ATV and forestry

SwampDonkey · May 11, 2020, 05:28:54 PM

This guy is set up like me, except my tractor is Kabota. And yes, I agree $100 a Tacoma truck bed full. But I don't sell. But I think he's one of them guys that don't cut down low, and my saw is bigger. Plus I absolutely do not leave trees all hung up. Heck man, leaving firewood trees hung ?? Give me that chainsaw boy. ;)

#17 Time & Effort to Cut 1 Cord of Wood - YouTube

thecfarm · May 11, 2020, 05:38:56 PM

We all want pictures!!!!

Maine logger88 · May 11, 2020, 06:00:57 PM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 11, 2020, 05:28:54 PM
This guy is set up like me, except my tractor is Kabota. And yes, I agree $100 a Tacoma truck bed full. But I don't sell. But I think he's one of them guys that don't cut down low, and my saw is bigger. Plus I absolutely do not leave trees all hung up. Heck man, leaving firewood trees hung ?? Give me that chainsaw boy. ;)

#17 Time & Effort to Cut 1 Cord of Wood - YouTube

Yup I agree I don't see why unless on a property line or ravine or something they just can't be felled in a direction of the lean or at least in a direction they will fall generally you can swing them quite abit off the direction of lean even without doing anything tricky. If you want to get real tricky and technical there are methods to get them to swing a lot but it takes a lot of practice. Especially where they don't need to be pointed in any specific direction like they do when skidding whole trees and leaving trees cut but hung up is a big no no I'm pretty sure it's illegal in Maine at least what I was told either way it's a good way to get someone hurt. And I also agree I wouldn't even be interested in cutting wood with a saw as small as his once your used to something with some power there's no going back.i

Old Greenhorn · May 11, 2020, 07:55:46 PM

HEY congratulations! 8) I think you are gonna love that thing! You may even wonder how you ever got along without it.
Regarding that video you posted, kind of made me cringe a bit. Yes, he could use a bigger saw, and a sharper chain would help too, but then I saw how he was sharpening and realized, he really doesn't know. He needs a mentor. His process is loaded with extra handling. Not to be harsh, but how many times are you going to handle a piece of wood before it hits the stack? I count those and reduce them, especial the lifting part.
SO my process is to drop the tree, limb it and buck it into logs. Then I skid those logs (big ones I get one at a time, but the small stuff like he is cutting I might get 5), right up to the splitter. I buck them into length at the splitter, split them and from the splitter they get thrown in a trailer, whe the trailer is full, they got to the final stack. That is the least number of touches I have been able to work out so far. I use a little UTV skidding arch, wish I could make one that would lift the whole log instead of drag it. The fella in the video wastes a lot of time, but if he is having fun and making money, good for him. (I did notice he is kind of short on PPE for a fella that cuts a lot and his high stumps and comments about his leaners just kind of hints that he may not have had much training in this. Just my observation. YouTube can be misleading at times. )
Enjoy the new machine, and yes, we need photos!

thecfarm · May 11, 2020, 08:12:58 PM

I don't have the luxury of high stumps in my woods. With the rocks, uneven ground, sharp knolls, wet holes, leave trees, did I miss anything? ;D I just about have to drive over my stumps.

btulloh · May 11, 2020, 08:16:37 PM

Man he sure adds a lot of labor to the process. I guess when you're his age, all that extra time and lifting is ok. :D

SwampDonkey · May 11, 2020, 08:37:13 PM

As you get older you find better ways for sure. His rough/round cords looks a little short of wood to. But he's just guessing at an unsplit pile. ;) But if he loads his Tacoma like I do it's definitely 3 bed fulls for a cord, like he was saying. My loads are rounded up because of the topper, not even with the bed rail. Took me more than 3 hours to do a cord, all by hand. So this Ranger will cut my time in 3rd. The gathering was the time consuming part. Cutting it was nothing. :D And I do move brush by hand a little bit to. I like stuff clear not riding over trash.

trapper · May 11, 2020, 09:06:41 PM

I cut my stumps high and when the tree is down cut another block off the stump. Easier on the back for me that way.

snowstorm · May 12, 2020, 06:23:15 AM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 11, 2020, 12:49:04 PM
Bought the 570 Ranger SxS today, hopefully have it by next weekend, they had to order the better tires and won't be in before mid next week. 8)

well good for you. make sure they at least give you a new hat. and the labor on the 50 hr service

nativewolf · May 13, 2020, 05:32:34 AM

Since this has come to firewood in the far frozen..where is our poster that did such a wonderful job documenting his precommercial/firewood thinning?

