Log Lifting

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
His splitter is kinda short on mounting options. ;)

Truck mount works too. I figure someone would have tryed this by now.

ROU65660.jpg
 
DTrain, maybe this is more info than you want, but if you always had your logs in the same place to process, you could set up a swinging trolly arm or just a swinging stiff arm (pipe over a post) and use a chain fall/hoist to move them over and then lift them onto the buck.

Oh boy, was I surprised to come back and see all the posts. I think i am going to order a chain fall and a block and tackle. Sounds like the chain fall will be able to lift the heaviest logs. Will be slow, but the way I'm doing it a few extra minutes is no problem. Ehouse, can you supply me some more info about that swing arm. It sounds perfect for what I need.

I'm a stay at home dad and have the time to do it this way. I like the work. The old ways fascinate me, and some how I feel like I'm cheating the man by not going and buying a new machine for every task.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scols
Amen to you... But you're buying two machines. Just not gasoline-powered.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nate379
You're not cheating the man. The man's been cheating you. The new ways aren't always "better". We can pick the technology we are comfortable with. Put away your weed eater and pick up a scythe. Hand dig the ditch out to the barn for a new electric service. You already know this so back to the situation at hand.

I'm going to use another "old way", with which I'm comfortable, to address it (language, no pics.).

Your log pile is to your left at, say 10 o'clock, your buck is at noon. At the pivot point (fulcrum, center of the clock where the hands join) you have a stout post set into the ground, maybe with a concrete shoe and a couple of back stays. Now, because your only going to be lifting the load to only about waist height if you're using a man saw, you can eliminate the B&T and the chain fall altogether. Get a 12" length of pipe to fit over the end of the post for a swivel, a piece of channel for the top/saddle (welded on) and a lever arm (let's call it a tailed davit) to rest in the saddle and held there with a pin. The tail of the davit arm will hang about 2/3 of it's length toward 6 o'clock when the business end is over the buck. Fasten a ring or hook to the business end of the davit and use a short chain (about 3') with a grab hook at one end and a slip hook at the other to fetch your logs over to the buck. Field adjust as necessary. If you want to use a chain/hoist or B&T, your post may need to be higher, you'll use a rigid (not dipping) davit and you may want a counterweight at it's (shorter) tail end.

Ehouse
 
Ehouse, thank you sir! That's what I shall do. Well explained. I think I'll go with the higher post and rigid arm.

My neighbors think I'm nuts. Hand saws, mauls, reel mowers, draw knife, planes, raking leaves, shoveling snow. All I know, is my dinner tastes damn good at the end of the day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scols
  • Like
Reactions: nate379
Ehouse, thank you sir! That's what I shall do. Well explained. I think I'll go with the higher post and rigid arm.

My neighbors think I'm nuts. Hand saws, mauls, reel mowers, draw knife, planes, raking leaves, shoveling snow. All I know, is my dinner tastes damn good at the end of the day.

Yum!
 
At some point they will be right! Life is short and your only as good as the last!;)

One day I'll break down. I'm a true believer that if you don't use it, you'll lose it. So I hope that won't be for a long while. Part of why I'm looking for a way to get logs on the buck with out man handling them.
 
Hand sawing that pile seems like a really big job. Are you doing it that way for exercise, environmental concerns, or cash conservation?

I've worked on this pile this week (cutting from the pile), and it is now completely gone:

BunnyWood1_zps099d4144.jpg


I've had to do a lot of thinking and levering to get some of these cut, but I didn't hit the dirt or get the bar stuck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: smokinj
The challenge. More or less.
 
How about instead of hoisting the logs to a sawbuck building a ramp that you can use to roll them onto an elevated cutting surface like a few parallel logs? The ramp could be one log ripped on a diagonal. That would be a good workout with your hand saw. The inclined plane is a very simple solution. No machines to buy either.
 
Hand sawing that seems like a really big job. Are you doing it that way for exercise, environmental concerns, or cash conservation?

