Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[John_Mc]

Try a grapple like this. Not heavy, bites the log, and allows precise control.

Tractors and wood! Show your pics

Whitbread, I think you could use a little more weight on that trailer. Nicely done!That's a light load! I had it way heavier with a tornado blown down 40" black walnut in may. That load was still lighter than a 23klb off road man lift I hauled for a friend. That thing was HEAVY! I...

www.tractorbynet.com

gg

Looks very interesting. Only about 20 lbs heavier than my pallet forks. Around 350lb.

My HLA root grapple is ~950lbs. Really takes away from lifting capacity which is another reason I have been using forks .... this lighter grapple could be much better.

Those forestry grapples are great for handling logs. I don't own a sawmill, but have helped out my neighbor with his, and done a lot of forestry work in my own woods and on other properties in my area. Other styles of grapples may excell at other tsks, but it's hard to beat a forestry grapple for handling logs. Mine weighs almost exactly the same as the bucket it replaces, whch is a good thing for me, since I don;t have a lot of lift capacity to spare.

Mine is a Sundown GR40. I think the Frostbite is slightly better built, but have been happy with the Sundown unit

 

[hunt4570]

I have this one, its 4' wide and a bit lighter than my 6' bucket.. I its a no name job I got at an equipment place, works great.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Looks very interesting. Only about 20 lbs heavier than my pallet forks. Around 350lb.

My HLA root grapple is ~950lbs. Really takes away from lifting capacity which is another reason I have been using forks .... this lighter grapple could be much better.

The FrostBite is a very good grapple for handling logs. It holds the log close in to the tractor with a firm bite. You can do it with forks and a grapple, which is a very good tool for lots of stuff, but to bite the log with forks and grapple you have to grab the log way at the end of the forks putting the log far away from the rotation points making control more difficult and reducing your lift capability. Plus having the forks in your way while your trying to load or moving thru the woods. My narrow grapple is much much easier to move thru the woods than a bucket never mind forks. But every thing is a trade off. The FrostBite will do large brush and dig out big rocks just fine but won't carry smaller short pieces of brush or smaller rocks nearly as well as a regular root grapples.

gg

 

[Grjfer]

Used the tractor and carry all to move tools to work on building another rack to stack wood on. All materials were repurposed.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Used the tractor and carry all to move tools to work on building another rack to stack wood on. All materials were repurposed. View attachment 760403

Nice rack - I like the way you keep it up off the ground. New carry-all

gg

 

[plowhog]

Do you ever use your tractor and grapple to turn large, heavy logs on your sawmill?

Lately I've been milling a 30" sugarpine. Very heavy. Even with two of us and two peavys, we couldn't rotate it 90 degrees.

I've used my tractor and forks to assist with getting it turned. But it's far from ideal. And trying to use the forks for that without a helper/spotter to assist with guiding the forks in, etc. would be difficult for one person if I was milling alone.

Would the frost bite grapple offer enough control to grab a log and turn it 90 degrees?

(btw, the sugarpine is excellent wood! Tight, straight grain-- a joy to mill. It such nice wood that I cut a 3" slab to use for a future table. I do that with oak and madrone, but never before with pine-- until this sugarpine.)

 

[Gordon Gould]

Do you ever use your tractor and grapple to turn large, heavy logs on your sawmill?

Lately I've been milling a 30" sugarpine. Very heavy. Even with two of us and two peavys, we couldn't rotate it 90 degrees.

I've used my tractor and forks to assist with getting it turned. But it's far from ideal. And trying to use the forks for that without a helper/spotter to assist with guiding the forks in, etc. would be difficult for one person if I was milling alone.

Would the frost bite grapple offer enough control to grab a log and turn it 90 degrees?

(btw, the sugarpine is excellent wood! Tight, straight grain-- a joy to mill. It such nice wood that I cut a 3" slab to use for a future table. I do that with oak and madrone, but never before with pine-- until this sugarpine.)

I'm not sure. The control would not be a problem but it depends where you can grab it. It would be easy to grab it from the top clamping it side to side but then if you rotated it 90* the tines would end up under the log and setting it down might be a problem with the mill frame right there. ???

I have seen where people wrap a chain around the log and take an extra turn so the chain comes up on the opposite side from the supports and then roll the log by lifting the chain with their bucket or a winch device. Looked easy but I never did it - don't have a mill. Wish I did.

gg

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Here's how I turn big logs, I can easily turn the biggest logs,

If you build one, just don't use a cheapo winch or it won't work right or last long, mine has a good quality two speed "made in USA" winch.

SR

 

[Skeans1]

If you can figure out how to hang a set of grapples you’ll be a lot happier since most will do a minimum of 270 rotation.

 

[Loaderman22]

Just thinking out loud... what if you set up some rollers under the mill, 2 at each end running parallel to the log that raise on a jack setup. Some of you use a jack to help center the log for taper, what if that had rollers like an outfeed table to a table saw like these but farther apart:

This would take a lot of the friction out of the log rolling and keep it where you want it instead of having to roll then slide the log back against the uprights. granted this won't account for bark or knots, so maybe it needs to be solid wheels like these:

Weld up a plate bracket mounted to a jack, raise up under log, roll it to the side you want, then set back down on mill frame? You would only be able to use these when its still considered a log with some roundness, and not a square beam. Since I don't have a mill, I'm just throwing out an idea...