SwampDonkey · May 13, 2020, 04:55:21 PM

Still thinning.

snowstorm · May 20, 2020, 06:11:34 AM

well did you get the ranger yet?

SwampDonkey · May 20, 2020, 05:06:52 PM

Not yet, there is a snag in that it is impossible right now it seems to get the new stylish rims with the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting supplies. The good tires however, will fit the stock rims. So I could just forgo the new rims. But I will be talking with the shop first thing in the morning and decide what to do. I know what the kicker will be, I won't be able to swap them rims because they will be used. So that is an easy decision for me to not bother with the rims at all. ;)

SwampDonkey · May 30, 2020, 06:37:17 PM

I got the Ranger delivered on Thursday. After the 4 day heat wave passed, I forwarded two pickup loads of bucked firewood today to the pick up and hauled it home. The flies are murderous out there. :D Sometime will have to add photos of bike on my trails. I'm cutting a bunch of trails and then thinning off of them once cut out. The section I'm on will probably provide 3 or 4 years of firewood and I think it is only a 5 acre section without going around it with the GPS.

Anyway, that activity will be posted over here....

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=17457.0

I had bought an AC unit this spring, and on Thursday I put that in, number one priority of the moment. :D

snowstorm · May 31, 2020, 07:11:38 AM

any trails to ride there? open that thing up and see what it will do.. 55 maybe 60 mph

SwampDonkey · May 31, 2020, 08:47:56 AM

None around close by, and I have no money to throw away on someone else's trails. The government can't even keep the road maintained, and I'm already paying enough tax on that. :D Nope, this is just for my wood gathering and maintaining the woodlot. Also have some soil to level up on the lawn soon, drag a weighted pallet across to smooth it over. Throw an old tire on and put rocks in it for weight, lots of them rocks. ;)

Old Greenhorn · May 31, 2020, 09:34:08 AM

So when are we going to see some photos of the new buggy doing it's thing? I checked the other thread too, no joy. I hope it is working out. When we discussed windows, roof, doors, etc I never even considered your black flies ( official Province bird?). Maybe that puts a different light on? Anyway, would love to see some pics. Mine too is a work truck, and I do no 'trail riding' (who has time anyway?). The closest I come is when I bring it to a Festival and use it as an EMS vehicle, but then it is also working. :D
Good luck with it. Have you thought about using a smallish trailer to augment your forwarding capacity? My son picked up a small one in a clean out job or something and it is real handy.

SwampDonkey · May 31, 2020, 10:37:29 AM

No trailer for me, I forward to my pickup out at the road. I don't want to haul a trailer in the woods trails. These are slow harvest trails with small up and down dips. My main trail is an old winter road that was dozed level when they were cutting wood with big forestry machines. I've actually drove in there with the Dodge when the place was replanted, even across a couple wet spots. It's all hard bottom except one spring out in the middle of the woodlot. Probably be the end of the week for photos, since I work the day job besides cut'n wood. Piece rate is great sometimes, it can make a shorter work week so you can get other stuff done, like firewood, and still draw your weekly cheque.

Walnut Beast · May 31, 2020, 03:15:21 PM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 31, 2020, 08:47:56 AM
None around close by, and I have no money to throw away on someone else's trails. The government can't even keep the road maintained, and I'm already paying enough tax on that. :D Nope, this is just for my wood gathering and maintaining the woodlot. Also have some soil to level up on the lawn soon, drag a weighted pallet across to smooth it over. Throw an old tire on and put rocks in it for weight, lots of them rocks. ;)

Tax Tax Tax 😡😡😡. Metal bed springs work fantastic also 😂😂