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This is the actual email transcript between Jason Rutledge, Rien Visser and Jason Cruse. Both of the latter are natives of New Zealand.
Re: [Fwd: Re: Animal Powered Practitioners in NZ]
Monday, April 13, 2009 2:00 AM
From:
“jason cruse”
To:
“Jason Rutledge”
Hello Jason – hope you are enjoying your Easter probably getting warmer over there here we just had first frosts that finished off the summer veges in our garden. Anyway. Have got a meeting with D.O.C department of conservation and Olsen’s later this month. Olsen’s are a large forest company over here and if they along with D.O.C accept this contract it will be a mile stone to say the least. If it goes well it would be about 7 years work for us. Also i have received a call from a CEO of timberlands and he wants to have a field day to my work site to take a look at a horse logging operation. Timberlands manage the largest man made forest in the southern hemisphere which we live in the middle of. So horse logging is certainly getting noticed by the logging powers that be in NZ anyway. All this may well never have happened if i hadn’t come across your web site so keep up the good work mate.
On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:35 PM, Jason Rutledge wrote:
Hello Jason,
Hopefully this forward will come through with this letter and that you can find the fellows email address. Not that Rein Visser is promoter of Animal powered logging, but he has never been a detractor of our work and has always been open minded in exposing his students to these methods.
I would suggest you contact him so he can introduce you to other folks in the nation that are interested in modern animal powered logging. So let me know if you get in touch, I always enjoyed his worldly view, which was refreshing coming from a major industrial University in the middle of the forested eastern U.S. He introduced hundreds of students to our work by bringing then into the harvesting sites to see it in person. I think he could help you maybe in ways we don’t even understand yet.
Just knowing you are there and working horses in the forest is a good thing and it expands both your worlds.
Now I am going back to your other and reply directly from that about your harness questions. Good to hear from you mate.
Cheers,
Jason Rutledge
Environmentally Sensitive Logging and Lumber Co.
8014 Bear Ridge Road SE
Copper Hill, Va. 24079
540-651-6355
Hey Jason Rutledge
Cc Chad Bolding
Good to hear from you and I hope all is well. We are very much enjoying
our ‘new’ lives ‘back’ here in New Zealand, the family is doing well and
work is great. The industry is much smaller and so easier to get
research work done both in terms of support and places to go – and not
having any deportation concerns is certainly easier on the soul.
However, I have not yet come across horse logging here yet – but am
working with some PhD students in Iran who have done some very
interesting work on Mule logging!
Chad Bolding is my replacement at VT (I have cc’ed on this email), and
from all accounts he is doing a much better job than I ever did. I know
he has taken an interest in some of the cable logging projects. He is
originally from down south, did his PhD in Oregon, and then worked a
couple of years at Clemson. I know he has also had an interest in small
scale harvesting systems in the past. I would not hesitate to approach
him.
Chad – Jason is horse logging contractor based up in Floyd, as well as
being a strong advocate for well managed natural forests. I have taken
my students up to see his operations many times, and if my memory serves
me correctly, he has also given 3 lectures at VT to my harvesting class,
as well as helped out at workshops. The students have always enjoyed the
interaction and learned a lot, it certainly provides plenty of
discussion material. Horse logging is obviously a bit different to the
status quo of harvesting in Virginia, but especially because it is so it
has been great to be in touch with him.
All for now,
Cheers
Rien
___________________
Rien Visser
Associate Professor
Director of Studies, Forest Engineering
School of Forestry
Canterbury University
Phone: +64-3-364-2127
Email: rien.visser@canterbury.ac.nz
—–Original Message—–
From: Jason Rutledge
Sent: Friday, 6 February 2009 3:26 a.m.
To: Rien Visser
Subject: Animal Powered Practitioners in NZ
Hello Rien,
Hope you are happy and prospering back in the homeland. I thought of you
recently when on a chat board we had a fellow make an entry, that called
himself the kiwi horselogger. I thought if you are interested I could share his
contact information so you would have that connection there if you have
anyone interested in such culture down there.
