Building a small lumber/log hauler for the ATV

[mtngun]

Great pictures, Brad. You'll have a nice pile of logs to play with this winter when the snow is too deep to log in the woods.

The majority of the dougs that I mill have a pitch crack at least in the butt log. After the pitch dries, the pitch crack breaks open easily, so I have to either edge around it, or else contrive to place the crack where it won't be heavily stressed.

There seems to be a lot of greenery in the backgrounds of your pictures. How much precipitation does Williams Lake get in a year ? One source on the web said 45 cm (18") which seems low ?

 

[Brmorgan]

There seems to be a lot of greenery in the backgrounds of your pictures. How much precipitation does Williams Lake get in a year ? One source on the web said 45 cm (18") which seems low ?

I don't really know anymore what would be the average. The last few years have been technically "drought" years for us and the trees are really stressed out because of it; pests are taking them out left and right. Last summer we had 11 weeks with no rain whatsoever; this summer was also quite dry up until about 3 weeks ago. Since then we've had well above average precipitation, which was great for getting the fires under control, but now the bush is so wet and muddy we can't bring logs into town.

Since we sit on the interior plateau between the Coastal and Rocky mountains, it is rather dry around here compared to a lot of the province, but not quite as dry as the south Okanagan. It's wetter as you go east, and drier as you go west until you get into the mountains again. We do have cacti on the dry south and east-facing slopes, especially out west, though they are right in town in certain spots too.

To be honest, your pics mostly look like they could have been taken up here, with the exception that we don't have Ponderosas quite this far north. It isn't quite as ragged right around town here as it appears around you, but just southwest of us there ARE ponderosas with that type of terrain and a near-desert climate in areas:

Natural grasslands out west:

View from the top of a sand dune not far from where the last two pics were taken, about an hour's drive west:

I believe it's the largest dune in British Columbia.

Looking out southwest from another spot out that way, towards the coast mountains and Chilko Lake, about 75 miles away.

 

[Brmorgan]

Oh, and for the record, I'm hoping to have all those logs milled up before snow flies here (which could be six weeks or three months, you never know), so I'll have to haul some more stuff for over the winter. There are lots of 8-12" pine close by that I could haul to mill studs and the like out of. I'm hoping to have some 6X6 left over out of this Fir run to give me a good head start on a small ~10X10' garden tool shed, so I'll need some 2X for that project too. I've pretty much cleaned up the Fir that's really close to the house. There is a really good stand of dead ones, probably a couple dozen in just an acre or two, but they're near a quarter mile from the house and on a steep hillside. Definitely worth going after with the convenience of this new trailer, but a lot more work than what I got here.

 

[mtngun]

There is a really good stand of dead ones, probably a couple dozen in just an acre or two, but they're near a quarter mile from the house and on a steep hillside.

I take it you have access to some private land, 'cuz I assume the authorities would frown on you hauling logs from crown land ?

That's why I rarely bring logs home. The Alaskan mill flies under their radar, but if I were caught hauling a load of logs on a public road, I could get in trouble. Otherwise, it would be neat to haul logs home and cut them with a bandmill -- speaking of which, how's your bandmill project coming ?

Thanks for the beautiful pictures. I agree, your area looks and sounds an awful lot like mine, with everything from cactus to grassland to cool shady forests.

Well, a source on the web said 45 cm (18") per year at Williams Lake Airport, so I'll go with that. I average 24" per year, but, you can drive 5 miles in any direction, and be in a completely different climate zone, depending on exposure and elevation.

 

[BobL]

Great Pics Brad. It's hard to reconcile those against the smokey hazy scenery I saw.

The log pile is starting to look impressive considering you're just using the ATV and simple home made log hauler.

 

[Brmorgan]

Well guys, I'm a bit at a loss. I milled two more 8X8s tonight without sharpening from last night at all, and out of three 8" wide cuts, one washboarded but not as bad as the pic above, one was a little rough but acceptable, and the other was almost as smooth as the low-profile chain.

I was quite impressed with myself tonight though; I got my log-to-square time down to 35 minutes flat on the last one. This counts marking my cut lines on the end, leveling the end blocks and guide board setup, and setting up the aluminum guide rail for the vertical mill, on top of the four cuts to be made. I don't know if you guys remember me adding some aluminum angle to my guide board for added stiffness; it's really helped me out. To shim the center up, I've been using some 3' long 3/4" X 3" picket stock I have lying around - I just tuck one or two between the log and the bottom of the guide, and shim it up with a couple falling wedges to get it leveled out. After six logs with nice and straight results, I'm confident with this system now as long as my guide board manages to keep nice and flat. This way isn't as forgiving for correcting warp in the guide.

