Wood Handling

[Nland]

How are you all handling wood on jobs?

 

[flushcut]

A mini skid steer. On rare occasion a hand truck. And even rarer occasion by hand.

 

[SeanKroll]

A mini skid steer. On rare occasion a hand truck. And even rarer occasion by hand.

This, with an Arbor Trolley added in second.
AT hasn't been off my chipper in a long time.

 

[flushcut]

One day I’ll buy or build an AT type tool. One of my mud season projects is a single axel with golf cart tires and some small bunk for big logs that the mini can’t pull alone.

 

[SeanKroll]

Kevin B. Is a JetSled user, IIRC.

 

[flushcut]

I have seen those. Awesome in snow.

 

[stig]

Skidder and forwarder.

We get paid by the cubic meter, so getting everything out is important.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Grapple truck, only 2 times.
Mlnl skid and then a mini excavator with a thumb (not mines), a lot with one landscaper, but I didn't see one since a long time.
Wheelbarrow, time to time, when lanscapper find that more of a truck load begins to be a little too much.
Hand truck or a garden trolley (chineese junk actually in repair for two years), a lot by myself.
By hand, most of the time, either myself or the different landscaper's crews.

 

[BeerGeek]

Mini-skid w/BMG grapple, Logrite BTS hauler (yea, I overpaid for it, but damn it works well), log tongs or just by hand (especially on brush monkey's second day, after they see how easy the mini or BTS is).

 

[lxskllr]

You think the BTS is overpriced? Seems about right to me. It's a chunk of money, but logrite makes good stuff, and when it's making you money, well... whatever, eh? Ease and comfort have some value too. I wish I could have gotten an arch when I was hot on them. It would have really helped on my office job, but that ship's sailed. I got it mostly done the hard way. They were months out when I inquired, and I assume the date they gave me was aspirational, cause it was too far ahead to be accurate.

 

[BeerGeek]

John, when I bought it 3 years ago, it was only $729 (still the priciest of the bunch back then; the other 2 being the Stein Arbor Trolley and the Notch knockoff). Now listing at $1130. Great piece of equipment, but not at the current tag.

 

[SkwerI]

For years I insisted I didn't need a machine for wood. I used the material handler winch on my bucket truck to pick up and load logs into the trailer. But that part of my life is gone and I recently bought an Avant 528. I have no idea how or why I went so long without a mini loader.

AVANT 528

www.avanttecno.com

 

[Ed L]

Those are nice. Neighboor brought one home from work to sort, cut and clean up his firewood pile.
I about crapped myself when I found out how much $ one costs.

Ed

 

[Marc-Antoine]

I'm very tempted by the Avant 420 and see how usefull it could be. But even for this relatively small one, my problem is its transportation : Just one ton, but I'd need a new trailer, reasonably a bigger truck and an other permit..

 

[treebilly]

I prefer pick wood out with the crane for the log truck but mostly a mini skid with the arbor trolly. Alfred that it’s the back yard boogie.

 

[SeanKroll]

Single- hand load, lift, roll.

 

[Nland]

Thanks for the responses. In the mountains in western NC Ditch witch is the most popular we use an SK800 with a BMG. I have run the Avants and I really like those as well. I hire out the heavy Iron right now but thats starting to add up as more work comes in. I cut my teeth loading rounds and using the chipper winch. I have no interest in that model for my business though.

 

[SeanKroll]

@Nland

Have you seen @Tree09 's crazy material handler?

 

[Nland]

I have not

 

[Tree09]

Not much to see, just a redneck chipper winch. I just added outriggers and a boom.

 

[Burnham]

You underestimate your build, Kyle.

 

[cory]

Have you used it yet, I haven't seen pics etc

 

[SeanKroll]

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Tree09]

I made those videos when i finished, then got busy with life and work. Still haven't been doing trees, physically I'm not doing as well as i had hoped. My 40 plus hours a week as a fitter and then house/father roles pretty much take all the energy i got in me. My strength is coming back but the chronic pain and lack of stamina were underestimated . Hopefully I'll get back on it soon, i would love to go knock out some of the trees i got lined up and get some extra cash flowing again, but I'm gonna finish the log trailer first. I'm completely done not having the equipment i need to make life easy, i simply can't grunt it anymore.

 

[SeanKroll]

Sorry to hear about the slower than hoped recovery.