Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
Nice pics, and some nice timber 
How well does that Amsteel cable hold up to abrasion vs. regular swedged cable??
How well does that Amsteel cable hold up to abrasion vs. regular swedged cable??
Some sawing, logging and skidding pics and videos ......
- Thread starter Slamm
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chopperfreak2k1
Addicted to ArboristSite
awesome pix and vid! don't be afraid to show us more!
:agree2:
:agree2:
JustinM
Addicted to ArboristSite
Very cool! Wish my wife would want to use a saw, she only wants to drive the quad back with a load of wood behind it. Guess we can't all be so lucky!
Haha! EXACT same thing at my place
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Here is a video of me dropping a tree yesterday. It had a slight lean to the left but a branch to the right. I wanted it to go left, and it sat on my saw so out came the wedges.
Some stumps and butts from yesterday:
This one had fence wire in it, so I had to high cut it, to get out of the wire. It was at the edge of a steep dip into a creek. So I put the face on the bottom to get it down the hill faster so it wouldn't bust up.
Karen and I will be skidding these out today. Will try to get something of that.
Later,
Sam
Some stumps and butts from yesterday:
This one had fence wire in it, so I had to high cut it, to get out of the wire. It was at the edge of a steep dip into a creek. So I put the face on the bottom to get it down the hill faster so it wouldn't bust up.
Karen and I will be skidding these out today. Will try to get something of that.
Later,
Sam
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Here is another one:
Later for the day,
Sam
Later for the day,
Sam
Great pics and narrative
chopperfreak2k1
Addicted to ArboristSite
:agree2:
o8f150
Tree Freak
neat pics,,wish we had a skidder to use,,,my wife is always ready to cut wood
the westspartan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nice pics and videos! I tried to rep you but I have to spread it around.
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
The landing this morning:
Karen skid this amount out in about 1 hour, I'll try and take a pic of the landing full in the morning. I think we pulled out about 60+ trees today.
Finally broke the Amsteel Skidder Rope. Here is photo'd everything you need to splice a new end, it goes together in about 4 mins tops. Karen skid one tree out in the time it tooks me to repair the end and take a couple of pics:
When it does finally break this is about how much you "loose". Its about 3 feet, because there is rope inside that rope, so to speak:
Here is a video of me pulling the large Red Oak that broke the cable. This amsteel has lasted a very long time and pulled around 500-600 trees before finally now breaking ...... and it was abused on this large tree. I had to hook my blade onto smaller trees to keep the frontend down and get enough "traction" to pull it up the hill:
Karen running the Grapple Skidder up a hill, I had just backed up to one tree and am going to hook that one and the hickory that is hung up in the distance. I will pull that hickory down and then pull both trees to the landing.
Here is a video of me following Karen out with some trees in tow. The truckers are here picking up two trailer loads of wood. One truck has a "picker" on it an he loades the other trailer:
That is what we did today,
Sam
Karen skid this amount out in about 1 hour, I'll try and take a pic of the landing full in the morning. I think we pulled out about 60+ trees today.
Finally broke the Amsteel Skidder Rope. Here is photo'd everything you need to splice a new end, it goes together in about 4 mins tops. Karen skid one tree out in the time it tooks me to repair the end and take a couple of pics:
When it does finally break this is about how much you "loose". Its about 3 feet, because there is rope inside that rope, so to speak:
Here is a video of me pulling the large Red Oak that broke the cable. This amsteel has lasted a very long time and pulled around 500-600 trees before finally now breaking ...... and it was abused on this large tree. I had to hook my blade onto smaller trees to keep the frontend down and get enough "traction" to pull it up the hill:
Karen running the Grapple Skidder up a hill, I had just backed up to one tree and am going to hook that one and the hickory that is hung up in the distance. I will pull that hickory down and then pull both trees to the landing.
