[Jim Ostergard]

Simon,
Looking forward to the pictures of the wire crane. I have all you have sent before but would appreciate a few of the front end and the mounting of the wire crane relative to the front axle. I am looking for a hydraulic winch with a gas drive motor. Also wondering how long an electric drive winch would last before having to put a charge on the battery. Getting ready for a job with my Percheron which would be great if I didn’t have to use my back to load. Thanks for all your posts.
Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

This is a great thread with loads of information. Carl, you all are to be commended for the work you are doing and I look forward to seeing some of the numbers. It is really hard to get the LO’s that are interested in this kind of work out here on the coast. I’ve got a job that I am going to start when I will need a forwarder to get across a large blueberry field with the wood. Not sure yet whether it will be a short lease on a trailer wagon (Hardy) or an Iron Mule. Whichever I can get first I guess. I will hot yard the wood with the horse and then forward with the machine. I would really like to build a wire crane and have the wagon. Simon, are there any available plans for one? I have loads of pictures but am somewhat mystified about the swinging mechanism for the crane. Tristan your photos are great thanks for sharing.
Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

Over this way in Appleton we have had about 1/2″ of rain overnight with calm air. It is starting to air up a bit now and the radar shows lots of rain around. Think I will turn the guys out for a bit mostly so I can muck out and they can get some exercise. Got everything lear of the big trees just in case. The wet ground on the coast allow a lot of mature spruce to blow over this winter and something like that may happen here if the wind stays up. Kind of weather makes me happy to be ashore, saw enough of it during my fishing days. Thanks for everyones’ thoughts.
Jim O.

[Jim Ostergard]

Another example of the crazy use of full comes from the Bering Sea. I fished out there a while back and my son is there now. He chases cod, and various flounder. The head and gut them and freeze the whole fish. When you’ve got a load a tramper comes alongside and the whole frozen product is off-loaded and then the tramper makes for China where the product is partially thawed and filets cut. This product makes its way to markets world-wide. In some cases the fish is split and salted and shipped to Africa or Brazil. A friend who was at the time captain of one such vessel did a rough calculation of the amount of fuel used in getting these product to the market and although I’ve forgotten the numbers it was staggering.
Now here on the coast of Maine a group of fisherman have gotten together, got a small plant going shoreside and produce a high quality product which they sell at local farmers markets as well as through a CSA type program. This keeps the money very local and gives folks the chance to support the families of the fishermen. I also allows them to keep the infrastructure at their port in place. That infrastructure is pretty much gone in other small coastal ports as it cannot compete with the high real estate prices that folks pay to have a house on the shore.

[Jim Ostergard]

Andy,
I would agree with Rick. I’m on a job now with a good bit of standing and rotten deadwood scattered amongst the saw logs and pulp. I drop them all the time but am never very comfortable doing so. Even with a lot of rot a large wedge will sometimes help. My biggest concern is that when pounding on the tree the upper part may break off and make for a very sore head or worse. It is hard to look up and pound at the same time. Same goes for when trying to push it over. That top can come down anytime.
Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

Welcome, Neal and Kathy,
You are blessed to have Elmin down the road. Also in South Montville Jason Glick who is an excellent timber framer, horse farmer and logger. I’m only a few miles further on in Appleton on the blueberry ridges and log full time and when the chance happens use horses. It is a superb community around here. Like the bakery idea a lot. Again welcome.
Jim Ostergard

[Jim Ostergard]

Rick,
A couple of years ago Jason Glick and I used our singles in a tandem hitch. the wood was a little too big for Jason’s single so I brought Rusty over and we hitched the tugs to the “D” ring and each of us drove our respective horses. It worked but we only did a few twitches. Neither horse had ever done it before. We needed a lot of space for turns in order not to loose the draft.

