what to do with 30" dbh osage orange/bodark tree? actually 40" with Pic!

[Celeriac]

Wow, glad to hear that no one got hurt! Crawlers and trailers make a dangerous combination.  Too many people get hurt or killed when loading and unloading dozers.

It might be a good idea to get some belting or some such, so you can get a grip on the ramps!

[zopi]

Owtch. Did you remember to stand up and throw your arms in the air and shout taaadaaa?

Yeah, I am a sicko...had a tie in slip on me the other day and fell against my secondary line...and did just that...homeowner was a little freaked out until I explained what happened, but my helper was rolling laughing at me...any landing you walk away from...blah blah...
Glad you are ok!

[jueston]

in iraq i was in a convoy and the truck in front of me had a D5 on it, the driver liked to brag about being able to go through the serpentines on the roads faster than anyone else, well he did make it through, and then I saw one chain brake as the D5 tipped up on one side, and then 2 chains brake as it tipped back and then the whole thing slid off the side of the trailer, the last chain actually held the back of the dozer on the trailer while blade dragged on the road.... It destroyed one whole track and sprocket and part of the blade... and the road had a nice new grove in it for about 35 feet.
I was so sure the dozer was going to pull the tractor over onto its side I was almost hanging out the side of my truck getting ready to climb on it to help the driver out, but everything turned out fine...
So we used another dozer to push it back up on the trailer and put someone a little more.... Reserved... in the driver seat. And then we continued on...

[Ironwood]

Glad your OK. Thanks for sharing, stories like this will help others "keep a weather eye out for safety" as we say t oour young boys. Pass that bit of learning on to others you know. Perhaps it will save someone else the grief or perhaps their life.



My father took a "ride" on his tractor whilest loading. Same deal, trailer down in back, truck UP, and then coasted down a drive across the road and into a ditch, truck trailer and tractor. Lucky he wasnt killed on the road let alone the ditch. I always think of his story when loading my equipment. Makes you kinda like to have those little ramp "feet" that flip down with the ramp. preventing raising of the truck tires.

 

Ironwood

[beenthere]

A former member, Mark M, was killed when he had a similar incident while loading a large log on the back of a trailer. When the log he was winching on the trailer raised the hitch on his Suburban, it lost its braking power and started sliding off down the street. Mark M was caught under the trailer somehow and was killed.
He was another great loss to the FF. He too didn't chock the trailer tires, nor put blocks under the rear of the trailer to hold it up.
Glad you are OK and able to tell us the story.

[paul case]

Ya gotta be careful more careful.
I have had the same trouble with loading a dozer on a steel dovetail trailer. A couple boards just throwed down on the ramp made it grip and not spin or slip.
Glad you are ok. I hope everything else is repairable.  PC

[Al_Smith]

Old conveyer belting bolted to the deck and ramps makes a nice traction improver .Steel on steel has the friction coeficient of wet ice --none .

[hackberry jake]

Here's the newest progress, It's dropped off at the slabber. Still have a 5' stump section that we dug out of the ground as well. Thats a lot of big bodark/osage orange.

[5quarter]

Jake... Make sure you're there with your camera when he cuts it. Have him leave the top and bottom slabs thick (8-10") and take those home and stand them up on your saw and cut some lumber from them. they'll all be rift and quartersawn and clear. Can't believe you got the stump too!  8) 8)  you won't be disappointed!

[leroy in kansas]

There is a gunstock maker in Nevada, MO. if you want to pm me I'll give you the ph #. and info.

[hackberry jake]

Got the stump log split in half and cut on the mill. Here is a pic of the second half squared up. More pics to come once I get more time and service.

[5quarter]

Excellent! what are the dimensions of the cant in the picture? I can't recall...how many  sawlogs did you get from the tree? Do you have a photo of the root ball?

[hackberry jake]

This is the closest pic I have of the root ball. The first half is on the mill and the second half is in the background. Here is a pic of the grain I was expecting grain that wasnt so strait from the stump. The second half looked more interesting though, I'll have pics of the second half sawn once I finish it up. I got about three good logs over 25" from the tree. One 7' stump log, one 11' butt log, and one 5' second log. I will also get a bunch of lumber out of the limbs and other bodark trees he wants rid of. The cant is roughly 16x16.

[hackberry jake]

  Over 3' wide and 11' long bodark/osage orange milled up and ready to sticker in the shed. Sure gunna be some heavy tables!

[Dodgy Loner]

I'm envious of your lumber, but very happy that I'm not the one who has to move all that lumber :D

[WDH]

Wow!  What a log.  Heavy is right.

[JD350Cmark]

Jake,  Glad to hear you are ok..  What kind of dozer do you pull with that set up?

[davidv]

I know this is an older thread but that is a nice log! It looks like you could have split some nice bow staves out of it, and that's a pretty good market. Average osage staves sell for around 50 dollars but that tree has some thick rings that are very desirable. http://www.missouritrading.com/bowlist.htm Making bowstaves is really easy. You just have to split the log with wedges untill you get 4 or for inch wide pieces and you seal the ends with shellac. Sealing must be done immediately though because checking ruins the stave.

You can make bows out of sawn lumber too. The bow in my picture is made out of a red oak 1x2 I got from Lowes.

[hackberry jake]

Thanks, only about 3 more years til it's dry enough to use. Some of the flitches had splits down the middle. I think when I build a house I am going to use them for countertops. Might take the largest one and repair it with butterflies of maple and use it for an island in the kitchen. Dreams

[davidv]

I think Bo'dark would make a beautiful table, good luck.