Dragging trees out of clearing, best method?

[5030]

Back when I lived in Ohio and we heated with wood and had our own tree lot to fell and cut up, I use a 1949 Farmall A (2wd gas tractor) to skid whole trees out of the woods all the time and I pulled some big ones too. It struggled at times, but got the job done. Used the drawbar and a chain. Nothing more.

Don't overthink it and don't overspend on it either.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Back when I lived in Ohio and we heated with wood and had our own tree lot to fell and cut up, I use a 1949 Farmall A (2wd gas tractor) to skid whole trees out of the woods all the time and I pulled some big ones too. It struggled at times, but got the job done. Used the drawbar and a chain. Nothing more.

Don't overthink it and don't overspend on it either.

Did the same, but with 4x4. That's all I had to use, and they were too long to carry crosswise. Chains definately needed on the hill.

 

[5030]

Mine had R1's on the back and I always tried to not pull when the ground was soggy. Wish I had that little 18 horse tractor today. Everything is in the transmission, always 1st gear. I pulled some huge trees with it too. Flat where we lived so no hills to deal with. You use what you have to work with.

 

[rScotty]

Grapple is going to have trees perpendicular to tractor....wider swath through woods. I'm looking to drag in line with tractor so I can keep it under 4-lane highway in width. (a bit of an exaggeration)

I'm soon to be 63 so appreciate the idea of using my energy to put diesel into a tank, rather than using my energy to cut/pull/carry and otherwise wear myself out! Let the machine to the hard part.

I just grab the tree with the backhoe and thrumb, swing the hoe so that the tree is alongside the tractor, and off we go. Nice and narrow. We've moved over 40 full size pines in the last few years, and a dozen cottonwoods. I cut large branches off of course and look out for obstacles.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I did much of it in late winter. Little snow that year, ground frozen. Ideal for pulling

 

[3Ts]

Quarter sawn white oak is the preferred wood for visual appeal - i.e. table tops, chests, etc. Truly quarter sawn doesn't produce much usable lumber out of a log though. Also consider RIFT sawn, it is close to quarter sawn, and produces more usable lumber. I also suspect a sawyer will give you RIFT if you ask for quarter sawn.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Once the sawyer squares up the log, if you just cut it through and through you will have a mix of wood with the boards near the middle showing quarter sawn grain. You might have an issue finding a sawyer that is proficient in quartersawing.

While you have the sawyer there, have him saw up some stickers, you will need a lot and he can easily produce them.

I hired a sawyer with a portable band mill to saw some storm fallen walnut and oak. It was the best money I spent on my hobby. Make sure you have plenty of help.

Doug in SW IA

Green wood dry sticks.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

If you had an old pto winch...

 

[bcp]

The trouble with a PTO winch run directly on a tractor PTO is no ability to reverse or release tension. You would need to run the drive through a gearbox or transmission instead.

Bruce

 

[oosik]

I have ONLY Ponderosa pines. All the way from 1" to 34+". Up until I got the Land Pride grapple on my M6040 - I drug with either a chain or heavy strapping. All attached to the tractor drawbar. The bigger the tree - the shorter the cut lengths. Dragging was easy but time consuming. AND - it left horrid drag ditches.

I got the grapple and everything changed. Now all downed trees are cut to lengths that do not exceed 3000#. Normally I will cut them to not exceed 2500#. Pick and move to the burn pile with the tractor and grapple.

The internet provides "log weigh charts" for green trees of most all types and sizes.