The Forestry Forum

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestions...in the coming spring, I will be working on several acres of family property in the southern Adirondacks...plan on cutting roughly 24" dia trees, but they will be 100-200 yards from where they need to end up for firewood cutting/splitting...any ideas of ways to get larger sections of wood this distance, other than cutting into blocks and hauling by hand...I dont have an atv aviailable, and there is no road or vehicle accessibilityto the area...I realize its not a huge distance, but will probably be a 2 man crew and will get tiring fast...also, cutting area is slightly downhill from area wood needs to end up...thanks for the help

do a search on the yankee yarder, it's a small gas engine powered winch. I've never used one personally but I think it would work for something like your situation. If the trees are that big, you would probably have to cut them into 8-10' lengths and have some kind of arch or a skidding cone.

I have seen where folks back a truck on the landing and jack it up and take a wheel off and replace with a rim.  THey then mount another wheel on a tree back where the trees are and run a big rope around both (Think ski lift)  you choke your trees on the main line and pull the trees to the landing.

There was also and article in Sawmills and woodlot a few issues back where they used hand pulled sulkies. 

I sometimes use a long cable run through a block attached to a tree. Drive truck or tractor downhill to yard log. By using a block, the log will run straight to the road, and less likely to hang up. A car hood makes a good sled.

I've used as many as three blocks to skid logs out.  Plot your path out and change the blocks to different trees as you skid it along.  I use nylon straps to secure the blocks to trees.  You also want to keep from "barking" the bases of the other trees.

I just bought a portable winch from (wait for it) Portable Winch Co.  If you Google, you'll be able to find links and videos.  This thing is not cheap, but it absolutely will do what you need to do.  My neighbor and I recently hauled some logs up a fairly steep incline, and after we were finished with that, set his 500 gallon propane tank in place.  No problemo.

Tim

TimRB,  Welcome to The Forestry Forum.

"TimRB,  Welcome to The Forestry Forum."

Thank you very much.  I am not a pro logger by any stretch of the imagination, but I do cut a fair amount of firewood.  (Even that is not much compared to you guys who live where it actually gets cold.) Anyway, I mostly will lurk, probably, and contribute where I can.  My brother is on here too, so I have to be careful not to say anything stupid. On the other hand, he already has been witness to plenty of my stupidity, so maybe I should just relax.

Tim

Those winches look nice, but they better for $1200.  Could you drop all the trees and then rent a tractor to pull them out for the weekend????

John, are these 24" diameter firewood trees or potential sawtimber?  If you can get some sawlogs, you might be able to pay for a nice winch with the proceeds.

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies, some great ideas already...I have been thinking of some kind of winch system would probably work the best, there are a lot of trees to use as anchor points and for leverage...unfortunately there is no way to get a tractor or the like into the area, short of cutting in some kind of road, which is not an option, family likes having the land stay as untouched as possible, and I agree, not a huge plot of land but it abuts over 300' of lake frontage and like to keep it somewhat wild...I had thought that maybe with an electric or small gas powered winch at or near landing point, with cable and series of pullys into the woods, or maybe make landing half way, get wood there, and reset to final landing point...I dont know about logs being processed, not sure of availabilty for such to be done in the area, I dont have any milling equip and none in budget anytime soon, although there is some nice wood, black cherry, maple, walnut, as well as ash and birch...most of what I would be cutting for would be firewood, was planning on starting with some standing dead, believe was black cherry, 2 side by side, prob 80' each

for getting wood out of tight spaces how about a horse  that's about as gentle on the land as you can get. there are horse loggers around just not sure how to find one, try a google search.  with size your talking i should think the r would be logs  some of the sawmill members might be able to help you there even standing dead trees can be sawn and make some interesting lumber
pay some, sell some, and maybe come out even, who knows

Might not be economical, but you might be able to find a local tow truck that has a winch with plenty of cable to reach the 100 to 200 yards. he could pull in, string out his cable, pull em in for ya, and be done.

or maybe call these guys
http://www.swansongroupaviation.com/
  ;D ;D ;D

Id love to have them helied out, lol, if only...the horse pulling could be an option, have to see whats avail in the area...thanks for all the input, really appreciate it all so far

Sounds like a horse logging job. ;)

If you are in the Adirondaks, there is bound to be someone not too far away who can saw a few logs for you. If you really do have a bunch of 24" trees, there ought to be something worth sawing. Even if you are not looking at a commercial deal, sometimes it's fun for a landowner to be able to say, "this was made from wood cut right here on this property". If you sell a couple good logs and pay for a winch or other equipment, so much the better.

my two cents cause i can't afford any more I'm a logger and a firewood cutter ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkZZFSqEP5A

I had come across one of those chainsas winches while searching online, they look pretty interesting...I also looked at a small gas engine powered winch, which looked very nice, although I dont have the money for one...maybe I can find somewhere that rents either out for a couple of days, I would imagine my 361 would pull with the chainsaw type winch...thanks to all for the replies, and your 2 cents, its appreciated :)

What town are you in? I know of horse loggers in Luzerne,Schroon, and Plattsburgh. I also know a guy for hire with a portable sawmill and small tractor with winch. There is help available. You'd be amazed what a horse can do. Thought of a snowmobile? Mike

i would cut the tree up into firewood lengh and buy a pull wagon for 85 bucks from home depot and save up for a atv for next year i do alot of logging with a atv it helps out alot

That wagon might help, but he did mention an uphill run to where he's taking the wood. Pulling by hand will get old quickly, if there is much of a slope.

