Forum Replies Created
- AuthorPosts
Jim Ostergard
ParticipantI can’t add too much here but feel I’m in agreement with all Carl and Jason have written. I really like my arch and will use it as much as I can or the situation allows. I like having my saw, peavy and a number of chains handy. There are loads of situations where ground twitching fits in. Short hot yards to a road for a forwarder is one. Short twitches around a house lot is another. I’ve worked lots where skidding anything longer than 16′ will cause too much scaring of the risidual stand and have had to open things up on the ground. I have on occassion done 8′ pine pulp but not my favorite thing to do as the butt can hang up and the tail come around a do some horrific damage. When I do that now I use real long lines and am behind the 8′ stick. And lastly a really good horse is a key for sure.
However, I favor the arch over all for moving wood.
Thanks….Jim OParticipantMy lines for the arch are long enough so I can stand a few feet behind it. This really helps when backing up to a butt. Then when hooking up I can lay the lines over the top of the arch and have them hanging within hand reach while hooking up. Most days I probably don’t keep them so close but the first few days on a job I do. There is a jpeg of my arch in the gallery from this spring. It a walking beam type so is a little longer than some others. Again I think it really a matter of working the horse the same all the time. I’m pretty lucky with Rusty. He is old and knowledgable and for the most part laid back.
Jim O.ParticipantI can’t speak to haying equipment and letting the lines go but I, like Carl and Jason have to do it all the time in the woods. I agree its a matter to time to get the horse used to it and one has to ALWAYS be on the alert! I usually have a tree in the wood lot that I stop at coming back from the yard when I need to go cut some more. I keep a line on that and clip it to the bridle. Funny though I go back to get him and sometimes see that I forgot to tie him up. When I use the arch I use real long lines that drop where I can reach them quickly.
Again, I think the point of time with the horse is important and the idea that rest (whoa) is a reward works well.
Yes, lots of dampness here in the NE but we are cutting most days.
peace….Jim OParticipantOn this monsoon type day looking over past discussiions and wanted to add a bit more here. Walking beams need some room to turn. Rusty has gotten really good in tight quarters about backing and filling to get to a but which is a plus. If you check out my jpg on the arch you will see that the shafts/pole hook up is low so this might be an asset with a team pole slap which I haven’t had a chance to try. I like Carl do not like to climb a ladder to get on the arch so prefer my lower platform and the slider rig to lift the but. Rusty will haul 20′ by 16″ or better (nearly 200 mbf) in a hitch with out rig. Not all day for sure but it really eases the draft.
best….JimParticipantI agree with Rick in that if we have to charge for the very important threads that DAP provides for all of us we should do that. I hope I wasn’t suggesting that we dilute and just give over content. However, I do think that some expansion in that direction (and I think SFJ is a good place for that) which then would lead new practioners to the site or something like that.
I really agree with Rick that as we are pretty spread out and often I feel operating in a vacumn this site has provided a connection for to others who depend on their horse(s), chain saws and hard work to pay the bills. It gets discouraging a lot of the time (like this morning when I am having a hard time finding energy to work on current job) and this site is a bit of an arm around the shoulder, an encourgement and support. Lets keep this thread alive.
jimParticipantI want to thank both Carl and Jason for posting this thread. Its a heavy one to think about and hard to add much that is useful I’m afraid. I for one am will to share any of my words with anyone for what they are worth. Sometimes one word is the seed.
I see a lot of what is happening on this site as sowing as well as contacts and think that something in a printed format might be a good expansion. If we are to pass on anything the more contact any of us has the better to widen the circle.
I have often seen myself as a conector of people and ideas. Done lots of unintended training in my day and sometimes its not just skills but joy and energy one has for the subject which helps move folks to another level within themselves.
So go for it if you can, keep me in the loop and I will see if I can be helpful.
Peace….Jim OParticipantFor myself the single to start has worked wonderfully. Being new to horsepower just a few years back and with a busted skidder I picked up an 18 year old Belgain. I put him to work right off so you can imagine the goings on those first few jobs in the woods, ’cause I didn’t know what I was doing. Now almost 3 year later he and I are the team. Ground twitch, lay him off while I take a skidder job and two months later put him on the arch first day and it seems to work. He gets a long grooming every night whether I’m chasing skidder or working him or its a day off. He loves to load even after a layover of some time. Its like, “well, you took your time Jim getting us a job again, lets go! This has given me the courage to think about a team although I have had very few times when I needed the extra power and when I did Jason and I hooked our guys up in tandem with some advice and encouragement from Simon. That was a neat thing and showed us how two neighbors could get the power on a job when it was needed.
