I Got in a Tricky Situation Harvesting Saw Logs
Foreign [Music] Hey it's Brock here from Rock Hill Farms And today we're going to be on the hunt For some saw logs first I'm going to go Through what I've already got down then I've got one tree that's hung up in the Woods that we need to get out and Hopefully from that I can get enough saw Logs but if not we'll cut something down Now the reason I'm looking for saw logs Today is I'm pretty excited that I've Got a new Sawmill on the property that's Going to be here for a little while And I'm going to be making some videos With that Mill in the next week or so Now this is not the standard bandsaw Mill that you might be expecting when You hear me say that it's kind something Kind of unique and different so I'm Really excited to get started using it But you can't run a mill without logs so Let's get out there and see what we can Find this pile here is designated for Firewood but let's just check and see if There's anything here we can actually Use So that log there on the ends 12 inches And it's long but it's probably got six Inches of wave in it so you'd have Nothing left on that one we've got Little short ones that are a big Diameter and straight I don't want to do Anything that's like three or four foot
Long see this one's obviously Large enough diameter but we're rotting In the center here And then it's got a crotch down there We can probably get Six foot of straight log out of this one If we needed to but it's Hackberry it's Not really the most desirable thing Everything else down here is pretty Twisted let's go see what else we can Find This guy right here Obviously make a saw log we got 37 inch diameter Long and straight but it's Hackberry And it probably weighs four thousand Pounds I'm not going to set this on this New Mill it's not even my Mill so I Don't want to break it Let's uh This is the best candidate we have right Now But every time you look at a log It might seem like well that's a pretty Straight tree as you look at it standing Up and then you look at it on the ground And you really be critical if you draw a Center line from it And how much bow you have you run out of Usable wood pretty quick This has a bunch of knots in it a lot of Limbs coming off Looks like it might be fairly straight To this first knot
Or about there is where the bow starts Or about five feet in 22 inch diameter on this end And if you go past that bow you've got Another straight section but it's Got limbs coming out of it everywhere I Think I'll cut this in half where that Bend is and then see what we've got Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign That is not a great saw log but it is Good enough to use I cut it at 10 foot 8 inches so we've Got plenty of room to cut off cracking Off the end and still get 10 foot lumber It's 14 inches on the small end 18 on The big end so pretty good size the only Thing I don't like about it is how many Limbs there are coming off of it but We'll probably just try it anyway let's Go up the hill see what else we got and Then whether we need it or not we're Pulling that one off the hill most that Walnut Lumber that you've already seen Me using came off this same tree It's only six and a half feet Got several limbs off of it 12 13 inches At the big end not worth it for me The mill I'm going to be using without Telling you what it is I would say you Need your logs to be at least seven feet Long to set them on it
And So this is too short Just wouldn't work for me let's go on Down I'd say these two are good size or saw Logs and you might be able to work Around the bow that's in them but this One From the looks of it I'd say this has Been on the ground 10 years or more When we bought the property almost three Years ago I spotted this one already Laying back there looking rotten And it's still solid It'll make good firewood but I think it May be Doty or spalted whatever term You use for that when it's just past the Point of good hardwood I think down here The only candidate I've got is that big Guy at the end and this is a no-go I Remember why this got put here for Firewood this whole side is dead and Rotten the other two pieces of it we've Already milled and they're up there Drying in the shop So there's no more Usable logs down here we're gonna have To go up in the woods and get that last One okay this tree fell It uprooted and just turned the whole Thing over I noticed it a few weeks ago And it's kind of wedged So on this end
There's a bunch of small trees on each Side of it kind of holding it there And on this side it uprooted and all the Weight of the root ball And probably the dirt it pulled up with It and everything else Is behind this berm it's pretty big berm There's always a lot of different ways You can approach something like this What I'm thinking I'm going to do Is bring the skid loader up here have Actually I'm in the middle of some Maintenance on the tractor I don't want To move it right now I think I'll bring The skid loader up here Get it under here supporting the weight And cut both ends free and then pull it Out but first I want to see it I haven't Actually been all the way up behind it To see what this root ball looks like And how it's hung up okay it's hard to Even get back here But yeah I didn't realize how much more Tree is back here there's another 10 foot From the berm back And all the way to that root bowl and I Want that part of the log My concern here is that if I cut it Right here it may stand up real quick Which I guess is fine As long as you're aware of it and Prepared for it and make your cut based
On that happening Foreign [Music] [Music] I grabbed that with the skid loader and Moved it up and down until it looked Like these branches out here were not in A bind with these smaller trees so now I'm going to clean a little bit of that Up without worrying about it moving Foreign [Music] [Music] Okay One end of the tree is completely broke Free I think the got a pretty good grip With the skid loader and probably cut The other end free I'm going to repeat My earlier comment here there's a Hundred ways you can do this and not a Single one of them is safe cutting that Off from up there while both ends are Free to move that end's gonna drop that One might stand up it's a lot of moving Parts without a machine here Grabbing it like this there's a little Bit of uncertainty about what the load Is going to do in the machine but the Piece of the log I'm cutting off Probably weighs a thousand pounds it's Not going to affect that skid steer at All having a thousand pounds of weight Shift on it so I tried to get it in a Position where it's not putting upward
Downward or sideways pressure on the log And it's just going to sit there and Hold it and I'm going to cut it at the Pivot Point up here where the fulcrum is Just passed [Music] Ah [Music] [Music] Foreign Well that was definitely the hard part Of that was getting it disconnected There's another challenge of getting it Up over that Hill Probably need to cut the root ball off Of it I have to go take a look at it what Exactly I still want to do with that Piece that's left But I do think that's going to make a Good saw log so let's go see what we got After looking at that from up here I was Pretty sure it wasn't going to stand up Pretty well entrenched down here And the way the root ball is it's not Got leverage on that root Bowl but Still trying to drag it over this hill Or fight my way around this hill and cut Down little trees and stuff to get Around there Seems like a big hassle I think I'm Going to wrap a chain around the end of This Go ahead and hook it to the skid steer
And have it chained to where it can't Roll this way then I'm going to come Down here and cut it off and this will Be my best saw log right here The idea right now is just to pull hard Enough to make sure my Chain's hooked up Right and that it's not going to pop off When I finish the cut So now I know from that little pull my Tongs are dug in well And this is not going to come back Towards me So I can feel a little bit better making The cut [Music] There was one problem that I kind of Anticipated Which is I couldn't cut all the way Through that log because the bottom of It is actually sunk into the ground so I Cut most of the way through and I'm Going to push on it with the grapple Pull on it and see if it wants to break The rest of the way off Foreign So I got that cut about as good as I Could Without digging in the dirt with the Chain I got about 95 percent of the way Through so it could snap off [Music] So what we got out of this was three Logs about nine foot long Somewhere in the 10 to 14 inch diameter
Going from the biggest end of the Biggest log into the smallest into the Smallest one I think we've got three Logs we can saw here And a fourth one down there so Accomplish the goal today I appreciate You taking time to watch the video I'll Put links on the screen to a couple more Of our videos and I'll see you next time