Hey new to the forum/logging, and all this stuff in general and in the same situation.
I have VERY hilly/rocky land and have set up my recently acquired LM2000 in the middle of it.
I need to get logs up and downhill.
A juniorarch, two 2 ton come alongs, chokerchain, a 2 wheel drive atv with a hitch with a chain grab, and a peavy is all I currently use (saving for a tractor).
I just moved a 28' long 18"DBH red oak roughly 550' over very rocky/rough terrain using nothing more than a nylon wrap around trees with choker chain hooked up to the come-alongs.  It took a full day, but was actually pretty easy considering the land it had to traverse!
next on my buy list is a few LONG reels of cable and some self releasing snatch blocks.  I plan on using the atv on flat ground and routing the cable how I want the log to run using nylon webbing off trees as well as self-releasing snatch blocks, and getting "bumpers" set up on all surrounding trees/rocks.  hook the cable to the atv as well as the chokerchain and drive the atv (could be a truck out on the side of the road in your case) to get the log out.
very little impact on the woods, the truck/car/atv stays where it should, you stay safe, etc etc

Welcome icolquhoun.
I use an arch and the portable gas winch.
The arch is loaded with back weight from the log so the tongue sticks up and then levels off when you winch it ahead.

Welcome icolquhoun, and thanks for the input, that sounds like it could work very well for my situation actually...i do think that if rigged right i could get a run of line to the driveway on our property where i could pull with a truck...i will definately look at it in the coming months and try to come up with a map of how i could work it...and thanks very much to all for the help, i would still be scratching my head as to what to do, heck, i might even be able to get some saw logs out without any money(that i dont have anyway) up front...that would surely get me started on purchasing some more helpful equip for the future...also have a lawnmower engine that i was thinking might be able to build a homemade winch from when i get time, someday, buddy does some welding, need to do some designing in meantime...thanks again to all, ill be sure to let everyone know how things go

I often use a big pulley hung in a tree and a chain, but I have a forwarder to pull it. I would think hard about hiring a pole skidder. If you cut enough trees, it would be worth it.

Have you thought about a Lewis Winch for your power saw ?? They are not too expencive and beat a comealong bigtime. If I remember right they spool about 200 ft of small aircraft cable

Quote from: captain_crunch on January 25, 2010, 11:21:25 PM
Have you thought about a Lewis Winch for your power saw ?? They are not too expencive and beat a comealong bigtime. If I remember right they spool about 200 ft of small aircraft cable

A Lewis Winch would probably work good in this application! Myself, I would be looking for something about half way between a Lewis Winch & "Thirsty". :D

Using a barge rope (or better a leaving line) has added length to many deep woods jobs...the thick rope expands and contracts...more forgiving than chain...buddy and I picked up two on Ohio R after spring floods went down....best log hauler you can use

Thanks for the additional suggestions, i have thought of a saw winch, looked into a few, but not a lot, funding just isnt where id like it to be unfortunately...ultimately i think im going to have to rig a pully system, at least to get started, see how that works, as i wont be out as often as id like to be anyways, then in future will a better solution will be necessary, thanks to all again

Ok now I understand you and I have the same budget. >:( >:( How about hanging a block (Oregon word for pully) 10-15 ft in a tree near mill or road run line thru it and pull down road with atv with long peice of line. Higher the better as long as you can not pull over tree but with 4wheeler that is unlikely. Bad part is you can not really see what is hapening with log . But it will give you some lift and make log skidd easier

Captain, thanks, and im sorry you too have my budget issues, nothing to be done sometimes though...that would probably work well, and there are plenty of sound trees around to use, and I should be able to at least have a spotter back watching the woods, could work out well, I appreciate it

Four wheeler and log-rite arch

Hi All,
I'm new here although I've been reading for a long time.
I have the same problem with trees falling in places I can't get to with any wheeled power equipment.
I've been eyeing the Harbor Freight Gas Powered Winch for awhile.
As we all know some of their stuff is ok and some is just junk, so-
Has anybody actually used one?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95888 (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95888)

Thanks

Don't by that one its way to slow and you don't want to be involved with cable. I bought one like this . Best money I ever spent.

Check out my gallery
http://www.portablewinch.com/en/

Quebecnewf

"I've been eyeing the Harbor Freight Gas Powered Winch for awhile."