[Jim Ostergard]

Thanks Mitch,
Observing you work with various animals at LIF sure helped me and it speaks to those get-togethers where we are all learning from each other. Just got the new guy back today so will continue with foundation training on the lead rope to get them used to being separated by taking one down the road and then the other. After that settles I will ground drive him up on the road with the bitless bridle (without blinders), then back into harness and somewhere down the line the harness again and on to a tire behind it. Will keep folks posted. Again my thanks to all I have been privileged to work with in person and to those here on DAP. Wendy trained me as much as the pony and that will really help me back up and do some work with Zeb. Sort of wish I didn’t have to go run that forwarder to pay for all this.
Thanks again…Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

Thanks Carl and yes it feels good to update the community at bit. I really got to thinking about all this because of the impact all the discussion on foundation training. It all became very real with the training of the green pony. The little steps and trying to understand where the pony was telling me, “that is going a bit far, I’m not comfortable yet.”
The real need for training is for myself. I’ve always thought I was fairly intuitive but the need to get the job done when it came to logging seemed to close that part of my system to a degree.
I will have a good deal of work to do with the new guy but for the first time I feel I can check out his moves and listen to determine when he does not understand what I want and back up a bit to get to the understanding. And again if not for the discussion here on DAP that might not have been a possibility.
Lots of time this spring to work with him also which is good. A long mud season here. Should be back in the woods in a week where I will be running an Iron Mule forwarder for the crew I cut wood for. Dungeon thick fog here this morning.

[Jim Ostergard]

Thanks Charlie, I think we will be good teammates but if I pair him with Zeb at 17.2 I’ll have a “Boston team.”
jim

[Jim Ostergard]

In Maine, the Certified Logging Professional training (CLP) teaches a two tree length separation between workers. This applies to felling as well as working around loaders be they truck mounted or stand alone. A whistle blast or two is a signal used by fellers at the MOFGA winter harvest. Eye contact and pointed in the direction of the fall is useful if one waits for a thumbs up from anybody nearby.
Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

George
You sure use much more wood than I do. I gave up the pulp hook after about 30 years of using one in favor of the pickeroon. I have a short one I use on four foot wood and a longer one that works well of eight foot sticks. Seems they give more leverage and less stress due to less bending and lifting.
For getting my wood from the wood-lot to the house I put a sheet of plywood on my scoot ( pictures in the gallery, single horse category or under J) and have some stake sides and ends that fit the stake pockets. This makes a handy rig for fitting the wood right in the wood-lot, load it up and haul it to the wood shed.
Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

Thanks Scott,
Just put a Hafflinger/quarterhorse cross in the barn. Wanted a barn buddy for Zeb and this 4 yr old (just gelded) is green. Never been in a tie stall. He is 13.2 and about 800 pounds. Nice hind quarter. So now I’ve got my work cut out for me. Thank goodness for this site as I have never started a horse before. Been thinking of downsizing anyway so if I have work this year Zeb can earn the coin and then maybe I can just go with a couple of smaller guys. Will be an adventure.
Again thanks about the note on Rusty. He was a great pal, not always what I wanted in the woods but he sure taught me a lot and that has helped bring Zeb along and no doubt will help me with the pony.
We are in the thick of mud season so not much work. Doing a little milling with Jason when he is not boiling sap.
Jim

[Jim Ostergard]

Nice rig.

There are some pictures here in the gallery of me and Rusty and my walking beam. Several things I like about the walking beam design are the nice-on-th -knees-ride over rough ground. I can control (I think) the draft by using a grab chain that will control how high up the butt comes on the slider pipe. The slider pipe seems to be the key for lifting. When I back over the butt or just jump the log (walking beam seems great for that), I hook up the choker at the forward and lower end of the slider pipe. As he goes forward the choker rolls up the pipe on a pulley and when stopped at the top is directly over the center of the walking beam.

The only thing I dislike is the tongue weight. I can lift it ok and I’m not very big but still wish it was less. The platform on the front stuck out another 18″ when I got it so that was first to go. I used a head rest from a car for my butt just at the top of the arch. Took a lot of pain out of the ride. Knees ok, butt hurt until I did that.

When I had Rusty (put the old fella down three weeks ago) really tuned up on it in a job I could back and fill like the devil to get him onto a log. It does drag the wheels a bit in a tight turn but one can live with that. With my new guy I will need a real good steady job to get him to that point. As an aside I just picked up a haflinger/quarter cross, 4-5 years old about 900 pounds and green. So, I got a bit of a project to get him going on it.

[Jim Ostergard]

Tristan,
When I pooched those old chaps I unstitched the heavy zippers and figure some day I will see about using them on some chaps. Might not be possible but is sure hate it when I’m behind the horse and a short stick gets caught up in the darn clip straps.
Jim

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