Here is a video of me following Karen out with some trees in tow. The truckers are here picking up two trailer loads of wood. One truck has a "picker" on it an he loades the other trailer:
That is what we did today,
Sam
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Here is a decent sized Poplar that I cut.
Here is video of some minor inconviences that from time to time happen in logging. I will explain, the tree was already leaning in the direction that was fine for falling, which was away from the camera. I used a 660BB/28" bar and cut through both sides, and cut the spurr off in the back (facing the camera). I figured this tree would just fall over as usual and didn't get the camera out until it just sat there for several minutes swaying in the breeze and it wouldn't go over. My axe was back on the ATV about 4 trees away. Then I get redneck and try whacking the wedge with some local wood product.
This video is the end of the above video, and shows the felling cuts, for how I cut, I feel I left too, large of holding wood on the right side, and hinge is a little thick for a tree that already wanted to falling in the correct direction, but none the less, it went down. It would looked more professional had I had my axe to knock some wedges in quick and then move on, but it happens, LOL.
There are exactly 90 logs that needed to be cut up Thursday:
Here the timber buyer is marking the logs for where I need to cut them up.
Moving around clockwise is the landing. Those cutup logs are going for staves in barrels and the slow truckers haven't picked them up yet. They are all marked and tagged.
More tothe right, here is the beginning of a line of about 46 logs.
More of the 46 logs:
Another pile at six O'clock from the pile of logs, I'm standing on. I was already cutting on this pile. I cut most of these logs up with a 660BB and my modded 361. I smashed my 441 the day before and cracked the PTO side of the crankcase, handlebar and fuel tank.
8 image limit, have to start a new post..............
Here is video of some minor inconviences that from time to time happen in logging. I will explain, the tree was already leaning in the direction that was fine for falling, which was away from the camera. I used a 660BB/28" bar and cut through both sides, and cut the spurr off in the back (facing the camera). I figured this tree would just fall over as usual and didn't get the camera out until it just sat there for several minutes swaying in the breeze and it wouldn't go over. My axe was back on the ATV about 4 trees away. Then I get redneck and try whacking the wedge with some local wood product.
This video is the end of the above video, and shows the felling cuts, for how I cut, I feel I left too, large of holding wood on the right side, and hinge is a little thick for a tree that already wanted to falling in the correct direction, but none the less, it went down. It would looked more professional had I had my axe to knock some wedges in quick and then move on, but it happens, LOL.
There are exactly 90 logs that needed to be cut up Thursday:
Here the timber buyer is marking the logs for where I need to cut them up.
Moving around clockwise is the landing. Those cutup logs are going for staves in barrels and the slow truckers haven't picked them up yet. They are all marked and tagged.
More tothe right, here is the beginning of a line of about 46 logs.
More of the 46 logs:
Another pile at six O'clock from the pile of logs, I'm standing on. I was already cutting on this pile. I cut most of these logs up with a 660BB and my modded 361. I smashed my 441 the day before and cracked the PTO side of the crankcase, handlebar and fuel tank.
8 image limit, have to start a new post..............
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Here is where we started for the day. Stan, the timber buyer, marks them. I cut them up. He stacks them where they need to go.
Here is a branch that split and was filled with very large wasps or hornets. The timber buyer thinks they are the ones that spread the oak disease that kills the white and red oaks. They are huge, but seem to be rather mild mannered since I haven't been stung yet and I have dropped three hives of them.
Here is some photos of the smashed 441. I was cutting a large red oak off, really low and cut the hing a little to thin. The tree sat on my saw and I couldn't get it off of it, and I couldn't get the scrench on the bar nuts, because the saw was basically scraping the ground, in the cut. I cut the holding wood with the 361 and it all when wrong. I pulled on the 441 as the tree went down, but it was pinched hard the whole way down, then it rolled over onto it. New parts from the dealer are in the $380 range, for Handle bar, fuel tank and PTO or right side crankcase. In two years the only way, this 441 has be taken out of comission is by two trees falling onto it, and both times it will still start right up and run, but the handlebar is as inappropriate angles to work. I'm going to get a new one ported up and wait for some better deals to come along for buying replacment parts on this saw.
