Quickie log-drag, (paper-thin MIG weld)

bcp · Nov 3, 2014

Make something that will last, like these steel plate skids.

Timber Tuff Tools | Tough Tools for the Forest Industry!

ATV Log Skidder - Log Skidding Equipment - Log Sled, LLC

Bruce

Sodo · Nov 3, 2014

Bruce, as usual you come thru with great links! The biggest problem with using a car hood from american iron is that it's 4 feet square (or bigger) and you have to store it, move it around. I need it to be about 2 feet square and you're right it's easy to make (or buy). Thx for the examples!

I should have left that Hyundai hood where I found it and just bought a sheet of steel at that moment.

Sodo · Nov 3, 2014

Having a new-ish Kubota seems like such good eqpt to have around (even if it's compact,,,,)

1893 photo is humbling - nothing as small as 22". Could be a "joke" photo, with just 2 horses (instead of a team). Still hard to believe that could be moved with "straw".

arrow · Nov 3, 2014

Sodo said:
Having a new-ish Kubota seems like such good eqpt to have around (even if it's compact,,,,)

1893 photo is humbling - nothing as small as 22". Could be a "joke" photo, with just 2 horses (instead of a team). Still hard to believe that could be moved with "straw".

View attachment 397178

No, they'd use a couple of horses (four at the most) if the grade was accommodating. Loads like this were carried for short distances (quarter mile or less) until they were loaded into a near by river. Loggers back then would vie for world record hauls at the expense of the animals.

dragoneggs · Nov 3, 2014

holy cow! I hope they could stop the sled before it ran over the horses.

CNC Dan · Nov 3, 2014

dragoneggs said:
holy cow! I hope they could stop the sled before it ran over the horses.

Would be like the Grinches dog Max, hauling the sled down the mountain to Whoville.

grinch sleigh - YouTube

Big Barn · Nov 3, 2014

Cool pic!

Terry

BukitCase · Nov 3, 2014

My grand dad was a logger back then - if the rest were as mean as that old *******, they probably ate horse burgers and laughed about it afterward... Steve

Reverser · Nov 3, 2014

That's a cool picture, but I don't believe it was done with only two horses.
Babe the Blue OX could have done it, though.

dragoneggs · Nov 3, 2014

Let's do a little calculation... lot's of assumptions here but for fun...

2ft diameter by 16ft long Douglas fir fresh cut logs. 50cu.ft. x 38lb/cu.ft. = 1900lb... lets say 2000lb. (Oak or most other wet wood much heavier) x 50 logs = 100,000lbs.

Now the sled, let's assume wooden skis. Coefficient of sliding friction (let's forget about static friction) is .05 (wood on ice) so the pulling force is 100,000lb x .05 = 5000lb. This is where I get stuck because I am not a horse expert. Quickly looking around on the web for info I see that a horse might be able to pull half its weight if it is on large wheels. On a sled, no clue but even if it can pull more than its weight, I have a real hard time thinking it can pull 50 times its weight (assuming two horses at 1000lb each) on snow.

Looking forward to others numbers here

Me thinks Babe was not your normal size horse shown in pic! :laughing:

Sodo · Nov 4, 2014

Agreed, I don't see how its possible even with ten horses.

More than numbers,,,,, notice the snow covering all the grass. Just feeding the horses seems an insurmountable task. Could they arrange hay bales to be delivered out to the forest back then? Do horses eat (drink) snow for their water?

Anyone who's dragged just a few logs around their property has to be impressed by the old guys who drug 5 foot diameter logs several miles to a mill, using horses, or even with steam. Or 7,8,9, 10 foot diameter logs. Transporting a steam donkey out to the forest, and feeding it hand-chopped wood is more effort than I can imagine, and just a tiny part of it.

arrow · Nov 4, 2014

If you notice the harness set up, the chest bar is right there for only two horses. Snow acts like a million ball bearings and as I said, two things were going on: 1. distances were short 2. This is not a typical load. They'd have contests to see who acquired the largest "hitch". If you think all those men just stood around watching horses start the load, you haven't been in the woods long.

All of you nay sayers look up "Horses pulling logs"

Sodo · Nov 4, 2014

arrow said:
If you think all those men just stood around watching horses start the load, you haven't been in the woods long.

This pic is 121 years old I wonder if anybody "above ground" has been in the woods long enough. :laughing: Anyway if these methods didn't work then it would be hard to believe that by 1920 people were saying "all the good timber has already been cut."

k0ua · Nov 4, 2014

arrow said:
If you notice the harness set up, the chest bar is right there for only two horses. Snow acts like a million ball bearings and as I said, two things were going on: 1. distances were short 2. This is not a typical load. They'd have contests to see who acquired the largest "hitch". If you think all those men just stood around watching horses start the load, you haven't been in the woods long.

All of you nay sayers look up "Horses pulling logs"

At your suggestion, I did just that. I found dozens of similar photographs, of huge loads of logs being pulled by 2 to 4 and occasionally 6 horses. The loads looked so large as to defy belief, but they can't all be photoshopped.

arrow · Nov 4, 2014

Sodo said:
This pic is 121 years old I wonder if anybody "above ground" has been in the woods long enough. :laughing: Anyway if these methods didn't work then it would be hard to believe that by 1920 people were saying "all the good timber has already been cut."

I hope I didn't give away my vampire ancestry. I should have said "you've been in the woods too long"

arrow · Nov 4, 2014

k0ua said:
At your suggestion, I did just that. I found dozens of similar photographs, of huge loads of logs being pulled by 2 to 4 and occasionally 6 horses. The loads looked so large as to defy belief, but they can't all be photoshopped.

James the only thing i have to go by is that when i was professionally logging, winter hitches on skidders were enormous compared to any other season. Main reason was because of snow. It was also when the most trouble occurred out in the field as straight line paths were fine but any side slope with it's potential "wheel dips" were cantankerous to deal with as some hitches weighed more than the skidder. I've seen pics like this for the first time 60 years ago and must admit, I stand in disbelief every time I see one. Those poor animals.

MillWeld · Nov 8, 2014

With a set of mobile home axles and some rudimentary welding skills I made this log arch. Log is lifted via a chain hoist. Capacity is 40" dia which is bigger than my sawmill can handle but I have also carried multiple logs on the arch.

Sodo · Apr 9, 2015

xtn said:
Couldn't your 3-point just lift up one end of the log? If there is a reason not to do it this way, please educate me!

The reason is I forgot (until recently) to build an attachment for the 3-point.

This project is not done yet - haven't figured out the pull-chain yet. I have Tongs but they're maxxed at 16 inches, this log is about 20.