log handling with a very limited budget. need idea's

[mrpink]

for a little back ground. A friend of mine has a half ownership in a manual lt 40. He is 80 years old with very poor eyesight, therefore he doesn't use the mill. he owns about 100 acres of woodland with a grist mill and up until last year an old country store. the store burned down last spring and he wants to rebuild it with wood cut off his property. apparently the bark beetles thought that was a very good idea and did there part by bringing some blue stain in to kill about 50 of his pine tree's. quite a few of these pines are over 20" with the largest being about 30". I can do the carpentry work no problem. he's got a guy to run the mill, till I get up to speed, so we are good there. I can cut the tree's down and buck them into log length no trouble. its getting the logs from where they lay to on the mill where the trouble comes in. I have a ford 1910 tractor (32 HP) with no front end loader. I can drag the smaller logs if I have to, would rather not, but the larger ones over about 20" gets iffy. I built a log arch but managed to twist it all up today, so will be straightening and  modifying it tomorrow.
as for loading the logs on the mill, I've built a temporary deck out of 10" I beams with one end on the ground and the other on 18" steel pipe that will get us pretty close to level with the bed.
time is the biggest factor right now, I have this week and next week off to get started. the guy is supposed to come saw starting Monday so I need to get some logs ready by then.
all this typing to ask how do you guys handle logs with limited equipment and a limited budget?

[DR Buck]

Only one way.....
http://www.logrite.com/

[mrpink]

would love to have a logrite tractor arch but its not in the budget nor the time frame.

[Woodey]

Welcome mrpink to the forestryforum.

[sgschwend]

So the tractor gets the log to the deck? And then you want to roll it up there?

If so parbuckling can be done inexpensively.  There are video of that method and posts here.

If the issue is with skidding:  Does the tractor have a lifting hitch?  If so lift one end of the log with the hitch and skid it up to the mill deck, then parbuckle it with any vehicle or the tractor.

Post some pictures may get some other ideas.

[dutchman]

You can use a skidding cone.
You  put the cone on the front of the log to keep it from digging in.
You can use, old car or truck hood, 55 gal. steel drum, large plastic drum.
Will not keep log clean, but will make pulling easier.
There maybe examples in FF. Do a search.

[Kansas]

What do you have at your disposal? I can tell you this. A 2 ton truck can do an amazing job dragging logs out. I don't know if you or the customer has one. Course it has to be dry enough. Hook the chain as short as you can so when you pull forward, it pulls the front of the log up.

[customsawyer]

First welcome to the forum. I would recommend getting all the logs cut down and cut to length, then rent a skid steer for a day or two and get the logs where you want them. They have one here in Dublin that they rent that has the bucket grapple on it. I know you said you was on a limited budget but that red clay you have up there in Sandersville will fill up the bark on those pine logs and make it very hard on the blades. The place that rents that skid steer is located on 441 just south of the big Farmers Furniture distributing center.

[Ianab]

The Arch is definitely the way to go, even home built. No matter what you have to pull it, you can pull 10X as much if it's hanging under an arch. So even your little tractor will be able to move a good size log, in easy terrain anyway. So first thing is to rebuild the arch and make it stronger.

Then your log deck / ramp sounds a good plan. What you probably want is a ramp, then level "deck" where you can stage logs ready to load on the mill. Even a manual type boat winch can roll a large log up a ramp. This is the parbuckling that Sgschwend referred to.

So now you can haul the logs to the sawing site, drop them at the foot of the ramp, and winch them up on to the deck. So you can have 5 or 10 logs on the deck and ready to saw before the mill starts, then some more on the ground ready to roll up and reload the deck as those are sawn. As you don't have forks, don't try and stack the logs. Leave them where they can be rolled to the ramp, or singly on the ground nearby so you can use the arch to move them to the ramp as needed.

Simple "machines" like wheels, levers and ramps are what they used in the old days before hydraulics, and they still work.

Ian

[sigidi]

Welcome to the forum, you'll fine a heap of info in here regarding almost all to do with sawdust :D

Your problem specifically,  2-3 hours on my skid steer loader can see me move a whole heap of logs, as mentioned before, you do the work beforehand, have all ya logs felled and docked, have the area you want them ready, get a fella in and if you tried doin it ya self for couple days - you'll give ya self uppercuts for not getting a fella in earlier!!

The only reason I went and bought my own skid steer earlier this year, I've been movin logs by hand and by brain cells for the last decade, now I move 'em by squishin oil!!!