Do you think your replacement (not that it is really possible to replace
a rare individual like yourself) at VPI would be interested in learning
about our group and work?
Let me know what you think sir.
Warm Salute,
Jason Rutledge
http://healingharvestforestfoundation.org
Read MoreArticle submitted to YES magazine. An edited version will appear in the upcoming March(?) issue.
by Jason Rutledge
It seems ironical that in this American modern world there are more horses in the country now than ever before, according to the USDA. Yet most of those horses are for leisure, pleasure use and not actually utilitarian animals. This “working relationship”we present is a wonderful choice and may also be one of the most redeeming characteristics of modern humans. That humans are wise enough to choose such wonderful creatures to live with speaks well for our future considering some of the other choices displayed in modern life.
This is a short story of some who choose to live with horses in a very utilitarian way. Many Americans may not have heard of this. It is the story of a small non-profit, public charity organization, the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation. (HHFF) promotes the modern use of draft horses in the forest products industry. This choice of animal power is not one of nostalgia or wanting to go back in the past, but one of deep considerations for the future of all life on our planet. It is a choice that considers all life on the planet as important and precious. Our approach values all life as being precious enough to protect and preserve through sensitive relationships with our environment that expresses an honest recognition of the role humans play in the big picture. If that perspective is dismissible as being human centered then so be it. This is the best forestry and best use of horses that we know. This work is about “Carbon Positive Forestry” achieved by taking the best of the past to make a better future. One of the most endearing aspects of this work is that we are still learning and will continue to improve our skills and techniques. Maybe this article title should be – “living humbly is more likely to lead to ecological harmony”? Although this is a short story, it is not a sound bite or commercial, but a story of the real life efforts made by many families in Appalachia and across the world.
The choice of working horses in the forest is a key biological component in the practice of “restorative forestry”. Restorative forestry means imitating nature and taking the worst individual trees first, using skilled directional felling and modern horse logging. These harvesting systems leave the forest intact while extracting forest products for human needs. We do see the whole forest, despite it being mostly trees. As we evolve and learn more about the environment we continue to see the value of being sensitive. Unlike many environmental movements we maintain that what is good for the environment and ecology is also good for the economy. Over the long term this active forestry will make the most money for the landowners, while protecting the ecosystem and enhancing the forests ability to offset our carbon emissions. This is a very complex issue, yet it makes simple sense when it includes the ethical values of stewardship, by leaving a place better than you found it. It has been said that “The ultimate test of a man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”- Gaylord Nelson
Don’t get me wrong here, I am not writing this to romanticize modern horse logging, despite it often being called “the sexy way to log”. I wouldn’t even dispute that it is sexy to work with big, beautiful, strong horses and handsome people in the woods. This work is simply worth far more than just being sexy. To quote one handsome young practitioner, “It is the right thing to do”. I agree that it is the right thing to do any way you look at it. I also am comfortable to acknowledge that it is labor intensive, hard, dangerous work and currently not an easy way to make a living. Don’t even think about looking into this if you are lazy or looking to get rich quick. Everyone else – pay attention! Even if it is not for you, you may know someone that is just right for this particular lifestyle of living with horses and animals as partners in addressing human needs from the natural world. Tell them about this article and YES magazine.
Healing Harvest Forest Foundation (HHFF) educates the public about the benefits of restorative forestry and modern horse logging. We also educate and support the practitioners of restorative forestry through financial and technical assistance. As my friend Wendell Berry said “powers not employed by the government are left to the people”. There are often issues that aren’t served to support the dominant paradigm, which usually makes them beneficial for the public good by default. Those issues are addressed by our group as an embodiment of the potentials of our governmental system. This system that allows people to address issues that serve the public good, in their own ways, are empowering. This is a good example of that empowerment. A public charity is able to share revenue with the government to address issues of public good not served by the government directly. This organization operates as a 501c3, non-profit, public charity that exist to serve the public good. We are like the green cross for the forest and are basically “organic loggers”. Our educational system is based on the proven teaching methods of a mentor/apprentice network, where applicants are matched with a proven practitioner for a twelve week intensive hands-on learning experience in the forest. Applications are available on our web site or through regular mail. Apprentices are learning the skills necessary to do this work and the ethics of why to do it. Acceptance for an apprenticeship and grants for these applicants are reviewed by the board of directors and are approved as appropriate and as funds are available. Eighty (80%) percent of our budget goes directly to the ground level workers. This is clearly bottom up change. Our funding comes from mostly private donations and some small grants. We also accept donations of horses, equipment, trucks, trailers, RV’s or anything of value that we can use to further this work. All donations are tax deductible. We appreciate all support. Your support makes you a part of the effort to do things differently in our natural world.
