Stone Boat

[oosik]

tcreeley - that stone boat looks to be very fancy - like the beginning of a nice piece of furniture. I saw a very fine stone boat this summer - no idea what it was used to haul. The front was two bull noses off the "railing" on the end of bridgeworks. Somewhere there is a bridge without the bullnoses.

 

[turnkey4099]

For those of you not from New England or "Stone Central" lol:

Stone-boat - Wikipedia

So, many years ago an old-school retired farmer friend and tractor "mentor" of mine used to use an old Oliver OC-3 (man, I wish I had that old crawler)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._HG_tractors_at_Antique_Powerland_in_2016.jpg

and an even older (OK, a LOT older) stone boat to skid lengths out of the woods on the snow during the Winter. Kept 'em clean that way so the sawyer had no complaints when he showed up to mill 'em off.

Leading end of the log was up on the stone boat to keep it from digging in, the rest of the length just slid right along in the snow.

We used the heck out of that old sled year 'round for all sorts of stuff, and when he moved away I thought I'd never see one around here again - until yesterday...

Bored outa my head trying to think up things to look for on CL a few days ago I punched in stone boat - which I've done a few times over a lot of years with no luck.

Surprisingly, one popped up!

Spoke with the seller, John, who has a great piece of property up in Stillwater NY (just outside of Saratoga Springs, where the lake still freezes up enough to fish off of) and is selling off a bunch of stuff.

Took advantage of the freakin' beautiful weather yesterday to make the 3 hour drive up to meet him and after visiting and BS'ing with him for a couple hours, came Home with two new members to the family:


View attachment 535239

View attachment 535240


Stone boat is every bit of 7' long, and 30" wide. Didn't know about the skidding tongs until we went out to the barn to look at the sled, but being the sensitive guy I am I couldn't bear the thought of splitting them up... Lol

Looking forward to putting them to good use one day

John turned out to be one of those rare sellers you'd like to run into again. What a great guy, and a really interesting story.

So there you have it, Stone Boat.

PS, don't tell my lovely Bride Miss Cindy I crammed that thing inside her car...

Out here a "stone boat" is anything you can toss rocks into and drag behind truck, tractor, whatever. I cleared rock with a team and stoneboat back in the 40s as a kid...mostly as a punishment for screwing up. Hook up the team and I want see 5 loads before you quit!

Old car hoods are good for skidding logs year round, not just in snow.

 

[gemutlich]

Man, y'all had me crackin up! Turnkey, I mentioned skidding em out on the snow because it kept em clean so the sawyer wouldn't lose it over how the dirt wreaked havoc on his equipment. A stone boat of this design could absolutely - much like an old car hood - be used year round to do the job.

Pulled it out of Wifeys car this morning and tucked it away in the bed of our old truck:





Looking forward to putting it to use... eventually

 

[Rustyiron]

Good find! My neighbor has one with the same cast "head". Very nice.

 

[Egon]

"and of course the odd stone"
"odd stone".... in Nova Scotia?
Are you in "the valley"?
Seems like most everywhere else in NS is ALL stone!

The first fifty some years of my misspent youth were spent in Alberta!

 

[jaxs]

Before rotory cutters,we transported stalk cutters on something similar. Occasionaly used for taking hay from barn to remote pastures and odd jobs.

 

[erda]

Modern version:

View attachment 535247

Bruce

Do you have a link for that?

 

[bcp]

Do you have a link for that?

logsled.com doesn't work any more, but I have some more photos I saved.



Here's another ATV skidder:

MONTANA JACKS QuadSkidder w/Chain Kit – Montana Jacks Outpost

Bruce

 

[aczlan]

Do you have a link for that?

It looks like it was made by Logsled who has since gone out of business.

Aaron Z

 

[Mace Canute]

I can recall the stone boat made from two poplar logs cut slanted on the end with a spacer on each end to keep the logs apart. Ordinary planks were used for the top. Our area had horses pulling them.

They did see a lot of use hauling manure out of barns and of course the odd stone.

Each and every one would be custom built to the owners satisfaction.

When I was a kid on the farm we had one very similar except it had 4x6s (with steel wear runners on the bottom) instead of poplar logs but it did have a tongue made from a poplar tree. It also saw most of it's use hauling manure out of the barn.

 

[oosik]

My abutting neighbor on the south is a cattle rancher. About five years after we moved down here - his eldest came over one fine spring day for a visit. He was particularly interested in my tractor - Ford 1700 4WD. After looking it over, he very politely asked if I could come over and help them clean the calving barn. I got my jacket and gloves and started to jump in his pickup. Oh, No - he said, come over with your tractor.

Well, bottom line - he and two of his sisters were charged with cleaning out the calving barn. Their tractors are all very large field tractors but he had an idea that my little Ford would fit in the calving barn. They had a "stone boat" & wheel barrow that they drug around inside this barn and would load up and pull outside by hand.

My little Ford fit just fine and even into each stall - with precise and careful maneuvering. Got the entire barn cleaned in a little over half a day.

Their dad came over a couple days later and thanked me. I'm not all that certain that he was too overjoyed with his kids creative decision.

 

[Egon]

When I was a kid on the farm we had one very similar except it had 4x6s (with steel wear runners on the bottom) instead of poplar logs but it did have a tongue made from a poplar tree. It also saw most of it's use hauling manure out of the barn.

Built with whatever was available!

 

[gemutlich]

oosik that's a great memory

 

[gemutlich]

Six years have passed and as with all of us, much has happened hasn’t it?

If you’re reading this, I deeply hope you and those you care about are doing well - and if you haven’t spoken with some of them in a long time, please take a moment just to let them know you’re thinking of them

I haven’t really been on any forums much, and honestly had completely forgotten I started this thread when I first brought the stone-boat Home…

After pulling it out of the shed this morning to measure for replacement boards, I started searching for more information on it and this thread popped up!

If I can remember how to post up pictures, here’s the stone-boat today as I load load it up to take to sawmill tomorrow

 

[CalG]

I put 2X3 wooden skids under the 3pt carry all frame.

If the stone is too heavy to lift, dragging is an option.

 

[gemutlich]

Sacrificial runners are a good common-place idea to save your metal for sure ‘Cal, they’re on my old brush hog for the same reason if it ever kisses the ground

Restoring this old piece is more a sentimental mission for me, and something that will probably see more mileage on a trailer going to shows than on the ground working

 

[garry1p]

I took and old truck bed liner, reinforced the front and pulled it many miles easy to use and would just slide along.

 

[oosik]

All the land around here - for many miles - was all homestead. Back in the 1890's. It was given by the government with the hope that oil would be found. I rub more Corn Huskers Lotion into my hands than any oil that was ever found around here.

Anyhow - the homesteader to the north of me had several sons. They used stone boats and mules to clear much of their acreage. I have pictures of the "stone fences" that were created when they cleared their land.

 

[oosik]

These pics are just two of the stone fences. There are many others - all over the homestead.

Makes your back ache - doesn't it.

 

[ponytug]

These pics are just two of the stone fences. There are many others - all over the homestead.

Makes your back ache - doesn't it.

I just look at stone fences and piles of stones like that and find the amount of work just staggering. I can imagine the whole family of kids fanning out in the field and tossing stones on to the stone boats, round and round.

Sometimes, I think big jobs are best done one pebble at a time. You don't eat the elephant in one bite. When I was in high school in one of my first jobs, I suggested doing and then did a job that required me putting something like a hundred and fifty thousand dots on some plates in a day or two. In hindsight, it seems crazy, but at the time, it turned out to be incredibly useful.

All the best,

Peter