# Another Ridiculously Large Log Adventure



## Allen Tomaszek (May 25, 2015)

This log I picked up from someone who thought it might be a Butternut Tree and it turned out to be a Box Elder. I took it anyway and getting it on the trailer was fun. Driving it home was mildly frightening. And cutting a small piece open to check it out made it all seem worthwhile. 9' long 40" on the small end and 60" at the crotch which is also covered in burl. This one should be yummy. Can't wait to open the whole log. First I have to figure out how to get it off the trailer.

Reactions: Like 4 | EyeCandy! 12 | Way Cool 11


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## Nature Man (May 25, 2015)

Good luck with this monster! Sure appears you have some nice color there. Chuck


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## Allen Tomaszek (May 25, 2015)

Got my fingers crossed. It was a bear to get on the trailer. Pretty stuff though.


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## barry richardson (May 25, 2015)

Nice chunk o wood Allen! How will you slice and dice that with that saw mill of yours, can you do it? May be a dumb question since I'm not a mill guy...


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## Allen Tomaszek (May 25, 2015)

Not a dumb question at all since I have absolutely no idea yet how I'm going to mill it. I should be able to get it between the rails of the mill. Just not sure how I'll get it there though. Worst case is I'll drop the log off the trailer somehow in a wide open space and build the mill around it. See? I can figure out how to make everything way more difficult than it needs to be. Hardly takes any effort at all to think this stuff up.

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 1 | Funny 4


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## Kevin (May 25, 2015)




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## manbuckwal (May 26, 2015)

Great Score Allen !!! Lots of promise in that bad boy !


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## kazuma78 (May 26, 2015)

Wow! That thing is going to yield some awesome stuff both in color and in burly/curly figure! NICE find!


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## HomeBody (May 26, 2015)

A real monster! When I see one that big, the first thing I have to ask is how much floor space will it take up after it's milled. Hope you have an empty building. Gary


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## TimR (May 26, 2015)

I like seeing those couple small chunks, it immediately brought to mind grilling/smoking and taking a little piece off it to see how it tastes!

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 1


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## David Van Asperen (May 26, 2015)

Should be fun , sometimes the real fun comes from finding ways to get the job done when it appears to be undoable. I am sure you will make it happen and be rewarded with some marvelous material for your efforts. Keep us posted as to how you do it
Dave

Reactions: Agree 2


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## woodtickgreg (May 26, 2015)

I have done logs that big with my chainsaw mill. Cut till the bar is maxed out, turn it, cut till the bar is maxed out, turn it, repeat as necessary. Helps to have a friend or 2 to turn it, or machinery, or a chain and a truck works to roll it too. Or a swinger.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Allen Tomaszek (May 26, 2015)

Thanks Woodtick. All those are options. I have access to a chainsaw mill and I own a swinger. The problem is getting the log off the trailer which I'm sure is possible as I've had other larger trees on the trailer before. Large enough there is a permanent bow in the trailer. This particular log took a skid steer and a tractor to get on. So it will need more than one skid steer to get it off. Then once it's off the trailer it needs to get on the sawmill. It's very possible this one needs to be pulled off the trailer and sawn where it sits. Just build the mill around the log. No worries. I'm sure the best option will present itself either through critical thinking, bad ideas or laziness. But a solution will be found.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Funny 2


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## kazuma78 (May 26, 2015)

Get a log chain and wrap it around the trunk. Then hook the chain up to a second truck and drive both trucks away from each other at the same time. Should work maybe?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## NYWoodturner (May 26, 2015)

kazuma78 said:


> Get a log chain and wrap it around the trunk. Then hook the chain up to a second truck and drive both trucks away from each other at the same time. Should work maybe?


Thats kind of what I was thinking I would do... wrap a chain around it and then the other end low around a large tree - then slowly pull the trailer out from under it. It would take quite the chain though to leave enough room to build and operate the mill around it. 

Nice score Allen. I'm sure it will be worth the effort in the end.

Reactions: Like 1


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## JR Custom Calls (May 26, 2015)

I Saw a guy rip his rear end out trying to do something similar to that... Haha. His hitch had rusted in to the recieved so badly, the rear end had more give than the hitch. Tree was unharmed though.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## woodtickgreg (May 26, 2015)

kazuma78 said:


> Get a log chain and wrap it around the trunk. Then hook the chain up to a second truck and drive both trucks away from each other at the same time. Should work maybe?


I have done that very thing. Or chained the log to a bigger tree and pulled the trailer out from under it.


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## Kevin (May 26, 2015)

Allen Tomaszek said:


> It's very possible this one needs to be pulled off the trailer and sawn where it sits. Just build the mill around the log.



That's really how (and why) the original swing mill was designed. In Australia for logs too big to move, so they could just fell and buck the log and build the mill around it.Don't risk bending a rail or something move the mill. That's a fantastic log!!!!!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## justallan (May 27, 2015)

I think I'd try to get a big pipe or some plate steel under it first off to save your trailer decking and then get a choker or chain on it and either lift all that you can while dragging it off or anchor it about 8' high on a tree so you are picking up as drive out from under it.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## Kevin (May 27, 2015)

If you can't drag it off then parbuckle it off.


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## Allen Tomaszek (May 27, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. We'll find a way to get it unloaded. It has less to do with the method than only having a smaller skid steer to work with. Most likely we'll hook a cable to it and use a winch pulling from one end and the skid steer nudging from the other. This kind of log is exactly why I got the Peterson. Big logs that most people won't bother with.

Reactions: Like 1


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## CodyC (May 28, 2015)

That log should yield some interesting lumber. I'm looking forward to seeing what you get from it.

If you drag it off the trailer make sure it doesn't hang on that piece of angle iron that covers the rear end of the decking boards. I pulled the one off my trailer when tying a big Oak log to a tree and driving out from under it.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Allen Tomaszek (May 28, 2015)

CodyC said:


> If you drag it off the trailer make sure it doesn't hang on that piece of angle iron that covers the rear end of the decking boards. I pulled the one off my trailer when tying a big Oak log to a tree and driving out from under it.



Been there. That piece of iron's been mangled a time or two. The bed is bowed from having too big of logs on it. It's about time to get a new trailer so if I break this one it won't hurt my feelings too much.


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## Sidecar (Nov 23, 2015)

Black powder.....chainsaw .....and canon fuse ......= manageable log size

Really neat to do.....!


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## robert flynt (Nov 23, 2015)

Chain it to the biggest tree you have and tow the trailer out from under it.


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## barry richardson (Nov 23, 2015)

Another fantastic score! You dirty dog!


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## Graybeard (Nov 25, 2015)

Wow, what a log. Did you have to drive that through the city to your warehouse? That would be scary for this old boy.


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## rockb (Nov 25, 2015)

Hey Allen, since you started the thread, here's how I have unloaded some heavy stuff out of the back of my pickup and it would work on a trailer too. The problem with dragging anything out of the back of a pickup or trailer is when a heavy log hits the tailgate, somethings gonna give. So....I get the log pretty much to the back of the pickup.....pull it back with a tree or? Put my chain/choker so that it's pulling from the bottom, back up close to the tree so that there's a lot of slack in the line, stand a 2x6 upright between the pickup and the tree, 2 x 6 should/oughtta be a couple feet higher than the bed , put the chain over the top, (chain is then like an upside down 'V" fastened to the pu and the tree), when you drive ahead the chain come tight and tends to lift the log, you only have half the weight on the pickup, give it gas....lots of gas ...and out it comes. If you want to take the time and can get a chunk of plywood or board under the front end, it'll maybe slide out with the log and protect your tailgate a little more. 
But, I've also chunked up big pieces while still in the back of the pick-up.....when you're alone...ya just do it. : )
Enjoy that log Allen, it's a good one.
Rocky


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## Kevin (Nov 25, 2015)

He has probably already processed and sold most of this log lol he posted this 184 days ago.


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## rockb (Nov 25, 2015)

Then you're sayin' it might be unloaded already? : )


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## Kevin (Nov 25, 2015)

rockb said:


> Then you're sayin' it might be unloaded already? : )



At Allen's probably so. If it were on a trailer around here it might not be yet.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Jim Beam (Nov 25, 2015)

you're a busy guy!


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## sprucegum (Nov 26, 2015)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjx7tm6jK7JAhXEPB4KHRPvCwEQtwIIKTAD&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOPRuWa-mvU&usg=AFQjCNH6ulTScfD2gLtgYWnYE1qv89BX4g

I'm thinking something like this could work to unload

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Allen Tomaszek (Nov 26, 2015)

Had no idea this thread would get additional attention. I did get it unloaded with the help of a skid steer. Since then I've bought a new trailer that is a deck over which makes unloading everything much easier. Most of the time I just roll them off the sides now. Been real busy trying to saw up everything I have left before it snows too hard. Did a little sawing in the snow the other day. Hoping to get more done this coming week.

Reactions: Like 3


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## Wilson's Woodworking (Dec 2, 2015)

If you happen to cut a piece out of the main trunk of that tree that would just slide into a LFRB let me know how much you would want for it. The end of that log looks like there might be figure all the way thru that brute.


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