Just that morning, I was telling Karen I wanted another 441 so I would have two, but this wasn't in my plan for how to get another one, LOL.
Sam
Here is a branch that split and was filled with very large wasps or hornets. The timber buyer thinks they are the ones that spread the oak disease that kills the white and red oaks. They are huge, but seem to be rather mild mannered since I haven't been stung yet and I have dropped three hives of them.
Here is some photos of the smashed 441. I was cutting a large red oak off, really low and cut the hing a little to thin. The tree sat on my saw and I couldn't get it off of it, and I couldn't get the scrench on the bar nuts, because the saw was basically scraping the ground, in the cut. I cut the holding wood with the 361 and it all when wrong. I pulled on the 441 as the tree went down, but it was pinched hard the whole way down, then it rolled over onto it. New parts from the dealer are in the $380 range, for Handle bar, fuel tank and PTO or right side crankcase. In two years the only way, this 441 has be taken out of comission is by two trees falling onto it, and both times it will still start right up and run, but the handlebar is as inappropriate angles to work. I'm going to get a new one ported up and wait for some better deals to come along for buying replacment parts on this saw.
Just that morning, I was telling Karen I wanted another 441 so I would have two, but this wasn't in my plan for how to get another one, LOL.
Sam
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nice pics, and some nice timber
How well does that Amsteel cable hold up to abrasion vs. regular swedged cable??
Sorry, slayer I didn't see your question:
Amsteel vs Swedged cable in the abrasion department only, would not win any battles, but if that was the only way you measured a skidder cable's ability to ease your life then I think you would be short changing the concept.
In a situation like a winch on a grapple skidder ...... like my 540B Grapple. I will probably always, use steel cable, because in the few instances that I do have to use the cable on the grapple skidder, the cable will be scraping against the grapple and it is not cost effictive per use.
But for a cable only skidder, it is wonderful. There is a study around:
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jnz6/Synro... Steel Wire and Synthetic Rope Winch Line.pdf
http://www.orosha.org/pdf/grants/osu/synthropeusepotentials.pdf
In these reports or studies, they expound on the benefits to the human body, as in less fatigue and such, and those attributes are great, but the real benefit from running Amsteel is to the skidder itself. You see the amsteel after it has been pulled and stretched a few times, has a few very nice benefits.
1. You can just drop logs of any size down and never worry about crow's nesting of the cable of any kind. This is because it is so light that the winch spool doesn't have enough inersia to keep on spinning, after the log is on the ground, or it doesn't have the spring that steel does. I don't believe in the spring part though, because when it breaks it is a little more exciting than a steel cable in my opinion.
2. This second benefit is directly related to the first one. When you get to your next log and pull out some cable to attached to the next log. When you start to pull you don't have to clutch the machine forward to take out the crows nest and relay the cable correctly, so as to not damage the steel cable. You see the Amsteel doesn't seem to care how it is sitting on the winch spool, and only maybe twice in 2 years have I had to hook it up to a tree and pull it loose, because it got stuck within itself, like steel will do if not properly respooled each time.
3. The above two benefits take a lot of stress and abuse off of the transmission and winch, either for dry runs of pulling forward to de-spool the cable and then respool it correctly, not to mention the time wasted for the above practices that must be adhered to with steel cable or your steel cable will be broken by the day's end, or seriously damaged and won't last the week.
4. Another thing is the practice of dropping the logs, by releasing the winch and then quickly re-engaging the winch brake to prevent the crows nesting. This re-application of the winch brake is completely not needed anymore, and that is with the drag set to complete free-spool, for easier pulling out of the cable.
Also it is extremely light, you can pull out 130 feet and hold the whole rope up level with your shoulder with one hand, with steel cable you can hold 40' up off the ground, LOL, so it just drags around behind you, through the woods.
