Stone Boat

[mels]

For those of you not from New England or "Stone Central" lol:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone-boat

So, many years ago an old-school retired farmer friend and tractor "mentor" of mine used to use an old Oliver OC-3 (man, I wish I had that old crawler)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._HG_tractors_at_Antique_Powerland_in_2016.jpg

and an even older (OK, a LOT older) stone boat to skid lengths out of the woods on the snow during the Winter. Kept 'em clean that way so the sawyer had no complaints when he showed up to mill 'em off.

Leading end of the log was up on the stone boat to keep it from digging in, the rest of the length just slid right along in the snow.

We used the heck out of that old sled year 'round for all sorts of stuff, and when he moved away I thought I'd never see one around here again - until yesterday...

Bored outa my head trying to think up things to look for on CL a few days ago I punched in stone boat - which I've done a few times over a lot of years with no luck.

Surprisingly, one popped up!

Spoke with the seller, John, who has a great piece of property up in Stillwater NY (just outside of Saratoga Springs, where the lake still freezes up enough to fish off of) and is selling off a bunch of stuff.

Took advantage of the freakin' beautiful weather yesterday to make the 3 hour drive up to meet him and after visiting and BS'ing with him for a couple hours, came Home with two new members to the family:





Stone boat is every bit of 7' long, and 30" wide. Didn't know about the skidding tongs until we went out to the barn to look at the sled, but being the sensitive guy I am I couldn't bear the thought of splitting them up... Lol

Looking forward to putting them to good use one day

John turned out to be one of those rare sellers you'd like to run into again. What a great guy, and a really interesting story.

So there you have it, Stone Boat.

PS, don't tell my lovely Bride Miss Cindy I crammed that thing inside her car...

 

[RI Chevy]

Cool. I learn something new every day on here.
Can't wait to see a big load on it. You have to use some of those awesome saws you have.

 

[Johnmn]

Very neat I would like to see it in action!

 

[Cracker Boy]

Cool

 

[Ronaldo]

Very good idea. How does one keep the log on the boat?

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[mels]

...How does one keep the log on the boat?

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Gotta visualize (because I can't draw for nothing) there's a chain leading from the drawbar on the tractor to the head of the sled to drag the sled.

Closely connected to that chain about a foot or so from the head up towards the drawbar is a second chain that runs to the leading end of the log and chokes around it to drag it along.

This way, the sled is able to pivot under the log when you turn and more importantly the head doesn't have to bear the stress of having the log chained directly to it.

Remember, it could be a 20, 30, 40' or longer length depending on diameter and the tractors' ability to pull it out. Only the first few feet of the log is on the boat.

It's essentially the predecessor to that two-wheeled dolly contraption with a grapple that folks use today.

 

[Dub11]

Every cool! When will we see pics of it in action?

 

[RI Chevy]

He needs a Clydesdale now. Lol
Go true old school.

 

[mels]

If Cindy had her way, Mr. Ed would be wandering through our place lol

Watching the guys work the draft horses or the oxen at the local fairs around here for the past 40 years of my life, I'd take an ox over a horse any day.

As far as seeing it in action, I've finally got a job offer that looks like it's gonna happen. Unfortunately it's in CT but I can't really pull the trigger on our move to TN until after my Wife has her stuff sorted out so even though it's not my preference, this CT job is a huge blessing.

Hoping to finish off our Townhouse over the next month and get it listed right at Spring when things are poppin' outside.

Sell it and use that money to find a place a little deeper in the woods to start afresh and maybe work a little. Then, fellas, we'll see some action pics.

For me it's kinda always been about planning for tomorrow. Living in the moment works too, sometimes, but I've gotta have something to dig my claws into and work toward or I'll just give up.

Stone boat may seem like a silly piece of that "plan", but man sometimes it's those pieces that keep us hanging on when all else is just washing away and we can't do anything about it...

Got it out of Cindys' car this morning and into the back of our truck. One step closer to I don't know where the lleh I'm going, lol

Here ya go: