Log hauler

One of the things I've been doing before I head up to Dougs in the morning is cutting and hauling logs and firewood. A lot of the trees between the cabin and the lake are either dead or leaning very badly. So some clean up is a must. A great thing about that is we're getting some great logs for the saw mill. I took some pictures of how we move large logs around without putting to much strain on our bodies. Usually when a log is in an inaccessible spot we use a steel cable, sometimes a pulley and the 4 wheeler to drag it to a better location. Then using a come-along and a tool called "the log lifter," lift one end of the log off the ground. The log lifter is just a couple 2X6's with a bolt through one end and a short chain attached to that. By spreading the legs of the lifter over one end of the log, wrapping the cable from the come-along around the log then cranking up on the come-along, the log and the lifter act like a tripod and it stands on it's own. After the log is hanging in the air we are able to position the log hauler, a trailer designed by Doug and built by one of his friends, under the log, attach the trailer to the 4 wheeler and drop the log on the trailer. With one end of the the log off the ground the logs haul fairly easy with the 4 wheeler. Also by keeping most of the log off the ground we are able to avoid doing a major damage to the log, leaving more usable log to cut at the mill. I took a couple pictures while moving a log the other day. The first is of a log hanging from the log lifter, the second is the log chained to the log hauler. And the third pic is of my prefered firewood hauling method.