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From the Horses Mouth - Tips on Winching By Chris Lincoln
S&W Report Fall / Winter 1997 (Volume 9)
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One of the great boons to small-scale woodlot management is a tractor-mounted winch. Once you have bought and used one, you will wonder how you ever managed without it. Suddenly it is almost easy to harvest your own trees and manage your woodlot in a sustainable fashion.
There are several good quality tractor mounted winches on the market today, and it will not be difficult to find one that suits your needs. It is important to carefully read your operating material, as it will explain not only the operation but also how to do it safely as well. One of the biggest dangers with machinery of this sort is that we tend to forget the forces involved. Planning ahead will help you avoid possibly catastrophic accidents. I have owned and operated a winch for several years and am still amazed by the amount of work they can do for you. Here are a few of the things I have learned along the way.
First, the job of skidding logs is made much easier when felling is planned properly. The easiest way to assure easy winching is by lining up the logs by directional felling so that they line up to the skid path. If the tree is heavily branched it is best felled away from the winch. The heavy branches are then cut 2/3 through at the crotch so that they will fold back while being pulled toward a winch. The benefit of this method is that residual trees will not be damaged. If you are planning to leave the branches in the bush, fell the tree toward the winch. This will give you an extra tree length in reach, as well as avoid having to roll the tree to avoid hitting its stump when skidded. Bench trees are felled perpendicular to the main felling directions. Other trees are then felled across the bench tree, allowing for a convenient height for climbing and an aid in overcoming inertia and initial friction.
Once the trees are felled you are ready to begin skidding. When choking the boles, make sure the needles go under the log towards the cable 12 - 16 inches back. Rotate the hook/ring to the backside of the log and pull to secure the choke. This encourages the log to roll over and in when pulled, and again breaks inertia.
When winching multiple logs, hook up the furthest log first and work back to the tractor. This gives you a chance to check out the area for possible obstructions before you hit them with a load. If you have a hang-up, you can roll it in the same way, using a snatch block to change direction if necessary.
Snatch blocks are an invaluable tool in skidding. They allow you to change the direction of pull around or over obstacles. Self-releasing snatch blocks are the easiest to use because they reduce the amount walking thou you will have to do. They are fairly simple to make, and a machine shop can put one together for about $100. The one I use is pictured in the diagram. Make sure that the sliders kick off the cable, not the clamps, as they will eat the sheave. Cheap straps are the most expensive into the long run. Use straps that are a minimum of 3 inches wide. For the last two years I have used a ½ inch Kevlar rope, tied in a figure 8 loop or bowline on either end (ask a boy scout how to tie these knots). Don’t double back! If you do, you will be doubling the stress on everything except the winch. If the safety factor is 2:1 you are operating on the edge. If you need to implement a minor change in direction of log pull, just choke the keyhole slider to a stump using a chain. Do not try to change the direction more than fifteen degrees. This method is for occasional use, as repeated use will result in cutting through the slider yoke with the cable.
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If you notice that you are going through a lot of gloves while handling the winch cable, the cable is beginning to fray. Remember that it is only the last 10-20 feet that take the majority of the abuse. To solve this problem, simply reverse the cable as follows: Pay attention to the direction the cable comes off of the drum, because it must be rewound in the same direction. DO NOT COIL THE CABLE! Pull the cable out in a straight line, disconnect it from the drum (take note how it wraps and threads through the assembly). Remove the sliders, clamps etc. Now drive the tractor to the other rend of the cable, rethread and re-clamp (with supplied camp only) to the drum and winch in 4-6 wraps on the drum. Put the sliders and the other hardware back on the clean end, attach it to a stump or other fixed object, and winch the tractor to it. This assures that the cable rewraps tightly and unkinked. Once you have re-tightened all the clamps, you are ready to begin winching again.
Some of the information for this article was adopted from “The Cutting Edge” and “Farm Tractor for Long Length Logs”.
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