Log pusher

[bcp]

Looks like it would be handy around a brush burn pile, too.

Four photos:
http://nipigonmuseumtheblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/wood-pushers.html

I wonder exactly how it was used for logs.

Bruce

 

[CobyRupert]

How used? Good question. Why so long out in front of crawler too? For higher lift maybe? Did they push a few logs together from the side / middle of the log then chain them to the pusher and lift onto truck from the side? Or did they lever them from the log's end and load from behind the truck. Other then pushing I don't see what you can do with this, and why not push with a standard blade then?

 

[bcp]

I wonder if they loaded like this, but pushed instead of pulled.


A Big Load: 1890s | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive




http://www.connorcoyne.com/blog/2010/03/hungry-rats-a-story-about-evil-lumberjacks/




http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/superior/learning/history-culture/?cid=fsm91_049843



Bruce

 

[herringchoker]

How used? Good question. Why so long out in front of crawler too? For higher lift maybe? Did they push a few logs together from the side / middle of the log then chain them to the pusher and lift onto truck from the side? Or did they lever them from the log's end and load from behind the truck. Other then pushing I don't see what you can do with this, and why not push with a standard blade then?

It looks like they used it for off-loading. Notice in the background of picture 4 - the International R-liner dumping its load. I'm guessing the wood pusher was used for unloading the trailers and the trucks without hoists.

 

[herringchoker]

I wonder if they loaded like this, but pushed instead of pulled.


A Big Load: 1890s | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive
View attachment 332589



Hungry Rats: A Story About Evil Lumberjacks | Connor Coyne
View attachment 332590



Superior National Forest - History & Culture
View attachment 332591


Bruce

Nice pictures. When I was a little gaffer, my father drove truck for a local sawmill. This mill used the same trucks for hauling logs to the mill and for delivering dressed lumber, so a sidearm loader (then state of the art for log loading) was out of the question. The mill had 2 trucks (1952 International L-180 series) that usually travelled together when picking up logs so the 2 drivers could load the logs by parbuckling like in the 2nd. photo. I used to go with my father but was confined to the cab while the loading was being done - it can be dangerous. I remember some pretty tall loads (nothing like in the 1st. and 3rd. pictures though). That was before much truck weight enforcement around here.

 

[bcp]

It looks like they used it for off-loading. Notice in the background of picture 4 - the International R-liner dumping its load. I'm guessing the wood pusher was used for unloading the trailers and the trucks without hoists.

In the 4th photo, I don't see posts on the far side of the trailer. Maybe the trailer posts fold down, 2/3 of the logs roll off, then the pusher pushes off the rest.

Bruce

 

[Ken45101]

I used to go with my father but was confined to the cab while the loading was being done - it can be dangerous. I remember some pretty tall loads (nothing like in the 1st. and 3rd. pictures though). That was before much truck weight enforcement around here.

Looking at the photos, my first thought was "before much OSHA enforcement" either! ;-)

It's kind of sobering, however, to see "historical photos" dated from when I was a teenager! Ouch!

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

 

[dbaer78]

I think it's for unloading as well. I've seen some footage of a large modern sawmill that uses an apparatus like that mounted on a large wheel loader to off load huge log trucks. It was the Hayes outfit in BC I believe.