The Case for Full Wraps and Long Bars, Pt.II

[fishhuntcutwood]

I've started several times to buy one of those things....But my approach is sure fire.....I take a Big Shot...shoot a line to the very top of the tree,then winch it over...I've never used a wedge for falling anything other than big tops and snags.
But the rope trick only gets the tree going,it's still up to the faller to hit the mark...Many people believe you can set the rope and use the rope to put the tree anywhere you wany....But cut a bad lead and you'll see what happens.

Way to go, trying to be serious!

Good post. But jacks come into their own here because (again) terrain and remoteness prevents you from hooking up to anything to pull with.

And you're absolutely correct about the faller hitting the mark. Many people do mistakenly believe you can pull a tree anywhere you want.

Jeff

 

[Timberhauler]

I am serious about buying one of them jacks for about the same reason...I live in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains,so sometimes I do end up on some pretty serious terrain....Just walking in and out of some of the job-sites are bad enough.

 

[Timberhauler]

But how do they work if the tree has a really bad lean in the opposite direction???.That is the biggest reason I have kept from buying one..It seems like when I have to take a tree on the side of a steep bank,or at the edge of a cliff,it seems to always have a hard lean down hill.Usually always enough to where you have to worry about it twisting off of the stump,even with a rope in it

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Well, everything has it's limits. You can jack out a certain amount of lean, but physics does take over at some point in time, and you're left with what the tree leaves you.

 

[Timberhauler]

I did a job once wher eall I had to do was fall some big oaks off the edge of a cliff to open up the view.It was a total of twelve trees,some of the biggest hardwood timber I had ever seen in my life...Every single tree was set up perfectly to fall down the hill.I hated to waste the logs,so my plan was to drop them down the bank,and winch them back up with a skidder that I borrowed for this job...The first tree I cut did a complete flip down the hill and ended up over 100 yards from the stump.Several of them went perfectly and I was able to winch them right out...More than half though took the same route the first one did.I put a good price on that job,so the money for the timber would have been icing on the cake...But seeing those 150ft. tall trees cutting a flip down the side of that steep bank was worth the loss I took on the timber.To mention they would hit so hard,it sounded like machine gun fire when they started tearing down everything in their path...Of many years of working in those mountains,that was the first time I had ever gotten to let a tree free fall down the hill.Usually we were having to fall them up the hill..It was cool.

 

[Gologit]

Tree jacks

Tree jacks are used sometimes to make sure the tree follows the lay of the strip. You try to fall all the trees so they wind up laying in pretty much the same direction. This makes life a lot easier on the skidder operator and generally speeds up production. If you just fell everything any which way you'd have something resembling the biggest game of "pick-up sticks" you ever saw....and a really pissed off side rod. Tree jacks are also used, like Jeff said, to make sure valuable trees go exactly where you want them. If you were falling a big fir or redwood you'd want to make sure of your bed so you didn't bust it over a stump or rock or something. Just another tool to try to make things go right.

 

[RiverRat2]

Do they have tree jacks in the East?

Hey, East Coasters, listen up-

Sometimes our trees here are so large, you can't wedge them. In that case, you cut a recessed ledge at the stump beneath the back cut, and hydraulically jack the tree over. You've got to watch your pressure gauge to make sure the tree is in fact moving. They make them so you can carry them on your back. But I suppose you guys could fit them in your "man purses."

Next time, I'll tell you how to read the gauge, and what it's telling you....

(Sorry, I couldn't stay out of the East/West fued any longer! )

FHCW,,,, Im out again,,,,that **** is way too funny LMAO again LOL Man purse!!!!!! LOLLOLOLOl

 

[GASoline71]

I tried to rep about 6 of ya... shootin' blanks here too!!!:bang:

:rockn:

Gary

 

[sILlogger]

my wedge and tree jack

this is what i use in place of wedges and a tree jack. thought u guys would enjoy!!!

 

[Timberhauler]

Only problem is in some of the places we are talking about....You wouldn't be able to get that skidder in there to push or pull.....Good idea though.I use one in the place of a wedge sometimes myself.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Agreed. And that thing is almost too purty to use!

Very nice skidder!

 

[Timberhauler]

That skidder must be a brand new one...I didn't even know Deere made any green skidders....The Deere skidder we have now is a 648G....It's yellow..Mind you it doesn't belong to me,it's my old boss's,but I get to use it whenever I need it...Is that a custom paint job or what?

