First time caller, long time listener.

[Hooterspfld]

Hello all! Just wanted to thank the forum for all the logging knowledge. I've been reading through many of the topics here on the forum and thought I'd introduce myself and my logging plans.

I've just purchased a 14' Tandem axle trailer which will be my logger. I'm mounting a 12000# HF winch and a truck crane to help load my logs. I currently have a Stihl 342 with a 25" bar that I will hook to an Alaskan mill. I've purchased 25' of full skip full chisel chain which I've broke down into 4 chains for the milling process. As far as drying goes, I've got a bedroom in my basement that will be sealed with a dehumidifier, fan, and heater to hopefully get lumber down to 12%.

I'm really just in the proof of concept process right now. I'm looking into making some lumber to produce some furniture projects I'm interested in. From there, we'll see how are I take it along with how far my wife will let me run with it.

I'll post some pics when I figure out how... hopefully going to grab a 20" diameter maple that is standing dead tomorrow. That's if I can get my winch installed in time...



 

 

 

[caveman]

Welcome, 
You have started down a slippery slope.  

[GullyBog]

Nice trailer.  I'm interested to see how it goes loading the maple.  A trailer's the way to go, logs are hard on a pickup.  Thanks for posting, I'm also getting started and can learn as much from someone like you as I can from an old hand.

[Hooterspfld]

Thanks guys, well nothing to report on the maple yet, worked all weekend on getting the trailer ready to go, winch and crane are installed. Only thing left now is to grab a marine deep cycle battery for the winch, I've also got some 25' single gauge jumper cables being delivered on Wednesday as a backup. Looks like it might be a couple more days till I get to cutting though, got some bad weather moving in tonight.  

 

  

[Southside]

An alternative to the jumper cable route is to run a pair of wires back from your vehicle battery to the hitch, end it with a snow plow connector (Anderson connector), and then on the trailer run the mating connector back to the winch battery, this will give you full alternator charging when hooked up, plus it gives your truck another battery to pull from for starting.  I have these connectors on every piece of equipment I own so I can jump power from anything to anything without needing jumper cables.   

[mike_belben]

What he said.  My dozer, bobcat, forklift, truck and even quad all have 175amp andersons i accumulated during my scrap career. Every thing i could ever want to put a winch on has a reciever.   Old arc welding cables are hands down the cheapest way to wire your stuff especially if u can buy it scrap by the pound. 


Sometimes dragging the butts will be easiest for you layout wise at the site, but parbuckling is a far easier way of getting them in the trailer in terms of load on the winch, and sometimes the lay of the site will work out better for it too.  So dont wait to long to make a cable redirect and a set of parbuckle ramps to dog onto your rails.  Short is strong, a 45* slope is no issue for the winch. 


Get another saw for milling.  You will want that one for trimming and a bign for the mill.  Youll burn up a small saw fast while milling and wont have any.  Or just jump in and build your basic bandsaw now.  If you start chainsaw milling its gonna lead to bandsaw milling.  

The secret to a happy marriage is not telling the wife. It takes years to train her to mind her business, but it can be done.  Let her get that new car, then do what you want.  

"Hooter, what the heck is that piece of junk you just dragged home? I thought i said..."

"Oh hi hunny thats a sawmill a guy i know gave me. You dont know him.  hows your car?  It looks a lot nicer than the old one.. And boy you sure are pretty ridin around in it.  Ill be outside, love ya." 

[samandothers]

"Hooter, what the heck is that piece of junk you just dragged home? I thought i said..."

"Oh hi hunny thats a sawmill a guy i know gave me. You dont know him.  hows your car?  It looks a lot nicer than the old one.. And boy you sure are pretty ridin around in it.  Ill be outside, love ya."

:D

"Hooter". Interesting nickname.  A story you can share?

[Hooterspfld]

Ok, so the electrical system is where I am weakest as far as knowledge goes. What's the advantage of running the Anderson 175 over just connecting the jumper cables. They would both be drawing off the truck's battery and alternator. Is one better than the other? Honestly, I didn't really look into running cables, because it seemed like a lot of work and I wasn't sure what advantage it would have, plus finding the wire cheap might take some time. 

