Log Skidding Arch...

[Tim Horton]

So... From wood shed on skids, got me thinking about a project I've had in mind, but not pursued much.. 

There are a number of video, and how to of all kinds for a home made log skidding arch.  They are available from some timber supply, small saw mill dealers.  But high $ I feel.. 

The traditional models are one log at a time. Or several small trees.  That would work good with the UTV.   I'm also thinking about a model like a small 2 wheel trailer with a log bunk type of bed. To haul one end, skid the back ends. 

Another thought flash......   How about a kind of inverted bunk with lifting winch to skid several logs ratchet strapped together... ??   Maybe this is getting a little too far ahead, more on this later... maybe.... 

Anyone have a log arch of one kind or another.. ??  

Likes, dislikes, facts, details.. ?? 

[Jolly]

Never done that. I put a drawbar on the tractor 3-pt and hook a set of tongs to it with a shackle.

[joebill]

Set of gin poles, set of tongs, GO!

I skidded hundreds of thousands of BF that way, and while I made an electric winch before I was done, the majority of the logs were lifted with comealongs.

Often I dragged a log uphill with the front wheels of the truck a couple of feet off the ground. When she left the road, I would let the butt of the log down and get pointed right again, jack it up and go again.

Not one of my contracts, but I helped a guy rig his 1 ton pickup to act as a yarder. We backed it into a doug fir, jacked it up and took off a rear wheel, replaced it with a bare rim and used the rim as a capstan (cat head pulley) to drag the logs up the hill with a 3/4" manilla rope attached to the tongs.

Nothing wrong with going for the very best equipment, but it is rarely used in shirt-tail logging...or WAS rarely used. It suddenly dawned on me that I do not know jack about what happens in the woods today. They might be hauling the logs up hills with blimps or helicopters for all I know.... ….Joe

[aussiedarren]

Apr 17, 2020 2:46:00 GMT joebill said:

Set of gin poles, set of tongs, GO!

I skidded hundreds of thousands of BF that way, and while I made an electric winch before I was done, the majority of the logs were lifted with comealongs.

Often I dragged a log uphill with the front wheels of the truck a couple of feet off the ground. When she left the road, I would let the butt of the log down and get pointed right again, jack it up and go again.

Not one of my contracts, but I helped a guy rig his 1 ton pickup to act as a yarder. We backed it into a doug fir, jacked it up and took off a rear wheel, replaced it with a bare rim and used the rim as a capstan (cat head pulley) to drag the logs up the hill with a 3/4" manilla rope attached to the tongs.

Nothing wrong with going for the very best equipment, but it is rarely used in shirt-tail logging...or WAS rarely used. It suddenly dawned on me that I do not know jack about what happens in the woods today. They might be hauling the logs up hills with blimps or helicopters for all I know.... ….Joe

You havent seen the show on tv where they are using monster sized cable yarders and yes even helicopters?

[joebill]

I watched one episode of guys using a huge yarder and it looked to me like they were using that extra precious capacity for nothing more than to see how much equipment they could tear up and how many guys they could put in the hospital. I would have fired every man-jack before the first commercial.

I got only one good laugh when a guy got knocked down through a huge tangle of logs and the boss shut down the whole operation while he crawled around down there and found his dentures that had left his mouth when he hit bottom.

I DO realize that those shows are played for high drama, but seeing one of them in which everybody did his best to make the operation run smooth and productive would have been high drama to me. The one I saw was more like slapstick comedy than high drama.....Joe