Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[CalG]

The bolt patterns were different on the plate and the drawbar plus the wood spacer brought the ball height up where I needed it for my boat and log splitter.

There’s a place for pressure treated pine and a place for white oak and this was the latter. I finished up the new white oak adapter spacer today. The busted pt pine one made a good pattern for drilling and marking the curves. All better now and this one should last as long as the rest of the tractor.
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WoW!

A glass case cabinet for your SkilSaw! Style and Class!

eta

Heck, you stole my thunder! ;-)

 

[WinterDeere]

How do you like my glass doored portable power tool cabinet converted from a garbage picked dining room china cabinet ? It’s even has a light in it that works. It is great to be able to see that everything is in its place.

I liked that, back when you brought it home and first posted it! It has a certain panache.

 

[CalG]

I should have grabbed some pics, but...

Today, I moved the 12 foot lengths of a recently cut 90 foot tall hemlock. 6 good saw logs (18" ABH). Dang things are HEAVY to lift and carry, as I didn't want to drag them.

Bucket tusks made from 2"x2" heavy wall tube are the cat's pajamas.

Now the saw log pile has grown to near 20, all up off the ground, most are skinned.

I need to find a saw set up.... I could use some 2X stock on hand.

;-)

 

[WinterDeere]

Bucket tusks made from 2"x2" heavy wall tube are the cat's pajamas.

Details?

I harvest and store my logs in 15 ft. lengths, mostly mid-size to large red oak and hickory, although tons of ash in the last two years. My process is to park the splitter right next to where I'm stacking, then use the tractor to haul a log off the pile and lay it on the ground for bucking into 18" lengths, and then roll those rounds into the loader bucket to haul over to the splitter. Works real nice, as I park the tractor with the loader at hip height, to make it easy swinging heavy rounds onto the splitter... no bending and lifting.

But sometimes its easier to switch to forks for retrieving logs off the pile, than to use chain slings on the bucket, or the precarious act of rolling logs off the pile with the bucket. Trouble then is... I've lost my means of moving and lifting bucked rounds, until I switch back to the bucket.

I also need the bucket for hauling all of my gear (saws, gas, toolbox, etc.) down to my wood lot and back, at the start and end of each processing session. I've been making due by switching over to forks up at the barn, and then picking up the bucket with the forks, to haul both of them down to the wood lot together. I will often chain them together, since I know it's only a matter of time till the bucket slides off the forks as I bounce my way down the hill from my barn to the wood processing lot.

I've been thinking of making a carry-all that I can pick up with the forks, and use it for both hauling gear and moving rounds. But I'd want it to be tough enough that I can also leave it on the forks when lifting 2000# logs, and having them roll back against the backstop of the forks. Not totally trivial. It would also have to be fixed to the backstop of the forks, so it doesn't slide off when putting the forks nose-down to separate logs on the pile, or to drop a log on the ground.

 

[John_Mc]

I also need the bucket for hauling all of my gear (saws, gas, toolbox, etc.) down to my wood lot and back, at the start and end of each processing session. I've been making due by switching over to forks up at the barn, and then picking up the bucket with the forks, to haul both of them down to the wood lot together. I will often chain them together, since I know it's only a matter of time till the bucket slides off the forks as I bounce my way down the hill from my barn to the wood processing lot.

I've been thinking of making a carry-all that I can pick up with the forks, and use it for both hauling gear and moving rounds. But I'd want it to be tough enough that I can also leave it on the forks when lifting 2000# logs, and having them roll back against the backstop of the forks. Not totally trivial. It would also have to be fixed to the backstop of the forks, so it doesn't slide off when putting the forks nose-down to separate logs on the pile, or to drop a log on the ground.

I have the same issue when I have the forestry grapple on the tractor: I lose my spot for carrying gear. I need a better way to haul the stuff around when the grapple is on, and I'm towing something with the tractor. It's less of an issue if I'm out with the SxS: the gear goes in the bed, and the splitter gets towed. However, the SxS does not move or sort large logs and can't handle my forwarding trailer.

I'll sometimes tow a my Polar ATV trailer behind the tractor and load that with gear. The 3 Pt hitch logging winch also has a trailer hitch, so I can tow some stuff when that is on. However if I'm towing a splitter or my forwarding trailer with the tractor when the grapple is on, I lose the space for my extra gear.

I added a "SawHaul" mounted on the tractor, so I can easily carry at least one chainsaw (not cheap, but I received it as a Christmas present a few years ago, and it's a step up from the 2x6 I bore cut lengthwise to make a slot for carrying a chainsaw). I added a homemade holder for my peavey on to my 3 point hitch logging winch. If I don't have the trailer with me, the fuel and bar oil rides in a Husqvarna combi-can between my feet on the tractor.

Sometimes, the work I'm doing just takes multiple trips with different implements in tow. A good way to haul more gear without taking up my trailer hitch might eliminate one of those trips.

 

[WinterDeere]

I'm always looking for ways to reduce my setup and cleanup time when processing wood, such that it need not be an "all day" activity, but instead can be something I run out to do an hour or two on random evenings. My back hates sitting at a desk all week, and then spending 8 hours straight processing wood on Saturday, the desk is actually more a problem than moving wood.

I've gone a good way toward that, making small changes, but I'm always looking for more improvements. A great day for me is one where I spend only 6-8 hours at my desk, and then fill in the balance with some manual labor / outside chores. I more often fall into a habit of spending 6am - midnight at my desk, with only a few meal breaks, and then realizing my back is ruined for the week by Thursday night. Not good.

 

[BackRoad]

This adjustable sit down/stand up desk works for me. $170 using coupon. Not classic styling, but my back likes it!

Amazon.com

 

[WinterDeere]

Yeah, had a standing desk at my last office, and it definitely helped. But my present office is pure 18th century built-in library, all mahogany-stained walnut, as per the style of the 1770’s. Beautiful office, with a tufted leather sofa and walk-in fireplace, but not conducive to long hours in the old accountant style low-back leather chairs.

On the flip side, I’m no averse to catching 15 minutes of shuteye in the middle of the day, on that tufted leather couch in front of a wood fire. Doesn’t completely resolve the issue of too many hours at the desk, but it does help the spirit.

I think my goal needs to be spending less hours per day at the desk, not finding ways to make longer hours more comfortable. I’ve taken to working desk hours on Saturday and Sunday, in order to reduce hours during the week, but old habits die hard.

 

[John_Mc]

Welcome to "Weekend Warrior Syndrome", @WinterDeere.

I've been known to suffer from that myself. I try to make a point of not calculating my actual expenses for the firewood we heat our home with. But if I did, I'd have to add in the cost of the visits to the chiropractor.

 

[Gordon Gould]

This is my set-up -

Small saw, helmet sits on saw handle when not on my head.

Big saw, wedge pounder, tool box.

Cant hook, chokers and chains, snatch block.

Gas and oil.

Snatch block straps- 4'X2, 6'X2, and 9', extra wedges behind seat or in tool box. Anything else like an occasional ladder I hang on the grapple with straps or chains if necessary.

gg