Last year we were donated and then granted 12 horses to practitioners. We have granted educational cost, log loaders, chainsaws, personal protective gear, harness, collars, computers, educational courses and a variety of equipment to HHFF practitioners also. A “Biological Woodsman’s Certification” is awarded to each apprentice that successfully completes their training. We network to locate job opportunities for the new Biological Woodsman in their community and support them into the future. At the moment we are primarily an Appalachian regional service area. This is because of limited funding to support the overwhelming demand for the services of a modern horse logger – specifically a HHFF trained “Biological Woodsman” – that practices “restorative forestry”. We started the organization as the formal response to that demand as experienced by the original members of the informal founding group that is called the Healing Harvest Forestry Coalition. At first there were two, now there are over fifty Biological Woodsmen throughout the mid Atlantic region. We maintain a contact list of horse loggers from all over the country and act as a referral service to those individuals in response to inquiries from landowners throughout the country. There are not enough of us to address the demand for services, but we are growing. Some may say that it is too little to late, but that doesn’t excuse us from doing what we know is the right thing for all life on our planet. There is a certain burden to knowledge and this is an environmentally ethical response to knowing we have to do things differently to change the results of human presence on this planet. We haven’t figured out how to save the planet and get rich, but feel comfortable by making an effort to do things differently and make a living. It is like the bumper sticker that says: “Make a living, not a killing”.
Our work includes sales of source differentiated forest products through our “green certified” brand name DRAFTWOOD. Our latest effort is in collaboration with Turman Log Homes to sell five log homes built from our logs. This allows our group to get a finders fee on those sales and use that money to establish a self insurance fund for our group of practitioners. If you know anyone considering a Log Home please tell them about the group in Appalachia that uses horses to get the logs out. Give us a call and we will hook (hitch) you up to have a home with the best “source story” in the country, maybe the world. If you can’t get out and hack one from the forest yourself, this could be the best alternative available. This is one of the most innovative approaches to influencing the behavior of the dominant paradigm and industrial methods. Our local industry has challenged us to prove that “green” means something in the market place, so here is our chance to show that people care about the earth….contact us or Turman Log Homes and tell them you want a DRAFTWOOD Log Home. We also supply beams for timber frame companies and are working on regular structural lumber for conventional buildings, through the LEED system and architects that are members of the U.S. Green Building Council.
There is a place for working horses in the modern world and as we learn more about the value of the ecosystem services there will continue to be a beneficial place for them in the future. Currently the value of the ecological services of the forests provide for the public good are not quantified in our economic system. We must change the economic system to include all the cost of meeting our life needs and this is a start in that direction.
Our horses are of all draft breeds, but we have many Suffolk horses among our group. The Suffolk Punch is a rare and endangered species that is listed on some list as near extinct. We support animal powered techniques to include all draft animals, including mules, oxen and even elephants. The point is that they present the lowest impact harvesting method available – plus other collateral benefits including social stability. We promote and practice modern natural horsemanship and train apprentices in those skills. We also use modern chainsaw safety and skills techniques that were developed in Europe.
For more information about this work please call, email or visit our web site and let us know if you have any interest, questions or comments. Thank the people at Yes Magazine for introducing you to a new group that are environmental actualist, it is life logic -its biological.