Right now I'm batting around the idea of building a CSM resaw unit, with a horizontally mounted chainsaw and a power feed to send slabs through to recover additional boards. It would be a lot easier than running the Alaskan over a 2" thick slab to get a 1" board, which I find myself doing frequently. It wouldn't be that difficult of a build, I don't think. I have that old 1930s cast-iron tablesaw sitting downstairs taking up space; its table would do the job nicely (even tilts, so I could let gravity help the feed), and it weighs a ton and is nice and stable. All I'd have to do is build an Alaskan-like frame over the top for vertical adjustment, and a mount with a really strong spring to hold the power feed down. I have a number of motors and gear reducers I can play around with to find something that will work for that. If I actually do get around to building this and it works out really well, I'll think about putting the 10HP Briggs on it and making it more of a permanent unit. The only problem I really foresee is keeping the chain from pulling the slab hard into the side of the unit and binding up. Whatever rollers I rig up would have to be on either stiff springs or a preloaded air ram or something to let them follow the irregular surface of the slab.

Geez, the last thing I needed right now is a good brainstorm... Too much on the go already!

 

[Brmorgan]

We had a short day at work again today, ran out of lumber in the planer because the sawmill's been down because we can't haul logs because it won't friggin' stop raining now... So, I ended up getting four timbers milled out today. I made myself some new little helpers today too:

I cut a couple 6" and 8" squares from 3/4" MDF and drilled a hole dead-center in each. So now instead of measuring out from the pith and using the level and square to lay out my cut lines, I just drive the screw into the pith and level the piece, and draw around the perimeter with a Sharpie. Perfect boxed-heart every time and a lot easier to set up. Slowly getting more efficient!

Here's what I've got after today's production:

I milled one 6X6 and three 8X8s today. The one at far-right is pretty much an economy piece; it came from one of the last logs I hauled back that had the punky sapwood. It was barely big enough to fit the 8X8, so all four corners are punky and kinda ugly. I could always take 2" off of two sides to get a 6X6 with two nice faces though.

Forgive the dingy cellphone photo. I've got quite the slab and sawdust piles building up, and I'm only halfway done that stack of logs. The sawdust pile will be really decent after I mill the slabs down! I should get four more 6X6 pieces and six 8X8s out of the remaining logs there.

Once those are gone, if the weather holds up and I have time, I'm going to haul the milling equipment up to the big log I've used in some of my saw videos and quarter it or something to where I can haul it back home. At 28" diameter (plus bark) it's far too big for me to manage with the quad, especially considering the rather significant hill I have to come down on the way home from there.

 

[mtngun]

Nice posts.

Those 8x8's are heavy, aren't they ?

 

[Brmorgan]

Nice posts.

Those 8x8's are heavy, aren't they ?

Yeah, I can handle an 8' pretty easily; 10' is possible if it's relatively dry, but the 12' pieces are too heavy for me to drag around. I just pushed them onto the trailer I hauled the logs on and pulled it around by hand. They only had to move twenty feet or so, so it wasn't worth hooking the quad up.

 

[Fallguy1960]

You could use a 2 wheeled log cart similar to what they use on construction sites to move smaller water and steam pies. I wish I had a picture but will try to describe it. Pipe fitters build them using wheels from a standard 2 wheel tank cart. They attach them to an 10" x 10" angle about 24" long. They place there cart close middle of the pipe they want to move. Then they push down on the lite end and push the pipe where you need it to go. A couple of 14" tire would make a better setup for moving after the yard. May be we have a pipe fitter on the site that can post a picture.

 

[striperswaper]

are you trying to discribe a skidding arch?
that could do double duty for logs that are too big for the trailer and moving cants/beams

 

[Brmorgan]

are you trying to discribe a skidding arch?
that could do double duty for logs that are too big for the trailer and moving cants/beams

I know what he's describing; the idea is similar to a log arch but there's no tongue to hook it to an ATV etc. to haul it with; it's just a set of wheels with an arch between. You hook it up slightly off-center on the load you want to move, so that one end is on the ground and one is up in the air. If it's done right, it takes almost no effort to push down on the light end and level the load out so it can be pushed around the yard. This only works well if the area you're working in is fairly flat and level though, because you're providing all the motive force to move the load.

 

[Fallguy1960]

The angle forms a cradle that the log or cant lays in. It does not hook the a tractor or four wheeler you push it by hand. It would be used to move the pieces Short distances around the yard from where you mill to where you store them.

 

[SPM in King]

Like either of these?