Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[hunt4570]

And it seems like there's always one of those which is just out of reach. I have 230' of cable, which I only pull all of the way out in winter... yet still sometimes find myself wanting a bit more.

Dont we always find ourselves wanting just a bit more?? Well except for pain I guess.

 

[John_Mc]

And it seems like there's always one of those which is just out of reach. I have 230' of cable, which I only pull all of the way out in winter... yet still sometimes find myself wanting a bit more.

I hear that. My record is pulling out all but the last few wraps of 230' cable, then hooking two 20' chains onto the end, then dropping the tree toward the end of the chain, since I did not had enough reach to get it if it went in any other direction.

That's not something I do regularly. It's more typical for me to be in the 50-150 foot range. In the above case, we were clearing for a new trail, but the side-hill was too steep to run the tractor on. We wanted to clear as much as we could before the excavator we hired came in to de-stump and grade things.

 

[Jstpssng]

I hear that. My record is pulling out all but the last few wraps of 230' cable, then hooking two 20' chains onto the end, then dropping the tree toward the end of the chain, since I did not had enough reach to get it if it went in any other direction.

That's not something I do regularly. It's more typical for me to be in the 50-150 foot range. In the above case, we were clearing for a new trail, but the side-hill was too steep to run the tractor on. We wanted to clear as much as we could before the excavator we hired came in to de-stump and grade things.

The only time that I've used the full length is when there's too much snow on the ground to run the tractor through, but not enough to take the time to plow out the trail. Otherwise I spend most of my time getting the hitches off from stumps which magically appear from nowhere to grab the tree as it goes by.

 

[Gordon Gould]

The only time that I've used the full length is when there's too much snow on the ground to run the tractor through, but not enough to take the time to plow out the trail. Otherwise I spend most of my time getting the hitches off from stumps which magically appear from nowhere to grab the tree as it goes by.

Snow is surely a wonderful thing to float a log on. Like you said all that stuff underneath that will stop you on a long pull in the summer just disappears under the snow.

My tractor is a little bigger though. So if it can't go in the snow there is no way I can either especially pull out long lengths of cable.

If your winch drum is shaped anything like my Farmi JL501 then you would gain a bunch of pulling force if you cut that cable to a shorter length. On my 501 pulling from the first cable layer on an empty drum gives me 11,250 lbs but pulling from a full drum is only 4,275 lbs. A shockingly huge difference. I can get over 250' 3/8" cable on mine but run with only half that so that I am lower on the drum.

gg

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I was wearing snowshoes the winter I was dragging that much cable regularly. We had a lot of snow that year but I had just bought the winch and needed to pay myself back.

It was only 5 years ago, yet I would be struggling to do it now.

 

[Gordon Gould]

^^^^
I was wearing snowshoes the winter I was dragging that much cable regularly. We had a lot of snow that year but I had just bought the winch and needed to pay myself back.

It was only 5 years ago, yet I would be struggling to do it now.

I understand what you are saying!

gg

 

[hunt4570]

99% of the trees I drop are on a field edge, I steer them into the field and then normally buck them to whatever length I want then pick the logs up with the grapple and load them on a trailer to move them to my sawmill.

 

[John_Mc]

99% of the trees I drop are on a field edge, I steer them into the field and then normally buck them to whatever length I want then pick the logs up with the grapple and load them on a trailer to move them to my sawmill.

Just the opposite for me. Unless I'm helping a friend with a problem tree, 99% of what I cut is deep in the woods, often in a densely wooded area. Occasionally, some of what I cut are fairly near the trail, though I generally don't drop them into the trail, since that means cleaning up the limbs out fo the trail afterward.

 

[hunt4570]

Just the opposite for me. Unless I'm helping a friend with a problem tree, 99% of what I cut is deep in the woods, often in a densely wooded area. Occasionally, some of what I cut are fairly near the trail, though I generally don't drop them into the trail, since that means cleaning up the limbs out fo the trail afterward.

When I bought this place (100 acres) other than a 10 acre hay field on the road it was all woods. I had some loggers come in and clear cut a couple small fields out in the middle, a place to hunt, plant food plots etc. A bonus to that was that they put a road all the way around the place to get their timber out, So now when I need logs for the sawmill I just drop them along the edges, makes things easier for me. Easier to drop and process the trees, easier to haul away the limbs and stuff. AND... I can use that road to haul my logs out. It is a plan thats working well for me.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I had to move a 16" blow down red maple off the road late this morning. It was so hot my saw was out of tune. It ran like a saw from the '70's. Low RPM, a little rich, and smoky. But then again, I was a little out of tune myself at 86 degrees.

gg