My daughter is home from college for the week, and helped me skid out some wood the past couple of days. It was cold and windy yesterday, but today was up to the high 20's with some sun at times. It is hard going out there - I couldn't get back up in to the area I was working before the last big snow, so we settled for some Red Maple and Ash yesterday, and all Black Cherry today. We could move up the hoarding ranks if we didn't keep burning it - I keep wanting to get three years ahead, but slipped backward a bit last year, and I might be burning a little 1-yr old wood next spring.
Is that a "Farmie" log winch? My brother's friend has one and I imagined it to be similar to what you have. He said it works well.
Great...now I have 50hp 4wd tractor envy i had a hard time getting from 2 to 3 years ahead too. Getting to two years ahead was easily motivated by poor burns. Getting to three is less dramatic and arguably not required for most wood but sure makes everything easier and gives you a little cushion when life happens.
Great views you've got there. Always nice to have help too...... Looks like its almost time to fire up the ol' chainsaws...
Yes, it is an older Farmi, without a butt plate/blade - I picked it up used, about 5 years ago, for $900 and it has been worth every penny. Only expense has been grease. We are thinning out the poor quality pole-sized trees. I cut most of the trees into 2 or three logs to minimize damage to other trees when skidding them out, and using the cable allows me to reach out off the woods roads without having to drive to every log. Having the helper is wonderful, especially in the snow - I can set the chokers and trim off any missed branches while she runs the winch. Then she skids them to the landing while I'm working on the next tree. In the top picture, above, we are at the end of the day. I've released the winch and had her drive forward a little so I have room to release the chokers. She wasn't trying to stack the logs at the landing (they are spread out in the second picture), but I was able to push them up to the snow covered logs by using the loader. A lot of fun working together!
