Local cutt'n area (AK) 2nd trip (Pics)

After the first trip I was pretty tired & on the drive back thought thru a few thing to make it possible to get wood "easier" from this area.
I made up some longer ropes with loops in the end, thru a hay pulley in the truck, chained up the rear tires on the ATV.
I found a place I could get my ATV up a steep hill. Did some trail clearing & cut & skidded 5 trees to the top of the hill.
Chained the hay pulley in a tree, chain on the log, thru the pulley to the truck front hook.
Worked great.
Time consuming but allot less physical work. Got the logs right to the trailer, rolled the bigger round on. Made 1 row, pulled the ATV on the trailer & stacked around it.
I had room for 1 or 2 more trees, but time (daylight) is a factor.
Anyway a good day, it was still work but much less than the 1st trip.
Pics of skidding to top of the hill:

Felt like a good load, green wet birch is pretty heavy, but with the ATV, I don't over load it. I got out the narrow, slick, rocky road & not break anything.
If I had more time I'd have loaded some on the truck, I could have used the weight on one of the icy/snowy hills coming out,
Didn't make it up one hill, started sliding backwards, fought it to the bottom, (only about 50') :bug: Then I remembered I have 4WD, hit the button & made it OK, with no problems.
More pics, using the hay pulley & the loaded trailer:

Good pics Dave, is birch the wood of choice up there?

The best bang for the buck here.
Common & plentiful in my area.
Spruce is 2nd choice for me.
I've burned, cottonwood, alder & what I call swamp spruce but might be tamarack.
But when given a choice, Birch is our #1 fire wood.
http://forestry.alaska.gov/pdfs/08BTUFirewoodHandout.pdf

Workin smarter not harder. Great set up!

Great pics, thanks for sharing. I always find it amazing that the coldest regions of Canada and the US rely almost exclusively on softwoods while so many folks in southern Canada, and especially the southern US states, have reams of incredible hardwood varietals that are certainly not always required in all situations. Dude I bet you could barter for just about anything up there with a pile of quality seasoned hardwood!

BTW, the pdf you included was great and those truck box calculations are awesome. I've saved the document and will refer to the chart again for future reference. I was also thinking it would be REALLY helpful to folks that buy their wood and it shows up in some guys truck and you're standing there thinking "is that really 2 cords in his truck?" Been there done that last year...and got screwed. that chart would have been great at the time.

Using the pulley makes for lighter work for sure. That's using the head Dave. Now you need to think about making a cheap dray like ours. It is amazing how much easier it is to pull logs out and like you, I forgot I had 4wd when I started simply because the dray pulled so easy.

Awesome pic's. (seems there a trade off for it) You start pulling the double blocks and its going to be a loooooooong day! Guess there more than corn in Indiana there flat ground.

I take it your back is doing pretty good?

I'd be gulping down Tramadol and Norco if I fired up my saw right now. I hung back the lights in my garage yesterday after the contractor got it all painted... can barely move today.

I got some great deals on wood this summer though. I had enough wood for this winter, but I wanted to get ahead a few years. Just kept my eyes open on C List and ended up with close to 10 cords with a total cost of $700.

I think it is funny people from the lower 48 consider Birch a soft wood its about as hard as we get up here. All this oak and cherry they speak of cutting makes me cringe for burning that stuff is for furniture and projects not burning!

Most of the wood I get from my brother in law is birch, silver, yellow and some black. White has the lowest BTU's of the birches I think.

Great pictures Bogydave, how is the birch syrup compared to maple syrup?


zap

BWS, Dennis
Do you have a picture of the "dray", I broke the ball (yesterday) of my home-made ATV hitch & the pulling "eye" today.

f3cbboy, Thanks, easier than carrying each split to the truck for sure.

