[Carl Russell]

mitchmaine;19096 wrote:

hey carl, did you have to splice a peice into the right hand runner once?

I may have cut a piece to put in under the beam as it may ave been rotting a bit and shimmying…at least it looks like it….but I only vaguely rmember such a thing. Otherwise the rest of the runner is complete.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Here’s one more. Sorry about the size, but I am limited to copying these from the photo gallery as I have over run my attachments capacity.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

This is what the sled looks like when it is empty. There are two 15-20′ chains that I use to wrap the first layer of the load, one for each side of center so the load cam pivot while turning. There is also a chain binder and another 20′ chain to bind the whole load to keep the logs from spreading out behind. Runners are 4″ thick ash cut from a crooked butt log to get the sweep in grain, tongue is 2×8 ash, roll is 4×6, and the bunk is 4×8 sugar maple….with one side snapped of from a really big oak log this winter…soon to be repaired. There is lots of steel re-enforcing the wood, so it can really stand up to abuse.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

You know I ran into a lobster fisherman in Nova Scotia one day at a dock, and bought some from him. We fell to talking, and turns out he had been a hill farmer before he took to the water. We shared some stories, but in the end he said he figured his take on averages was, “wake up early, put your head down, and bust your ass till dark”.

One of the things I found hard about making a career out of logging was that there were so many other things I wanted/needed to do on my own land. I have found that having horses has been a huge advantage because they are low overhead, but they are also a very diverse power source, and I can apply them to work on a commercial job, and in my garden.

I agree with Scott’s sentiments about figuring how much goes into making a buck, and I started out doing that. In fact when I would talk to other loggers about fixed and variable costs their eyes would glaze over. I also can appreciate the need to get to the job as often as possible, as if you aren’t there you can’t get the work done.

The problem/benefit of the way I am living now is that I have so many things going on that I can always find something to do that will benefit me long-term. Like yesterday the vet suggested I give the mare some time off to get on top of an injury. I really don’t want to, because I have a lot of 2 horse logging to do, but you know I barely missed a beat, because I have a hundred projects on the back burner.

It is a lot of work to get to the place where work can have direct benefit to you without having to turn it into money first, but it has always been how I filled my “down time”, and now I find that the expenses associated with my commercial work are so low that I just get up early, put my head down, and bust my ass till dark, regardless of what it happens to be today, and you know what, things keep getting done.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Welcome Russel, there have been a few discussions about McCormack Deering mowers, perhaps they will be helpful.

http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=3084&highlight=mowing+machine

http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=375&highlight=mowing+machine

I will be posting some photos of an IHC #9 in a day or two, otherwise good to see you here, Carl

[Carl Russell]

cousin jack;18961 wrote:

Carl, do you have any close up pics of the bob, unladen?

I’ll get some soon. It’s a bit over-used at this point, so I’ll be rebuilding it.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Awesome….Erik you will not be able to bake bread fast enough to respond to the interest created by this….that’s what you can do with your time!

Carl

[Carl Russell]

I have been getting a bunch of interest. I will get some pictures in the next day or so and I will post them here.

Most of the equipment is in working and good condition. It is also located about ten miles from my house in Stockbridge Vermont. There are a few extenuating circumstances so the best I can do is post pics right now. The owner does not want a stream of people wandering around his farm, which is why the prices are so reasonable, but we will have to work around this.

Thanks, more later, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Carl Russell;18996 wrote:

Great idea John, and Andrea! I’ll make it happen….

Carl

It’s done now, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Andy, it did not bottom out, and seemed to be pretty strong. I did notice it compressing a few times, not bottomed out, but it was hard to watch it, and also hard to tell how it could be making the enterprise easier, or more efficient in terms of effort by the horse.

My difficulties are not related to the device, more related to the activity, and the related conditions.

The “lightness” I referred to had to do with the steel and the design of the single-tree. First of all, having the leaf spring on the front of the evener required that I hitch the heal chains longer that I typically would, so that the mare could get adequate extension on the variable terrain.

Then, being just a straight piece of angle stock with no support to prevent folding, I was nervous that I would fold it. You know, skidding over humps and through hollows the varying angle of draft can put strange forces against the single-tree, and I wanted to preserve the piece.

Typically my logging single-trees are tubular steel (1.5-2″Dia.) with 1/2″ steel rod bent around the ends forming loops for the heel chains, the back behind at an angle to the hitch point. This is based on the old spread chains transferring the pressure from the pull that is straight in line, to a pull that is compressed against the ends of the tube.

