What a hoot I had this weekend!
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/skidding1.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/skidding2.jpg)
That is one nice set up. I don't think I could convince the wife that I need one of those here in East Texas. 8)
wow Kevin, no wondere you've been tired. That looks like a lot of fun, playing in the snow. :D
What's the bottom of that log arch look like? I'll bet it doesn't have wheels.
I have to try and get the LT-15 in there sometime this week and it`s on wheels now but I hope to have a set of skis on it by next winter.
I`m biting at the bit to get back in there!
Tell us where it is. How far from home and are you living out there? I don't see any grits bags on that scooter.
Tom,
That`s about an hours drive from my house and about a mile in by snowmachine.
I eat a steady diet of cedar sawdust when I`m back there.
It`s really just too much fun for one guy!
8)
Great! Another cedar eater. Does that snowmobile reverse or do your skid trails have turn loops at the end? I'm trying to fix an old Ski-Doo for skid-duty next year. My cedar season is almost over. Two more cords to take to the mill this week and the white stuff is almost gone.
This model has reverse which is a huge asset.
Mike was looking at sleds w/reverse this winter- but our snow was so puny he just didn't do it. With your log arch and skis- do you have a rigid towbar or do you get turned round and then back up to it and forward ho to home and like that? lw
"Give me forty acres and I`ll turn that rig around"
There`s no way I can back that arch up more than two feet with the machine.
It`s easier just to pop it off the hitch and spin it around.
Works good!
I get to do a pretty selective harvest without damaging the surroundings.
When I got our snomobiles a few years back all of the guys at the doughnut shop did not believe I would do such a thing to have fun, cus I work all the time. One of the fellas said that I did not get them to have fun but to yard logs. 8) 8)
I dunno, Frank. I think it depends on your definition of 'fun' and 'work'. I certainly do not find them mutually exclusive- in fact I try to arrange it so they overlap as much as possible. Can't do it with 'fun' and 'pain'- but work is a different animal. If you hate it, you ain't havin fun. If you want to stop and you *can't*, then you ain't havin fun. But if you're making the fur fly (or the woodchips or whatever) and enjoying the He** out of it- you might just be doing both. lw
Very nice pictures. I have been logging with snowmible here in N quebec for 10 years now. Some suggestions. Build your own sleigh. Those arches are not good enough. Get a bigger snowmobile I use a VK540 Yamaha. Great machine lots of power. My brother in law has a Tundra like you and he goes with me in the woods. I can haul three times what he hauls with his. We work in snow to your armpits if you go without snowshoes.
I'm hoping to get some pictures of my setup and post them
Paul
LW, it has been both for me for 30 years of teaching :Pand for 35 years of working in the woods. 8) I am a very fortunate person in this way. ;) I love making lemonaide out of lemons. :) :)
Paul,
Welcome to the Buyers Gang.
I agree that the Tundra will only pull a smaller log.
I`ve pulled 15ft. long 12-14" dia. poplar and cedar that was 9ft. long with a diameter of 18" on the large end.
I use the Tundra for trapping and that is the reason I bought it.
It`s got plenty of power for that purpose and is well suited for the area I run it.
I could use a larger machine to skid with but it isn`t necessary.
My arch will lift and pull without any effort so I would disagree with you on that.
Looking forward to your pictures.
It my be alot of fun, but it looks like a tough hard work for one log to me. How meany can you cut and bring out in one day.
I just do this for recreation, I don`t sell it so I don`t skid many logs, about six or eight a day for a few weekends.
The wood is for my own use.
Anyone that wants their logs milled gets their own logs out of the bush.
My full time job is work, logging and milling are fun.
I'ts agood thing at 7 or 8 a day you would starve. I make a buck with the mill and the crane, but most of all i have fun helping outhers.
My problem with log arches is that you cannot move logs any great distance because you have two few logs in your load. I went 10 miles one way in the woods with my sleigh and VK540 cut a spruce took 3x12' logs of it . The first one will square 12" the second will square 10" and the last one will square 8" . Thats a min of 308 board ft. Not including the slabs which I use for firewood. Thats one load on my sleigh . On an arch you would be looking at three 20 mile round trips. I do however have an homemade arch on wheels that I use with my ATV to haul logs onto my log deck in the summer. Its good for that.
I move some of my logs by water in the summer. I place them near the shore with snowmible in the winter .Then in the spring I go with my boat and tie up a raft of 200-300 logs and in about 3 hours I'M at the mill. Very low towing cost. My John Deere diesel in the boat burns about 2.5 gal per hour towing logs.
Paul
Paul
Here is another option to that snowmachine you all speak of.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/YaBBImages/userpics/logginwinch1.jpg)
Gordon
Paul, what I`m using suits my needs because of the short hauls.
I take my mill to the logs so I just need to haul them a short distance to a staging area where they`ll get milled.
I`m hauling the mill in tomorrow, I`ll set up and mill for a few days then move it out.
I`ll be taking the mill in with the Tundra !
Gordon, can I borrow that for a couple of years? :D