Most useful manual handling aids

[AndrewS]

Afternoon folks,

 

I'm fast developing an interest in portable chainsaw milling and am currently limited by log weight (read... my own strength...)!

 

I live in a residential area and generally collect stock with a trailer. Mechanical handling, i.e. tractor/loader is out of the question, but I would be interested to know what manual handling aids are out there to make life easier and, ultimately, increase my current capacity.

 

Thanks in anticipation,

 

Andrew

[timbermillers]

With a decent winch and a good cant hook you can move most things. I work on my own and with basic equipment I can dice up and move most things, nothing has stop me yet!

 

I have a skid steer loader for the yard but when milling on site I take a winch (manual Sherpa style), cant hook, skids for the trailer and as many slings and straps as I can muster. It's hard work but it can be done.

 

Good luck.

[billpierce]

cant hook cant hook. have moved many huge barrels with a 4 tonne winch ( Toolzone Cable Pullers from £19 with FREE Delivery* )

 

strop it under barrel to trailer then winch so it'll roll rather than drag up some solid ramps. if you got the time and no money (i.e can't rent a tele handler for a day. ) thats your best bet.

 

mind the beauty of alaskans is milling onsite first!

[agg221]

Milling being a more of a hobby for me than a job I am in a similar position with regard to justifying investing in plant, so everything is manual.

 

I have a pre-'97 driving licence, so I use an 8x4 plant trailer with a 2.3ton rating - my Volvo will tow 1.8tons so I can shift anything I can get in to or on top of the trailer. This usually means that if I've milled it in-situ then I can bring it home so long as it's under about 16ft. For longer stuff, I hire a 7.5tonner which has a deck of just over 20ft. I prefer a drop-side, but these are getting harder to find. I try to avoid curtain side ones, but have done it with suitable roping.

 

For moving timber, long levers are good. I use about an 8ft length of steel box section with a bit of half-inch plate welded to the end. This will move almost anything, either directly if I can get it under, or chain it round to roll it - particularly useful when rolling up faces during milling if you don't want to mark the faces as you tend to do with a cant hook. I also use an old railway toe jack with a 15ton capacity - these sometimes turn up cheap through the free-ads.

 

I have an old trailer axle cut down to about 2ft length, which I use to roll anything I can get on to it. I intend to upgrade this with a log arch at some point. This will move a surprisingly large piece.

 

I use an engine hoist - decent quality one but they're cheap from Machine Mart or similar - which will lift a ton. With a strop and a few wood blocks I can get just about anything up onto the trailer that it is capable of carrying.

 

I recently moved two 8ft lengths of oak butt, 2ft or thereabouts at the thin end, which took about half an hour to load and the same to unload and roll away, working on my own. I reckon that was near the capacity of the trailer/car combination.

 

At the moment, everything I need, including mill, can be put in the boot of the Volvo, and moved around to the site with a wheelbarrow, working singlehanded.

 

Alec

[tommer9]

Cant hooks and bars.

STIHL Cant Hook For Stockyard

This is with a PTO winch on my defender, but could be done with any winch given suitable anchoring:

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/video-forum/32198-parbuckling.html

[billpierce]

forgot to mention the trolley jock or bottle jack i use some times to get strops/rollers under. farmers with telehandlers are the best for this mind!

[agg221]

forgot to mention the trolley jock or bottle jack i use some times to get strops/rollers under. farmers with telehandlers are the best for this mind!

 

Totally agree on telehandlers - although I've always 'bought' the tree from the farmer (who wanted to get rid of it) and asked him if he could just move it for me. I reckon if they worked out what a hire rate on a telehandler might be then it would cost me a lot more.

 

In similar fashion, a quick look around the area for construction sites has yielded a JCB in exchange for 4ft of 6x6 beam for a fireplace lintel, and I once met a very decent Lithuanian bloke who worked for the local farmer and was taking the mini-tractor home with a 12ft trailer on one evening having just delivered a load of lettuces. £20 secured his services for 2hrs of lifting and ferrying the milled product of two decent sized oaks in the local wood.

 

Alec

[Mike Hill]

A burly chap from Poland or another Eastern European Country.

[AndrewS]

Great info guys; many thanks.

 

I had been looking at Tirfors, but not cheap... Cant hooks and cable pullers will cover most bases.

 

Cheers,

 

Andrew

[muldonach]

If you get the chance of a lug-all winch - american made in aluminium - grab it - not all that powerful but dead light and easy to use.

 

Cheers

mac