I realize that with the leaf spring the pull is not directed at the center of the single-tree because it is spread out by the spring, but none-the-less the it just looks like the angle stock would be too light to sustain an errant angle of draft.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Great idea John, and Andrea! I’ll make it happen….

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Andy I had a chance to use the single tree in the woods the other day. Things move to fast and variable for me to notice much difference, but I did see it compress the spring a few times. I was a little worried about the ruggedness as it is quite a bit lighter than what I use in the woods.

I want to try it a few more times, just skidding logs on a main trail befoe I send it back to you…I was twitching with it, and with stops, and turns, and variations in the terrain it was hard to see what was happening.

I think you are on the right track in terms of describing how it works, and I think the theory is sound. I can’t wait to hear/see your presentation.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Now Taylor, how am I supposed to follow that. You said it all man.

Our terrain is pretty variable, so the skid roads are more oriented to the landscape….like narrow passes through ledges etc. That poem on my Earthwise website, about The Old Logger, was about finding and following one of those old trails on a log job….I find it helps to see the landscape through the “old ones” eyes. I have several places on my property that are only accessible through one corridor.

Some trails are part way uphill…twitching single logs, or trees with a cart to a central header area. This is when I reach out 500′-ish to gather stems, then load them on the sled in a place where it is all downhill to the landing, where I can put on as much as 4x what I was pulling from the surrounding stand.

I also was raised around men who worked these hills with beasts and misery whips. Our sitter when I was young was married to a man who had lost his hand in a logging accident. He had a cuff mounted on his arm that had a pulp hook attached to it. He could also screw in a knife blade, and man could that guy whittle. Ball-in-cage, chains, you name it.

The man I bough my first horse from headed to the woods with his brother when they were 13 to go logging for themselves, with horses, axes, and cross-cut. His brother has a picture of him as a nine year old driving a team with 2MBF of hardwood on. He drove the team 5 miles down out of “Stony Brook”. He’d hike up in there after school and drive one team home for his dad who ran one of the biggest horse logging crews around here. This was before and during the depression. My neighbor’s Grandfather had a crew too. These guys kept quite a few men busy when they needed it most.Men would leave there homes at 4 am and walk ten miles to go work in the woods all day, and walk home…this during the winter.

Anyway, I must have grown up hearing these stories, so I never had any doubts about what I could do with animal power. There’s no doubt that it helps to get guidance, and it is a lot of physical work, but there is still a lot of knowledge already on the books so to speak as to how to get this work done without petroleum power.

I agree about how hard the work is. I am alway amused at how hard some professions think they work. The difference is that I love this work. I have been fascinated by cutting trees since I was a kid…started blocking wood at 11 with an old McCullock 35 gear drive…all I could do was pick it up and move it to the next cut. I thrive on the physical challenges. I’m intrigued by the intellectual solutions. I come home at the end of the day sweaty, covered with dirt, smelling like horses and tree sap, and I have every intention to live the rest of my life like that….

Oh yeah…gets in your blood.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

mitchmaine;18947 wrote:

hi carl, if you can cut and yard 4 cords of wood with a pair of horses each day, i’d call that a good days work.

mitch

That’s in the short skid areas, 500 feet or less. And that is a rough average anyway, because my “days” are inconsistent based on who started squawking earliest, or what I forgot to do yesterday, or what I broke….like the roll and bunk on the sled….Gotta start up the sawmill today.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Scott G;18943 wrote:

2500′ for a total of almost a mile turn? Thats a long haul for firewood…

Looks like you get a decent load on the ‘bob, though.

It’s my own land. I wouldn’t be able to make it work if it was for a client. I have 150 acres, and it is nearly 3/4 mile from my landing to the back corner. Luckily it is all down hill, out.

It is worth it to me to work my horses across the entire landholding, rather than hiring someone with machinery.

And, the most feasible way is to use the bobsled. I figure I can get 2-4 cords a day from pretty much any part of the land. It may turn out to be some pretty expensive wood if I ever get enough to sell though.

It takes some conditioning, but horses can be used to move pretty big loads over long distances if the land lays right. It is a slow production for sure, but I own everything I am using, so there is no immediate out of pocket expense to try to cover. It is a lot less expensive for me to move wood on my sled than to get a machine or forwarder to do it for me.

I do it this way because I have to on my own place, but I also want people considering using animals to power their farm and forest homesteads to realize they don’t have to compromise. All of these hills were worked exclusively with animals 100 years ago, and I’m still using their trails.

Carl

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