I want this rock

[jigs_n_fixtures]

google "stone boat" There are a couple of different plans online. Been around for centuries. You don't think they carried all the rocks in the stone field walls over there by hand do you?

 

[ponytug]

It's flat... but the rock is over here and I need to get it to the other side of the house; there's a path to the house but not around & beyond the house on the same level it's going to need to be picked up and taken 20' up in elevation, then 50' flat, 40' down the road in elevation, then back up 20' elevation up the driveway - ie the long way around. I think it if was on plywood skidding that it wouldn't damage the roads (dirt first, then blacktop, then exposed aggregate concrete) but it would suck for that to happen.

I didn't get a chance to experiment with the tractor to see how heavy it feels - and probably should just bite the bullet and do a finely detailed measurement of it to get a better estimate of weight. Strong suspicion is that it's going to be waiting for the compact telehandler - at least that gives me yet another reason to get my butt in gear and finish the new gate & arch - three years in the "yeah I need to do that still" list should be almost long enough.

Poison oak: I may give that a try except that my worst spots are on a 60% slope so messing with forks could be iffy just because they're 48" out there and could easily flip the tractor back. I do have a new grapple that while less of a surgical dig I have a big patch (about 30'x40') of major clumps so I could probably sacrifice and just dig the whole area up with the lower part of the grapple without as much front-of-tractor lifting potential. At the very least my goal this spring is to at least grab all the above-ground stuff, even if there's regrowth handling it next year will be less traumatic because it won't be a dense 8' tall jungle of the stuff. It's seriously frightening even though I only get a bit of a rash any more, I just know I'll get scratches from stuff like that.

I've been pulling a lot of it by hand; I find that if I give a light tug and it comes out easily, it has a root network that's right under the duff and above the dirt with little hooks in the dirt and by pulling that out you find a lot that hasn't sprouted yet (this time of year). It's almost like a spiderweb of networked poison oak under the duff and you can actually get most of it without disturbing the duff much. I definitely do eventually find something bigger which I either yank harder or (so far) cut with loppers. I don't know if it'll grow back or not - blackberries would, but they have something that's almost a tuber; smaller shrubs of poison oak definitely grow back if cut/picked (nice bouquet, thanks!) but I'm not sure if the same holds for the inch-plus trunks?

I'd finish the arch and use the telehandler if it were me. I also might be inclined to rent the next size larger to keep excitement to a minimum. I remember the production of my folks having a large rock moved across the backyard as a kid: first just a backhoe, then the backhoe plus an f600-ish truck, (boulder still wasn't moving), and then a dump truck chained to the rock, and to all the other vehicles other like the Budweiser Clydesdales, and they barely moved it on level dirt. (4x6x2' limestone?) Since you have already moved yours, I am sure that you have a good idea of what it will take.

Pulling those stringy roots out seems to be what it takes to kill the poison oak around here. For the big clumps, I pop them out of the ground which seems to crack the roots, and give them a year to air dry and for the sap to deactivate. At that point, I can crush them and safely brush hog them into little pieces.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

Pulling those stringy roots out seems to be what it takes to kill the poison oak around here. For the big clumps, I pop them out of the ground which seems to crack the roots, and give them a year to air dry and for the sap to deactivate. At that point, I can crush them and safely brush hog them into little pieces.

I've found that poison oak decomposes tree
rapidly when dead; I cleared out about thirty square feet of dense growth once and just left a pile by a tree out of the way; the next year it looked like 5% size pile of sticks and the year after that it was unrecognizable.

 

[Tpondel]

I have a rock about half that size. My tractor cannot lift it. Using forks I was able to remove enough weight I could drag it. But I want it on top of a 3 foot mound at the entrance to our driveway. Have not found any way to move it uphill.

Call Atlas?

 

[ponytug]

I've found that poison oak decomposes tree
rapidly when dead; I cleared out about thirty square feet of dense growth once and just left a pile by a tree out of the way; the next year it looked like 5% size pile of sticks and the year after that it was unrecognizable.

Hmmm..., maybe they are just bigger in this neck of the woods, or it is just drier more of the year? Some of the bunches had roots and stems three plus inches in diameter that looked pretty much the same a year later.

Regardless, I am happy to have the big brooding five or six foot high bushes of poison oak gone as it seemed like the cows and horses were always brushing against the big bushes, or nibbling them. I got poison oak from a horse putting a bit in his mouth once. It took me awhile to figure the weird pattern of the rash.

All the best,

Peter

 

[2manyrocks]

I hesitate to say that if there are good anchor points, a series of pulleys could be rigged to possibly move this rock, but that could be dangerous if a cable were to break.

 

[Xfaxman]

Cross-referencing pics on the web looks like this is a Genie GTH5519 which has a max lift capacity of 5500#, 4400# to max height.
Checking vs yours, looks like this is about the same thing as far as the forks & maneuverability so I suppose it's a compact TH as well.

​

Yes it is a compact TH, close to the same size as mine, but no SSQA.

I have lifted over 6,000 pounds with mine and pulled some big trees with it:

And the size, it fits in the 83 inch high garage door:

 

[ning]

Call Atlas?

He shrugged.

 

[ning]

Yes it is a compact TH, close to the same size as mine, but no SSQA.

I have lifted over 6,000 pounds with mine and pulled some big trees with it:

View attachment 2926564

And the size, it fits in the 83 inch high garage door:

View attachment 2926567
View attachment 2926568
View attachment 2926569

Yeah I've seen your posts... i'm kinda jealous lol
One of those is definitely on the wish-list - for the next land.

 

[ning]

minor update...

I stuck the forks under the rock, wrapped a chain around it and to the forks, and got the rock to stand on the forks.

It was near the end of the forks so despite the fact that it's just too heavy, being way out there was ungainly, so I shoved the rock into a couple poles braced against the hillside to get it closer

The loader clearly didn't want to pick up the rock (+ forks), but I was able to drag it backwards a bit.
Got it to a decent location in my turnaround so that there's room for my truck to pass by it

Very convenient of it to have a flat base to stand on. The eventually position will likely be with the rounded end you see on the side set into the ground in some fashion; the opposite side goes to somewhat of a point which I'd like to have going up towards the sky.

Of course it was still on the forks. I used a heavy wall 1½" x 8' metal pipe as a lever and got a wood block under it to unload one fork blade, and found that the other is actually not on the fork with the rock being on the ground.

I ran out of daylight as I had bird chores to do - twilight is curfew for my chickens, ducks and geese, so the forks are still there.

I'll get them free tomorrow, and then leave the boulder as a monolith/monument until I rent the CTH.