Jason Rutledge, President, BOD
Biological Woodsmen, Forester
Ridgewind Farm Suffolks
540-651-6355
rutledge@swva.net
http://healingharvestforestfoundation.org
An email conversation with Leon in Tennessee.
Part One
Hey Jason, I have great news! I got a call yesterday morning from a guy that lives 24 miles from me. He has 70 acres of timberland. I told him about restorative forestry and he wants me to manage his woodlot.While I was looking at his land, another guy called and he wants the same thing done to his land. Both guys had loggers come in and want to clear cut, but both turned them away. When I explained the basic principles of restorative forestry to them they both said they wanted me to manage their woods, and both wanted me to split the days I work on each place so there won’t be a conflict. God does answer prayers. I was getting scared I would have to go back to trucking, but it looks like I’ll be busy for a while. I certainly hope things are going as well in your neck of the woods. Keep up the good work.
Leon in TN
We have many inquiries that come from the various media, including the internet and participation in a couple of chat boards. If you are reading this on a computer then there is no further need for explanation. If you are reading it in hard copy print this is an example of how we may educate the public about our organization, mission, goals and objectives.
Leon had posted a few comments about working in the woods with his horse on a chat board. I contacted him and invited him to visit our web site and read the text available about restorative forestry.. This email affirms that the work and cost of maintaining a web site and participating in discussions among “communities of interest” are good investments in public education.
It means much more. To access natural resources with culture or the skills to do certain things that are obviously more gentle and sensitive to the environmental – as opposed to accessing natural resources with just money – is an empowerment of the ground level worker. It is anthropological culture = money. It also means that the common sense economics of restorative forestry actually making the most money over the long term is understandable to many landowners. That understanding includes preserving the landowner values of protecting the visual appearance of their forest, while extracting for immediate human needs. Now our job is to translate and educate how the aesthetically pleasing forest also is the most valuable at providing ecological services for the public good. Those services include the “Carbon Positive” forestry that results from “Ecological Capitalism”.
Warm Regards, Jason
Hey Jason,
I never heard of a Swede cut. I don’t know if it’s what I’m doing or not. All I know is I cut a wedge out in the direction I want the tree to go and pray. I’ve only seen one live Suffolk. On Saturdays when the weather is good I drive a wagon and haul customers around Amish farms. When I first started the man I was working for had an old Suffolk mare. She was one of the sweetest horses I ever been around, wish I knew where she is now. I am a big fan of Suffolk horses because of her. A friend of mine raises Brabants and I really like those too. Here there are mostly Percherons and Belgians because I’m right in the heart of Amish country and those seem to be the breeds of choice for them.
I don’t really understand the sliding scale payment system. I always split the logs 50/50 with the landowner which seems to be a good way to starve. Please explain that sliding scale in more detail if you can. The log buyer that I just sold the first load from those 70 acres to seems to be a very helpful guy. He said he used to log and wanted to come out and see my horse work. He acted like he never saw a horse work. I hope he will be impressed enough to refer me to some more landowners. Thanks for all
your help. My other computer will be down for a day or so. How much does it cost to be a member of HHFF? Take care and keep up the good work
Leon in TN
This continuing conversation with Leon allows further sharing of cultural values and educational opportunities in techniques and economics. Some of the techniques may not be easily explained in text alone, so some referrals to other sites and sources of information are given.
Leon,
The Swede cut is a slang nickname for the “open faced, hinge and latch timber felling method” introduced to this country by a Swedish man named Soren Erickson a few decades ago. I was convinced to attend his course when in the newspaper article about it quoted Soren saying that one of the most important aspects of his teaching was to “restore the dignity of being a woodsman”. This technique is now taught by an organization called The “Game of Logging”. I highly recommended that anyone practicing hand timber felling attend such a course and apply the principles. Do an internet search and find the closest GOL course and attend it. It is the single most important skill that I have learned in the development of restorative forestry. It is an epiphany, or a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, a revelation, an “aha” moment.
