What did you do today?

[BadDog]

Why not get someone to regraft it for you? Or try it yourself, steal a scion from a neighbor. I've been planning some grape grafting and watched a video of them cutting down and grafting an entire vineyard from one grape varietal to another!

I have considered it. After all, the root stock is well established and robust. But with no experience and nice trees of about half that size (~8' tall) available for less than $200 if the local nursery delivers AND plants it for me, it didn't make the cut on my 10+ year to-do list. I've also converted my back lot from "small horse pasture" focus into mini-orchard. My varieties of citrus are well represented and doing well. But my peaches, apples, and pears aren't nearly so successful. So it will likely become another Apple, and a very unhappy (basically dead) pear may become another peach.

[gellfex]

I have considered it. After all, the root stock is well established and robust. But with no experience and nice trees of about half that size (~8' tall) available for less than $200 if the local nursery delivers AND plants it for me, it didn't make the cut on my 10+ year to-do list. I've also converted my back lot from "small horse pasture" focus into mini-orchard. My varieties of citrus are well represented and doing well. But my peaches, apples, and pears aren't nearly so successful. So it will likely become another Apple, and a very unhappy (basically dead) pear may become another peach.

I don't know a lot about fruit trees, but Phoenix seems a zone stretch for peaches, apples and pears, no? I have 3 peaches that came with a property that are amazingly robust with little care other than pruning. People are shocked that peaches so delicious grow in Jersey City!

[BadDog]

You are quite correct in general. But there are varieties that (so they claim) have been adapted to do well here. Let's just say my results have been "limited". I'm not sure just what it takes, but I have seen these apple strains produce fantastic fruit here. Mine have been small, though plentiful and good to eat. Peaches have been good, though small, but the birds have so little available in the wild that they seem to obliterate most of my fruit before it's ready for human consumption. And as I said, the pear is basically done. So I thought I would double down on the limited success of apples and peaches, I certainly will have more than enough citrus in the years to come!

[jdedmon91]

The other day I made up an arbor for my die adaptor. I made a MT to fit in my tailstock. Here is my video

https://youtu.be/mn1t35F0hUY

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vpt]

Pulled the motor from the old work truck to put in the comet.

[RMinMN]

I am taking a break from the shop by infusing the economy of Missouri for the last week. There sure is a lot of history to explore. It has filled in a lot of the holes in my knowledge of American history.
All in all a very pleasant week.

If you haven't left the Missouri area you could sneak across the border into Illinois for a day and explore more history at https://cahokiamounds.org/

[Stepside]

RMinMN

Did the Cahokia Mounds tour this morning. Thanks for the recommendation it was an "eye opener" to say the least. Not something you even read about in school history class.

Pete

[plastikosmd]

All set for the woods. The arch works well on the front for some of the tight trails. Straddle log, lift up so tongs engage and then back down to lift log

[dmartin]

[QUOTE=plastikosmd;1197815]All set for the woods. The arch works well on the front for some of the tight trails. Straddle log, lift up so tongs engage and then back down to lift log

That's a very good log arch, a LogRite I think. I looked at them a long time ago and remember that they are built very well. I wanted to buy one but built one instead. I'm glad that I built one instead of buying one because I ended up not using it as much as I thought I would. For you I think it will work very well and come in handy. The reason I didn't use mine as much as I planned is because the hunting land where the sawmill is kept has a lot of very steep trails and with the arch keeping the weight off of the tractor I didn't have enough traction to haul large logs up the hills. I then built a simple 3 point hitch frame that worked very well. I looked for a picture of it but apparently I didn't take any.

It was very simple with 2 uprights with pins for the bottom 2 points and a cross piece at the top for the 3rd point (toplink), like a square with the bottom missing. It was built with 2" x 1/4 tubing with a couple of hooks for the chain welded to the top cross bar. It works very well, just back over the end of the log and run a chain under the log with 1 wrap and drop the links into the hooks on the cross bar. When the 3 pt hitch was raised all of the weight of the log is transferred to the tractor and you have all of the traction you need. It is very simple and works very well.

With your setup you wouldn't have the traction problem that I had and I know the LogRite arch is very high quality. I think you made a good decision to keep that Oliver, looks like it will come in handy for a lot of uses. I know it's not what I did do today but I am going to add pictures of the log arch that I built anyway. Have a good one.

Dwight

[plastikosmd]

Wow nice arch Dwight!!

[DennisCA]

I sold a firearm (shotgun) today, financing my milling machine this way... Well I got the money and I also got the gun still. He didn't have a permit yet but gave me the cash up front. That's small town Finland for you, also he's related to my boss.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Nice Deere. I got one too. Or rather, until my landscaper takes it back

[garyhlucas]

In looking at this arch it seems to me that as you pull the logs the sling pulls back at the top of the frame lifting the hitch and reducing traction. If the sling attachment and pulley block were moved forward near the winch the harder you pulled the more weight would go on the hitch giving more traction. Winch might be better located over one of the wheels.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

In looking at this arch it seems to me that as you pull the logs the sling pulls back at the top of the frame lifting the hitch and reducing traction. If the sling attachment and pulley block were moved forward near the winch the harder you pulled the more weight would go on the hitch giving more traction. Winch might be better located over one of the wheels.

I would think the mechanical advantage from the length of the arm relative to the fulcrum point reduces any lifting forces on the hitch to insignificant levels.

[dmartin]

In looking at this arch it seems to me that as you pull the logs the sling pulls back at the top of the frame lifting the hitch and reducing traction. If the sling attachment and pulley block were moved forward near the winch the harder you pulled the more weight would go on the hitch giving more traction. Winch might be better located over one of the wheels.

Your right, I did add a couple more places to hook the cable that are further forward and that did help a lot, and it does work well but after building the simple frame for the 3 Pt. I pretty much used that all of the time.
I don't do any more logging due to the a back problem, I actually just put the Sawmill, Log Arch, and Winch on Craigslist this week. Here is a pic that shows the more forward mounted chain links for hooking the cable to.