Cedar River Horselogging owner Tim Carroll fells a massive oak tree for use in a the house building project for Ginny and Jeff Pomije, owners of Big Black Horse - a Pony, draft and carriage driving supply company in Minnesota.
Jeff hired Cedar River Logging to find, cut and mill trees for the project from the woods of their 40 acre, 100 year old family farm. Tim harvests ash, red elm, maple and, for the purpose of mantle wood and quarter sawn oak, he harvests a giant oak that was hit by lightening at some point in time.
This video follows Tim step by step from evaluating the tree to milling the log.
Tim cuts th tree using two cuts, the face cut followed by the plunge cut between the hinge and the latch. He then cuts the log into a manageable length for his horses. He demonstrates the proper method of cutting the large log to prevent splintering during the cutting.
Next Tim shows how to attach the chain properly with the slip hook on the backside of the log - giving the horses some leverage on the initial pull.
Tim points out safety tips as he is working. One important tip is to face the horses towards the work so that if they get spooked, he has a chance to get control of them, which is impossible if they are facing away and take off.
Tim's horsemanship and his well trained Percheron and Belgian team are amazing to watch. Tim maneuvers them in a very tight space to expertly skid this massive log with the team hitched three-up. the draft horse team has to skid this log out of the woods and up a significant hill before reaching the level road. The footage shows the extraordinary power of these horses.
Lastly, we see footage of the log milled on site using a portable sawmill.
