Sometimes you work alone

 The set up...

My wife had to run some errands yesterday. I had already lifted log #40 to the top of the wall the day before, but I hadn't done any final positioning. Today, I went in the afternoon by myself. I knew the log needed to be rotated about 180 degrees, so I set to work. The main issue when rotating a log is that you are trying to rotate it with the strap that is also preventing it from falling to the ground- which is now about 16 feet below. I also found out early on that you can only rotate the log by the strap on the butt end- you can't turn it at the tip. If you have two vehicles- a tractor and your wife's Landcruiser, you can use the tractor to lift the log, while the Landcruiser pulls on a chain connected to the log to keep it balanced. She can pull forward or back, depending on where the log wants to balance, while I lift it up and down or let it be loose so I can rotate the strap.

The trap....

Working alone, with just one tractor, meant I had no way to hold the log in position while I rotated the strap. The log kept wanting to roll off the wall. I tried to chain bind it to the logs below, but the chain binder can only hold the log down, and when the log wants to go down anyway (meaning, way down- like- to the ground), it's just not effective.

I tried three times to use the chain binder, but finally gave up and went and got gas. When I got back, I tried something new.  I chain binded the log loosely- tight enough to keep it from falling down to the ground below, but loose enough that I could move it a few inches with the tractor.  I used another couple of chains around the log, and attached to the tractor, to replace what would normally be my wife's Landcruiser. I backed the tractor until the log was held tight and couldn't roll off. Then I moved the chain binder to the new position afforded by backing up the tractor.

 

The solution...

With the log now held tight by the chain binder, I pulled forward with the tractor to release tension on the chain attached to the tractor and disconnected the chain.  Then I loosened the rope, letting the log settle again into a new position that let it roll back a little, but not all the way off the wall. I then loosened the rope a bit more to give the rope about 3 feet of slack, but kept it tied to the tractor as an anchor just in case.  I could now remove the chain binder completely.

With the rope now slack, and the log balanced somewhat on the wall, I climbed up to rotate the strap so the lift point was now at the bottom of the log. With the pinch point of the strap now at the bottom of the log, lifting the log would lift at the pinch point, causing the log to rotate until the bottom of the log was now on top. The other strap on the tip end of the log was tied off to the house, but the strap was kept open to allow the tip to rotate within the strap, but not fall.

 

Surprise!

It was now a few minutes past sunset. I had about 45 minutes of daylight left to get this thing positioned. From the top of this log, I'm now high enough that I can almost reach the top pulley, which is about 6 feet from the top of the lifting pole- about 26 feet to the top.  Standing safely (ok, as safely as possible, but still able to build my house) near the log, I pulled on the rope to tighten things up, and the log started to roll! In fact, it rolled right off the wall! I had enough sense to hang onto the rope to slow things down at least (with gloves on, of course) as it slipped through my fingers, pulled by over 800 pounds of log (using pulleys reduces the log from 5,000 lbs down to a "still not manageable" 800 pounds- now you know what they mean when they say "an 800 pound gorilla"). The #8 heavy-duty triple blocks clanged as the full weight of the log hit them, and I heard the gears inside the tractor go "clunk" and it jumped forward an inch when the rope went taught. Dust sprang from the rope, and the lifting poles swayed gently, along with the safety lines.

Luckily (not really- I kept it tied to the tractor for this very reason), the rope was still tied to the tractor, and the log settled about a foot down from where it was, rotated nicely  at the pinch point, and 180 degrees from where it was before I started defying Nature.

When the adrenaline subsided, I climbed down until I felt wonderfully soft earth under my boots and fired up the tractor. I called my wife who was on her way and let her know it was rotated, and all she needed to do was give the final ok. I backed up the tractor, lifting the log back up on top of the wall, eye-balling it for the correct position. It was now starting to get dark.

 

 Ah....all is well....

Keeping it in the air above the log below, I got the ladder and my chainsaw and started cutting knots just as my wife pulled in the driveway. She nodded her approval, and set to work identifying log #'s 41, 42, 43, 44. I finished cutting knots, and trimming up the log, and then lowered it into its final resting place. I eyeballed it- it was as perfectly centered as it could be over the log below. She checked it from the inside of the house, and also the outside, and said, "pin it".
And that is what a one-man operation looks like.

It’s been a weird month

I cut 6 more trees

I measure trees by their diameter (straight across the butt of the log), while Julie measures the circumference (with a tape all the way around the butt of the log).  Either way is fine, but since she’s picking the logs, we’re going with her measurement. The idea in the beginning was to stack logs from biggest circumference to smallest circumference. We got started on the second level, and were at a point where the circumference was about to drop below five feet. And then get skinny dramatically. There were still some big ones here and there that we could cut on our property and next door. Julie identified four that were at least five feet around and asked me to cut them. It was now or never. I cut a couple more that are also pretty big.
That was about a week or so before Thanksgiving. I cut them down, and then started moving them over to my racks for peeling. One happened to be back in a swampy area, so I ran into some problems moving it- couldn’t get close enough with the tractor- even with my 60′ cable. So I took down a pulley off one of my lifting poles and used that for mechanical advantage. It worked, but I broke my rope.
I also bent the forks on the tractor again, and re-welded them, and then bent them again. I have some new 5,000 lb forks from a forklift, but need the ok from my neighbor before I weld them onto his frame that I’m borrowing.
I got all of the logs racked, but it took about three weeks to peel just 4 of them- too cold for the bugs to help, and the sap is like glue. I have some huge calluses on my hands now, because manly. Yeah.

fixed the other truck

Meanwhile, my 1979 Ford F150 was having problems starting. I fought with it all of Thanksgiving weekend- I replaced the starter, the alternator, the ignition switch, and the spark plugs and wires. The only thing left is the cap, but I found out through a great shock (literally), that it is working fine. Only mechanics will laugh….
I needed it running reliably because I’m about to replace the motor in my Toyota pickup. But now it purrs like a kitten, and starts every time.

ordered a new motor

I bit the bullet and ordered a new motor (professionally rebuilt long block). Had to put it on the credit card, but don’t worry, selling the truck will pay off the credit card as well. I’ve been putting this off for almost a year. Last year, you’ll remember I had a valve crack in it, and replaced the head gasket. I guess it also messed up the crank. I’m motivated by the idea that it’s still worth a few thousand $$$, so fixing it will help us fund the roof of our home, which is probably the single most expensive part of this project.

 why we hate “daylight savings” or “not daylight savings”

My boss lets me work 6:30 – 3:30. In the winter, this means I have about 1.5 hours of daylight after work. It might seem like a waste to go out there, only to be able to work for an hour, but every little bit of work I can do is  progress. Other LHBA members have to stop work altogether because of snow, so I don’t really want to complain. In the summer, I have almost 6 hours of daylight. If we wouldn’t “fall back”, I’d still have 2.5 hours of daylight in the winter. I realize that in the winter we are actually on standard time, but I’d give up an hour of daylight in the summer for an extra hour in the winter; who’s with me?

Still progressing

Last weekend, we burned some brush, and put up a log on Saturday. It was bitter cold in the morning, and windy all day. My lips are still chapped from exposure. This was the first log of the 10th course. We are about 12 feet off the foundation, and about 15 feet off the ground. It was pretty straight but had a long bow in it. While I was lifting it, one of the ropes broke right up near where it was tied to the tractor. It just snapped right off the front of the tractor. I saw a poof of dust, and the log falling. Nobody got hurt, and the house and log are fine. I pinned half the log, then hooked up a chain to the tip and had Julie pull it with the car to get the bow out. But it was still up about a foot off the one below. I went to grab my chain binders to bind it down, and I guess they got stolen. Kinda upset at that, and that we couldn’t finish that log. Went over to Harbor Freight that night for two new chain binders and a chain. This week, I finished binding it and added some more pins.

where do we go from here?

I have a bunch of vacation I have to use at work before the end of the year. Had a big project over the summer/fall that I needed to help out with that prevented me from taking vacation days, but it is winding down. I only have to come to work for 3 days for the rest of the year. And I still have more time from this year, but they let us carry over 40 hours from year to year.
We keep going. The new motor comes in this week. I want to get that job done, and get on with stacking. I ordered new rope, since the existing rope is getting pretty frayed. However, we are getting closer. I may have to hire a trac hoe to come pull my ridge pole out of the woods. The RPSL’s and the ridge pole are the next big items we have to install when the walls are done. After that- I took some measurements on my sawmill- I’m about to turn my 12′ of track into 28′ of track, and will then cut some rafters out of some “still growing” logs.
That’s all for now, folks. Thanks for all the likes on my wife’s video! Comments here are appreciated as well.

How to make your own triple blocks for less than $45

Why a triple block? Why not a double? or a single?

Because two triple blocks working together gives you a 7:1 mechanical advantage- 5,000 lb log requires only ~720 lbs of force to lift. And you can use just 5/8″ thick rope to lift 720 lbs. A double block would only reduce the force down to 1,250 lb. But you have to double that- for each end of the log. And a single……ummmmm…..there’s no mechanical advantage to a single. Stop talking about single pulleys. On the other end, a “quadruple” block doesn’t really exist beyond huge construction cranes with wire rope- from what I’ve seen and read, anything more than three pulleys and the friction increases beyond the efficiency gained. So, a triple block it is.
First, I looked online. And found…..not quite nothing, but almost. It’s unbelievable in this age of Amazon and Ebay that you can’t find a triple block with more than 3,000 pound capacity. I suppose not many people are lifting heavy objects by hand. Ok, you can find them, but they are insanely expensive, and you need two to make a set. Not to mention you need four sets to work efficiently. Look at that price:
I mean, I guess you could climb a 30-foot lifting pole and change the block and tackle out every time you want to lift a log, but you would still need four pulleys- two on each pole- to lift each log. So, it would cost you $1,300, plus rope (about $300).
This calls for a cheaper solution:

Enter Harbor Freight:

Of course, I’d need six of them to make a set, but that’s only $72, not $327. And some grade 8 bolts, which are easy to obtain from Fastenall.
Here’s what I came up with:


Some more notes: I needed somewhere to tie the end of the rope- on the antique pulleys, there’s a place called a becket . I didn’t have one, so I took two extra plates from a single pulley, and put a bolt through them.

The results

I just finished lifting the biggest log yet- over 6 feet around at the base, and 50+ feet long- I figure it weighs around 6,000 lbs. The pulley held just fine- in fact, it held better than the #6 triples that I had on the opposite end. The singles (on the box) were originally rated for 3,000 lbs, so I figure the modified triple is worth at least that much, but with that huge log, probably more like 4,000 lbs.
I spent $12 per pulley x 3 pulleys = $36. The two grade 8 bolts were about $4 each. So for ~$45, I got what normally costs over $300.