Yesterday we were refreshing the trespassing signs and purple paint marks around the perimeter of the property. We found the beaver dam preventer my father fabricated many years ago when we were having beaver problems. Didn’t know where it had gotten to and hadn’t seen it for probably ten years. Saw it attached to a cedar tree near the creek by a 1/8” piece of wire rope. It had been there long enough the wire rope was starting to girdle the tree. With all the rain we’ve had recently it’s still pretty swampy in creek bottom so we figured we’d try to get it back with the lighter footprint of the Mule instead of skidding it back with the Kubota. We don’t have beaver problems now so we have no use for it but I can’t see scrapping it being it’s still in the excellent shape and it isn’t like you can run over to Tractor Supply or somewhere to pick one up if you need it. I’m pretty sure I can cobble something to hang it from the bottom chords of the rafters in the shed.
Then it was time for the shakedown run of the Farmi winch. No photos as I was pretty distracted trying to make sure I had it set up correctly, everything worked right, and I was operating it competently. That and the winching part of the job was pretty brief. Did take one pic on the way out the door.
This thing is obviously well thought out and appears refined by much practical user experience. First job was assisting with felling a lightning killed pine at the edge of the field adjacent to the public road. Only dead a couple months but it was a combination of two things I don’t much like; a dead pine (limbs tend to break out and fall on you as they come down, no telling when they’ll snap, and often there’s not enough flexibility left for a hinge to hang on long enough to ensure they fall as directed), and lightning struck hard enough to die in just a couple days (no telling if it’s still structurally sound or has a bunch of internal vertical splits until after you cut it). To add to that, being at the edge of a field, it was leaning a bit and all limbs on the field side so way off balance. Pretty short (about 80’) but pretty stout (had to cut from both sides with a 28” bar to get all the way through). It was aimed at one of the nicer cedars in the field and I just didn’t much like the whole situation so decided to be out of range when it fell.
Hooked a choker to it about 16’ up and then hooked winch to choker. Wrapped the trunk with a few rounds of 3/8” grade 70 chain snugged with a load binder to make sure its dead, unbalanced, lightning struck self didn’t try to splinter and kill me. Had about a 2.5” hinge left when it started to move. Cut it down to a 2” hinge and it was still moving a little but not falling, probably because it was hinged to fall about 30 degrees off its natural lean so it would land without collateral damage.
Maybe be I’m a big weenie, but that was ideal in my mind. Could have cut a little more and it probably would have fallen. Probably could have wedged it over without cutting any more. But I preferred to be nowhere near that thing when it fell. It didn’t take much from the Farmi to ease it over right where it was supposed to land.
So first time out, got to play with it a little but not much of a workout. Next job is more winch and less saw. Maybe I can remember to get some pics of that one.