I have not used the HF winch myself, so this is just some rambling FWIW...

Two things to consider about the HF winch -- One, it weighs over 50 pounds.  Granted, that's not an enormous weight, but remember you will likely have to be repositioning the thing all day long.  Two, it only carries 50 feet of cable.  This makes it all the more likely that you will need to reposition the winch.

With the Portable Winch that Quebecnewf and I are talking about, your cable (rope) length can be anything you want, and since the rope is separate from the winch its weight doesn't add to the winch weight.  Also, you can attach the winch to the rope at any point along the rope.  This is handy if you have something rigged up with snatch blocks but have discovered that you need to pull the log in a different direction for a short distance to get around an obstacle.  Just position the winch where it needs to be, make the short pull, and then put it back where it was so you can resume pulling with your original rig.

I will grant that the price difference is huge.  On the other hand, I can attest that the PW unit is very, very well built, while it's a foregone conclusion that HF cut every corner possible.

Tim

I agree the capstan winch would be better, I just can't justify the cost as a "hobby logger" ;)
After many years of not doing it I want to start heating my home with wood again.  I have some land in the NC mountains that has blowdowns every year.   Some of these trees are huge, there is one oak there now that has been on the ground a year that I bet it has 20 pick-up truck loads of wood in it.  Problem is it is in a hard to get to spot, just need an inexpensive way to haul it out in sections, to where I can load it up to take home, some 130 miles away....
I have a 6x12 dump trailer I plan to carry the wood home in, wouldn't be worth going all the way there for just a pickup load at a time..would cost me almost as much for the round trip as I could buy a truck load of wood locally for.    :D

As for weight of the HF winch....well I have toted a car battery into the woods to run a 12v winch, the battery alone weighs as much as this whole winch.

If you need to stay within a budget and most of us do why not use the truck to haul the logs. If you are planning to pull the logs to an area where you can saw them and then load them in the truck. Run ropes and snatch blocks and let the truck do the work. It may be slow but you do not have to buy another piece of equipment.

Quebecnewf

Quote from: nc/sc on January 30, 2010, 05:47:21 PM
.............   Some of these trees are huge, there is one oak there now that has been on the ground a year that I bet it has 20 pick-up truck loads of wood in it.  Problem is it is in a hard to get to spot, just need an inexpensive way to haul it out in sections, ............

You can also buck the logs up into firewood lengths, and use each piece as a "wheel". Roll them out by rigging a handlebar (think old lawnmower handles) and screwing lag screws into the center of each end. Walk the pieces out. Works well, low investment, and amazingly quick. No dragging, no disturbance to the ground. Split them at the trailer and haul them away.

I have a capstan winch mounted to an old Stihl powerhead.  I have a 100 foot and a 200 foot rope for it and a skidding cone.  It is very portable, very effective for all the reasons TimRB states above, and it is easy for one person to use.  I wouldn't want to skid all day every day with it, but for bunching firewood logs and use in sensitive areas it is a very effective tool.  I have about $800 into the whole set up. 

What size of logs will a saw powered capstan pull, and what size powerhead is required to do so?  I like the capstan setup a lot, the portable one online looks really nice, but out out of my range right now

I use a skid cone with the capstan winch and the winch is mounted on a saw about 65cc's.  Skidding big logs in the snow with the skid cone really increases the pulling power.  In the snow I have skidded 16 foot oak and hard maple logs that are 14 inches diameter with no problem with the throttle locked at half speed.   For larger logs you can throttle up to full throttle and get lots more power, but you need another set of hands to help.  The one area I notice the small winch size is when you have to pull through brush, dirt, snow, or other obstacles.  The winch doesn't have the extra pulling power to bust a big log through, so you often have to help by clearing stuff, using a peavey to roll the log over, or making a little ramp in front of the obstacle.  Even though it isn't perfect, for the price and with the mobility, the capstan winch is a great tool that I wouldn't give up now that I have got used to it.

wilson-tree,
where'd you get the capstan as well as the skidding cone?

I'm looking at the novajack kit/portable winch set-up and it seems perfect for what I'd be doing, just wondering what other alternatives are out there.

Here is another Idea Old Timers use to remove tire and wheel from pickup then set block under axle and use a bare wheel for a Capstan winch. My luck I would yard pickup block but there were lots of shake bolts drug out this way

I ordered my winch from Novajack with the 300 foot rope they sell.  The rope is tough, light, low stretch, and a good value for the price.  I cut it into a 100 and 200 foot piece.    I got my skid cone from DR Power Equipment because they are close to me.  It is the same cone Novajack sells.  I also use the cone with my horse and with my brother's 4 wheeler because it makes pulling so much easier. 

Wilson tree -

How much did that skid cone run you?

I think the skid cone came to about $135-$150 with tax.  It has held up well for two years.

Thanks again for all the help, ill let you know how things work out in the spring