Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[chipper1]

That 5:1 actually has significant pulling power, but it's way easier than equipment to feel how much tension you have. I basically just had him maintain tension while I chased the back cut with wedges. Once the tree was all cut up, I had him "give it hell," and it went over without too much fanfare.

That's why I just set up 180 to the lean(so it will overcome any side lean), pull until I see the canopy move, then let off a bit, just to hold it in place so the hinge/bypass wood doesn't break, then use the step cut, then just give the rope/cable a pull and down she goes. As long as someone is at the controls and knows that if I say to go they need to go, even if the bypass wood broke my hinge is already set so all they need to do is add a bit more pull.
No issues with chairing or side lean, just as long as you have enough power to overcome the back lean and break the bypass/holding wood.
I don't have a fiddle block setup, but I've seen them in use, and you sure can get s lot of power out of them, and with a rope up high I can see how easy it would be to overcome a slight lean. Our trees are much shorter and heavier so it takes a good bit of power, but a fiddle block can still be a useful tool. Much like anything, it's all about knowing when to utilize a tool and which tool to use. I take the every tree is a log approach and use the skidding winch on many I fall .
Guess I never hit "post reply" earlier.
Nice job getting that one on the ground.

 

[Sierra_rider]

YepView attachment 1034568
Not me btw, Gerald Brenke, 150’ up in a redwood working with a broken foot.

I've got that poster on display in my shop. I also have his book 'High Climbers and Timber Fallers.' It's pretty cheap from Bailey's and has some really awesome stories and photos...he basically documented the last of the old growth redwood logging.

 

[GeeVee]

I use my forks on my tractor for moving logs all the time without any issues and no grapple on them. Is it your terrain that is causing the problem? I also have a stump grapple bucket for moving large chucks of wood and uprooted stumps. That bucket also works great for moving big rocks.

Combination of two things, My CTL has torsion axles suspension all the way around, and the forks/carriage, dont roll "back" very far when you are down low, the radial lift affects the basic tilting alignment...... While they dont rol back very far, they do tip out to beyond vertical- buts thats not useful for anything. Yes, uneven terrain, like soft ground and large surface roots, and the logs just slide around on the forks.

The forks are not useful at all on rough terrain, I only use them to load my (empty) IBC totes in and out of the dump trailer when I shuttle city water down to my ranch and pump it up into my holding tank 25' up. I do use them on occasion to pull 1000# bags of aggregate and use the chute on the bottom to play out the stone, or pick pallets of disc golf equipment off semi trucks, but thats it.

 

[JimR]

Combination of two things, My CTL has torsion axles suspension all the way around, and the forks/carriage, dont roll "back" very far when you are down low, the radial lift affects the basic tilting alignment...... While they dont rol back very far, they do tip out to beyond vertical- buts thats not useful for anything. Yes, uneven terrain, like soft ground and large surface roots, and the logs just slide around on the forks.

The forks are not useful at all on rough terrain, I only use them to load my (empty) IBC totes in and out of the dump trailer when I shuttle city water down to my ranch and pump it up into my holding tank 25' up. I do use them on occasion to pull 1000# bags of aggregate and use the chute on the bottom to play out the stone, or pick pallets of disc golf equipment off semi trucks, but thats it.

That explains it very well. You need a grapple in it.

 

[JimR]

That looks pretty handy, my forks are pretty short, so it shouldn't be too bad to fab something up like that.

Little tractor syndrome. I can pick up quite a big log but the forks are pretty close together, and honestly with as hilly as it is around my place a grapple would actually do much better, for most of the work I do, but money doesn't grow on trees, so I have to deal with what I can scrounge up.

That is understandable. I bought a lot of my attachments used. Hopefully you can scrounge up some steel and make a grapple. Prices on these items have gone way up since Covid. My 5500 pound forks doubled in price since 2017.

 

[sean donato]

That is understandable. I bought a lot of my attachments used. Hopefully you can scrounge up some steel and make a grapple. Prices on these items have gone way up since Covid. My 5500 pound forks doubled in price since 2017.

I was all set to buy an EA wicked 50" but they went up over $3k by the time I had the money saved up. I don't have that kind of spare money laying around, and it seems the used market is skimping for the smaller sized implements that I can run on my kubota. I'm sure I'll dig something up eventually. But adding a finger to the forks will be a step in the right direction.

 

[Squareground3691]

I was all set to buy an EA wicked 50" but they went up over $3k by the time I had the money saved up. I don't have that kind of spare money laying around, and it seems the used market is skimping for the smaller sized implements that I can run on my kubota. I'm sure I'll dig something up eventually. But adding a finger to the forks will be a step in the right direction.

Those EA are nice was looking at the wicked 55” , I like that they’re light weight so ur not using much lifting capacity but pretty tough and durable.

 

[chipper1]

Happy Thanksgiving, folks.

View attachment 1034635

What times dinner .
Just posted this in the good morning thread, at the inlaws.

 

[mountainguyed67]

The only issue I've run into them is that they are often pecky cedars.

Because they’re so old? I’ve cut smaller ones that are solid wood.

 

[mountainguyed67]

SR

Do you have a link to the story on this? I’d like to see video of them getting it back down.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Our loading dock was 90* to the road, and a lot of the over the road drivers from out West could not back into it, so we backed in a lot of the trucks for them. (They were not used to the tight spaces of the NE).

My brother is an over the road driver. His first job sent him to New England a lot, he hated it. He would talk about how he’d have to stop in the road and a forklift would come out and unload. Or he’d have to back 90° like you were saying, he did it himself though.

 

[mountainguyed67]

The best tool I've found that will do the most is pallet forks with a matching grapple. It will do everything a dedicated grapple will do and many things a dedicated grapple won't.

I wanted one like that for my loader, but the only one I found the correct size was in North Dakota (almost to Minnesota).

 

[mountainguyed67]

The video is a bit blurry, but this is one of five I cut next to a friend's house last year. Being as he had the trackhoe and is a friend. I did the job for next to nothing.
View attachment 1034592

That has the image quality of a Bigfoot video.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Sure is a lot less work when the root ball is pulled out by the tree..

Yes, I do that where I can.

 

[mountainguyed67]

always dirt & rocks on the log after being shoved over with a machine....

Yes, and I’d still much rather push it over. It’s too hard to dig out.

 

[sean donato]

Yes, and I’d still much rather push it over. It’s too hard to dig out.

Agreed.

 

[mountainguyed67]

pump it up into my holding tank 25' up.

Is the tank on a stand, or higher ground? The steep terrain of my property is a pain in some ways, but it allowed me to get my water tank eighty vertical feet up.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Because they’re so old? I’ve cut smaller ones that are solid wood.

I guess the incense cedars get attacked by a fungus that causes the heart rot. I've cut standing dead that were fine, I've also cut larger cedars that were only good for planter boxes. Tough to say what yours are going to look like.

 

[Sawdust Man]

Yes, and I’d still much rather push it over. It’s too hard to dig out.

I absolutely agree....when the stumps have go, it's a very bad plan to saw the trees down....pushing em out is the only to go.
I was just saying I don't like the results.. but I know it's gotta be that way sometimes.
From a cutters point of view it's not as nice... and as a sawmill operator, I really hate the machanical de-grade that often results from pushing timber over.

In my teens I used to argue with my brother about this all the time.... until I got on his cat and tried to push one of my beautiful stumps out....
I learned real quick he was not dumb is I thought.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I wanted one like that for my loader, but the only one I found the correct size was in North Dakota (almost to Minnesota).

You should have jumped on it! It's a lifetime purchase! Well worth any trouble to get it!

SR