Any advice on loading heavy logs by hand?

[Tree Machine]

I see where you're coming from, Monkey, but ripping rounds into quads creates huge amounts of bulky mozzerella cheeze if you rip with the grain. Ripping 90 degrees to the grain (a la milling a log) takes so much more time. Certainly a quarter round is gonna be 1/4 the weight of a full round, but you've got time into the cutting of the quarters and more time into cleaning up the mess that wasn't there to begin with. And quarters don't roll very well. Of course, sometimes with fat rounds, there's little other choice than to quarter them.

As far as liability, there's always that possibility. Unprofessional? Usually my clients are really happy to know that the wood's not going to a landfill. Most of the time it never comes up as an issue. Unethical? Since when is recycling unethical? How is giving away something of value unethical? Most people call that a 'gift'. Maybe your client would perceive you as doing less work than what you're getting paid for? Well, they're paying you to do good work and get the mess cleaned up. I simply put on my estimate, "Will arrange the removal of the wood and do a complete cleanup, power blowing, etc..."

Will arrange removal of the wood. Put it in writing. You're either going to move it off premises or someone else is. Those are the only choices we have.

 

[sharpstikman]

what about giving the wood to a church they are always helping people in need . that good deed will come back to you, god bless

 

[treesurgeon]

cut the wood 16" and roll it up ramps. the longer the ramp the easier. try in combo with a log roller to get the odd shapes up the ramp.

 

[Porkchopper]

Log Dolly. Will haul 1500lbs.

 

[woodchux]

I roll the logs to the truck or trailer , then use some of the smaller ones as a step up for the big wood. Load the heavy stuff first, or it will seem twice as heavy.

 

[CoreyTMorine]

I do about 10 cord/year, and only for... well i dont know why i do it, firewood is a tough way to make a living. As for saving my back i have had good luck using a pulp wood hook, it saves me from bending over so far. Roll/throw everything over to the truck, put the rollers onto a tarp, then quarter them. when done just roll up the tarp and dump the saw dust/ spagetti in a chip pile samewhere.

but like a couple other folks have said "don't want to handle it too much, the wood might wear out." if you can split it onsite and sell the wood green do that.

if you have a low trailer with a good ramp, and do not have a dump truck, rolling the big stuff onto the trailer is a good way to move it.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

in order to make money and not waste time, you are either in the wood business or the tree business. there is no way to make any money if you have to buy wood, process it and then sell it. and if your a tree business you probably dont have the time to screw around with firewood. most tree businesses are equipped for tree care and if you are dicking around with some cheap firewood, who's running all your expensive tree equipment?

The fact is tree work is seasonal. There are days when you don't have enough work. These are the days the crew can split wood.
Most jobs require the wood be hauled away, and splitting can be done off season. If you are in a market where you're getting 3 or 4 hundred dollars a cord, how could it not be profitable?

were better off just cutting the trees and then selling the logs wholesale. after a job, sell them on the way back to the shop.

We will also keep any saw logs whole, to sell to the mill. You get as much, and often more money than firewood and there's much less labor.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Good Points;
Bill'em Dano!

If the splitter is at the house; i'd survey how big the stuff is ,and if it isn't too heavy, if i can use the length of a log before altering to help lever it's own self up/over. Sometimes cutting length just makes more pieces to lift, and removes counterbalancing length to stretch over pivot of trailer side, ramp etc. to use to your benefit.

On big stumpy stuff, sometimes sliding slick base up ramp rather than rolling is easier. Whenever possible, find pivot and lean / don't lift; ie. sit down to push up, rather than busting back pulling up to go up.

You will find the below listed in some knot books as a 'knot' called a parbuckle. Very nice for right occasion. can get rolling 2/1 from any source. We used truck with line strung trough wide set hooks or rings. Not tying the truck end down, allows self adjustment by riding back and forth freely through hooks/rings/or just Reese/frame hitch. Prefer wider set hooks, to single hitch for the truck pull line, cuz wider set balances spar on other end better, so tie to trailer wide too.

You can increase the power by providing ramps to pull up with parbuckle. Some place a hand crank or even electric wench on the opposite trailer side to power this, but then that places another pull on trailer towards flipping. So here ramps double duty as helping the winch and parbuckle, and wedging against trailer flipping! This is especially true if wench is mounted 3'high to give more leverage to flip.


Some Wench Rules

 

[notahacker]

I have had great success in giving it away free, but this involves a strategy.
.

