[Rick Alger]

I’ve got a Barden cart, a #6 mower, a set of sleds and some other stuff here in Milan, NH. I’m in no particular hurry to sell, but I am gradually phasing out and would be glad to talk about some kind of arrangement down the road.

[Rick Alger]

I guess Carl was posting simultaneously. I agree with his comments.

[Rick Alger]

Lots of variables here, but in my experience for forwarding on established trails, bigger is better. For getting around in the woods, no tractor I’ve seen is as efficient as a good twitch horse, so I wouldn’t weight maneuverability greatly. Transport weight may be an issue, and weight for stream crossing etc.

[Rick Alger]

Not conversant on ecological factors, but I’m sure there are a few.

A business factor would be the problem of having to stockpile wood until the roads firm up. Around here a lot of wood roads aren’t ready for trucks until around June. Some wood could check or stain as it sits, and markets/contracts could evaporate. Even if all the wood finally moved, you could be be working with no cash flow for several months.

[Rick Alger]

I’m retired now, but when I was hard at it, I didn’t do any logging in the spring, that is from March to May. The roads were banned for much of the time, and the ground was generally too soft. In June I’d work an upland stand and stay there till mid-November. It was usually softwood.

Then I would move to what would be my winter job which would also be softwood. This job would probably be on wetter ground, and it would also have to be reasonably close to a road that would be plowed in the winter. I would work up my skid trails before the heavy snow and make my yard if necessary.

Since I usually worked with a forester who decided most things environmental, I didn’t have too many day -to-day compromises to contend with. It was either “work” or “shut down”.

If I was working by the hour as I believe you said you were, and wanted to work under questionable conditions, I would look into using a rope and snatch blocks to skid out of bogs etc, and a scoot or an arch to forward down the main trails.

As far as marketing goes, I would work out an arrangement with a trucker or a forester who had multiple mill contracts.

[Rick Alger]

Hi Ron,

Good point.

By “cant dog” I mean peavey.

By “ladder jack” I mean a pair of poles used as a ramp to roll logs onto a pile. Each pole has pockets cut into the top face every foot or so allowing you to alternately move each end of the log in small increments up the ramp without the log slipping backwards.

Another reason for three piles instead of one is if you plan ahead a little you can build the piles so that the big logs are on the bottom –

[Rick Alger]

Best to talk to a trucker first.

But since you asked – What I have often had done is load two half-tiers of twelves on the bottom and put the sixteens on top, but those tri-axles should only be hauling around 15 – 16 tons legally so it may not be worth the bother.

Most truckers I’ve worked with are okay with a couple resets as long as they are not chasing a few sticks here and there so three piles of say 1300 feet per pile ought to work. That’s the way I try to do it with softwood if I don’t have a crane or tractor. The log piles are parallel to the skid road, two or three logs high, twelve to sixteen feet wide. This is doable with a cant dog. You may need to make a ladder jack to get the top layers on. Cut steps in your ramp poles deep enough to hold one end of the log while you crank the other side up a notch.

Good luck.

[Rick Alger]

Five or more years ago I tried to do this with a friend I had worked with before who had bcap certification and a contract with a bcap certified biomass plant. As I recollect, my piece of the project was going to be $9 a ton for 30 tons of piled biomass – tops, rotten butts etc. He was going to chip and truck the wood. But around that time, he ran into financial trouble and went bankrupt. I couldn’t find anyone else to chip it , so I still have the biomass slowly turning into compost.

[Rick Alger]

Search “hoof boots”. Some good discussion of this question there. One option not covered is shoeing just the fronts using a flat shoe with drilltec spots. This has served me well under moderate conditions.

[Rick Alger]

My trailer measures 72″ between chest bar and butt chain. Enough room for blocky 1600 lb horses.

[Rick Alger]

Yes, things are tight here too.

[Rick Alger]

Oops, forgot to answer the question. I think you’d best get 12mbf or close thereto. Your sawyer will probably have some good advice on this.

On another note, if this is what some of us call Tamarack, it’s a good idea to build while the wood is still green. When it dries it tends to twist, and it’s very hard to nail. Not the kind of wood I would stockpile.

[Rick Alger]

It also depends on which log scale is used, how good the sawyer is, what the saw kerf is, what the actual dimensions are vs nominal (such as do you saw 1 3/4 x 8 or full 2 x 8 ) , and whether you saw for full recovery or have a cut list that doesn’t include a lot of 1×4’s.

With the International scale we got from 5 to 20% overage sawing for full recovery on a Lane #1 circular saw with a 3/8 kerf and an experienced sawyer.

[Rick Alger]

Not going to here in Milan. Cloudy and mid 40’s.

[Rick Alger]

Back in the day, many people in my town commuted ten miles to the Catholic church in a neighboring town.

I once commuted to a wood job about a mile from home. It became a challenge in the winter because there was no water on site, and water in jugs froze.

Not too many watering troughs and hitching posts these days.

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