The Winch Yoke

For the mill to be pulled at bar level in a straight path you need a winch yoke (4). The yoke also helps keep the guide rails of the mill level on the top plank. The cheek blocks on the ends of the yoke direct the rope slightly downward for a well-controlled cut (5). 

To complete your milling kil, here are a few handy, work-saving tools that can easily be made from existing tools. 

Using a box-end wrench or a ratchet-handled socket wrench to drive lag bolts (p.86) is tedious work. I prefer to use a hand-drill brace and a modified short extension bar from a yg-in. or /2-in. socket set. Simply grind the square-holed end of the extension bar to fit the brace (1,2,3). Use a hexagonal (6-poinl) socket for hex-head lag bolts and an octagonal (8-point) socket for square-head lags (4). 

If you want to make the modification permanent, weld the socket to a drill-brace collar (5). Keep the collar from turning by drilling and bolting it to the ratchet head with a /4-in. or yj6-in. bolt and nut. Secure the nut by riveting the boll over it, or use a center punch to expand the bolt into the nut. Keep the moving parts of the brace well oiled. 

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Assemble the winch (3,4) and mount the winch rope. Cut a length of /4-in. or VK-in. nylon or polypropylene rope a little longer than double the length of the log you ll be milling, then splice or tie an eye to each end. Fold the rope in half and attach the fold to the winch drum. Later you ll thread the rope ends through the cheek blocks on the winch yoke (p.92). 

Now position the winch yoke. Center it on the butt end of the log so that the outside pulleys are 1 in. or 2 in. below the top cant mark on the vertical index line (1). Mount the yoke with washered lag bolts. 

I don t normally use the winch yoke on shallow cuts. I attach the winch rope to the bridle rope at the engine end as when using the yoke, but attach the nose-end rope by slipping the loop over the riser post (1). 

Next, mount the guide plank on an end board and the lags (3), checking that the plank is supported properly. Measure and mark the desired cut from the horizontal index line (4), in this case, 6 in. Now measure from the top of the guide plank to that mark, and adjust your mill to this measurement. Measure and mark the other end of the log. This doublechecks all previous calculations, shows the exit line of the saw and helps in positioning the winch yoke. 

In lumbermaking, you normally have to push the mill and roaring chainsaw through a cut, breathing exhaust fumes and spitting out sawdust all the while. But with my setup (1), you can stand back from the noise and vibration, and move the saw through the cut with minimum labor—all you have to do is crank a winch handle. Besides the winch, you ll need a remote throttle attachment for your saw, winch buttons to hold the winching ropes and a winch yoke. I ll discuss each of these in turn. 

Thread one end of the winch rope through the double cheek block in the center of the winch and out to an end block (3). Thread the other end of the rope through to the remaining cheek block. You can remove the winch handle so that as you pull the ropes through the yoke (4), the winch will not vibrate off its mounting. If you don t want to bother doing this, just pull the ropes out a little more slowly. 

Notice how the winch rope, when used without the yoke on shallow cuts, spools unevenly... 

Now adjust the mill to a cutting height of 4 in. and position the entry guide rail so it will ride on a board in the center of the stack. Start resawing (1). Insert kerf wedges when the mill is well into the cut (2), and attach the winching apparatus and counterweight (3). You won t need the yoke for shallow cuts. 

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