This method is not easy to explain in a text only format, but I will try. This is not done or offered to replace attending an actual course – where the demonstration of the skills is part of a systematic recognition and use of the reactive forces of the chainsaw and the development of understanding and applying those reactive forces to control the removal of wood fiber from a tree in the process of safe directional felling, bucking into lengths and limbing.
I want to define this method within the context of restorative forestry silviculture and describe it to increase safety for the woodsman. This means that the first action is the choice of which tree to cut and simultaneously which trees to leave in the resulting cultivated condition. That decision is based upon the “Nature’s Tree Marking Paint” system of indicators of decline or low performance economically (which is available on the HHFF web site). Once the tree is selected on a “worst first” basis, then the next consideration is the protection of the residual trees or the best specimens you choose to leave for future harvesting. Additionally there are many benefits of creating an “enhanced residual condition” that is economically most gainful and ecologically positively contributing to the health of the forest and the planet through increased carbon storage and carbon sequestration by the regeneration of young trees. This post restorative harvest condition includes preserving and enhancing all the other currently not quantified ecological services the forest provides for the public good. This collected effort is why we call our method “Carbon Positive Forestry”.
With selection made and identification of the important residual specimens the practitioner makes a choice of which direction the tree will be felled. Other considerations may come into play, such as convenience of extraction and avoiding any riparian or running water landscape features. A consideration for efficiency of technique will include not only taking the worst first specimens but also going to the worst part of the harvesting site to begin felling trees. This way you may work back toward the landing and keep the laps or tops behind your harvesting and extraction work.
All commercial sized chainsaws have a sight on the body or power head of the saw. This will be a line that runs at a 90 degree right angle to the cutter bar. When you follow these methods and look down the sight the tree will usually go where you are aiming it.
A diagram would be useful here and we have photos of this step by step process, but I am unable to locate them at the moment. I have inquired with other groups that we shared them with the make a poster and if we find it I will post it on the web site.
There are four (4) cuts made in this method. But there are preparations that must be done before any cuts are made. The first action is to remove any low hazards from the area around the base of the tree. The next action is to look for high hazards or dead limbs in the crown of the tree that could fall on the timber feller in the process of wedging a tree over. The high hazards are often called “widow makers”. The next consideration is to determine the safe and danger side of the tree. The danger side is the back side of the tree in the direction the tree is leaning. Most trees, particularly the worst first trees, have some lean or crown load that weights the tree toward what is the dangerous side. One method of assessing the gravitational force on a standing tree is to stand back from it and hang a string with a weight on the end, like a plum bob and hold it up and look by it to the whole tree. This will show the crown load and any lean the tree may have. After some experience and practice a timber feller can stand under the tree and look straight up at it and determine these forces and establish the safe side and danger side of the tree. Ok you have safe side and danger side determined and you have cleared an escape route away at a 45 degree angle from the stump or tree for at least 15 feet or five steps.
You make your first cut from the top of the lead notch or open face while aiming the bar through the sight towards the direction you want the tree to go. This cut should be shallow and not more than 10 percent of the tree diameter. It should be kept level as it will establish the front edge of the hinge. The second cut is kept level straight in matching the number one cut.
This will let the face fall out as a big wedge looking piece of wood. Then go to the danger side of the tree, lay the bar flat in the mouth of the open face and using the pull force cut back into the tree and then plunge the saw into the tree creating the back of the hinge on half of the tree. This is the third cut so it is time to place your plastic wedges. Place one at the back almost perpendicular to the open face. Drive it in until it is snug and sort of hits back on the ax. Then go to the safe side, plunge in and release the tree after establishing the back of the hinge with the plunge cut and sweep out the back to release the latch or the last vertical fiber holding the tree up from setting on your saw or the tree falling until you let it go. If the tree just set there after cutting the latch, drive it on over with the wedge or put more wedges in if you need them. You may stack wedges on a 90 degree angle with each other and drive one and then another to jack the tree over.
When the tree starts to go holler timber and walk away at a 45 five steps and
then turn around and look up at a 45 degree angle to watch for limbs being thrown back out of the tops of the residual trees. This view will allow you to see stuff coming from above and from ground level.
