Thread: How do you bark your logs?

G'day mate,

it all depends on how fresh you logs are, if they have just been dropped the best way is to get an Axe and lengthways mark the bark all along, then with a crowbar sneak it in along the cut whilst levering if you know what I mean. should be just like peeling a Banana. Mate it ain't rocket science and you will pick it up in two minutes.
But then if your logs are not fresh! Well I'll hand that one over to someone else hey!

Cheers...Oddjob1

Ye like odjob1 sed just give it a good wack with back of axe to help.But i usuely dont bother.

oddjob,by the sound of it that's the way karl is doing it and looking for other ideas that might be easier.if someone can come up with one i'd love to hear it,coz with the stringy bark that i cut the mess that it leaves behind takes me ages to clean up and the crap that it picks up in the bark can pretty quickly take the edge off your blade

Originally Posted by Oddjob1

G'day mate,

it all depends on how fresh you logs are, if they have just been dropped the best way is to get an Axe and lengthways mark the bark all along, then with a crowbar sneak it in along the cut whilst levering if you know what I mean. should be just like peeling a Banana. Mate it ain't rocket science and you will pick it up in two minutes.
But then if your logs are not fresh! Well I'll hand that one over to someone else hey!

Cheers...Oddjob1

That's pretty close to what I have been doing. Just thought I'd throw it out there to see what others do. I never cease to be amazed at some of the simple solutions that come up here that work so well.

Well I am wondering if anyone has any quick and easy novel ways of removing dirt , wet mud , dry mud , sand etc from logs .?

High pressure wash.

The best way is to run the corner of the blade on your dozer along the log. The bark virtually falls off. However this is not available to most of us. Those with skid steer loaders could employ a similar technique using the bucket.

For the rest of us, score a line down the length of the log with the chainsaw or use an axe. I have seen a zig-zag technique used with the axe, but I haven't been convinced this is the best way.

I used to keep a small bar for debarking. It was about 1200mm long and made especially for that purpose. Although it was high tensile steel it was no more than 25mm dia (the bar was a hexagonal shape, but there is no significance in that.)


I think the best trick of all is to debark as soon as possible. The sap has to be flowing freely to make the process easy so often in dry times debarking is still a battle.

I would have thought that for most mobile milling operations on site debarking isn't really neccessary. It may become neccessary when the logs are being transported elsewhere. Sawmills don't want the bark because they have to then deal with an extra waste product and the logging contractor would have had his maximum load reduced.

I concede that some fibrous barks to get in the way, but I have to say that I was poor at debarking and avoided it if possible.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I think the best trick of all is to debark as soon as possible. The sap has to be flowing freely to make the process easy so often in dry times debarking is still a battle.

I

With Spotted gum if you wait for 3 months or so it just turns red and falls off. There is also a rumour that this is the best time to mill them because (except for the ends) they are still not rock hard and they don't move quite as much as when they freshly fallen. The ends of logs after 3 will knock the stuffing out of sharp chain cutters so I just dock 6" off the ends.

I think the same applies to other similar type gums.

Just purchased one of these Log wizard

Hi Karl,

In my experience you won't go past a 22 tonne excavator fitted with an Esco log grapple for getting the hide off smallish logs.

Cheers Old Pete

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

Primarily talking eucalypts here. How do you find is the best way to strip the bark before processing further?
I have heard of people using axes, spades and crowbars. Just after other ideas.

Originally Posted by Krunchie

Just purchased one of these Log wizard

The reports on the arboristsite is they are slllloooooooowwwww!

There is of course a special kind of grease you can use to make the job easier!
It's called "Elbow grease"

Muscle!!

Cheers,,Oddjob1

Originally Posted by BobL

With Spotted gum if you wait for 3 months or so it just turns red and falls off. There is also a rumour that this is the best time to mill them because (except for the ends) they are still not rock hard and they don't move quite as much as when they freshly fallen. The ends of logs after 3 will knock the stuffing out of sharp chain cutters so I just dock 6" off the ends.

I think the same applies to other similar type gums.

Hi Bob

That's true rgarding the bark. If you debark the same day as felling it comes off in sheets. Leave it for three months and it goes red, looks like the clay in the bottom of a dry dam and falls away in palm size flakes.

We are attempting to apply the ladies tights principle here (one size fits all) to debarking. Leave Ironbark for three days and it is three years before it will fall off.

I mentioned previously that the corner of a a bulldozer blade run down the log is the best way. I wish to revise that. This is the easiest way and perhaps old pete was refering to this, but the logs are a bit on the small side.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwwkO7m4bpY&feature=related]John Deere H414 harvester head - YouTube[/ame]

Regards
Paul

Fresh fallen timber can be much easier to debark later if a few full length rips are run through the bark with the chainsaw as soon as the log is on the ground. This stops the shrink on affect caused by drying
Winter is a hard time to debark as the sap has stopped riseing. If logs are placed near a burn off fire, with a single chainsaw rip through the bark, down the length of the log, with wedges driven every metre or so, the log will usually be free in the morning.