Good luck and peace…..Jim OParticipantSimon,
Just got back from a short trip and am downloading your JPgs, thanks so much!! On my walking beam I think the turning radius is decreased. The butt will ride up and over the rear tire. I always push this and now and again have to deal with the mess I’ve caused.
Jim OParticipantWell I’ve used both types of arches. My feeling is they both have good and not so good points. I will try and post a picture of mine. The only one I have shows me and Rusty just after I “rescued,” him and brought him home. Much better picture of the arch. Ignore the fella on it.
My rig will ride up on a second log so that part is good. I am limited to how many big logs I can get on but a lot of my wood is small so I can put 3 or 4 40′ small spruce or hardwood on it which works well if its a long haul to the landing. It sure is nice on the knees though.
JimPS: Hard to turn the walking beam as the tires drag around. I posted the jp under equipment
Sorry I didn’t figure out how to edit so this is a bit of a double postParticipantWell I’ve used both types of arches. My feeling is they both have good and not so good points. I will try and post a picture of mine. The only one I have shows me and Rusty just after I “rescued,” him and brought him home. Much better picture of the arch. Ignore the fella on it.
My rig will ride up on a second log so that part is good. I am limited to how many big logs I can get on but a lot of my wood is small so I can put 3 or 4 40′ small spruce or hardwood on it which works well if its a long haul to the landing. It sure is nice on the knees though.
JimParticipantScott,
Sounds like Carl has it worked out for starters. I have used arches with the slotted steel welded to a pipe that will roll back and if I built a new arch would make sure it had that feature. My walking beam arch has a slanted rod on which the keepers roll up when we go ahead thus lifting the load up. It has a lift of about 28″ so even a big butt gets off the ground. When we come to a stop it rolls back down thus making the release of the chocker easy.
Jim Ostergard, Appleton, MaineParticipantRick,
Yes I have used the bunching system but the other way around. Used a small Mor-Bell sheer to clear a pasture for a client. He bunched the oak in 4-6 tree ricks for me. I limbed them so all the brush was in a pile and used the horse to haul out the tree length firewood to be fitted. A nice combination. I’m going to do a job in Wiscasset, Maine this spring on an island with resource protection on most of the lot. A strip down the middle with a road will be for the skidder/forwarder and I will pre-bunch into that from the sensitive areas. Looking forward to it. We will see what the numbers are when I’m done and I will share that with the group.
JIMParticipantJason and Rick,
Firstly, I agree with Rick its important to get short correct information out to the general public. Lots of education is still needed. Much better for one of us to be putting out a truthfull description of what we are about. I wrote for the fishing trades and some popular press all during my years as a commerrcial fisherman and I know folks appreciated hearing from some one who had actually gotten there knuckles scarped (and more).
I’m a bit embarassed to say I’ve been running a skidder for the last month. Rusty is coming off a bad case of scratches and with over two feet of wet, icey snow in the woods I haven’t had the courage to take him with me. After not being on a machine for over three years I can report that it is not very pleasant. I’m on a great job and it looks great, havn’t had to widen any of the old horse trails (this with a JD 540) and the brush is well ground up. But I can’t wait to finish and get back to it with Rusty.
Prices are just marginal here. Pine pulp $35/ton delivered, 8′ pine for garden timbers at about $200+mbf, Hemlock pupl at $38/ton and popple groundwood at $41/ton. More and more interest in “worst first,” but the hourly rate is still a hard sell.
Work safe guys…..peace….Jim Ostergard, Appleton, MaineParticipantAaron,
Mitch Lansky was published by Maine Environmental Policy Institute, POB 347, Hollowell, Maine, 04347. (http://www.meepi.org & http://www.lowimpactforestry.org
I recommend this to landowners and also Positive Impact Forestry by Thom McEvoy (Island Press) for range of perspective.
I’ve worked with Mitch and his book is valuable for figuring some of the economics of the job.
cheers…Jim OstergardParticipantBrandon,
I use my arch with Rusty and its fairly heavy on the shafts. Been meaning to actually take a scale out and measure it. Maybe tomorrow and I will let you know. I have an old heavy wagon saddle that I use sometimes when I don’t use the D-ring. I just pad the jack saddle on the D-ring. My arch is a walking beam and I can sit on it and thow the weight behind the axles.
I just moved the skidder to Jason’s and saw your team. I sure like the looks of them, Carl (sp?) is a beauty. Once I get the twitch road worked (maybe a day) they will have a good easy go and be able to work a bit.
I will let you know the weight and maybe post a picture of us on the arch.
peace…..Jim Ostergard- AuthorPosts