Let me know if you can understand this from this text description?
Sliding Scale Pay System:
First – you are right you can’t do worst first single tree selection with horse logging and pay half to the landowner. What it comes down to is the average per thousand you get for your logs. High graders pay half or clear cutters, but they destroy the forest. When you take the worst first your average per thousand will be lower, but the best trees will grow faster and make more money for the landowner over the long term or at least for a few later harvest. So we pay on a sliding scale by not paying for any low value material at all. In other words we try to establish what we want as a logging cost or amount we make on a per thousand feet harvested and only start to pay a share after that amount is reached on an individual log basis. For us around here that ends up being about at least two hundred dollars per thousand. We sometimes start to pay at 250, it depends on how hard the extraction is and how valuable what we are taking out is. At 250 per thousand we pay thirty percent to the landowner. Then the sliding scale starts. At $400.00 per thousand we pay 40%, at $500.00 we pay 50% and this is what sells it to landowners that are stuck on 50/50 – at $600.00 we pay 60%, any prices above you can pay 60% and they make more money. This is best for you, because there will be so few logs in this value range that you will not have to pay for many. You can move this around all over the place, but the point is don’t pay for the junk at all, because that will represent 75% of your volume. Tell the landowner you actually pay more than 50/50, but just on the higher value logs. They will buy it usually, particularly if they are concerned about the future value of their forest or the appearance of it after the harvest.
Let me know what you think of all this.
Sincerely,
Jason Rutledge
Hey Jason.
I hope everything is going great in Virginia .I finally got the swede cut right today. It’s like you said – it was one of those ‘aha’ moments. Now it makes perfect sense. All of my trees fell perfect today and none of them split.
Leon in TN
Read MoreThe Log Arch plans and the vital importance of the details in them.
A recent conversation with “Tommy”
Part One
T: Howdy again, Fellow coming tomorrow to see what we can start on an arch. Questions: you said slot bar setting dead center on frame, are you refering to side to side center, or front to back center on the channel 6″ wide?
J: Both Ways, side to side and front to back, centered….
T: How long square tube for tongue?
J: 24-3/4 ” some are 25″
T:How far forward or back does the bus seat weld on the two pipe supports?
J: On the very back edge of the 6″ wide frame to allow your weight to offset the tongue weight when arch is not loaded going back into the woods.
T:In your plans, the leg measurement of 20.5″, is that down the short edge or the long edge? I understand the short edge as where the 2″ was removed and then closed up.
J: It depends on if you measure from the top of the frame or just the leg. When measuring from the top of the frame it is 25″ on the long side and 23 on the short side.
T: I reckon yall dont pin the tongue in at all do you?
J: We usually don’t but you can if you want to. Remember the goal is to have a simple device that you can repair in the woods with the chainsaw. If a horse logger can’t fix it with a chainsaw, scrench and ax, then it is to complicated. It is important to have the tongue stay in place and have a lip that stops it from going futher into the tube when it dries out. We whittle the tongue from a round saplings with our chainsaw and leave the lip to stop it and hold it so we don’t need the pin. Hard to drill a hole when the thing breaks in the woods.
T:I figure it would stay if horses are hooked tight as they should be and the d tree is on the clevis and hook.
J: Yep the goal is to get to two straps going up from the side backers to the rings on the bottom of the hames to be loose, showing that there is very little weight actually on the neck when the team is standing still and not much when working, walking or pulling a log. This is where we need to develop a better back pad similar to the European harness, in order to absorb the tongue weight and slap from the two wheel device bouncing off all the impediments in the forest.
NOTE: we use a 46 inch wide (enter to center) double tree and breast yoke and adjust the driving lines accordingly to keep them walking straight and being laterally aligned.
T: Do yall always leave the bus seat back off, the cushion part? All I have seen you just had the seat back frame.
