Brush Pile Hack

[jgp12000]

This is something you guys may already do,but it's a back saver for me. When clearing brush,vines & small trees,I use an extendable paint roller pole with a small foam roller handle and run it under the pile to catch a cargo strap and pull it under the pile.Then I hook the strap to the 4 wheeler or tractor depending on the weight and drag it to the woods.

[Keta]

I need a real skidder.

[jgp12000]

Yep that might give the ford tractor a hernia...

[Keta]

Some have 120+ rings and a few are 60" at the butt.

[foakes]

That is a clever technique, James!

I just use our 6' X 10' utility trailer —- fill it up then drive it over to our burn pile.

Before filling it, I lay part of a 100' truckers rope in the bottom of the trailer.  Then just anchor the end to a tree or stump —- and drive the load off into the pile.

For our larger trees, I use a 30' 5/8" logging helicopter choker cable to pull them around and out of the way.  My truck & winch can handle logs up to 3500 to 4000 pounds.

During our torrential rains of a month ago —- there was one log that was on our neighbors property that they did not remove after felled.  It dammed up the creek and washed out our road.  I was out there in the freezing rain with a big Stihl, truck and my winch —- pulling 3500 lb rounds to clear the obstruction.

That was a miserable 90 minutes of necessary work in tough conditions.

Best, Fred

[Bill B]

James I like that idea.  I have a bunch of branches to tie up and move.  It will come in handy.  Bill

[jgp12000]

Fred those trees look bigger after they are on the ground when you start cutting them up. Our largest trees are small comparatively speaking.

[Shellbelly]

I need a real skidder.

And a mill!  That's lumber waiting to happen.  I'm surprised nobody wants all that.

[jgp12000]

I have a 20" Stihl farm boss and a 16" echo I grab the echo for limbing.I can't imagine the pioneer lumberjacks using crosscut saws everyday ,those guys were tough!!! It's air sucking back breaking work, even with our modern tools.

[Shellbelly]

That was a miserable 90 minutes of necessary work in tough conditions.

Unfortunate that the necessary work couldn't occur when the tree hit the ground.  Might have been 30 minutes instead of 90 and a bit more comfortable.  I can't imagine what you unleashed when the log was cut out of the way. 

[Keta]

I had to upgrade my saw to deal with the large blocks, what I needed was a saw with s 36"-48" bar but at $1500 it was cost prohibitive. I have a 16" Poulin Wild Thing for limbing and falling smaller trees, it is a low cost entry level saw but it has been a good saw for close to 20 years.  I was considering a 25" Echo Timberwolf but my wife insisted on a 25" Sthil 362 at the suggestion of a timber faller husband of a friend of hers.  A friend of mine replaced his old saw with a Echo Timberwolf about the same time.  As far as I can tell they are similar in quality, after several hours making large blocks into smaller blocks, but the Stihl was close to $100 more.

[jgp12000]

My Echo seems to start easier than my Stihl but it's a workout,I only use the Stihl when I have to, can't imagine lugging  a 36-48" around 25" must get heavy as well.

[Keta]

Does yours have a compression release?  Mine does and it helps.

[jgp12000]

Not sure will have to look.