I've worked on this pile this week (cutting from the pile), and it is now completely gone:

BunnyWood1_zps099d4144.jpg


I've had to do a lot of thinking and levering to get some of these cut, but I didn't hit the dirt or get the bar stuck.
If that shot isn't a great example of what a MS250 is capable of, I don't know what is! Good on 'ya gettin' after that pile with that little saw. Makin' all of us with our big bad pro saws look bad. :p
 
I've used a one man crosscut saw with the added top handle ( can't be beat for sawing beams). You see them in flea markets sometimes. If you think they're slow, watch a lumber jack contest sometime.
 
I've used a one man crosscut saw with the added top handle ( can't be beat for sawing beams). You see them in flea markets sometimes. If you think they're slow, watch a lumber jack contest sometime.
I have to make a top hande for mine. I've seen those guys. They are fast. Slow and steady for me or I'll be toast!
 
I have a few antique but sharp feller's saws, that have been passed down to me by my great-grandfather, and have used all of them. It is great fun, for a very short time, but no way for those of us with other full-time jobs to process the ten cords per year. Good for him, the pile he has to process is pretty small!
 
  • Like
Reactions: nate379
I have a few antique but sharp feller's saws, that have been passed down to me by my great-grandfather, and have used all of them. It is great fun, for a very short time, but no way for those of us with other full-time jobs to process the ten cords per year. Good for him, the pile he has to process is pretty small!

That's pile #2 by the way. First one I did last fall. It's great fun two hours at a time, every other day. Works out a lot of stress! Pile #3 will show up in may. That should be 6-7 cords worth processed in a year. After the bucking, splitting seems like the easy part.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ashful
And I don't think chain saws and splitters are bad. For the record. This is just how this wing nut gets his kicks.
 
Next thing ya know, you'll be skidding logs with horses.
 
My FIL skidded logs with his horses fora while. He's an independent logger. Had an Amish friend help him with the training and running. The horses loved it. Just a hard way to make money.

Edit: auto correct wanted to skid logs with houses.
 
DTrain will you do us a favor & upload a vid of the bucking sometime? I'd really like to see how you do it. It's pretty cool that you process without gas or hydraulics IMO. I can see it being very enjoyable (in a hard da#% work kinda way) to buck like that. Get to actually move your body, no screaming saw of death in your hands...
But then again, no screaming saw of death in your hands >>.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ashful
A friend of mine uses oxen.
 
DTrain will you do us a favor & upload a vid of the bucking sometime? I'd really like to see how you do it. It's pretty cool that you process without gas or hydraulics IMO. I can see it being very enjoyable (in a hard da#% work kinda way) to buck like that. Get to actually move your body, no screaming saw of death in your hands...
But then again, no screaming saw of death in your hands >>.
Well, it'd be a boring 4 min video. It takes about four minutes to go thur the log. That's a 16" diameter or so. I use my elbow to finger tip to mark the length 19". I take a hatchet and remove the bark where the cut will start. Run it slow to start the cut. For the first third you feel like a hero cause your flying. Then you get to the middle third and that seems like nothing is happening. Then it just gets easier til you are thru. I dont fly thru cause I don't want to wear my self out. After a few logs worth you really adjust you motion. Economy of motion, spreading the work of pushing and pulling from just the arms to you legs, hips, and abs. When you get your whole body worked into the motion you can really do it for a good while. Just like jogging. Then you do it again. You stop when you think you have three more left in you. Live to fight another day! The part I don't like is wrestling the logs onto the buck.

It's a great sound, The saw, and you can still hear the birds. The other reason i use these kinds of tools is because I am a stay at home dad with a 2 and 4 year old. These tools let me work just yards from we're they play.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ashful
After a few logs worth you really adjust you motion. Economy of motion, spreading the work of pushing and pulling from just the arms to you legs, hips, and abs. When you get your whole body worked into the motion you can really do it for a good while.​


Tell us DTrain, does Mrs. Dtrain like to watch this process? ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.