Turning trees in a valley into firewood

[KTurner]

Here in SE Virginia, things are pretty flat, but we have a creek running beside the house in a valley that's 15-20 feet lower than everything else and 100ft or so across. There's a handful of trees that have fallen over and I'd like to turn them into firewood. I'm trying to figure out the best compromise - how long do I cut so that I can get them out of the valley without making a thousand trips. I have a NH 3230 (2wd, 32hp), but no sort of winch.

So far, my best sounding idea... cut it into lengths, put the front of the length into some sort of sled, hook it to the tractor drawbar with a long piece of rope/cable and pull the log/sled up the hill (with the tractor staying at the top of the hill). Repeat. There's a couple foot elevation change from the tree to the base of the hill, then it's 12-15 feet up. The line of trees in the pic is roughly the base of the hill.

Any better ideas? Here's a couple pics of the work area.

Keith

 

[SandburRanch]

Here in SE Virginia, things are pretty flat, but we have a creek running beside the house in a valley that's 15-20 feet lower than everything else and 100ft or so across. There's a handful of trees that have fallen over and I'd like to turn them into firewood. I'm trying to figure out the best compromise - how long do I cut so that I can get them out of the valley without making a thousand trips. I have a NH 3230 (2wd, 32hp), but no sort of winch.

So far, my best sounding idea... cut it into lengths, put the front of the length into some sort of sled, hook it to the tractor drawbar with a long piece of rope/cable and pull the log/sled up the hill (with the tractor staying at the top of the hill). Repeat. There's a couple foot elevation change from the tree to the base of the hill, then it's 12-15 feet up. The line of trees in the pic is roughly the base of the hill.

Any better ideas? Here's a couple pics of the work area.

Keith

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Sounds like a reasonable idea to me.

Google log sled for all kinds of ideas from factory built looking to old car hoods, discarded canoes, home made cones, toboggans and pick-up truck bed liners.

 

[Knotbored]

I have a small Kabota with about half that horsepower and tow trees about like those up more severe slopes- usually several at a time. The main problem as you noted is the butt end sticking into the dirt where the land terrasses or has big lumps or boulders. If you limb them close to the trunk and tow then top first that gets minumized, otherwise tie on branches to make a crude 3 or 4 runner sled surrounding the butt end (cedar is perfect).
Anyway- power is not a problem-routing the cable or chains is- tow out the highest trees first to clear paths.

 

[beenthere]

Apparently no FEL with bucket?

A word of caution: The rootball on the uprooted tree may flop back into the hole when cutting off the stem portion. Being aware of this possibly happening will keep anyone (or pets) from being in the rootball hole when it happens. All too often read of a child playing in the hole and being killed when it happens quickly. Slim chance, but it does once in awhile.

Another word: If using a rope, don't use a stretching nylon. I'd use a cable and have it run through a snatch block in a tree at the edge to be sure there is enough lift above the crest. Go at it slow, and you will figure out what works and what doesn't.

Ever driven your tractor into the "valley" ?

 

[grnspot110]

Log arch, if you can't put the tractor to the log, you can use a cable to the log arch.

 

[Ken45101]

Just a word of warning: If you drag a tree with a tractor and it gets caught up on something, the tractor can very quickly "climb the ring gear" (in other words the entire tractor rotates around the rear axle) and flips over! You need to make sure that the front end of the log is off the ground and high enough to avoid catching anything. That's why something like a log arch is safer.

Pulling backwards is a lot safer.

Dragging a log is very dangerous. A flip over can happen in a second. Best to keep your foot poised above the clutch peddle and go slow.

Here are some comments posted after one fatality:

There is physics involved. The principle is torque. If the tractor is immobilized due to the chain around the tree, the torque tries to spin the tires. If the tires do not lose traction then the large amount of torque generated by the tractor engine will cause the entire frame of the tractor to climb on the ring gear in the differential. Depending on how fast the engine is running, this can happen very quickly and flip the tractor over backwards. It is the same principle that causes wheel stands in drag racing and with motorcycles on the road by very immature riders.
.....

Old tractor clutches can grab quick. This weight of the flywheel and torque of the motor can flip a tractor in two seconds. Thats why new tractors have role bars.

Unfortunately I don't have any good suggestions other than a heavy winch. I have a similar problem here, hillsides too steep to get the trees.

Ken

 

[Western]

On larger logs that I was concerned with I cut a "skid" angle on the end closest to the tractor. I also use my 3 pnt arms for lift on the smaller ones, but watch out , this puts the log within 3' of your rear end.

When In doubt I would just use a small trailer and cut the wood to fireplace length and haul it that way.

 

[studor]

I have a piece of plate curved in the front with chain holes that I use to pull trees out of the ravines at my place. I use tow ropes, cables,chains etc to tow them out. I generally cut them into pieces that weigh less than five hundred pounds or so to save stress on the ropes etc and to reduce the possibility of getting them into a wedged or buried position.Try a few, worst thing that can happen is that you leave some composting material in the ravine.

 

[jeffreythree]

An old car hood makes a good sled. A skidding cone is better and can be made from many different things. The safest, but still cheap option, would be a small logging arch to lift the front of the tree off the ground keeping it from digging in. I have been using a Logrite Junior arch strapped to hold up white oak logs in a ravine and pulling them out and up a 30 foot dam with a cheap HF winch strapped to a tree. No tractor to turn over, the remote keeps me away from a line break, and the arch makes it where the winch can roll it on wheels instead of drag it. If I was going to do it more than once, I would get something like a Farmi skidding winch and never worry about how to get a log again.

 

[forgeblast]

I was going to mention the skidding cone, I saw that someone used a blue barrel, and drilled a hole in the front of it to loop a chain down to the log.
Saw another one that somone actually made into a cone and rivited it.