Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Scar0B2150]

The little tractor that could...

 

[arrow]

I think he was going for "copacetic"

I'm too much of an "aesthete" to have spelled that correctly. I do better with books that have pictures.

I dunno Old P. I think that Log Hog comes in handy when you've choked the stem too deeply and part of it goes under the tractor. Hate when that happens.
Imagine, $309 for some tube metal and what's worse $72 for 7' of 5/16th chain with a hook and a probe.
I recall when that thing was $189 and your type of winch you use was $1800 brand new.

 

[Loaderman22]

If I understand what you are asking, click your user name in upper right, then click settings in the drop down window.

Yeah, since they overhauled the website, I haven't gotten a single notification via email on any of the threads I follow. Oh well, who says change is for the better...

 

[Gordon Gould]

Everybody has a different idea on what makes a good logging job. Most land owners want to see an unnatural neat and tidy area like a state park picnic area or the grounds of an estate so loggers are forced to 'clean up' in order attract new jobs and preserve a good reputation among landowners. I get that. But it is not the best way in the long run. I like to leave it like an natural occurrence happened like a fir blow down in this case. It is better for the total ecology of the land from fungi in the soil all the way up to trees and wildlife. Also keeps the soil partially shaded thus cooler and damper for better survival of regen.

gg

 

[Loaderman22]

I can see both sides, I like your thought GG about helping the regen, but I also think that chipping the tops and spreading it out, (not blowing it into one big pile) is beneficial also. It speeds up breakdown, and redistributes the nutrients back to the soil for the next gen to grow. In my woods neither happen as I harvest almost all for firewood. The very thin tops get left behind where they fall so it breaks down quickly. I also don't cut in just one area, I bounce around, taking the dead or compromised trees. Ones with bad lean, or damaged bark, or exposed cores, such as in a crotch or at the base where ants can get in easily. I

 

[John_Mc]

Everybody has a different idea on what makes a good logging job. Most land owners want to see an unnatural neat and tidy area like a state park picnic area or the grounds of an estate so loggers are forced to 'clean up' in order attract new jobs and preserve a good reputation among landowners. I get that. But it is not the best way in the long run. I like to leave it like an natural occurrence happened like a fir blow down in this case. It is better for the total ecology of the land from fungi in the soil all the way up to trees and wildlife. Also keeps the soil partially shaded thus cooler and damper for better survival of regen.
gg

As you noted, leaving the mess is beneficial to wildlife. Wildlife loves a mess. Too many folks devote a lot of time to making their woods look like a park, then wonder where all the wildlife went. They often also fail to make the connection, or leap to the wrong conclusion: "It's too bad there aren't more people like me in the neighborhood taking such good care of their woods... then we'd have more wildlife."

It used to be common practice around here to require loggers to lop slash to lay within 2' of the ground. More and more people in our area are realizing that just leaving it whole can be a very good strategy: it protects the area from browsing by deer, giving the regeneration a chance to get established before the slash rots down. (Not to mention that wading through slash to lop it up can be a hazardous activity.)

On the forested land I own with a group of others in the area, we've all agreed to the rule that anything under 3-4" diameter stays in the woods to rot and return nutrients to the soil. (Pound-for pound, most of the nutrients are in the smaller stuff anyway.) I follow the same practice on my own land, and also make a practice of leaving some large downed wood scattered about for wildlife habitat.

 

[Loaderman22]

The bulk of my woods are deciduous trees with a thick shady canopy, so I don't get a lot of underbrush, and the thick leaf cover in the fall seems to keep any real grass/weeds from growing up. I only have small saplings that come up in the few areas where sun peeks through. I do have a grove of cedar trees that's pretty dense, but we did lose some to a bad windy storm about 5-6 years ago. That area is loaded with a thick layer of soft mossy ground cover, but some grass has come through where the trees were lost. The deer tend to hang out there because it stays cooler. In the summer the moss is soft to lay on, and the winter it's more insulated, typically less snow on the ground. I get visited by a rafter of turkeys regularly, its at least 25-30 strong through the year, but much bigger once the babies hatch. Hens seem to get a minimum of 8-10 each.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I can see both sides, I like your thought GG about helping the regen, but I also think that chipping the tops and spreading it out, (not blowing it into one big pile) is beneficial also. It speeds up breakdown, and redistributes the nutrients back to the soil for the next gen to grow. In my woods neither happen as I harvest almost all for firewood. The very thin tops get left behind where they fall so it breaks down quickly. I also don't cut in just one area, I bounce around, taking the dead or compromised trees. Ones with bad lean, or damaged bark, or exposed cores, such as in a crotch or at the base where ants can get in easily. I

I see nothing at all wrong with what you are doing. Sounds like a good strategy to me and besides it is your woods. Do what you want. In my mind it is great that you are thinking about what effect you are having on your wood lot in the long term. I was only trying to say that if I leave a bunch of ugly gnarly tops in the woods it may be for other reasons than me being a lazy slob. There are lots of better reasons for it. It is just a bunch of trade offs each of us makes between human nature liking things orderly and mother nature preferring things quite messy with a complicated science underneath it all.

gg

Edit: To warm to work in the rotting snow but if I say here I will get in trouble.

 

[Jstpssng]

Old Path has one of the best set ups for small tractor logging on here. Theoretically, none of us should go out in the woods skidding trees without something rigged up to our tractors such as he has.
Doesn't take much as you're rounding a curve with your tractor hitch load nudging up against a tree only to dislodge a 3" dead branch 40' up.

This is what Old Path really needs, the way that he uses his tractor.
You are right about the way he has it set up though... a farm tractor was never meant to be used in the woods.

 

[Oldpath05]

I'm too much of an "aesthete" to have spelled that correctly. I do better with books that have pictures.

I dunno Old P. I think that Log Hog comes in handy when you've choked the stem too deeply and part of it goes under the tractor. Hate when that happens.
Imagine, $309 for some tube metal and what's worse $72 for 7' of 5/16th chain with a hook and a probe.
I recall when that thing was $189 and your type of winch you use was $1800 brand new.

Something tells me your not a red-neck, ok I'll look that word up to....

Copasetic>>> synonyms>> agreeable, all right, alright, ducky, fine, good, hunky-dory, OK (or okay), palatable, satisfactory.......
Definition of COPACETIC <<<Doupt I'll ever use that word I stick with hunky-dory....

It's only for those that have no imagination and can afford $40.00 socks, $400.00 boots and Trigg tire chains....