My home has an acre and a half. I give free firewood away all of the time. When I see someone comming in the yard to get some I go out to say hello. They ususlly ask how do you get all of this? A perfect time to promot my business! I hand them a magnetic business card and let them know I do tree trimming and removals. They are happy for the wood and I get business back to me. I make way more by just giving it away and promoting what I love to do. I didn't get in to climbing trees because I want to split and sell firewood. :blob4:

 

[Tree Machine]

Good point Notahacka. I have found that, too. Giving away firewood often leads to treework in the future. You're giving them something of value. It's not unusual for them to feel the need to somehow return the favor. Either they'll hire you, or they'll tell a friend.

Spidey's parbuckle is a nice technique to have in the bag. Before I purchased my log arches, that was the way i'd get a saw log up over the side rails of the dual-axel trailer (with ramps). The log arch is about a kazillion times more swift in that regard. If I've got a monster log, and let's assume it's not worthy of lumbering, I'll gauge the dice-up, load-up, clean-up time of making chunks on site against just getting the arch and lifting the whole log up and out, and delivering it to a remote spot for dice-up later. I learned that the whole tree can be going amazingly well, but once you get into that big trunk the job can shift into super slow-mo. The big arch has made working alone much more possible as arching a log is a one-man job.

That's a different story, though. Our topic here is lifting wood without any special equipment.

 

[stehansen]

I learned that the whole tree can be going amazingly well, but once you get into that big trunk the job can shift into super slow-mo.

Isn't that the truth. Not only does it go into slow-mo but everyone gets real tired and you stay in slow-mo.

 

[Ekka]

Thats why I bought a mini loader that also stump grinds

Now the log is the fast mode and lots of fun!

 

[Tree Machine]

Woodchux' suggestion

You could at least throw down a picture for us.

Still, we're talking more to the fancy equipmentless crowd. The guys new to the industry, truck and trailer guys looking for tips on how to get those steenkin heavy hunks up into the back of whatever is hauling them.

If you're working alone, it might be best to quad the rounds and toss them in. If you have a second person, you can roll a rather large round up onto a pickup bed using nothing more than what you've got onsite.

Woodchux mentioned this method earlier in this thread, and I'm supplementing that with a cartoon picture.

I still suggest knocking off odd forks and stub remnants as it makes it easier to roll these biggies on and off, as well as doing a favor for the end user.

Use blocks of downed wood to create a stair step. Two to three blocks of differing heights and the wedge cut at the bottom. Most of the time I have a firewood guy come to pick up the wood, and almost always I will help. This is usually how we start.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

If you're loading onto a trailer, some 8ft steel ramps are great. I've rolled 30" Maple rounds onto my trailer sans help this way. It was easier to maneuver then this way than by trying to dolly them up the ramps. A dolly is a good investment though. A used ball cart, which I think someone already pictured is even better.
I've seen "mini-cranes" that you could bolt to your pickup bed or trailer frame. They're powered by a hand pumped hydraulic cylinder and can lift at least 300lbs. I think Harbor Freight might carry them.
I guy I know supported his family for years by loading trees into his 77 Chevy 3/4 ton. If anyone knows back pain, its Woody. Well, he had a bright idea on how to load a spar into his pickup. He backed up to it and flopped the whole thing into the bed. To say that it dented the bed is understatement. Quarter pound Woody.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

Check it out. My back already feels better.

http://www2.northerntool.com/product-1/74569.htm

 

[protreecare]

how I load

I load logs with my own two hands with help of my Prentice 120E behind my 1995 F-800 with dump bed. This is just my two cents.

 

[kiwiclimber]

I have put a tee piece into the hyd line that feeds the under body hoist this in turn powers a ram on a crane at the rear of the truck it will easily lift a ton and saves my back.will try and post photos of the set up.

 

[Tree Machine]

Love to see all that, but this thread has a title, and the use of hydraulics isn't loading heavy logs by hand.

Not everyone has a grapple truck, a prentice loader, a log arch or a bobcat with forks. There's no question that the use of hydraulics is the way to go to make heavy lifts, but guys starting out, who want to save their backs until they can afford a piece of hydraulic equipment ar elooking for sound advice on how to do this with what they've got.

How about some ropes and pulley ideas. Gin pole? Good 'ol leverage and mechanical advantage. The Egyptians built the pyramids without hydraulics. I like the idea of a boat winch style of lifter. They're available and relatively inexpensive. I would like to see a beefed up version of KentuckeySawyers' armature with a 2-speed winch, like so:

 

[woodchux]

Here's a link to a "pickup truck crane" for $82.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=1647
I've got one, they work great ... just a little slow