I agree 100% on needing another saw. I've got a call in to a guy selling a Magnum 650, we'll see what happens there. Not ready to make the bandsaw leap yet, wanting to get my feet wet first and see where it takes me. Which yes, will probably end up with a mill.

As far as "Hooter" goes, nothing too crazy there. My last name is Hoots, so everybody has always just called me Hooter.

Thanks for all the advice! 

[Southside]

Jumper cables give you a horrible connection, those alligator teeth have minimal surface contact and don't allow for good energy (amps) to flow across them, think of when you have a loose battery terminal and it seems like you have a dead battery, same idea.  The Anderson connectors give you a very solid copper to copper connection with high amp transfer, plus they have the added advantage that you can not accidentally reverse polarity as they only mate up one way, they will never "pop" off like jumper cables do and there is zero chance of having a dead short to ground like you can with jumpers when the positive end strikes part of the vehicle frame while hooked up to the other battery.  

The set up is worth every penny, you will not go back to jumper cables if you set these up.  I even re-wired my battery charger so it has a connector coming out of the back and made up an extension cord so I can use the charger and not have to deal with the alligator clamps.  

[Hooterspfld]

Thanks Southside! Makes total sense. I'll keep my eye out for some welding cables now. Only thing I found was a guy trying to get $200 for 50' which seemed a bit steep. For now, I should be running off the winch battery itself, for the moment at least. Jumper cables are just a backup system. After I get a few trees under my belt, I might get more adventurous and desire a better power system.  

[mike_belben]

Ditto on crummy cable connections

With real wring youll get a lot less voltage drop and the winch will live longer.  Running a motor hard at less than full input voltage is tough on brushes and windings.  Less volts means it takes more amps and the heat breaks brushes down quicker.  

On your alternator, run a fat wire from the output lug to battery positive, and a fat wire from chassis ground to batt negative.  this way your alternator is doing more of the work than your battery.  You really dont want to run a non deep cycle unit down too far and a 12k winch plus bound log can really do that.  

[Hooterspfld]

Ok, first test of the logging trailer had mixed results. I would say it was technically a success, but what I thought would take 45 minutes ended up taking a good hour and a half. Uncovered some weaknesses in the setup that will have to be addressed. Mainly the ramps I used to load the log and the floor of the trailer/support for crane arm.  oh yeah and I need a better choker chain. 

All in all I am happy with the log. It's 10' now with the 18" diameter on the small end and a 20+" diameter on the big end. This was picked up out of the front yard of a neighbors yard. Never met the guy, but the tree had lost it's top in a storm. Knocked on his door and asked if I could have it, otherwise it would have rotted away. He seemed skeptical that I would cut it down, for free, but was happy with the end result!


 

 

 

 
 

[Southside]

Is that the maple you mention in the first post?

[Hooterspfld]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a silver maple, but I never saw it with leaves so I could be wrong. (still new to all of this) Tons of oak and walnut in this neighborhood too. Actually might get some oak from a tree coming down on Tuesday, fingers crossed. It's probably 36" and headed for firewood if I don't get a hold of it. 

[thecfarm]

chocker chain

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Winch-Choker-Chain-PCA-1295/dp/B00TYMVB94/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542549616&sr=8-3&keywords=logging+choker+chain

This has the so called slip hook on it,not a grab hook. Also helps to put the hook close to the ground to get a roll on the log to help get it started. The rolling hook also will turn the bottom of the log,to the top,can see any limbs that was on the bottom.
These chains can be bought at any place that sell winches for tractors.

[Hooterspfld]

Thanks CFarm, I'll probably go the amazon route. Shop I went to didn't have anything that looked beefy enough. 

Slippery sloap indeed. Got worried that the 342 was undersized for slabbing the maple, so added a new member to the family. New Stihl 661 with a 36" bar. After attaching the sawmill attachment, this should give me about 5-6 inches of room to walk the saw back and forth. 


 

 

[GullyBog]

Lookin' good so far.  I'm interested in how that winch holds up to loading logs.  The lumber should look great and a nice flat side on that log.  

[WDH]

Don't think that is maple.  Looks like hickory or pecan. 

[low_48]

I've cut maple like that for turning blanks. The ones I tried to use had an odd smell and incredibly heavy. I always assumed it had a bacterial infection. Doesn't dry well, lots of cracking.