Splicing this stuff is very easy, a little kid could do it. Just figure the first splice will take 1 hour and there will be cussing, while you read the directions and then the next splice will take about 15 minutes, and the next one 10 minutes and then about 5 or less minutes after that, and it is a peaceful operation. Not hammering some cable cutter that may or may not cutt it off in a few whacks. Then finding something to anchor the knot with and in and out of the skidder several times trying to get the anchor knot correct and tight, then trimming the excess steel cable off later.
If you buy 100' feet of Amsteel and damage the rope in the middle, you can just splice it and move on. With Steel cable, that cable is now half the length and you have just wasted 50+ feet of cable, because you can't do a mid-splice. With Amsteel you would have only lost about 4' .... just enough to splice it again.
That is why I like it, and I feel its benefits far, at weigh any negatives related to it.
My opinion,
Sam
chopperfreak2k1
Addicted to ArboristSite
awesome pix and vids! very much appreciated, thanks!
mowoodchopper
Polar Bear
Awesome thread slamm! Beautiful place you have, nice operation too!
I agree with 100% on the semi chisel, we run a small tree service and
cut alot of firewood, I used to use almost all chisel and have over the last yr switched to mostly semi chisel. We take down quite a few big elms and hack-berry etc and have to cut our stumps at ground level. The full chisel just
is to much work, I can completely toast a full chisel chain in about 60 sec
on a big hard dirty stump, then it takes 30 mn to get it sharp enough to cut at all. The semi is much more forgiving and alot faster to sharpen.
I agree with 100% on the semi chisel, we run a small tree service and
cut alot of firewood, I used to use almost all chisel and have over the last yr switched to mostly semi chisel. We take down quite a few big elms and hack-berry etc and have to cut our stumps at ground level. The full chisel just
is to much work, I can completely toast a full chisel chain in about 60 sec
on a big hard dirty stump, then it takes 30 mn to get it sharp enough to cut at all. The semi is much more forgiving and alot faster to sharpen.
Justsaws
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nice thread with great photos.
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yes, agreed, full chisel is like a roller coaster, it is really fast and really slow and not much stability inbetween. Possibly it works good for softwood cutters, but not oak, hickory and dirtyish wood or cutting low stumps.
I prefer system components that will be consistent and efficient and readiable long term, and I don't find that with Full Chisel, as when it get dull it just goes bad quickly and soon you have a crooked cutting chain or the sharp cutter edges are broken off and such. With Semi chisel, when it gets dull ...... it just cuts slower and slower, but it is quite gradual and consistent and readiable. If a loader on the landing or a skidder in the woods is breathing down your neck, then you can cut a few more cuts with semi and it won't ruin your day, it may not be the fastest at that point, but it will get through the log or tree ..... full chisel will just stop.... and for the one second extra speed you get from full chisel you end up with more sharpening and much shorter chain life (my findings).
Have a good one,
Sam
wigglesworth
Booned
Slamm
Addicted to ArboristSite
Man...you weren't lying. You killed it.
Not to worry, Terry has another one at his dealer and it will be hopped up more than the last one. He is quite excited about it. He even spent my money on some Big Bore kit for a 441, so I guess that will go on one of them, after I get that/a parts saw to fix this one. I have been wanting two 441's, but I didn't really want to "have to" get the second one under these conditions.
I have that Brookport job pretty much sealed up now and two fast 441's will really be nice for that job. You will have to come up and slay 18-20" soft maples all day. Stan, says they are thick as the hair on a dogs back and very tall without limbs. It should be some fun, fast work. There is also some big river timber behind that Lock and Dam that we get to cut, 1/2 mile of it, you can see it from the bridge. Some trees will probably fall into the river and have to be pulled back out, I can see some biggin's from the bridge in there.
Later,
Sam
DHIBBS75
ArboristSite Operative
What part of western ky are you in???
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