I started this in August and I am almost done with it. The other overhead was put in sometime in the late 70s and lasted until the carpenter ants made a home last summer.
It started by 100'+ Tamarack (Western Larch) trees that the neighbor cut down and skidded over for me. Larch is very hard (softwood) similiar to Douglas Fir but more dense and hard. It doesn't rot easy and is very straight grained. I have the same type of trees but only 10 acres. He has 500 acres and has been a logger all his life so he provided and did the cutting.
These trees are amazing and are probably 100 years old. The growth rings are so close together, you can hardly count them. The combination of elevation, short growing season and a condition called "misletoe" cause these trees to grow slow, straight, and with only limbs on the upper 1/4 of the tree.
My wife and I had to peel these by hand with a drawknife. It wasn't too bad but tedious. The bark on the butt log was about 3" thick and pretty tough.
I will post a few pics from start to where I have left off. I could not have done this without my JD tractor/backhoe!!
These are the gates that came off the old overhead. The wife wanted to use the same gates and try to copy the original design on the overhead. They are very heavy and I had to use the FEL to lift them and move to this location.
I cut one log into 21' sections for the posts. Each post is bolted to another smaller post for a bigger footprint. I smeared a black rubberized asphalt on the bottom 6' and wrapped it in tarpaper. Hopefully, this will keep the moisture off the sides. I didn't seal the bottom to allow any moisture to drain out of the post and into the surrounding gravel. The backhoe made it easy work on this part of the job. The last two pics are the finished products ready to go into the ground.
I live in Mid Michigan and have a small barn that was made from Tamarack logs approximately 40 years ago. The wood is still in beautiful condition. Quite a bit of the bark has fallen off the logs and it is a little messy. Wish I had some Tamarack left on my property but most of it has been harvested in my general area.
Farwell
The ground here is full of large rocks (first picture behind the backhoe) and when you start to dig a "small" hole, it usually ends up being 3 times the size after the rocks are removed. I didn't want the hole anywhere this size but pulled out some huge boulders that were in the way. Luckily, I had 10 yards of gravel delivered to do this project and repair some roads. Lifting the posts went pretty easy. I didn't have help this day but did make sure I braced the posts during the process.
Ok, now the fun part begins. This is another neighbor (not the logger with the trees) and he build the trailer and the grapple from scratch. It isn't pretty but it works great. The top log is about 35 feet long and I guess 1000 lbs or more as it is fresh cut and still green. The straps are rated at 3000 pounds and I used two of them. We did build some temporary scaffolding to stand on. The top of the overhead is about 17 feet off the ground. I drilled through the top into the post and drove a 2' section of 5/8" bar into it like a big nail. I capped the hole with a piece of tin (lots of snow here). I will through-bolt an eyebolt to the post and outside of each end and attach the post and end with a turnbuckle and chain. Confusing but there will be a pic of it later. The turnbuckle helps keep the log on the top and keeps the structure from racking. The large drill broke half way through and I had to do these by hand with a brace and bit...
I used the old hinges and had to drill through to bolt these monster in. Yes, brace and bit time again. It wasn't bad as the bit was sharp and the log still green. In the pictures, you can see the turnbuckles in the corners helping keep this together. They are rated 2200 lbs and are 1/2". I could have gone bigger but didn't want to take away from the logs. I did get one gate up and need to measure and drill for the other. It has been snowing and is cold so I am waiting for a clear day to finish. The last part will be cutting the top log to size. One side is longer but I don't know what look I want until I see both gates up.
Tamarack is great wood. If you can keep it dry and take the bark off, it lasts for years. My neighbor has a stacked split rail fence out of tamarack that is over 100 years old. Makes great firewood too.
