My dad got 35 acres of bush pushed to square out a field of his so i have been cutting out as much as i can but that bull doser made a real mess and pain to get those trees out! Anyone have any tips on how to make my life easier? Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Around here when bush is cleared for field with the use of a bulldozer, people usually wait for the first good snow and then burn the piles. Chains, cables, pullys and a winch would come in handy to get the wood away from the piles to process it.
I wondered the same thing. We are at a brand new campground and the trees that had to be cleared were all pushed up. Campground owner said we can have all we want and asked me why people are not digging in. As much of a scrounge rat as I am and it being 75% ash and a mix of boxelder/cottonwood/choke cherry I would usually take all I could get. With it being snarled together and pushed full of dirt and rock, it just looks both unsafe and a chain wrecking nightmare.
'Clearing' with a bulldozer always leaves a mess. Worthwhile to rent a mini hoe with thumb to use to dissect the pile with? Cost is around $250-300/day in my parts.
It sounds like a job for a minimum of a winch. If you can go with a tractor, skid steer, mini excavator, etc, it would make life a little better. Those situations and dirty wood almost always eat a chain or two, so some sharp spares would be in order. If you do decide to dig in, pictures please. Good luck and be safe. Tangled trees are no time to be in a rush. Watch out for pressures and twists. It is easy to get really hurt quickly with a knot of pushed timber. It does not sound like a situation to work alone.
Winch or just a tractor pulling out one log at a time. Log tongs usually come in handy for grabbing the logs to pull out. Yes, it is a mess and that is why most people won't touch it. But if the wood is good...
Honestly, it's just going to suck. The neighbor did the same thing to a nice row of trees (I'd guess it would be 6-7 years worth for me) and it'll be ugly no matter what. If you had someone to go hook the trees with a chain to drag them loose from the pile would help, but it's still going to look like a bunch of drunk beavers had a party. What I do, is let it weather for some time if you can (rain and snow/wind will take care of at least some dirt. Then you just have to be careful and pick away. A lot is going to be non recoverable unless you want to destroy your chains. And what was said above, watch for limbs under pressure.
I have been using a tractor somewhat but i don't like using my dads stuff to much but it does help. Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
Yes the bulldozing of trees is maddening to a firewood hoarder. I'm currently kinda upset with a landowner that me and a couple friends told we would pay 20$ a cord to cut pine, and western juniper that she had a fallers cut for a Field clearing. She was concerned about vehicle damage so we told her we would wait till freeze time. Well it's been 10 to 34 F here for several days, ground is froze good and no snow below 4000 feet. She called and said she had someone with a track how come and pile all of it, so now it's a mess. THANKS. She could have made 200-300 dollars and we would have piled all the limbs. I have never made a mess when cutting on someone else's property.
Those push piles look beautiful, I only wish I had such nice piles to work. No offense to the whoever dozed for my neighbor, but a monkey with one hour training could have done a better job. I always buck my wood right there though, too much effort to get anything longer out (for me).
I would rather buck mine there too but i only have till spring to get as much out of there as i can until it all gets burnt Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
And there went another lunch hour. Well spent if i do say so myself Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
Stopped by the town public works wood dump site today. This is from the storm we had a few months back. Allot of free wood but I have to work for it. Another example of dozer work.
That looks like pretty easy pickings to me. To get it all would be a lot of work, but you could get quite a few loads without too much trouble.
Like others have said, one bite at a time...especially in that situation. I like going in and getting the good wood out of there, then go after the tops, get out what you want......and THEN let the dozer do its thing..... Lot less stressful on the saw chains as well.....dozed wood has a way of ruining chains in a hurry.
I have the same thing with the log yard piles from the work done at the edge of my property. Once I got to really looking it over, there is more work to freeing logs up than they are worth, when there are so many treetops to cut up.
