Go Devil ( logging sled )

[Anonymous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZUlkIzD1_c&context=C49c9d01ADvjVQa1PpcFM6fVdDfsHHuzlww0g1hrJAAE2kye7TrOc=

Here is a link to some footage of us using a go devil in some small fir today. I can’t remenber all the measurements and tubing sizes but I will take some measurments at work tomorrow.

Tristan

[Mark Cowdrey]

Tristan,
I really like that rig. Are they being produced commercially?
Thanks,
Mark

[Gabe Ayers]

Mark-
I made a go-devil, based on a traditional design. It is now down with Andy Carson in PA for use with his oxen. They are easy to fabricate and work quite well, particularly with a single horse and one large log that you need to get up off the ground to move.
-Brad

[Carl Russell]

Nice Tristan, I wish we had terrain like that to work around here.

Keep making those films. Before long we will have access to quite an inventory of excellent examples of horse-logging from all over the world.

Carl

[Tim Harrigan]

@Carl Russell 33183 wrote:

…Before long we will have access to quite an inventory of excellent examples of horse-logging from all over the world.Carl

Ox logging too!:o

[Anonymous]

Thanks I will post some more when I get them edited. I’ll also explain a bit more about how we are using two sleds, the dimentions and such. Tonight I’m done in. Using one of my young mares to day she took all the best of me and then some.

Cheers Tristan

[Baystatetom]

I showed my welder friend your pictures today and asked him for a price. I just kind of guessed on the measurements that I thought I would want. If you can easily post some of yours I might just double check and call the welder back. He said he was slow and could probably have one ready for me in a couple of days. He wants to make the stakes on a hinge so they act like a ramp as well. Not sure how I feel about that except I can have him change it if it doesn’t work out.
~Tom

[Scott G]

Awesome, Tristan! I like your and Gregg Caudell’s design more than any of the others that I have seen. You are definitely dialed in with making that go-devil as efficient as it can be.

Tom, I saw Caudell load a good sized log on his by binding the go-devil to the side of the log, hitching up, and then pull it right side up. Shortened the choker and then off he went. Pretty slick.

Tristan takes it one step further and falls directly on the bunk of the go-devil. Now that is the true definition of being efficient in the woods and making every move count.

These go-devils made out of iron are incredibly tough, agile, adaptable, and efficient. Doesn’t get much better than that, eh? Especially for those of us that use a single in the woods the vast majority of the time.

Again, great work Tristan! Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

@Baystatetom 33199 wrote:

I showed my welder friend your pictures today and asked him for a price. I just kind of guessed on the measurements that I thought I would want. If you can easily post some of yours I might just double check and call the welder back. He said he was slow and could probably have one ready for me in a couple of days. He wants to make the stakes on a hinge so they act like a ramp as well. Not sure how I feel about that except I can have him change it if it doesn’t work out.
~Tom

I’ll do my best.
– The runners are 3 feet long made from 2 by 4 light wall box. I use light truck springs as shoes. the shoes should be a bit wider than the box runners. Heat and curl ends so the sled is easier to pull back when positioning for loading

-Bunk is 3 feet wide same as the runners 2 by 4 box. A piece of pipe is is welded through the center of the bunk. To keep the choker chain sliding trough this pipe cut the pipe about 3/8 than needed. Tack it in the hole cut through the bunk, then heat the end and flare with a ball peen hammer.

-front hoop is 2 1/4 pipe bent to fit. Notched with pipe for chain to slide trought and flared same as bunk.

– Stakes are 2 feet above the bunk made from box iron. I wouldn’t like hinged stakes. Alot of the strenght is because of how the stake pockets are built into the bunks. Also one of the stakes has a end on it that hooks into the pockets to make a ramp. To prevent the log from just turning on the slippery metal stake we weld old school horse shoe caulks on that stake. ( works really well)

I don’t load sleds by hand much. I’ll either fell the tree on the sled or slide it up with the horse.

Tristan

[Baystatetom]

I have been using sort of a short stoneboat, a bunch of 4×4 s about 4 feet wide and four feet long with a angle cut on the front held together with threaded rods. It seemed to make a huge difference in the snow but lesser on bare ground. At least it keeps the buts from digging in. After seeing Tristan’s pictures I started dropping the trees right on it. What a great idea that I might not have thought of on my own. Just the last few days I have started using the team more to load and stack logs. I thought I was being faster by using a peevy but my back is sore as hell every night. I am still an amateur but get better everyday. Thanks for sharing!
~Tom

[Tim Harrigan]

@Baystatetom 33214 wrote:

….I have been using sort of a short stoneboat, a bunch of 4×4 s about 4 feet wide and four feet long with a angle cut on the front held together with threaded rods. It seemed to make a huge difference in the snow but lesser on bare ground. At least it keeps the buts from digging in. ~Tom

Flat bottomed, full contact stoneboat would probably be better on bare ground, particularly if it is soft. Less rutting, soil compression and tillage.

[Baystatetom]

You might be right Tim, but for some dumb reason I think of stoneboats as being used for exercising a team and for pulling contest. I just never considered it as a working tool before seeing your videos. I really should try it sometime.
I told the welder to make my new go devil 4′ wide with 4′ runners and axed the hinged stake idea. He figured $375 but thought if he could find enough scrap steel around his shop it would be cheaper.
~Tom

[Scott G]

@Tim Harrigan 33215 wrote:

Flat bottomed, full contact stoneboat would probably be better on bare ground, particularly if it is soft. Less rutting, soil compression and tillage.

I’d think the stone boat with a flat bottom would have more friction than the runners on a go-devil. We don’t have that much perpetually soft ground If we are to a point we’re we are rutting up the woods, the horse(s) are as well. When it gets that muddy we just stay out of the woods regardless if its horses or machinery.

Maybe a work sled with runners might be an in between but I can’t imagine being able to maneuver it very well off the main trail.

I cant imagine anything else, aside from straight ground skidding, that would be as agile as a go-devil for working off trail.

[Carl Russell]

@Tim Harrigan 33185 wrote:

Ox logging too!:o

Yes Tim, Keep me honest….., Lapse of awareness. I apologize, Carl

[Scott G]

I’m going to e-mail Gregg Caudell to see if he would be OK with me scanning the page of his book that has the diagram of the go-devil he used and then I’ll post it here

[Author]

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