[thecfarm]

mrpink,welcome to the forum. Leave the logs a little long to sguare up the lumber. Could some of the bigger logs be cut into 8 or 10 feet long? I think that would help you.

[stumpy]

One cheap trick I found very useful is to find an old bedliner for a pickup truck.  Cut it in half and use a cant hook to roll the log onto it.  Then hook up a chain and pull it with the tractor or truck.  I've even used an ATV.  it's amazing how big a log you can pull easily with this method.

[Todd]

A log arch would be #1, but on a limited budget some sort of sled will work too.  be careful on that tractor, i still remember the thrill of trying to haul a big oak out of our woods with dad's old Allis Chalmers..easy..easy..hey look, I can see the sky!

[mrpink]

thanks for the Idea's, I'll try and get a few pictures today.  the only equipment I have that will get in the woods off the trails is my tractor. equipment I can use once I get the logs to a trail would be an old gmc 700 dump truck and several equipment trailers.

luckily this site doesn't have much red clay its mostly sandy soil, even so I've been trying not to drag the logs no more then I have to. the bobcat rental would be ideal, don't now if he would let go of the cash for that though. this year is his first year not working so he is pretty tight with his money right now.

using something under the log to drag it is a good idea I could probably find something laying around for that purpose.

I have cut some of the bigger logs at 10 foot but even doing that my tractor is very light in the front and wont hardly drag them.

[redbeard]

Might be easier to drag the big ones with cone,hood or bedliner hooked to front of tractor and pull them out in reverse. Hard on your neck but you will have more traction especially if you can put some weight on 3-pt.

[wood monger]

Welcome to the forum mrpink. You could add some weight to the front end of the tractor, it seems to me that in low gear 32 horsepower could drag a pretty good sized log.

[laffs]

Know anyone with a stoneboat I used one of those roll the logs on and binder them n go. I wore mine out twice it was 10' long , now i have a farmi winch

[isawlogs]

 You could build a sleigh out of a few smaller logs and put the bigger ones on it and drag the sleigh to the landing. Takes but a few threaded rods/bolts/nuts a chain and you would be good to go.

[morgoon]

I use a winch (homemade..not by me ) in the back bed of my plow truck, an old Toyota 4runner with a boom that sits about eye level

I run the log out of the bush with 170' of 3/8ths cable that hauls the log up the boom where I hook a choker to it and drive away

When I pull a log out of the bush I put a rubbermaid garbage can over the end of the log with a 8" hole in the bottom for the cable to run through

It slides well and keeps things clean

I don't have hydraulics on my mill so I parbuckle everything

I saw a 12 500 lb electric winch for 450.00 today.. Prolly work great but use what you have... A chainfall on a boom would pick the log up, and you could use a choker then so your not pulling on the chainfall while in transit

I have an old travel trailer Axle I welded a tounge to and I slip it under a raised log and just tow them to the mill that way too

[beenthere]

With the Ford I expect you have a 3 ph.

I used this technique on an 8N Ford, and lifted one end, dragging the other.  Work slow and pay attention to the lift. Keep the front end near the ground at all times.



 

A welder and some steel will work. Just this and a couple good log chains.

[mrpink]

got rained out of the woods today so I cut out the twisted beam on the log arch and started rebuilding it. I've got two braces to cut and weld on in the morning then we will try it again. if the new design don't work then I'll have to try some of ya'lls suggestions. thanks for all the good idea's

[Jim_Rogers]

A log sled will also work. You can roll logs up onto it with the tractor then pull it to the mill site and roll them off.
We used a scoot (log sled) for many years for moving logs from the woods to the landing.

Jim Rogers

[mrpink]

Got the log arch redesigned and rebuilt yesterday. tried it out a bit yesterday and today. it seems to be working much better the the first one.



this afternoon I got the mill setup in place and leveled. built the log deck so that I could circle around and drop the log on the ground and roll it to the mill.
I put a 16' and 10' log on there this evening to try it out. the 16' is 20" and the 10' is 23" on the small end.
I decided I don't like working with big logs with out the proper handling equipment

[fishpharmer]

Welcome mrpink, glad to have you as a member here on FF. 8)  Your log arch seems to fit the bill, it works for you and the price was right.  Are you raising the logs up under the arch with a come along and then chaining them up off the ground? Or using log tong's?

[mrpink]

I lift the logs with a come-a-long attached to log tongs. I've still got to get a good design for chaining the logs off once lifted. after next week when the paid help is finished then I'll have some time to do the modifications.