J: I usually leave the frame on my bus seat just of a back rest or back beater in some cases(like if the chain comes off the log and the horses start very hard. But I have put foam insulation from water pipes on them before to make the metal softer. I take the padding off the seat back so I can see through it when working or pass my lines through when backing up or driving, plus being able to reach through and adjust my chain while setting in the seat. Some fellow prefer to take it over complelely, so they can pass there lines from side to side without dealing with the bus seat frame at all. When the arch is turned over this frame is handy to help turn it back up on it’s wheels, and I use it to help get on and off and to hold onto when riding with another driver, usually a student.
T: You show a short piece of pipe angled on the back, and another short piece added on the front. One is for the cant hook, what is the other for?
J: This is a mistake and doesn’t need to be there at all. It was there for the guys up north to put their skip hammer in, but it is not a good place for it since the log with hit it and break the handle off, so delete that feature altogether.
T: Is Miano the only one that has a bracket for carrying his saw along?
J: Nope some guys have a place for carrying their saw on the side of the frame over the wheel and on the back of the school bus seat. This is just for carrying stuff to and from the woods and not for when the arch is in use skidding logs. It can be customised to suit you. I knew one fellow that put a radio on their arch…..just to hear country music while working….
T: What is the small step made from?
J: A piece of scrap angle iron or some use rebar, just something to help give a stable place to step on when getting on and off the arch.
T: Hope that is not too many questions for one shot. I am gonna try to get this fellow to make 3 of these things at the same time, he said to make one for me first and see if it works alright. I told him you said it had been tested. But we may do a prototype and see if we have it all figured right and read the instructions correctly!
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks, Tommy
PS Finally got the computer to print the 2 pics, but the upset arch still would not come through for me to see.
J: This is actually a very old drawing done by a college student for free. It has some errors, but the basic design is correct. I should update it buy I don’t have any college students to ask to do it again at this point. Let me know if this helps and I will take some photos soon.
Jason
T: So the bus seat has 2 1/2 inch pipe on it, and there is 1 3/4 inch pipe on the frame, so the seat is removable, slides on and off?
J: Yep it comes off for transporting in the trailer. It is lighter to lift or roll into the trailer without all the pieces that will come off. This is often done alone so making it lighter is a good thing.
T: Where the square tube is under the channel iron frame, does it attach to another 6 x 10 piece of channel or just flat iron?
J: Either one, just don’t make it as big as the drawing because it will hit a big log and get in the way to attaching as close as possible. Flat works good, but if I am thinking of the same piece it is good to have it open on the end or a hole so you can drive a broken tongue out of the tube when you have to replace it.
T: Have you ever written up a materials list for this thing? If not I can do one when we are through. The braces up to the deck, what size angle iron is that?
The slot bar, is that just flat stock or angle iron?
J: These devices may be made with whatever material a farmer or logger may have around -
AS LONG AS THE RELATIONSHIP, ANGLES AND DISTANCES ARE MAINTAINED.
The slot bar is usually angle iron and is supposed to be set in the middle of the frame so the chain actually touches the back of the edge of the frame when lifting the log.
T: Fellow will be here about 7 tonight to go over this stuff. I think I about understand it all. But how far forward or backward does the actual seat itself weld to the pipe brackets? I know that might have to do with how fat I might be.
J: Setting the seat back on the frame helps lighten the tongue on the return trip into the woods when you set on the seat. It is an offsetting thing like a mowing machine without a tongue truck. We have just put the post on the back edge on the later models. You can’t set it to far back because it makes it more difficult to work the slot bar under the seat. Keeping the seat as low as possible but still with enough room to work under it is important for operator efficency.
I still need to do a complete article on how to use this device. Complete with photos, it is just another task that I need to do while actually trying to move enough logs to survive economically. More later. Jason
T: Thanks again.
Tommy
T: Talked with a fellow yesterday about bringing his bobcat over. We have a lot of trees by the house, and a good many along the power lines. Electric company has said they would come out and lay the lines down when I got ready. So I think I will get the bobcat here to apply a little pressure on them to make sure they go where they need to fall, not on the house. Would you say I should still cut them with the same method? The relative with the bobcat says he has to put them down all the time by himself but he cuts them starting at the back and then a downward angle toward the front in the direction he wants it to go. Course I figure that would mess up the end and it would then have to be cut again. He has a backhoe business now for 25 years.