Manitoulin Maples: Thanks, I refer to the chart allot. (& I know I overload my trailer)

smokinjay: Thanks, Was trying to figure out how to make a "sky-line"

Nate, Back better, I don't call it good, just better. I need the exercise & I may be weird, but am having fun.

bsj425: Thanks, a cord of dry oak would be like gold. I'd have to make some short boards out of some if it for sure.

Zap: Thanks. I'll never keep up with you. Birch syrup is pretty good but I like maple better.

Today's trip (3rd trip) & I had a helper (SIL).
It is amazing how much faster it was. It took me all day yesterday & I didn't get as many trees down.
Today, 3-1/2 hrs, trailer loaded & heading out. 3 times faster at least.
I straightened the "pulling eye" out of the home-made ATV hitch. (bigger "I" bolt to be installed)
Had to winch the ATV up the hill, skidding the logs made it slick.
I plan on doing some splitting tomorrow, take a break from logging.
It was warmer today (some of the snow melted), even saw a few mosquitoes, but they were slow movers.
I estimate almost 2 cords, all good solid trees.

Alaskan birch is probably as hard as our oak!

Nice work bogydave, two cord is a good days work.


zap

Zap
That's 2 cords in 3 trips, one trip with a helper.
The road in is narrow, rough, rocky & the north sunless hills are icy so I don't get as big of a load & the ATV takes up space in the trailer.
The wood is green, wet & pretty heavy so a cord would more than max out my 3500 lb trailer.
A few spots have big rock & I don't want to bust a rim or tire way out there. 5 MPH on the way out.
About a 20 miles one way trip & 1 mile on the one lane "trail".

But thanks. 2 cords there in one day would be doable for you younger guys, but I'm happy getting 3/4 cords a day.

That link has Birch, Yellow I guess, at 23.6 M BTU; That's hardwood in my book. Same as White Ash, which I'll be burning a lot of this season. Lots of Black Cherry (20 M,) too...sorry to make you cringe.

All the btu charts I've read put red oak at 24 M so I don't think my boiler would know the difference. I understand that birch dries quicker. I would porbably opt for birch if it were available in the quantities needed. Agriculturally cherry is a nuisance here as the trees are plentiful and the leaves and seeds are poisonous to livestock. To help you keep in shape with the cringe muscles I burned black walnut for almost four years straight but the wood had been rejected by the sawmill for metal content. Got the logs real cheap as the owner of the mill had a cringe problem with bad blades. Ahhh...Those were the days.

Nice pics Bogydave! Nothing like some work in the woods. Looks really beautifull where you are cutting. I can not wait to get out next weekend, when I finally have one off, and do some cutting myself. Watch those slippery slopes, stay safe, and take your time and enjoy! I miss the woods when I see your pictures!

I just turned & looked out the window.
:bug: IT'S SNOWING :bug:
Just started. Hopefully just a short flurry & it won't stick or maybe it'll melt. I got work to do.

Nothing wrong with birch . . . while I prefer yellow I usually cut some white birch every year since it is plentiful and my wife loves how easy it ignites when she reloads the stove.

I definitely agree with "easy ignite", the bark ignites fast.
On burn re-loads, I get the wood (birch), I'm putting in, laying next to the door so it can go in fast.

According to the Alaska DNR & Forestery, Alaska Birch - 23,600,000 BTU/Cord. Which is similar to other charts for "yellow birch",
& "higher than red oak" on some tables. :bug:

Maybe the geographic location has some bearing on the growth density & BTU. When you look at various BTU tables, they range quit a bit with the same species at different locations.
One chart has "red oak" & "yellow birch" at 22,100,000 btu/cord, another has red oak at 24.8 million BTU’s. So charts & tables can be a bit misleading. Some use 15% moisture content, some use 20%.
Either way, it's the best wood I have access to.

The chart on the "top right" of this handout, is real handy for Pickup load for volume.
I use it for my reference since it's an Alaska study done with Alaska wood.
http://forestry.alaska.gov/pdfs/08BTUFirewoodHandout.pdf