I did some wood cutting yesterday but it was in Eaton Rapids rather than at the property.
I was testing out and getting some experience with a new tool, a rope puller.
It looks like the cat's meow for pulling lodged trees down. So far, the best technique appears to be to connect +6' above ground and pull the crown toward an opening. Attaching to the bottom was not successful. The end spears into the ground and will not slide.
In retrospect, the 50' long rope would probably be enough for almost all of my cutting. However, if I need it once it will pay for the extra cost and hassle.
In a perfect world, it would be nice if the levers for actuating the ratchet dogs were large enough so it could be used while still wearing gloves.
I expect it to take three days to break-down and transport the tree I dropped yesterday.
Priming little brass cups
I ran into a new headstamp, "IK" which is for Igman Zavod, Konjic, Yugoslavia. They have crimped pockets and do not like having new primers installed.
For the record, Republic has very inexpensive SP primers of the SA brand in stock. I have done business with Republic on a couple of different occasions and they shipped quickly.
Seems like a very useful tool. I wonder if, as wear happens, the rope will begin to occasionally slip.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I wonder if anyone has done the same thing with steel cable. Being able to perform long pulls, as opposed to the usual 6 or 8 feet coiling the cable around the hub, would be useful in any number of situations.
And so would the inexpensive and simple ability to do such long pulls with a powered tool, say, one powered by a geared-down weed whacker engine (Heaven forefend some idiot imposes the limits imposed by battery capacity, despite the ubiquity of cordless tool batteries with which to do so; I have never been able to find that 120 volt outlet for my charger in the middle of the woods, nor discovered the handy temporal extension necessary to achieve a worthwhile charge).
One of the downsides of a standard "come along" is that the rope or strap loses tension very quickly as the tree moves. Having a longer rope...and 20' of logging chain on the tree end means that it retains at least some degree of tension until half of the logging chain is on the ground.
DeleteWe used the steel cable come along many times to direct the fall of a tree. My husband also used a winch, attached to an inverter, run off the tractor battery, to get those stubborn trees a little closer to the work area.
DeleteSouthern NH
I have a version of that tool from HF, and it has a braided wire pull instead of rope. The tool is cheaply made and difficult to use, most especially with gloves. The moving-bits could stand to be more robust, but in the end, it does the job it's supposed to do. It is like having a block-tackle setup already constructed for you.
ReplyDeleteMe again: They have crimped pockets and do not like having new primers installed
ReplyDeleteFirst, being from Yurp, I'd suspect they may have Berdan primers (and the corresponding two small flashholes which make it impossible to remove the primer with a single decapping pin). If, however, they are Boxer primed, there are tools available to remove the crimp; I've found the swaging tools leave a better primer pocket than the cutting tools which remove the crimp (those often leave a loose pocket).
There are tools available to remove Berdan primers externally, but I've found the additional time required makes it a poor utilization of finite temporal resources.
I am running about 2/hundred of the crimped primer pockets for this lot of brass.
DeleteThe swaging tool is a life-saver when processing 5.56NATO brass. Indeed, much better than than the cutting tool.
Yep, the swaging tool is the Bees Knees for dealing w/ Crimped primers.
DeleteWOAH!! $32 for 1,000 primers!?! That is pre-Obama prices!!
How is the reliability of them?
I'm excited to buy from Argentina - theta a country on the upswing!
Look up GRIP HOIST cable puller. Those of us how used to dredge for gold used them alot.
DeleteSaw something cool a while back for helping to push stuck trees. Do you remember those old car jacks that ratcheted up and down using the sharp/wedge end of a tire wrench? Well this one had a point welded onto a sliding piece of 1.5" x1.5" sq tubing to it to stab into the tree trunk, had a floating base and the slider was welded to the ratchet part. So it you had a leaner or wedged tree just apply pressure and keep working the jack until it cleared. There are times where the saw gets pinched and there isn't enough room for a plastic wedge either.
ReplyDeleteMake sure you are out of the whip area when that rope breaks.
ReplyDeleteTrust me on this.
What B @1249 said.
DeleteUsing an old rug or coat as a snubber to damp the whipping motion is a good idea. Eye pro, too.
We parted a line which killed a tug crewmember; the forces involved were far more than you would encounter in the bush, but maimed is maimed and dead is dead.
IIRC, Mythbusters did an episode with steel cable under tension and pig carcasses.