skidder bridge

Peter Drouin · October 14, 2012, 07:27:21 AM

Hi all I had fun making some skidder bridges . I did have some help :D

here they are 4'x20' use all 3 to make a bridge 12' x 20' all 6"x 10" hemlock

rick f · October 14, 2012, 07:32:01 AM

Nice job, how do you plan on moving them?

thecfarm · October 14, 2012, 07:52:06 AM

I've been seeing ALot of those with the power company CMP redoing the lines. When I was selling veggies in town I would see a load of new ones go by each day. Are these for you to use or for sell?

Peter Drouin · October 14, 2012, 08:28:33 AM

im going to sell them and or rent them I will bring them to your job and you put them where you want if you look at the pic you see a steel plate in the pic there upside down , there a chain that you can hook on to and drag them . or set them with a grapple

Ken · October 14, 2012, 05:45:55 PM

So I gotta ask the question. What are they worth? I was looking at putting in a portable bridge earlier this summer and was going to use 4 (12" x 12" x 16') hemlock timbers bolted together for each track/tire. The quotes I got for the timbers were from $160 -$200 each. I suspect the 6" x 10" are probably considerably cheaper but more are needed. Inquiring minds need to know :P

Cheers
Ken

Bobus2003 · October 14, 2012, 10:22:20 PM

Good lookin Swamp Mats. we have a about 25 of them, Though its getting time to Fix/replace few of ours so i'll prolly be building some this fall

Ron Scott · October 15, 2012, 01:53:59 PM

I'm preparing a timber harvest now that could use some. ;)

Woodchuck53 · October 15, 2012, 05:09:50 PM

Those are nice. And I bet heavy. What are they made of?

John Mc · October 16, 2012, 10:07:23 PM

Quote from: Woodchuck53 on October 15, 2012, 05:09:50 PM
Those are nice. And I bet heavy. What are they made of?

Hemlock, according to the last line, just under the picture.

Woodchuck53 · October 17, 2012, 06:19:22 AM

Thank you, must have missed that. Any idea what they weight?

John Mc · October 17, 2012, 05:29:26 PM

Quote from: Woodchuck53 on October 17, 2012, 06:19:22 AM
Any idea what they weight?

The OP could probably tell you better than I can, but from the calculators in the Forestry Forum toolbox:

Each 6"x10"x20' beam is 100 bd ft.
100 board feet weighs 420 pounds green.
a four foot wide section would take 8 beams = 3260 pounds

Hemlock should air dry to roughly half it's weight, which would be 1630 pounds for a 4 foot wide section, not including fastening hardware.

Depending on what you are driving across it, you may not need to go as heavy on the timbers.

Peter Drouin · October 17, 2012, 08:07:12 PM

Hi all , some guys make them with 6x8 , I guess it all depend on the size skidder that you have, for me im going with the 6x10 20' and some 16' long too. and use hemlock, I guess you can use another kind of wood too, maybe w oak

jwilly3879 · October 17, 2012, 08:35:54 PM

The Greater Adirondack Resource Conservation & Development Council (GARC&D) has skidder bridges for loan to area loggers harvesting in the Lake Champlain Basin area.

Contact is Jim Campopiano: jlcampopiano@gmail.com

Peter Drouin · October 17, 2012, 08:44:38 PM

do they loan them for free

thecfarm · October 17, 2012, 09:34:08 PM

I was going to sell logs for swamp mats. They wanted the hemlock to square out a foot. Some wane was ok. I think that is what I am see on trucks and by the power lines. Could be 10 inches too.