Thinning spruce-merge/Horselogging in a spruce plantation

SwampDonkey · February 01, 2007, 06:11:53 PM

I still wanna see a report of the 'thumbs up' cruise. Do a tally on paper for 6 or 8 plots, total the tally, multiply by that magic number up there and divide by # plots. When the horses are feed'n or something. ;D

Wait until Toni reads this tonight. :D :D :D :D That's ok, I can keep him at bay. ;)

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A little story...

My uncle was blessed all his life, living at home, had a team a horses to play with. Well that's what it was most of the time, and keep this in mind for the story. ;)

My uncle was often times asked to yard wood with his team for the local natives. He had a couple Belgians, twins. Only one was known as 'the wild one' and the other was more gentle and never got too excited, more like his owner. Uncle would always walk his horses to work, sometimes 5 miles one way. He usually got there just in time for the fella's to make some tea over the open fire pit. The tea kettle was usually an old Crisco can with 2 nail holes near the lip of the can and a piece of snare wire tied to it to hang over a fire with a branch drove in the snow. Just throw the tea bag in on the boiling water. One morning uncle got to the woods early and used 1 horse on this job, it was the wild one. He hooked him up and he was standing there. Well by this time some of the native boys had a fire started and the tea was on boiling. One of the boys come up the yarding path where the horse was chained up two a twitch. Asked uncle, 'is this the wild one'? Yep.....just then, the horse got the notion to start off with that log. Well this feller ran like crazy to get ahead of him and the horse followed right behind with the log, but he got out of the way, off to the side. Horse kept going down through the yard, down through the fire pit and out to the road like a bolt of lightning. The boys were all so shaken up they scattered into the woods and never saw them again 'til the next day. The next day uncle returned with the gentle horse and the boys asked, 'is that the wild one'? Yup. Well that was it for that day. ;D My uncle liked working for them because it didn't matter if they worked or not, he still got paid to be there. And nobody got the least excited, accept maybe over the horses. ;) I won't get into the tale when the Scotsman came and was going to show the natives how to log. My uncle said the woods was a disaster scene. That's all ya need to know. :D :D :

sprucebunny · February 01, 2007, 06:21:45 PM

Here's a few more pics for Tom ;D

Heading away from the landing.

Finished area.

Tom · February 01, 2007, 06:23:30 PM

That's just so cool! I won't one. ...er two. :D

Phorester · February 01, 2007, 09:51:07 PM

In that last picture it appears we are looking at the south end of a northbound horse.

leweee · February 01, 2007, 10:23:13 PM

:D :D :D and I thought it was the east end of a west bound horse. :D :D :D

PineNut · February 01, 2007, 11:49:24 PM

With all that snow, I expect the horse would prefer that it be the north end of a southbound horse.

SwampDonkey · February 02, 2007, 07:26:20 AM

That's just the right amount of skidding snow. Much easier than dry ground. ;D

tonich · February 02, 2007, 10:47:55 AM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on February 01, 2007, 06:11:53 PM
Wait until Toni reads this tonight. :D :D :D :D That's ok, I can keep him at bay. ;)

Dirty, you say!?
I couldn’t agree more. ;D :D :D

Rick Alger · February 02, 2007, 05:47:40 PM

Swamp Donkey,

I did my homework. I figured samples where some of the pictures were taken (as close as I could recall.)

"Turning into a row " - first set of pics - scored 8
"Finished area" - first set of pics - scored 9
"Heading away from the landing" second set - 3
"Finished area" second set - 8
Other spots not pictured - 3,9,7

avg is 6.7 X 8.7 = 58.29

In the "Wild One " vein, a friend of mine who now runs a Timbco, used to use horses. This was way back in the days when the jobber would rent a horse to the chopper for a dollar a day.

So my friend has a job going down by the National Forest campground. A Canadian chopper comes to him and asks to rent his most powerful horse. My friend says, Well, Old Silver is my strongest horse but I don't rent him to just anybody cause he'll run off if you don't tie him. The Canadian said, I fix him.

So for a while the Canadian and Silver worked well together. They produced a lot of wood.

Then the Canadian bought one of those new-fangled chain saws. The first time he fired it up on the landing Silver took off. Silver was hooked to a big log, but it didn't slow him down. He went out of the job , down a gravel road turned right through the campground, took down a tent and a picnic table, hit tar and picked up speed until he hit a railroad track in the center of town. They caught him there, trying to uproot the rail with a 16 foot spruce.

When my friend asked the Canadian what went wrong with Silver he said, I tole you I fix him , I don't say I make him a saint.

SwampDonkey · February 02, 2007, 06:02:53 PM

Well if ya discount the landing pic and that low survival area that had 3 each, then ya done good son (71 ft³/acre). ;D

Now all you fellers that doubt the 'thumbs'.....here's a thumb off the nose. ;D :D :D

Toni's going to cry fowl. :D :D :D :D :D 8) 8) 8)

leweee · February 02, 2007, 06:07:54 PM

:D Good story about old Silver. :D
Just a few questions:
Do you use this team pictured to haul out (skid) with & how are the logs hitched when you skid logs?

Rick Alger · February 02, 2007, 06:48:19 PM

Thanks for the thumbs up Swamp Donkey. The crane and chipper are pulling out next Tuesday, so it looks like this case is closed.

I have learned some useful things from our exchanges. I hope to do more of this kind of work in the future. It's a real good fit for horses.

Lewee, I do use this team to skid wood. On the paltry site you see in the pictures I've skidded about ten thousand feet of spruce, a thousand of pine. a few pallet logs, about ten cords of firewood and eighty tons of biomass fuel chips.

The way I hook is somewhat visible in the pic "heading away from the landing." You can see the chains hanging from the hooks on the back of the cart . The deal is that you choke the wood, swing the cart in and hook loose. Pull ahead till everything is in a straight line. Stop. Back up and hook tight. Then when you pull ahead the butts clear the ground and the hitch pulls smoothly.

Rick

leweee · February 02, 2007, 07:21:37 PM

Thanks for the explaination. ;D Much appreciated.

Corley5 · February 02, 2007, 07:25:10 PM

Looks 8) I like logging with horses as long as I'm not the one doing it. I'd rather check the oil, add diesel and hit the key ;) ;D A guy here used horses and an Iron Mule for a long time. He'd make a loop trail for the Mule and skid to it with the horses. Later he bought one of those Majac forwarder trailers with a loader that he pulled with his team. He'd spend the morning grouping logs along the trail and pick them up in the afternoon. Wasn't real fast but it worked good. Danny has since moved south seeking relief from arthritis from woods related injuries.

SwampDonkey · February 02, 2007, 08:21:13 PM

Red Spruce from the Wapske/Stewart Plains ecological reserve. 46 cm (18 inches) @ DBH and 33 m (106 feet tall).

A closeup of the tape for Toni ;D

Stand conditions: The broken off and dead poles are balsam fir. The stand is well over 100 years old.

A view of the crown of our specimen from a distance (centre):

It's funny how the ground changes in there so abrupt. In the last picture I'm walking away from the tree and heading up a bit of a hill which is a glacial-fluvial deposit of mainly sand where the cover type changed to black spruce and red pine mixed. The growth isn't as old nor near as tall.