Logistics of firewood hauling and splitting?

[Reg]

Came across this thread, and I've got lots of questions for anyone who might have answers: My woods are mostly far too rough in terrain and too steep to consider using a tractor. With a great deal of effort, I have been able to use the DR Powerwagon on some of the property, but some of it is just too steep for the Powerwagon to come back up. Have rolled the thing on a couple of occasions and that's not really a good thing to do.

I wonder if anyone out there uses winches or some other type of equipment to get logs out of rough woods. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. There are huge amounts of firewood that I haven't been able to access.

"or some other type of equipment"
ONE draft horse - though this is probably not what you wanted to think about (-:

There are still some folk who do this, SOME could almost be described as "hobby loggers", they just like working the woods with horses.
That doesn't mean they're available for exploitation, but you might be able to have them get wood out for quite a bit less per cord than anyone else would do it for.

Option B; Cables, winches, chains, but you are probably looking at a LOT of length for that, i.e. CO$T.

[SpringHollow]

I use the Honda powered portable winch with a 300' rope and pulleys when necessary. I almost bought a 600' rope but i have not needed more than 300' so far since i have trails at the tops of the ridges. It has pulled 24" diameter logs up with no problems. I liked it so much that I became a dealer.

Ken

[simonds]

I have some trees that are quite a distant in the woods from the edge of a field. I have some very long heavy rope that an electric company lineman gave me. Question is what kind of a knot do I use on the rope, so it can be untied after tighting up? And how do I tie this knot? I'm thinking back to my Boy Scout days and a bowline knot comes to mind, but not sure.
Thanks for all the great information that comes from here.
Clayton, with a 4200 John deere and a 3point splitter.

[Gordon Gould]

You can use a portable winch as said above. If you get one this is a good setup for it. They are a little expensive but might be worth it to you. Look in Baileys for one also.

I'm not a boy scout but I just have a small loop in the end of the rope with a surgeons knot. Push the rope through the loop to make a choker.You dont have to tie the log on each time.
The surgeons knot gets pretty tight with time but can be untied with persistance or .... a knife

[SpringHollow]

Question is what kind of a knot do I use on the rope, so it can be untied after tighting up? And how do I tie this knot? I'm thinking back to my Boy Scout days and a bowline knot comes to mind, but not sure.

I use a bowline onto a "C-style" chain hook and leave it permanently on. There are better knots out there which do not reduce the load rating so much but I always oversize the rope for the load.

Ken

[Dead Horse]

Yep "bo lin".

I am a "hobby" logger in my own forest. There is very little flat ground on my farm and where the good firewood is located is NOT it.

I burn firewood to heat my home and put up prox 40 cord this year.

I enjoy the work so much, I WISH I could get my neighbors to ask me for help on interesting "technical" pulls..........

I use a farmi 601 with a big 100hp 4wd tractor. Fun times!!!!!!!!!

[wmonroe]

It seems like most people are cutting live trees instead of dead/dried still standing trees. Is there a specific reason for this other than not enough dead trees to supply the demand?

[tommu56]

I have some trees that are quite a distant in the woods from the edge of a field. I have some very long heavy rope that an electric company lineman gave me. Question is what kind of a knot do I use on the rope, so it can be untied after tighting up? And how do I tie this knot? I'm thinking back to my Boy Scout days and a bowline knot comes to mind, but not sure.
Thanks for all the great information that comes from here.
Clayton, with a 4200 John deere and a 3point splitter.

figure eight knot



How to Tie a Figure Eight Knot | eHow.com

there are some youtube instructions too

I use them to pull wire at work the other one is a tracer eight puts aloop in the end of the line

tom

[Dead Horse]

Most of what I take for firewood is spars........... THAT is why I need the equipment I have. They are where they are and I need to get to them.

When I take live stuff it is because of maintenance and caring for my orchard. Over years trees encroach the orchard........ THAT is where I draw the line.

[radioman]

It seems like most people are cutting live trees instead of dead/dried still standing trees. Is there a specific reason for this other than not enough dead trees to supply the demand?

Ever hear of widow makers ? they are found more on dead trees the live.

As for the dead trees, you need to ask yourself why is it dead? Its mostly because of bugs or disease. Many states now have laws on "transporting" dead or diseased trees. Quite ofteen they say diseased wood cannot be moved more then 50 miles, or cannot bring outside wood into state parks, etc. I can go on and on as it varys from state to state but how often do you see the rules/law being enforced?