Kicking myself for not having a truck yet…

[Brian Kent]

Now this 5' x 22" twisty Juniper stump is the very reason I want a truck and a winch. Who knows what twisty turnings could be made from it:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/zip/4741237260.html

(Not mine, just looking at what's around.)

[charlie knighton]

look for a used trailer, winch would be helpful, a long tounge is helpful, a whole lot less than a decent truck.......maybe have friend with one, or another woodturner.....go in shares on equipment and wood.....

[robert baccus]

Trailers work very well. While you are at it buy one or two snatch blocks and some heavy rope. You can do anything with 2 snatchblocks.

[Richard Casey]

Brian, what about one of those Uhaul trailers and an elcheapo winch from Harbour Freight. Over this side of the pond I have one of those 240 volt wire rope winches powered by a small petrol generator and with a pair of aluminium planks I can pull almost any stump or log into my trailer.

[Tony Profera]

How's about just cutting it into manageable lengths on site and hauling off the booty. I did that for years with just a good chainsaw as expense and a Honda civic hatchback.

[Jon McElwain]

It is possible that in my younger years I would rope various large objects and drag them down the road for friends to ride on. We may have called it hookie-bobbing. Theoretically it would have consisted of tying a rope from the rear bumper of the truck to something like an old couch, a rusty metal car hood, or some other such object that could carry several friends and dragging them down the road. Theoretically of course. I could see something like that working if someone was so motivated to get something large and heavy home....

[robert baccus]

I did the forester thing in E. Texas with and without a winch for 40 years. Loaded many a short log into a trailer by tying a rope/wire to a log--than through a snatch block fastened to the front of the trailer --then back to a convientent tree. Drive the truck/car forward and the load comes up the ramp at double speed. How do you think we load tractors way down south?

[Wes Ramsey]

My family has an old sawmill that my FIL setup to run off the PTO on his big tractor. When I first started sawing logs I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out a better way to trailer, untrailer and move logs around in general, but nothing I could engineer in my head would work as well as a cant hook, and that's all we use. Granted, a burl or stump is odd shaped and the bounce can be as predictable as that of a punted football, but I haven't come across a piece of wood yet that I haven't been able to move where I wanted it with 2 men and a couple of cant hooks. To trailer logs we usually use 2-3 cedar poles and rolled them over the side or back the trailer up to a slope and roll them in. The latter option would probably be best if you don't have a ramp, but that is highly dependent on the proximity of the wood to the nearest slope - not an issue here in the Ozarks.

[Keith Outten]

If you are considering a trailer I suggest a tilt bed. I own a 6 by 10 tilt bed and don't need ramps to load a machine or logs. It makes it much easier IMO to winch logs into the trailer when you don't have to deal with ramps and the angle of the trailer works for you instead of against you.
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