw]

Pretty neat.  Thanks for posting.  I like the way you used the snatch block to pick the logs up then fly.

[loggah]

Thats getting her done !!!!!  good job!

[chester_tree _farmah]

Very cool.

[treeslayer2003]

i like it! it gives me ideas lol. i passed up a job like that a few years ago.....white cedar.....not even sure where i'd have sold them.

it still amazes me what small cable will take.........i'm so used to 3/4.

[dustintheblood]

Dagnabit, no one noticed me drop the stem about 6" from the camera (yeah on purpose).  Guess it comes with being here with a bunch of pros.   :D :D :D

[treeslayer2003]

Dagnabit, no one noticed me drop the stem about 6" from the camera (yeah on purpose).  Guess it comes with being here with a bunch of pros.   :D :D :D

i seen it

[dustintheblood]

If I still had my hat on it treeslayer, I'd tip it toward yah

[treeslayer2003]

what size cable is that? and how is the market for that stuff? wouldn't want to do that for just tie logs.......

[dustintheblood]

Cable's the rolled heavy 1/2" - more than enough for cedar the way we're hauling.  I'd be thinking twice before tying onto a big chunk of white oak.  Thing is that with the skyline, I need it for the wet areas.  When it comes to the hardwoods here, winter's coming - easy skidding and I'm not afraid to pull line way out, and grab a snatch to get around stuff.

Markets?  Well back in the day I could name my price.  For now, I'm sawing it, drying, planing it and making a big a___ pile of it.   Shoooooot.  Markets are just squirrely.  I know they'll come back but for now I'm working toward being a guest star on discovery channel's  "hoarders show".   :D :D

I've also got a 40x80 timber frame barn that needs new siding, so the 8" stock's got a good home.

[Skidder Kev]

Looks like a pretty nice set-up you have there.  thats some nice looking cedar you have there too.  Where abouts in Ontario are you?

[CCC4]

Pretty cool! What do you figure the longest pull you could make would be?

[Offthebeatenpath]

Great video and great work! It looks pretty efficient to me for a small scale skyline operation without a yarder.  I have done this a bunch, but I usually use two power sources- one to lift the skyline wire and one to pull the load along the line.  Am I correct in seeing that you are using only one?

[dustintheblood]

kculler - we're near Kingston, and yeppers, the cedar's pretty good around here.  This site was blowdown in a pocket of mid sized stuff, so the quality's not as good as what's waiting for me in that swamp this winter.

ccc4 - I'm thinking 200 feet horizontal is about all the cable sag will allow.  Any further on flat terrain, I just won't get the lift on big logs

offthebeaten - yep only using one powered 3-pt winch to pull the lower line.  When I'm setting up, I use the winch to pull the skyline tight, and then ratchet it down to secure it

[Offthebeatenpath]

Dustintheblood-

That makes sense for use with one power source.  You definitely would gain efficiency with a second, but then again, you are doing very well with what you have.  A capstan winch can work well to pull a suspended load uphill.

CCC4- As I understand it, skyline system length is limited ultimately by the curvature of the earth.  Theoretically, if you can get your spar blocks high enough in the air relative to the terrain, They can be 400, 600, 1400 feet long.  A basic rule is keeping 10% deflection (the same amount of sag you see in suspension bridge cables), so a 300 foot long skyline should have 30 feet of deflection, or sag in the skyline wire after the load clears the ground.  Less sag means more more tension on your anchors and power source, but more sag means more tension on your spars.

I'll post a couple photos of skyline systems that I have set up in a bit...

[FarmingSawyer]

Awesome work. I wanted to rig up something like that years ago to fetch shake bolts out of a swamp...... I think this would work well for an area of cedar I have to harvest now.

What sort of snatch block are you using on the high line? Do you have a picture of how you secure the ends? Thanks.

[dustintheblood]

I'll try and take some better pics today, and post them up.

[Offthebeatenpath]

Here are a few semi-related rigging sets that I have played with.  I use mostly hand powered winches because they are in remote settings inaccessible to machinery.  These are not production logging systems, rather super low impact ways to move materials around for backcountry construction projects.  That said, we have moved hundreds of loads on a single set before and I have started using the winches on my skidder and skid steer in these systems.



  

  

 

Here a a couple illustrations that my fiancé drew of other rigging sets that we've used in the past. The first is a running skyline and the second is a double highlead with double haulback lines.


  

 

[thenorthman]

A true yarder is limited only by how much cable it can carry, or how good the anchor stumps are, the farther out you go the thicker the cable needs to be so the bigger the winch drum has to be... its a catch 22 thing. There is also the use of intermediary supports, allowing work on slopes that are not ideal.

Then you get into the 3 drum yarders that have the ability to drag the carriage uphill, allowing us to pull logs up and down hill, from one setting, or in most cases where building road to the top is out of the question for whatever reason....

anyway heres a vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET64XzbUYiY

[CCC4]

I got to visit a yarding operation when I was out in NoCal...I took tons of pics of it but I have about given up on posting pics here...I can't figure out what all I am doing wrong...go figure. 

[CCC4]

A true yarder is limited only by how much cable it can carry, or how good the anchor stumps are, the farther out you go the thicker the cable needs to be so the bigger the winch drum has to be... its a catch 22 thing. There is also the use of intermediary supports, allowing work on slopes that are not ideal.

Then you get into the 3 drum yarders that have the ability to drag the carriage uphill, allowing us to pull logs up and down hill, from one setting, or in most cases where building road to the top is out of the question for whatever reason....

anyway heres a vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET64XzbUYiY
[/quote

OMG thats impressive NM!

[fishpharmer]

Amazing video.

[thecfarm]

A very enjoyable video.

[dustintheblood]

Thanks to everyone who added posts to this.  I can't wait for more freezeup now so that I can get in and really put the thing to work - with more improvements!