Two different experiments with a gin pole. We needed to lift heavy logs higher than the tractor bucket would go. Wasn't it Plato who said "Necessity is the mother of all invention"? I do believe that applies to this situation here at Wheaton Labs. We needed to get big logs into high places to rebuild our berm shed. We wanted to show you our various gin pole designs that we use. First off being the 10' gin pole that Fred designed and built, featuring two raw log poles in the corners of the tractor bucket and come alongs with a log spacer, as well as a custom welded plate at the top with places for chains to attach. This design is very useful, but we weren't able to get into all of the small spaces we needed to in order to rebuild the berm shed, so Ron AKA The Permaculture Pickle, designed a 16' gin pole using the same hardware that Fred built. It features a single 16' long raw log with the same welded plate at the top, using spacers and come alongs to keep it in place. The only downside being it can't lift nearly as much as the two pole variation. Even with an additional 100 lbs. added to the back of the tractor, it's still easy to lift the tires off the ground, but it should be perfectly adequate for our needs. Always exercise caution when operating heavy machinery!
