skidding a REALLY big log

[dfkrug]

.....there is just as many nuts on any given forum as there might be on craigslist...generally speaking

Except, of course, on TBN....no nuts here!

You guys have no idea how tough it was to find a logger who would take
my 18 DF trees back in the 90s. It takes some very specialized equipment
to skid and load these logs....each one weighs as much or more than
a F250 PU truck. You should have seen the skidder....THAT was impressive.
It was an articulated 4WD machine that had a giant cable winch on it. I
had to go begging just to get an company to take the logs...for FREE.
After I paid for the Forester and Timber Harvest Permit.

Here is a scan of the loader and the trucks they used. I think there was
6-8 full trucks hauled out.

I also talked to a couple of those guys with the portable mills back then.
The cost of milling DF into usable studs was very close to just buying them
from a lumber yard. Site-milled lumber is not graded, either, so you could
run afoul of your building inspector in some cases. For example, if your
floor joist design called for SEL-STR 2x12s, your inspector should not pass
a job where ungraded joists are used. AND, a site-mill requires some
way of moving the logs.

It may be understandable as to why we have some of the controls put
on logging. It can be an extremely destructive activity and logs have
been illegally "poached" in the past. But the unintended consequences of
the excessive restrictions are also severe.

The sheriff was called on me, BTW. Someone saw the logging trucks and
called it in. The deputies who came out reluctantly left after I showed them
my permit.

 

[dfkrug]

I cut a 40-inch section off the big log....it is still quite heavy as the
wood is still very green.

The cut is at 40-feet from the ground, and measures 31 inches. I
count 107 rings, but I may have missed a few. Call it 110 years old.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Nice stick of wood there!. You can see the last years were fairly dry and lean as the growth rings are so much thinner. It would have made some beautiful lumber.

 

[SPIKER]

I cut a 40-inch section off the big log....it is still quite heavy as the
wood is still very green.

The cut is at 40-feet from the ground, and measures 31 inches. I
count 107 rings, but I may have missed a few. Call it 110 years old.

that would make some nice table tops if you could dry it without it splitting/cracking...

Mark

 

[newtothegarden]

that is what I call mature lumber! Over 100 years old . . . if one fell 100 years ago, what would they have used to move it??? May have missed the answer, but what state did it come from?

 

[dfkrug]

.. . if one fell 100 years ago, what would they have used to move it??? May have missed the answer, but what state did it come from?

This area in the Santa Cruz Mtns of the California coastal rainforest was
logged for all large trees back about 100 years ago. A lot of the wood
was used to rebuild San Francisco 60 mi north of here, after the big quake
and fire in 1906.

Back then, they used what was called a "steam donkey" to pull logs off the
hillsides. Essentially that was a portable winch powered by a wood-burning
steam engine. There are lots of pix of them on the web. Several working
units can be seen at local parks.

I plan to whittle a chair out of this chunk I just cut. I suppose I could
save a thin section from the bottom end, before it starts drying.

 

[JohninCT]

That is really a monster log! How far would you like to skid it? Would it be possible to jack it up and put some round fence posts under it as rollers and drag it along with your tractor? If you needed you could have the tractor pulling and a truck from behind pushing.

 

[dcyrilc]

This douglas fir tree fell last Sunday, due to wind, and a weakened root
system. It was lying across my private road, very close to my neighbor's
house. The tree was 41" in diameter at chest height, and about 110 feet
long. The slope is about 90%, and our county road is downhill, about
100 feet away.

So, how do I get this big tree out of there? The second photo shows my
approach. I will cut thru the log very close to where it touches the
ground, then use my tractor and logging cable to pull on the log at the
cut.

Why not cut sections off from above, near the root ball? First, the biggest
saw available has a 24" bar, which can not get thru anything bigger than
a little less than 48". Second, cutting sections of the log on a 90% slope
(even if I could) could allow these sections to roll downhill, towards the
county road below. Since each section cut would be pressing on each
subsequent section, I would need to pull them off to relieve pressure.
Dangerous.

It turns out, the pressure of the log trying to slide downhill was very strong.
Once it was cut thru, the pressure was so great that I could not move
the tree, pulling with my 5500# tractor and logging cable. Traction on my
road was excellent.

So the next thing I did was cut a foot-long section out. I was hoping to
relieve some of the pressure here, or be able to pull out the section with
the tractor, or with my 20T jack. The diameter is 30" at the cut.

At last, a section was removed, and I was able to pull the log end about
15 feet along the road. I could not pull any further because the end of
the log was digging into the road, and was just too heavy. It is
43' long, and about 9 tons, according to my calculation.

Finally, I attached my cable to the root ball end and, using a snatch block
to redirect the forces, pulled it off the hillside.

This is the biggest log I have ever moved!

Looks like you have a nice section of wooden guardrail along that section of drive.

 

[dfkrug]

I think that "wooden guardrail" is going to be there a long time.

I offered it to a friend a couple days ago. Free. He has a bandsaw
mill, but the price is too high.

 

[dcyrilc]

I think that "wooden guardrail" is going to be there a long time.

I offered it to a friend a couple days ago. Free. He has a bandsaw
mill, but the price is too high.

DF rots quick enough that it might be gone sooner than you think. I would not be suprised if in ten years you can't tell it was ever there.