When I took this red oak job to saw full 2"x 10" x 20' boards I did not even think about the weight of the boards. About 170 lbs! That will test ya! Got us old guys puffing. Whee!
I hear you mate with those biguns I handle one end at a time until they are on my log deck then the old ASV and forks take over. You must have your own personal union and refuse to lift too much, its not worth it at our age. Frank C.
hear that,, my last job before the spinal fusion was only 16's x2" green pine, those 12" ers got a bit cumbersome, rollers and leverage points are critical for sure,, my last 20' oak trailer floor was one like you describe,, I had to pull the mill out and do one at a time, and for folks that are just beginning, slabs have to be moved too,,and I still miss my mill,
Was there this past Monday. 18 foot red oak in 8/4. My sister helps me off bear, she couldn't budge the 10 or 12 inch planks. Needless to say I hurt all over Tuesday morning.
That's a job where you should advertise "free off bearer" lessons, TODAY ONLY and see who bites :). Did a trailer bed the other day at 10' x 2" and realized this requires a different strategy vs. cut off trailer close and final trailer 20 feet away.
I cut a 4" X 20" X 8' mantel and 2 2" slabs off the same walnut log. Just calculated and the 4" one weighed over 250 lbs and 2" ones around 125 lbs. That kind of stuff is way to heavy for me to be lifting up on my long term storage shelves. I use a pulley and my ATV winch for such.
I agree heartily with earlier comments you don't lift stuff that big. You move one end at a time, slide or roll it or watch your younger helpers. I cut some 2" X 22" X 12' hickory for a guy one time. We slid them on to the forks of his skid steer.
Ones that always seem to end up hurting me are "regular" sizes: 6&8 x3's, 10&12 x2's etc etc. Average density of a lot of what we cut is about double white oak so its got some weight in those sizes but it's sorta do-able so you lift first and ache later.
The real big stuff won't hurt you because you don't even try. I gotta do some beams at 15x12x 27' next week. My calcs put them at 2850 lbs each. Only way those can hurt you is if you trip getting off the forklift.
I put a power feed on my wm e50 works grate