Tommy
J: Yep that is the classic hillbilly back cut method and it is dangerous plus needs to be cleaned up on the butt end.
Using the “Swede cut” or open face, hinge and latch method is much safer. With the hillbilly back cut, if the tree is leaning or being pushed in a certain direction it may break before you get it cut enough to fall without splitting at the butt. When it splits it is called a barber chair, where the hinge is to big and the tree splits up and falls with the butt going out in the air, which is dangerous. It has killed many a logger…..
With the Swede cut you can establish the hinge at the proper thickness before releasing the tree by cutting from the hinge toward the latch. Remember the four cuts, two to make the open face or lead notch(and it doesn’t have to be deep, never more than 20% of the tree, I personally like about 10%), number three cut is the plunge from the danger side, establishing the back of the hinge and we usually place or set our plastic wedge after this cut, which takes out half of the diameter of the tree, then the four cut is to establish the back of the hinge on the safe side and cut to release the tree when the last wood is cut which is the part of the tree we call the latch. This is the only way to cut a tree period. This method keeps control until the last second and you should have figured out, cleared out and thought of your escape route off at a 45% angle from the stump before starting the felling operation at all. The proper thickness for the hinge is about 1-1/2 to 2 inches. Thinner if the tree is leaning already in the direction you want to fall it, but at least that thick to push or wedge it over. Felling timber is dangerous, but exciting and fun, particularly when you know the principles of the Swede cut and apply them using the forces of the bar to inform your skills with the chainsaw.
Let me know what you think man.
Jason
T: Morning there,
Last year I used the 4 cut like yall showed me. That last cut, that is a plunge cut also isnt it, through to the 3rd cut, and then all the way out the back? When starting the 3rd and 4th I cut through about 2 inches of the hinge on each side and then plunged, I still had several split up about 3 feet so I lost that. On that last cut I also chewed up a little bit of wedge.
I believe I removed at least 80 trees last year and it mostly went as it should. I only had about 2 or 3 that I think gave me trouble with direction, or getting hung up. Several even fell right on the drink can, if I had put one out there at least they would have hit it!!
Got to go check on Perch and see if baby is getting closer.
Tommy
PS If you take any close up pics of the arch how about e-mail them this way. My welder right away wanted to try to copy some of this Forest arch since it is here to look at, but he will listen when I persist.
J: When making the plunge cuts the bar can be laid flat in the open face to help keep it level, (assuming the open face bottom cut is level) and cut out towards the back or the latch on the fourth cut. The reason the trees split is that the hinge was to thick. Pine is quite tough and doesn’t require as thick of a hinge to control the direction of the fall, as long as you are not trying to put it against the natural lean of the tree to much, say more than 45 degrees. We like to keep our hinges about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches on softwoods. It is a very skilled use of the saw to be able to keep your hinge that small. It requires abstract comprehension to be able to know what the bar is although you can’t actually see it. It is common to touch the wedge a little when doing this as it is hard to determine exactly where the tip of the bar is. If the wedge is placed in the back but not to close to the point where the cuts will match up then cutting the wedge happens less. But the fact is that the wedges are plastic and don’t harm the chain and are somewhat cheap and disposable.
I will take some photos today, but I am not sure this computer will download them. My other computer has the software on it to download my current digital camera. We will see. I thought I had more photos on this computer and will look for them and send them if I can find them.
Hold the welder off and make him make whatever you want. Our Charlie Fisher arch can be used to pull anything around that uses a chain to attach it to the horses. We use it to drag pastures with a chain harrow or pull a spring tooth harrow just like it was a forecart. They can be modified to have a draw bar that is a bolt on item and could be nice. The key is to keep the tongue weight low when using the device. The tongue weight is more when the arch is empty. The counter balancing effect of the seat placement is important for this reason.
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