Yarding & Skidding Logs, High-Volume Style

We're making good progress getting logs out of the woods this month. Our neighbor Curt came over to help with skidding, which means either setting choker or running the winch while I hook logs. He loaded his small trailer to capacity with firewood logs a couple of times. He heats with wood, and isn't particular about the species, diameter, or straightness of the logs he uses. Unfortunately the trailer doesn't hold very much weight.

Shaun Brender also came by with his friend Zak to check out the "new" logging winch. Before we got the winch, Shaun had offered to dozer-skid logs for a small fee plus the wood. Shaun ran down our steepest slope with the choker and line about a dozen times within an hour and a half. We just kept winching until we had 15 logs piled up at the roadside.

Collecting so many logs in one location actually complicated the process of skidding them to the landing. We would have preferred to skid tree-length logs and buck them at the landing. But the roadside pile made it necessary to buck logs in place and skid shorter logs to the deck. Luckily, the skid distance was short.

One tough log
Curt and I tackled one more log before dark, a big fir that fell downhill and straddled the bottom of the draw. Its butt was stuck into the hillside and lodged below its own stump. It took us about 45 minutes, but we got the full-length log out.

We used a block on the log with stationary anchor points to double the winching power. Once we got the log moving uphill, we had to add another block. The photo shows the setup, which gives us 3X the 6,000 lb power of the winch. The log wouldn't budge without a block, and hardly moved with one block, but slid like butter with two blocks. That's the power of a block and tackle.

Winch and two snatch blocks on a log.

Close-up of the log end. Choker at left, winch cable at right.

Winch operator's perspective.

More about Block & Tackle:
- Good luck understanding the physics professor version at Wikipedia.
- "How Stuff Works" was once a great resource, but they've gotten desperate with the advertising.

The next day, Linda and I skidded another dozen logs in 2 hours. That includes skidding them a short distance to the landing, bucking and decking them. I hooked logs on the steep slope, and she ran the winch. Linda endured all of my previous experiments with winches and other methods of yarding logs. After watching a few logs effortlessly ascend the wall of the ravine toward her, she declared the new winch the best $2k we've spent.