The weather wasn't quite so cold this morning so I tackled the one big log of white oak that had came in the load I'd had dumped last fall. It was big enough that the tractor didn't want any part of picking it up. I had been working on my splitter installing a winch to help get the bigguns up on the bed. the tractor works but jumping on and off, bouncing my head of grapple, and just generally too much in one place at one time made me want to do it different. The butt end was pretty heavy so I weighed it out of curiosity. (Actually, they ALL were heavy!) Got a little optimistic on splitting that butt so of to the tractor I went for my chain to pull it off the stuck wedge. Came right off with hydraulics Covered up the splitter, admired that one log loaded on the old hay wagon, (and notice that Awesome FHC sticker on the tractor from Xmas 2020! Still got a ways to go on the pile but getting there. Looks like stacking is in my near future. And cleaning up the shop, sharpening and servicing both saws, and cracking a cold one. Good day for today. Not a lot accomplished by a lot of you superstars but nuff for me. I don't really care for that big big stuff. Kinda PITA.
The big ones are a nice challenge for one's mettle but I wouldn't want to hassle with them all day long, day in and day out. They can be a big time suck. My tractor's loader can only do 800-1200 pounds so I'm not slinging a lot of green oak around with it. I've gotten somewhat proficient with a wedge and sledge on the few oak bigguns I get. Working around limitations I still get it done. Just takes me a little longer sometimes. Nice views .
You must be a great welder...the strain on that lil stub that the hoist is welded to has to be great with that round hanging from it!
<laughing> I go for quantity, not quality. It's a bearing from a large caster wheel. I don't like it but it is working fine. I want to cut it all back off and put a hub/axle setup on it from my old days jeeping/rockcrawling. still undecided on going with a hydraulic log lift. I have everything to do that but wanted to see how the tongs/lift thing would work. Next is building the lift part of of a log lift and picking it up with the winch. Well not next. Support legs are the very next. When I first set it up and was trying to swing it around it got tippy.
Looking good there Lenny. I like the tong log pick up rig. A back saver for sure. Not a huge fan of bigguns either, but gotta take the good with the bad.
Like most I am not a huge fan of the real big ones but have to agree that the splits pile up fast and there are plenty of nice ones that are without bark. Once they are quartered up it gets easier but getting them to that point does require a little extra grunt work. As long as the grain is straight, I wouldn't pass them up. My splitter can handle them, but my back doesn't like them as much.
That's a great day, and a noble project. Also, I could just tell from the pictures that you are in Vermont. Sometimes I miss living in New England...
Oh. That ol thing? Jest cluttering up the shop. All original restored 1949 Chevy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good times buddy ! First time I worked with you and still can't forget it. I learned a lot that day .... the #1 thing that I took away from it was that " you just ain't right " !! When you broke out the Isocore and proceeded to quarter those puppies up I knew you had issues. Good times for sure. Some of that wood is next on the rack for this season. Lots of barkless splits from those pieces. Looking forward to the next adventure.
