Still chain-sawing in April in Arkansas

[leftyscott]

Usually, by this time of the year, the ticks have already chased me out of the woods. I've cut up 3 trees so far this week, 4"-12" wide splits cut 18 " long.('bout 1/2 cord+/-), that the ice storm uprooted back in Jan.

Problem is..... each tree is further into the woods. With the last tree I cut , I am walking one log at a time up a slight incline to an open area about 50-60 yards away where I can haul it to the woodpile with my atv.

Do any of you have a limit on how hard you have to work to get your wood from tree to woodpile?

I think I'm at my limit here, even though I enjoy the workout.

I am trying to get 2 or 3 years' worth of wood stacked this spring.

Also, I have some health concerns that may slow down future wood gathering.

Thanks,
'

 

[smokinj]

can you pull it out of there in bigger lengths with the atv?

 

[leftyscott]

No, atv can only get to the edge of the woods. not into the woods. Cover is too thick.

 

[madrone]

Winch? or maybe wench?

 

[smokinj]

Long rope and pull it out or a nice weed eater

 

[johnn]

Is there a substantial tree near that you can use to hang a block in, in order to elevate the angle of pull? Sounds like the Atv is on level ground and this will cause the log to dig in

Sorry,,,just noticed you had already bucked the trunks. Guess you need some kind of skid pan.

 

[wendell]

Not seeing what your up against so there must be a reason why you aren't doing this, but it would sure seem that clearing a path would be well worth the effort.

 

[mike1234]

No, atv can only get to the edge of the woods. not into the woods. Cover is too thick.

I use my weed whacker (actually a stihl version) with a blade that looks like a table saw blade and cuts even small trees, to clear the path when I am ready to haul it out. I think this tool is actually much more dangerous than the chain saw. I have a new path I made this way this spring because I had a 40 or 50' tree fall and take out 3 others, and I did not want to let it sit and rot. Had to make a new path that goes through the creek this year, so that even makes it more fun, and I had to get the shovel out to assist.

I first make a walking path, bring in the chain saws, cut up the tree, then make a atv path, and haul it all out. The paths then open up the woods so that I can walk around in them, and look for more dead and fallen trees.

 

[johnn]

coming soon, to a path near you...Whitetail!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Winch? or maybe wench?

Wench sounds more interesting!

 

[johnn]

Winch? or maybe wench?

Wench sounds more interesting!

Yea,, it`s just harder to find replacement parts,,,and no guarantees!

 

[blades]

"Wench" guranteed to be a pain at some point. Somewhat offset by other qualities.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Not seeing what your up against so there must be a reason why you aren't doing this, but it would sure seem that clearing a path would be well worth the effort.

Yup, blaze a path right in the middle for your atv...should need to be that wide to get it through...and once you drag a few logs through it will be nice and broken in....some work, but if the trail gets you to the mother load

 

[gpcollen1]

I found my limit last summer where I scored about 3 cords of ash cut in 4' lengths. The wood was in a guys back yard - slightly down hill and about 100-150' from the driveway. He did not want me driving on the grass. Some of the logs I carried as 4' lengths but my back was acting up at the time and I resolved to cutting them up and wheel barrowing them into my trailer. In addition, this was a summer score and it was humid as heck while I was doing this. After loading and unloading 4 trailer loads over 2 days, I was spent. Now that I have been scrounging for a while and am on the verge of being a year ahead, I don't think I will put out this much effort unless I have to. Just way to much work. Maybe I just should have pushed him harder to drive on the lawn - I just know the septic was on the other side...

 

[Corey]

Heh...my limit is about 10-15 feet to get from tree to truck. Of course I mainly cut hedge rows, not 'deep woods' trees and I make up for hauling on the 'unloading and burning' side by hauling the wood from the truck down a hill to 'walk out basement' level for storage, then hauling it up a flight of stairs to the family room for burning.

But I would think any hill you would walk up carrying firewood could be driven up with an ATV. IMHO, if you plan to keep cutting in this direction, I would go ahead and cut/level an ATV path. If this is the last tree you ever plan to cut out of the area, you could probably tough it out or maybe use a wheelbarrow or small cart to help speed the process.

 

[Wood Duck]

I collect some of my wood at a spot where I walk probably 150 yards carrying the farthest of the wood out. I think this would be beyond my limit except that I want to clear the area for other reasons (trying to save a remnant prairie from being shaded to death), and I enjoy the excercise, so the effort serves a couple of purposes, not just wood collecting. The haul is downhill, which makes it feasible. So, to answer your question, my limit seems to be 150 yards downhill, and I'd estimate 10 yards uphill (maybe less if the hill was steep). I find it a lot easier to haul pieces of trees that are in the range of about 4 to 10 inches diameter than larger diameter logs. Long, smaller diameter wood seems a lot easier to balance than larger diameter wood, even though I cut the larger trees into shorter pieces so the weight is about the same.

 

[Jags]

Trebuchet - launch them suckers out of there.

 

[firefighterjake]

Last year I was using my ATV to haul out wood. I would cut the tree and then take the time to blaze an ATV trail to the tree . . . or better yet make the trail so that I could easily loop around without having to back up. This year I'm cleaning out some tops that my brother cut down in his effort to expand his sheep fields . . . and I will most likely do the same thing. It takes a bit longer to blaze a trail in thick brush, but the extra effort is worth it.

 

[mike1234]

Trebuchet - launch them suckers out of there.

I agree, but we need to see plans, pics, then videos of this.

 

[Jags]

Trebuchet - launch them suckers out of there.

I agree, but we need to see plans, pics, then videos of this.

This is a video of one of my buddies that built one. He has a large party once a year and finds a "new" way to ignite it every year. This was a little less volatile than the year he used explosives to launch coffee cans of gas into the pile that had a couple of candles strategically placed in it.......Boom--Boom-Boom------KerWOOF! One goofy electrical engineer...thats all I can say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpaN6mqCUhw

Edit: I was at that party.....crazy! It makes me feel normal :lol: