Canopy Moved some logs today

[joshuabardwell]

A street corner about two miles from my house is being widened, and many trees are being taken out to make room for it. The trees have been tagged forever, and about a year ago, I chatted with the homeowner on the corner and asked him if he would let me know when they started taking them down so I could try to get the wood for my stove. I heat with 100% wood in the winter, and burn about 2-3 cords each winter, so I can use all I can get. Mostly, I figured I'd never hear from the guy again, but surprise, surprise! Out of the blue, I get a call from the guy, nearly a year later. He's talked to the tree service and they've neatly piled the logs, about 10-15' sections, just waiting for me to come get them!

My normal procedure is to cut the logs into 22" rounds (the right length for my stove) and then hand-wrestle them onto my trailer or into my truck. But my chainsaw blades have both kind of bit the dust and it'll take a few days to order another one. But I hate to leave good wood laying around, especially after the guy went out of his way for me, so I drove my tractor over to the site and tried loading up my trailer with un-cut logs.



Above is my improvised ballast, to try to counterbalance the extra weight on the FEL. I dumped some heavy rounds into the box blade.



Here's one of the smaller logs, picked up in the bucket. I loaded about three of these logs, and a few smaller (maybe 8" x 10' long) ones before I finally ran up on one that gave me pause. It was 16" on the large end, 12" on the small end, and 15' long. The Internet says it was about 1100 lbs. The loader easily lifted it, but the ground was uneven, sloped, and very muddy, and I just didn't trust myself to make the final move of raising it up 5' in the air to clear the trailer's side rail. I ended up borrowing the homeowner's saw, cutting up half the log into rounds, and carrying the other half home in the bucket.

I will also call this a trial-by-fire of the bucket hooks that I welded on. They held, which is really the least I could ask of them. Woo hoo!

 

[OT Ducati]

Free wood is good, and you had fun getting it.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Fun, yes, but there were a few scary moments too. Those big long logs sticking out in uneven ground! I gotta build a real ballast box before I try anything like that again!

 

[creekbend]

Nice job. Best wishes regarding getting new chains for your chainsaw. That was nice that the owner loaned you his chainsaw.:thumbsup:

 

[GManBart]

A heavier counterweight will definitely help, but you may want to consider a forklift attachment. With forks, it's a lot less scary to lift bigger logs. Once you get the load raised, and angle the forks up all the way, it somewhat locks the log into place at the junction between the forks, and the back plate. That seems to really cut down on wobbling, and swaying. R,

 

[joshuabardwell]

I did find myself wishing for forks at one point, but for a slightly different reason: ease of loading/unloading. Once the log was chained to the bucket, it was pretty secure, but getting it chained and unchained was a real pain. Having to fish the chain under the log, having to de-tension the chains to unhook, and so forth. If I would have had pallet forks, it would have been easy to pick the log up, tilt back like you say, and then slide the log off onto the trailer right where I wanted it. I even think that forks attached to the front of the bucket would have been helpful, since the load rode close to the bucket once it was picked up.

 

[Grandad4]

You did the right thing by slicing the logs into smaller pieces for safety. I would suggest that cutting them in half, you could load and stack the half logs in your trailer, instead of rounds, sort of like a mini-log hauler. But you would need to figure a way to get them out of the trailer if it's not a dump-type.

Another safety thing to be aware of when lifting a log in the bucket is the risk of it rolling backwards onto the tractor and the operator. Using those chains was another good decision.

When we first started clearing trees at our place, there was lots of that kind of timber to be moved. Adding a toothbar put a "lip" on the bucket, which helped get under logs like that, but we've since had good results with some clamp-on forks. Not as nice as real QA forks, of course, but way better than just using the bucket.

Good job, Joshua. Please everyone be safe with stuff like this.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Where there is a will there is a way. Must have been fun driving a couple miles with your load. A heavy 15' log on uneven ground would be trouble no matter what. Good job. As mentioned the thing to watch when you have to lift logs high that are chained on the bucket is that they don't role back on you. Sometimes I hang them under the bucket if there is enough lift room. They are easier to unhook in the trailer.

 

[jerrybob]

Nice free wood.....why does it take several days to get new chains for your saw?? No local saw shops??

 

[joshuabardwell]

Nice free wood.....why does it take several days to get new chains for your saw?? No local saw shops??

I have had trouble looking up the exact specs for this saw's chain, so I just order the OEM chain by mail.