I know this isn't a farm implement website, but have noticed that some of you guys live on farms. I was recently logging out some ash trees on my place to have them sawn into lumber. I made a new "tool", a three point hitch mounted skidding attachment constructed entirely from scrap pulled from my scrap metal pile. I was surprised how well it worked, and hooking up logs was a breeze. The second image shows a 24 inch small end diameter ten foot log hitched to my little baby deere. If you are ever in need of something like this, look in your junk pile...some assembly required.
The wife and I just had a "few" acres logged off by a pro logger. 40/60 split in the profits. Mostly big white oaks and were pleasantly surprised at how much money they made us. Needless to say, we have a lot of big tops that will just rot away in the woods now. Great looking hitch you built there Paul! I'd like to have one like that, with a trailer ball on it to haul firewood.
Don
1967 GMC 9500 Fire Ladder Truck "The Flag Pole" In the Stovebolt Gallery 1946 2-Ton grain truck 1946 3/4-ton pickup, 1953 1-ton pickup 1957 1-ton flatbed dually, 1954 Pontiac Straight Eight Of all the things I've lost in my life, I miss my mind the most!
All my ash trees on the farm have been dead now for 3-5 years, due to the Emerald Ash Borer. Surprised to see your ash trees still had bark on them, around here the bark falls off, the tree rots at ground level, and over they go. I hook a chain to them and haul them up to the barn with the tractor and cut them up for firewood to heat my workshop. May you never experience the EAB, they are devastating. Your implement would definitely make it easier to "steer" them out of the woods.
The reason I am harvesting the ash is because Emerald Ash Borer is in my county now. My trees did not have any galleries in them so the wood is still fine. We don't have nearly as many ash in our forests, but there are some. Its a shame we are losing a great tree due to someone else's selfish indiscretion.
Yeah the skidding implement has great articulation, logs could easily swing 90 degrees from the tractor when navigating switchback curves. The log happily followed the tractor, no binding.
Have a portable band saw mill coming to the farm this morning. Hope to have a nice stack of 4/4 lumber in my truck by lunchtime.
The EAB came in a ship from China to a terminal on the Detroit River in Detroit, Michigan. The Great Lakes and now our inland lakes/rivers have many invasive species of plant/fish/insects/crayfish, etc. A lot of them hitch hiked in the ballast of the ships. The ships discharged the ballast into our Great Lakes. The EAB hitch hiked in the pallets and wood crates.
Nice fab work. I'll try to remember to get a couple shots of a 3 point skid/decking rig for small tractors that we used in the 50's and 60's. Most had two sets of grabs (two hooks each that bit into the logs for skidding) and two drop down arms you used for banking logs. When banking you pushed and bunched the logs in reverse while simultaneously raising the rear lift, banking the logs two or three high. Back in the "Day".
