[Farrier]

Getting her to come in is no problem. You can walk up and pet her empty handed but take one step towards her with a halter or rope and she turns and runs. If she is in a stall or small corral where she cant run at the sight of a halter, it gets ugly real quick. This was not a problem when I first got her. You could walk right up to her with no problem and put a halter on her. One day for no apparent reason she decided she wasn’t going to be caught and I think I have only got a halter on her twice since then and thats been over a year ago.

[Farrier]

No suggestions at all?
PS Happy thanksgiving everyone!

[Farrier]

Thanks for the info guys. I like the slatted snow fence idea. Seems like it would go together and tear down pretty easy, then I wouldn’t have to worry about a permanent building being the way.

[Farrier]

In my area the only cribs are permanent wooden structures. I don’t really want to go to the trouble of building a permanent crib because it will be on leased land.

[Farrier]

I just turned 26. I’ve been shoeing full time since I was 16, been a part time hardwood logger since I was 18 and been farming since I could walk.

[Farrier]

Sorry it’s been awhile since I looked at this thread. Abigail is doing okay. I went down to the trainer’s farm the other day and we got her harnessed for the first time. She did fine just standing tied but when I led her off she pitched a bucking fit. Here’s a picture of her first time in harness.

[Farrier]

I am in Georgia. The DOT here makes hauling anything includeing farm equipment a real pain. I have a 1958 international 2 ton truck that I haul hay on and sometimes logs. Technically I am supposed to have a DOT number to haul hay since I am selling it but they are kinda easy going about that. Logs are a different story.

[Farrier]

My grandpaw swears they had a mule that would do it. He said a man in the woods would hook her up and point her down the skid trail and a man at the landing would unhook and send her back.

[Farrier]

Great pics. Can someone explain the title of this thread. I’m not familiar with MOFGA.

[Farrier]

She will be about 15 or 16 hands when she is fully grown. I’ll get a few pics up in a day or so. Took me two hours to get a halter on her this morning. I finally had to rope her. It’s kinda wierd , When I got her I didn’t have a problem catching her but she has gotten progessively worse. I don’t have a problem walking up to her with a halter on my shoulder but the second i put my hand on the halter she bolts. She is perfectly fine as long as you don’t have a halter or rope. Once you finally get a halter on her she settles right down.

[Farrier]

@Sojourner 22976 wrote:

One question, on putting a wedge into the back side of a through-the-face-cut bore hole, why not put the wedge in after you set the hinge with the side-bore cuts, thereby not having to worry about hitting the wedge tip with your saw?

I set a wedge before making my side bore cuts so that I have lift on the tree from the very beginning. This is necessary on some of the hazard trees we have to fall on the fire line.

Carl, where do you get the Sandvik wedges? I am awful parcel to hardheads but I’ll try anything once.

[Farrier]

George, I get my wedges from bailey’s. The 12″ ones are about 12 bucks. They are GREAT. They don’t mushroom and seldom break and you can drive them with as big a hammer as you want. As for your question about why I bore through the notch, its is so that I can set a wedge while the tree is mostly intact. I set my first wedge before cutting any holding wood so I have lift on the tree from the very begining. I have never had a tree set back on a wedge so bad that I couldn’t drive it home with this method. Lastly, I have only ever hit one wedge using my method. It really is easier to cut to the right depth than you might think.

[Farrier]

Per the original post, I will disagree with the statement that “the location of the wedge shouldn’t matter” because it does matter. I am sure most guys here have alot more expierance horselogging than I do but I carry a USFS class C faller card which means I am qualified to cut any tree on a wildfire, mostly hazard trees like burning snags and the like. I am not trying to say I know everything, just saying I have taken the necessary classes and logged enough hours on the fireline to achieve the highest level of a Forest Service faller. It is based on GOL.

When you set a wedge close to the hinge you are getting alot of lift but it is harder to drive and there is the possibility of breaking the hinge wood and actually sending the tree over backwards. When I fall a big tree my usual method is to make my open face notch and then bore through the center of the notch all the way through the tree. Next I set a wedge at the back of the tree, usually a hardhead with the steel cap, in the slot i just bored. Then I start my falling cuts on the danger side by boring into the side of the tree making sure I leave the proper amount of hinge wood and making sure I bore just deep enough to get through to my original plunge cut but not deep enough to get my wedge. After boring to the proper depth, I cut towards the back of the tree and remove all the holding wood on that side. I drive my first wedge in as far as I can and set another one if I think I’ll need it. Next I move to the safe side of the tree and repeat the cuts I made on the danger side and if the tree doesn’t go when I take out the rest of the holding wood, I just keep knocking wedges till it does. Just to clarify, please don’t confuse holding wood with hinge wood.

I hope this was written clear enough for ya’ll to understand. It is hard sometimes to put your method of doing something into words.

[Farrier]

http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?p=21596#post21596

I can ship stuff anywhere in the U.S. I am building a wagon axle for a client in La. that I will be shipping to them. If I can help let me know.

As for your questions, ebay is a good source for manuals. A good set of sockets and wrenches and an assortment of screw drivers are the basic stuff. Buy top of the line tools because cheap tool will either break when you torque on them or they will round off rusty bolts. I also find a 4″ angle grinder and drill press indespensible. The tools I listed are what you need to make minor repairs and do normal maintainance. The truth is when it comes to making parts it is usually cheaper to have it made than trying to aquire all the required tools to do it yourself. The tools and machines I use on most if not all restoration projects that come through my shop are sandblaster, welder, milling machine, metal lathe, sheet metal break, torch, drillpress, forge, table saw, compound miter saw, wood lathe, planer, air compressor and a bunch of other tools, too numerous to list.

[Farrier]

Could it be some sort of combination ax/skip hammer? I can’t tell from the pic but is the edge on the hammer side sharp or blunt? Being a blacksmith myself, I have studied quiet a few old tools and I can tell you that there are ALOT of old tools out there that were made/modified for a specific job or chore that was done regularly or was just needed once and unless you talk to whoever used it, the purpose of some of these old tools is lost to the ages.

[Author]

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