Log Handling and Transportation
Logs are typically cut into appropriate lengths using a chainsaw, then the "ringers" or cuts are split with an axe into cubes which are small enough to handle, usually 100 to 450 pounds, then stacked on a rope. The rope is looped around the stacked wood and the ends passed through an eye spliced in the end. When the running end is pulled it tightens the "sling" rope around the blocks preventing them from falling out. The slings are then flown to a central location where they can be loaded on pallets for transport. Previously, swede saws, crosscut saws and hand saws may have been used to cut the logs, and a froe (a heavy blade 24 inches long and three inches wide with a handle at one end perpendicular to the blade) was used to split the ringers. This blade was driven into the wood using a mallet, then the wood could be pried apart by pulling on the handle if it would not split by driving the blade in alone.
Before helicopters came into common use for transporting the slings, they were sometimes processed in the bush and finished, hand-split, shakes were carried out in a pack frame. In steep areas, cables were strung along the slope to form a tight-line or tyrolean. Staples were driven into a block straddling the cable, and the block was slid down the cable to a landing accessible to a boat or truck.
Read more about this topic: Shake (shingle)
Famous quotes containing the words log and/or handling:
“There was now no road further, the river being the only highway, and but half a dozen log huts, confined to its banks, to be met with for thirty miles. On either hand, and beyond, was a wholly uninhabited wilderness, stretching to Canada.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Mothers risk alienating their mates if they expect them to hold or care for the baby exactly as they do. Fathers who are constantly criticized or corrected may lose interest in handling the baby, and this is a loss for everyone. The cycle is a dangerous one. Now the same mother feels bitter because she is no longer getting any help at home.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)