if you've got a chainsaw mill...

[mikeb1079]

...you have to have a way of picking up logs you see by the side of the road! so a couple of weeks ago i was on one of my many many trips to the local home center (remodeling basement) and i spied this nice honey locust tree that a construction crew had ripped out of the ground.

it's been laying there for at least three weeks so yesterday i decided that if it was still there this morning it's coming home with me. well sure enough it was so i hooked up the trailer and away i go. here's my homebrew trailer setup, i welded up this little frame to support the post for the snatch block so that i could winch logs up the side of the trailer. i anchored the winch at about a 30 degree angle to the tongue of the trailer so that it would have a fairly straight shot at the pulley. i screwed a couple of brackets to the street side of the trailer for 2x6s to attach to as ramps and log rides right up.

i cut the log out of the tree, it's not huge probably about 8' long and maybe 20" on the butt. this is a good thing because my little winch which is rated at a 1000lb single line had it's hands FULL getting this log up on the trailer (my snatch block assemblage is doing fine though ) it's a simple cheap setup but it works for getting free logs back to the mill yard (house).

all strapped down and ready to go back home.

i've never milled any honey locust before but i've seen some pics and heard that it has nice color/grain. it's fairly hard too (don't laugh bob) with a janka hardness of 1580, which is harder than most north american trees. i'll post some more pics when i get to milling which hopefully will be over the thanksgiving holiday weekend.

 

[WesternSaw]

Log on!

Way to go!Seems to work great for you.Good luck with the project.
Lawrence

 

[mikeb1079]

Seems to work great for you.Good luck with the project.

yeah it works pretty well. i'll neglect to comment on the design and performance of my first pulley mast...alright i'll comment: it failed miserably. i've had quite a few logs on the trailer and so far it's holding up well. here's some ash, hackberry and white oak.

 

[BobL]

Looks good, thanks for posting the pics.

 

[woodshave]

I've done that very thing and had the cops give me the shakedown for stealing. I pulled a log half buried in the mud from a construction site that had been sitting for weeks. Cop said if I didn't have written permission specifically about the log it's illegal. When I pointed out that it was going to be burned or buried as trash I was told it's illegal even to steal trash.

This was in yuppie hell, North Carolina and he was probably a yankee transplant anyway. :check:

Just thought I'd pass along my bad experience in case you find yourself in the same situation. I always ask someone now just to have something to tell "the man" when he comes around.

 

[randyg]

Gaining advantage

Nice looking setup for loading there Mike. Provided you have enough cable, rather than taking a wrap and hooking back into the cable, you might try the following. Bring the hook over the log, down the back side and under, but then take the hook all the way back to and hook the trailer. This not only doubles your mechanical advantage, but puts a spin on the log to make it want to roll and not slide. Rolling friction much less than sliding, and cleaner log too. Experimenting with hook placement on the trailer can help in steering the log up the ramps as well.

 

[willbarryrec]

Nice job!

That's what I need!

 

[mikeb1079]

Just thought I'd pass along my bad experience in case you find yourself in the same situation

this has crossed my mind more than once. i wouldn't bother if i weren't so sure that the tree was gonna get junked. usually (not always) the mpd are pretty cool, but you never know.

Bring the hook over the log, down the back side and under, but then take the hook all the way back to and hook the trailer. This not only doubles your mechanical advantage, but puts a spin on the log to make it want to roll and not slide

that's a great idea randy, thanks! i never thought to do that. one of my beefs with the winch is that it only has 50ft of cable which seems to always be just shy of what you need. but if i can get it close to the trailer then i can try your trick.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Nice looking setup for loading there Mike. Provided you have enough cable, rather than taking a wrap and hooking back into the cable, you might try the following. Bring the hook over the log, down the back side and under, but then take the hook all the way back to and hook the trailer. This not only doubles your mechanical advantage, but puts a spin on the log to make it want to roll and not slide. Rolling friction much less than sliding, and cleaner log too. Experimenting with hook placement on the trailer can help in steering the log up the ramps as well.

It's called "parbuckleing", it's what the old timers used to get logs on and off a trailor...

Most times i use an extra cable or chain around the log, then hook the winch cable to that. That way the log will go straighter, and the winch cable doesn't have to be so long.

Rob

 

[820wards]

yeah it works pretty well. i'll neglect to comment on the design and performance of my first pulley mast...alright i'll comment: it failed miserably. i've had quite a few logs on the trailer and so far it's holding up well. here's some ash, hackberry and white oak.

Cant wait to see it milled.

jerry-