Hemlock Logging

[perchhauler]

Cool Woodhog your right in my neck o the woods.. I live close to the Quehanna wild area.. I used to spend alot of time in the punxy/ Dubois area.. Steve

 

[woodhog]

I know I am getting off the topic. Perchhauler, we have a camp on the quehanna highway, up on top of the hill from the medix hotel, past the pumping station. We turn at the maintainence garage.

 

[perchhauler]

My Parents had a camp on the Merrill/ Ardell road, it turns to the left just past the pumping station (if your going toward medix).. They sold it after the 85' tornado.. They only live 12 miles through the woods from it.. I grew up hunting in that country, and I'll never leave it.. Steve

 

[woodhog]

I know where you mean, we are back Dieble road, about 1 1/2 miles.

 

[stihl 440]

PAplumber, I would also get a 20" bar for the 441. I run 20" on my 440 and 460. Get a stihl rollomatic ES bar. I wouldn't want to be carrying around the 25" all the time. Especially when you are in smaller wood. Also a 20" will take down up to a 45" tree with plunge cutting the center of the notch. What style cutting are you using? GOL style?

 

[tawilson]

Maybe you have a grapple on your loader and this won't apply, but I do a little trick with my tractor's bucket to make life easier. I have a piece of angle iron across the top with notches in it for the chains and I use a skidding tong with a chain looped through it hooked onto two of the notches to make a "V". I can go up to a log, drop the tongs over it, drag it where I want, drop it and hit the tongs at the ring with the bottom lip of the bucket so it pops off, all without leaving my seat. I got sick of dragging the cable from my winch all over, so I started doing this to get all the logs together for dragging. I can even curl the bucket back and pick smaller logs up in the air for stacking. Just don't go too high or the log can swing back around at you. If you put the ring so it hits your bottom lip, you can make the tongs turn if you curl the bucket back.

 

[PA Plumber]

Tom,
I do have a 4-1 bucket on the track loader. It works great for grabbing a log lengthwise and stacking. Might even be able to grab the end to drag. I may have to investigate your method a little more when I get sick and tired of jumbing off the machine every time to pull out a log.

 

[stihl 440]

not that bad

It's not that bad to get off the machine to hook a log. I do it. If you get the cat chockers it will be easier for you. You just hook the chocker around the log and pull up to the log or back up to it and put the loop on the hook. And away you go. That 4in1 bucket will help you out majorly, at the landing and in the woods.

 

[PA Plumber]

It's not that bad to get off the machine to hook a log. I do it. If you get the cat chockers it will be easier for you. You just hook the chocker around the log and pull up to the log or back up to it and put the loop on the hook. And away you go. That 4in1 bucket will help you out majorly, at the landing and in the woods.

I did go to Bailey's. It looks like a chain a slide and a cable. I would guess this would allow quicker attach/detach for skidding logs?

 

[stihl 440]

It is quicker to use a cat chocker, al lot quicker. http://store.baileys-online.com/cgi-bin/baileys/285?mv_session_id=Isv4rig7&product_sku=FSE%201214

 

[PA Plumber]

Thank you for your continued help Stihl 440.
Please excuse my ignorance here. Let's see if I understand how it works.
Loop is for attaching to bucket
Slide and knobbed end are what is used to go around log and quick connects to form a sliding loop.
Skid log and when done, release tension and undo quick connect end.

Does this sound right? About how long of a cat choker would be recommended? Largest trees are in the low 30" dbh range.

 

[stihl 440]

yep!

Yep! That's how you do it. You can use the loop with a hook on the cat or a clevis,(or bucket). I would say for the length is 10ft or 14ft. It is surprising how short it gets when around a log.

 

[BC_Logger]

i agree with stihl 440 thous chokers will get the job done

 

[PA Plumber]

Okay. It sounds as though a cat choker will be a lot faster than a log chain. Much easier to connect and disconnect from the log. I'll plan to get one for skidding and clevis it to one of the chain holes at the top of the bucket.

 

[stihl 440]

That would be the right thing to do. Do you have two holes on your bucket? If so you could get 2 chockers and bring out 2 logs at a time. That's if they aren't too heavy. You said earlier that some of the trees are 85ft to 10". In that case I would buck them to 40', then bring them out. But wriggling 40 footers around bends is tricky. After a couple of them you'll get the hang of it.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[PA Plumber]

paPlumber, I would swing by if I weren't so far away(champion, PA)Westmoreland county. I do go to the farm show complex to the farm show and the horse show though. Long ride. Like I said I would swing by and help you out if I wasn't so far away.

Man, you sure have me wishing we could meet at the property sometime. I would love to go over layout and methods.

The two cat chockers is a good idea and so is the 40' bucking length. I was up today looking over the lane and what I have to do to make it so the triaxle can get in. A few of the Hemlocks are Huge.

I never looked at them to drop them until today. Very intimidating!! I do have Douglas Dent's book, but dropping a 3-4 ton tree will take some getting used to. I can't imagine dropping some of the trees out west and in the Pacific North West!!

 

[stumpjumper83]

I dunno what the tree weight was but I did get a 3 ton log outa this one, plus the second log. The second I had to leave in the woods and is not the log beside the big one because it was too long to make it around a bend. Guessing at least 4 ton maybe for total tree weight. Hey let me know I'd be happy to come cut sometime.

 

[PA Plumber]

I dunno what the tree weight was but I did get a 3 ton log outa this one, plus the second log. The second I had to leave in the woods and is not the log beside the big one because it was too long to make it around a bend. Guessing at least 4 ton maybe for total tree weight. Hey let me know I'd be happy to come cut sometime.

Nice log Stump.
Okay, I'll make a post with some prestart pics to let folks know.

I know cut layout is very important. In plumbing ne house rough-ins 75% of the job is layout. If that is done correctly, the rest of the job goes much smoothly. This is my first time laying out a logging cut. I know it won't be perfect, but I do hope it is enjoyable.

 

[stihl 440]

logging layout.

When I cut I make my paths for the first day. Cutting the trees off the landing and clearing the landing. Pileing them in the log deck. I also cut the trees that are in the way on my skid roads. Then the second day I start cutting. I start at the back of the stand and work back toward the landing. The last day I walk the stand to see if I missed anything. Is your gound soft where the landing is? To say get a tri-axle in and out with a load of logs. But laying out a logging layout, is just like plumbing, if it is layed out right the rest of the job goes smoothly. Also if you haven't logged in a long time or never, the first day you will be the most tired. After that it just gets better. You'll get used to it. Boy, I wish I was closer to harrisburg. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[PA Plumber]

There is a gravel lane that runs (From West to East) down through the middle of the Hemlock harvest area. I have two old staging areas (from logging done 20 or more years ago) that are right beside the lane.

On the right side (South) there is a flat and then up a ridge. The trees on the flat look extremely straight. The trees on the north side of the ridge will likely want to fall down the ridge with the tops toward the landing/staging area.

On the left side (North) of the lane there is a flat and then the contour slopes down slightly and away from the lane. Most of these trees look like they want to fall to the west and north.

So... I'll clean up the staging area, and start from there since the trees want to naturally fall in that direction?