 

[sILlogger]

nah

that pic came from the john deere website!!! i am planning on finally going out an my own and not "working for the man" anymore, im planning on purchasing a 1996 648G. thats the plan anyway, trying to get some jobs lined out before i get the machine so i have a couple months worth of work lined up when it rolls off the trailer.

 

[sILlogger]

the plan

if i do buy the skidder ill get post some pics of the skidder and my first job. im planning on having it all together by summer time. working the #'s right now(never ending). but i hope it all goes well and i finally get to go out on my own.

 

[Timberhauler]

that pic came from the john deere website!!! i am planning on finally going out an my own and not "working for the man" anymore, im planning on purchasing a 1996 648G. thats the plan anyway, trying to get some jobs lined out before i get the machine so i have a couple months worth of work lined up when it rolls off the trailer.

Best of luck to ya....Right now the bulk of my business is the tree service end of it,and I specialize in removing trees that no one else wants to do...During the last two years,I've been trying to build up the timber clearing end of my business,and it seems like I've got all these other logging outfits throwing jobs my way that are in awfull places and none of them want to do.I recently bought a straight truck with a 18 foot bed and standers.I usually load it with my grapple truck,and my poor skid loaders are doing all of the dragging right now...As soon as I get some stuff paid off,I'm gonna get me a skidder....Probably a Deere 648.

 

[Timberhauler]

I've been meaning to add that I wouldn't trade my days of logging and clearing lots in the mountains for anything...It probably had alot to do with why I was able to win my high school bench press competition when I was just a sophmore....But,I hate going up there these days.I still do quite often,and when I do,my rates go way up....The risk of injuries is much greater,hell,it's hard work just to get your gas cans,saws,ropes, and climbing gear where you need it.Once that is done,yellow jackets seem to nest everywhere on the side of those banks,and we rarely ever go up there and work without running into a few rattlesnakes...Unless of course it's in the winter,but out of all the work done up there,it's rare I go up there in the winter.Everyone wants to have everything done when it's 98 degrees and 100% humidity...I'll still work on the side of mountains with the best of em'...But it's nice not having to work up there every single day anymore.

 

[TimberPig]

That skidder must be a brand new one...I didn't even know Deere made any green skidders....The Deere skidder we have now is a 648G....It's yellow..Mind you it doesn't belong to me,it's my old boss's,but I get to use it whenever I need it...Is that a custom paint job or what?

Since Deere bought out TimberJack, they have been painting their Deere iron in the green and yellow Timberjack colours. Older Deere's are yellow. T'Jack's are no longer in production.

 

[B_Turner]

I scoped out a tree that I think I'm supposed to get the trunk of next Wednesday. I am hoping for the last 12 or so feet above the flair that looks to measure an honest 40 inches DBH. Looks bigger than that, but that is what the tape says. First 16 ft straight and no branches.

Could be some crazy bowls in there. It will take every inch and a little more than my 42 inch bars have. I wish I had a 50 inch bar for occasions like this, as long bars give me more precise cuts when blocking.

I hope my helper can make it, as we will be talking some what I will guess will be 600+ lbs rounds to handle. I am not going to tell him about it until he recovers from helping me with retrieving two pretty big firs that are going to be really tough to deal with because of the situation.

Turned the last of the Mercer Island oak that Lakeside and I blocked and milled. The biggest bowl ended up around 17 inches diameter and about 11 inches deep. Around 1/10 inches thick.

 

[Timberhauler]

I've got a poplar tree to take out sooner or later that is nearing five feet in diameter,and close to 175 feet tall...I've gotta fall in between two houses as is,because the top is dead and I'm scared to climb it....I haven't started on it yet because I dread doing it...It's all gonna have to be cut up and hauled out by hand,there is no way to get a loader to it..I haven't had the heart to tell my guys about that one yet.

 

[B_Turner]

That's a biggie. It will keep your guys busy a while.

Around here most tree guys when the trees get big start cutting the rounds short because of the weigth. Some of them get down to like 12 inches on the really big stuff.

For me, the length of the round determines the max size piece I can turn out of it, so I typically cut the big stuff at 20 inches. One tree was 67 inches diameter and we estimated the rounds were around 1200 lbs. Luckily I had a front end loader there to push the rounds off the stump as I went, so I could cut the rounds up with them on their side. As tall as me.

I think I am slowing up, as stuff over around 4 ft on the tape makes me tired just thinking about it. I start looking for excuses to leave it for someone else...

Last year I think it was, I bought a Sherrill log dolly hand cart. It can hold some pretty big wood, but once the rounds are past around 40 inches diameter, it is definitely a two man rig to handle.