Reply To: Log Par buckling?

[Carl Russell]

I made up skids that I could attach chains to the ends of. That way the weight of the log would hold them in place, but at the load the logs would roll off. It requires rolling the logs by hand to put them into place on the pile, but solves the chain under the log issue. Of course one can pull the chains out with the animals… or bunch the chain in front of the log, then roll the log over to free the chain.

Alternatively I have also looped chain around the first log on the top of the pile to accomplish the same thing. The challenge with this is that the chain must be over the end of the skid, or the log will be squeezed between chain and skid, and will not make it up onto the pile. In the end the chain should be attached to the front of middle of the tier, not to the far side, so at some point the logs should roll off the chain before they go too far.

By the way, I made it through all of this experimenting. Had to skid logs back out of the road where they fell off the other side of the truck. Had to skid them off the truck because one end didn’t make it. Had to cut new skids because one broke. Had to increase my vocabulary of curse words, and suffered a few bruises to limb and ego. But in the end successfully mastered a skill that made the use of animals effective enough that I worked for 25 years before I bought a landing machine.

If it is confusing, or tedious, or challenging, doesn’t mean that has to be the ultimate reality. Patience and creativity, and finesse, can bring a lot of functionality to tasks like par-buckling logs. Rolling large logs is a huge mechanical advantage over pulling, or outright lifting. Having that sense of confidence provides a resource for time and creativity. If you devise a way to effectively roll the logs, you and your animals will work much easier. Using living power depends on such initiative.

In the right conditions I have rolled entire trees up on the pile, both with parbuckle, and by hand, before the trees were cut into logs. The first attempt is by no means indicative of the long-term effectiveness once the technique is perfected. I think that perfecting peavey techniques of rolling logs by hand are critical to being able to effectively understand parbuckling.

Don’t give up before you get started…. it takes tons of practice…. Literally “tons”, of practice.

I have attached a few pics of large logs that I had to parbuckle with the animals in order to move….. and a broken sled that suffered from my experimentation, that required recovery of the huge oak log, and parbuckling all over again.

Carl

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