Today my logger buddies were in the area. They had called and wanted MORE Honeycrisp apples that I just happen to grow. (I have an orchard with 680 trees). So I took them a couple more bushel and brought my 18 foot, 10,000# capacity trailer with to get some wood. I normally only take red & white oak, he asked "Is Hickory OK?" I said "that would be fine". Going to get another load next week. In minutes I have to tell him to quit or the trailer will collapse. I put the 395XP in service, switched to .404 with semi chisel because the wood is so dirty and mud covered. Gotta say that does throw a mean sized chip. This is an old pic, but the sites look like this.
I've known the boys for quite a few years and have become pretty good friends. They put serious amounts of high grade timber on the landing in short order. I stop almost always at lunch and BS. The wife makes goodies for them too. My firewood game went into the next dimension after meeting them. About all I cut are log cut offs and will no longer take anything under 8". Log cut offs are much harder to handle but the amount of high quality firwood big diameter logs make can't be beat.
I wish there was more hickory around here. I think I've identified two hickory in the 30ish acres of conservation land behind my house.
I have a system now with the trailer. I put 6 posts in the trailer that are 5-6" in diameter perpendicular to the way the logs are laid in. Since the wood is off the floor I can easily cut it without hitting the decking and metal fastener. This also contains all the sawdust to the trailer so I can haul it off to be dumped out back. This much sawdust would wreak havoc with the grass. FWIW, on load like this generates 1/2 cubic yard of sawdust. Today I can take out my newest toy, errrrrrrrrrr......... tool.
In the natural succession of a forest, if you start to see hickory or oak, then you'll start to see more of them. But this isn't a quick transition.
I had the trailer custom ordered. Had the following mods: 1. Switched from 3500# axles to 5200#. 2. Brakes on both axles 3. Upgraded bracing underneath to 12" on center 4. Split rear gate, heavy duty, spring assist and knee bracing to support 7,000#. 5. ATV gate in the front 6. Tool box in front
What, you skipped on the dump option. That's a beefy beast. I see you have an F250 Super Duty to pull it around. I'm a GM guy personally, but respect whatever gets the job done.
I really wanted a dump trailer, but to get one in the size I need takes some real serious money. This one with the options wasn't cheap.