Checking Chain Brake? Also, new logger questions

[northmanlogging]

This goes for the bucking discussion earlier... as a bonus I think I finally got the d'oh64 running good. (wiring funkyness)

 

[Canyon Angler]

Thanks, Northmanlogging. I appreciate the advice. I'll see if I can find a way to get the snatch block up higher

Sometimes, just to make things easier, I've been cutting down the little saplings that get in the way. In fact, yesterday, I ruined a brand new chain when I went to cut down a red maple sapling (maybe 5" DBH) that my log "packet" got hung up on. I cut the front wedge out, then went to cut the back cut with the 660 and the tree was so small that there was no room for a wedge, and I was trying to drop it in the opposite direction of a (very slight) lean but I figured I could push it over...and the dam thing sat back on my bar. Couldn't pull out the bar and chain. Plus, I had made the cuts about 4' high because my "log packet" was piled up at the base of the tree and I didn't want to be sawing near the wire rope and chain (yeah, I know, I would have had to anyway, I thought of that afterwards, too) so now I've got a 660 with 28" bar pinched at the tip of the bar about 4 feet off the ground while the tree tries to think of ways to fall and kill me... what do I do? Grabbed a peavey to hold up the powerhead while I scratched my head from a safe distance. Tried pushing the tree over with another long dead log. No go -- tree was maybe 25' tall and branches snarled with other branches. Then the peavey fell over and the powerhead fell down. So then I was afraid the tree would fall on the saw and smash it, so I got my scrench and detached the b+c from powerhead. Finally I just pulled the tree down with chain and truck. Ended up with brand new Stihl chain all bent and twisted for about 2-3". Tried straightening it in a vise using pliers and hammer and drift...does this generally work? Tried to run it, but it keeps coming out of the track in the bar. Went with another new chain I had on hand...What a fiasco!

Anyway, one question -- when you said

Last, start close and work your way out, unless there is a hill, then skid top down, preferably skidding up hill.

Did you mean to say "preferably skidding down hill" ? Not sure I understand, otherwise.

Thanks again.

P.S. Watched your bucking video in the next post, then watched your video "Stretching out the 084" ... What kind of a tree was that you dropped? Wish we had trees like that out East...a couple trees like that and you could build a barn.

 

[northmanlogging]

If you ever find yourself on a hill, keep the logs below where you are working, so if and when something comes loose you are uphill from it, takes more lift and more power but being dead i supposed to be permanent so... skid top down, fall and buck bottom up, keep death trapped with gravity.

The vid is a douglas fir. Not the biggest i've cut, but close.

They get much bigger here.

 

[northmanlogging]

To be clear, i limb and scribe butt to top, the buck top down unless there is a hill, then the plan changes according to gravity.

 

[Canyon Angler]

I gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. I like that "keep death trapped with gravity" line, sounds like a good way to remember certain things.

 

[rocketnorton]

forget what it's called, but cut taper on end of log youre hooked to.
from old horse skiddin days
don't have pic handy, but maybe some one here...
or google old logging pics

found one

 

[Canyon Angler]

Thank you, RocketNorton, yeah, I do that, but still my logs and log bundles seem to have RADAR and will FIND the only tree within 30 yds to get fouled in...

Also saw something called a log skidding cone that helps keep the log bouncing off of obstructions but they want $160 for a piece of plastic...no thanks. But I plan to try to make something similar from the hemispherical end of a big steel propane bottle...

 

[rwoods]

Skidding cone

Pioneerguy600's oiltank cone , a bit heavy but indestructible .

My prototype poly barrel cone .

My prototype hd boat bumper skidcone .
Skidcones have their place

Ron

 

[Canyon Angler]

Some clever ideas there, Ron, thanks for sharing. I imagine that boat fender cone thing works well in the snow.

In case you missed it, in the OP, I linked this steel skid scoot sled thing:



At first I was trying to figure out how to fabricate the thing in the video, but then I got the idea to use the round end of a propane bottle. I figure I could use 3/4" pipe for the "frame" of the sled, and weld it to the hemispherical portion of the propane bottle, and could probably get two "sleds" out of each end of a propane bottle...

 

[madhatte]

I winched a bunch of logs onto a trailer using an old car hood as a "scoot sled thing" awhile back. Worked fine.

Also the thing about tapering the ends of the logs to aid horse skidding is called "sniping". This is unrelated to the same word used to describe a steep second angle in a face cut.

 

[Canyon Angler]

I winched a bunch of logs onto a trailer using an old car hood as a "scoot sled thing" awhile back. Worked fine.

Thanks, Madhatter, that's even simpler. About 10 years ago, I unearthed an old car hood from beneath about 3' of honeysuckle that was overgrowing a pecan tree in the yard here, now I wish I had saved it.

Also the thing about tapering the ends of the logs to aid horse skidding is called "sniping".

Now the "snipe" that you get on the end of a board that comes out of the planer makes more sense.

 

[Skeans]

Thanks, Madhatter, that's even simpler. About 10 years ago, I unearthed an old car hood from beneath about 3' of honeysuckle that was overgrowing a pecan tree in the yard here, now I wish I had saved it.



Now the "snipe" that you get on the end of a board that comes out of the planer makes more sense.

On your guys coast if it’s on the board it’s from the face out here we have to square the butts off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Canyon Angler]

Planer snipe:
https://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/dealing-with-planer-snipe/