Ed, some more help?

[Buckrub]

OK, one byproduct of the driveway and dirt work, was the sacrificing of a pretty decent sized cedar tree. Had to go in order to get the backhoe in there. I suggested it cause when I saw it, I saw "BRIDGE RUNNER!!!" for the farm.

Today, I went back there where he pushed it out of the way, and stripped it with a chainsaw, and hauled it onto my property with the wheely. While back there, a blackjack oak had split about 1/2 of itself and fallen, and I cut it up with chainsaw and hauled it onto her woodpile (till my saw, and my back, both dulled out)........

anyway............

May be hard question to answer............but about what diameter of cedar is it going to take to make this bridge??? I am pretty sure this cedar is big enough, but it's NOT the biggest cedar I ever saw. I didn't measure it. But there is another one at the other corner of my property almost identical, and I'd cut it down in a heartbeat......and that gives me two runners. There is also one that is dead, and slightly smaller (not dead long I don't think), that might work for a center runner to give me three, and shore up things.................. then 2X8's and some galvanized nails and I'm in business, I think.

But......just curious.....how big would the cedar runners have to be in order to make a bridge strong enough for most four wheelers and/or side-by-sides, loaded down???

[Thumper]

Ummm, I thought you were a math major? I believe the length of the span and weight you want to run across the bridge will have a lot to do with it. Is this sumpin' you're gonna drive your loaded truck with loaded trailer over? Or is it a foot path/wheelie bridge? Will you be running a D9 Cat across it in the future?

[Buckrub]

You never read what I write.

And I have praised you lately. *sniff*

No, dufewad. Nothing ever bigger than a loaded down side by side, maybe pulling a trailer. And Ed has seen a picture of the ditch.

And I can go figure all night if'n I want. Ed and Cappy (and JoeF if he hadn't have runt oft) and others have done this stuff, by hand, and I respect their opinions. I subject myself to ridicule, which is irrelevant, just to get the little gems of wisdom they throw out. If I had to ask about a car engine, I'd ask you. I'd catch a ton of grief, but I'd listen, intently.

[Thumper]

You dufewad ... either I suffered temporary blindness when I read your original post the first 2-3 times ... or you made clever use of the edit button and added that last sentence when I wasn't looking.

[Buckrub]

It was there from the beginning. I swear.

HOWEVER....."temporary blindness" = "Thump Reading Anything Buckrub Writes"

[Thumper]

Ha! I read EVERYTHING you write ... (except those crappy baseball threads) ... otherwise I wouldn't know when to rag on ya'!

[Buckrub]

Of COURSE you would, idjit.

If it's AM or PM..............that's the only time you ever do it.

[Thumper]

[Captain]

Bucky if that ain't a heart cedar don't use it for a runner. You will be rebuilding in a few years if you do. And rebuilding it is going to be harder than building it.
Get some treated material for the runners or better yet steel

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Big Muddy]

Cap, I've already recommended to Bucky, the exact same things, that you have....however, a local guy mentioned to him about simply using some trees, as the runners....my reply was, yes, they could be used, but common sense says they will only last a few years.

Bucky, in my opinion, your best and cheapest solution is still the telephone poles....however, if you want to go first class, and be done with it, forever, then the I-beams are the answer.

If I remember correctly, a certain GH southern gentleman, who is only a 3 hours drive from you, offered you some telephone poles for free....all you gotta do is show up with a trailer, and sit in your truck, scratching your butt, while he even loads them on your trailer for you.

And, do NOT use nails, if you go with any type of wood construction....they will rust and loosen over time, and are a pain in the azz, with all that hammering....use polymer-coated deck screws with the star-drive T23 heads...they install easily with a good 18 or 24 volt drill.

764666599284lg.jpg

[Buckrub]

OK, I will use telephone poles. But I got free cedar 'runners'........ and currently own ONE 5X10 trailer.............(see other post about trying to sell out to buy a bigger trailer)

Sigh.

Steel. I swear. I wish some of y'all knew how the 'other half' lives!!! I mean, you're RIGHT........but geez. If I had Bill Gates' money, I wouldn't be asking how to do this! I'd be hiring some guys that already knew how.........

and I got a great 18v drill. No, it's a DRIVER!!! (sorry, Bwana)

[Buckrub]

Oh..........I don't know what a crepe myrtle is..............and I don't know what a heart cedar is..............sorry.

I DO know that I am almost a pro at scratching my butt..........very proficient. In fact, after some very serious consternation, I can think of absolutely no one on Earth that does that better than I.

[Arty]

Go with the cedar if the cedar is more than a foot in diameter on the smal end and the length is less than 20 feet.

If the bridge/footpath is less than 6-7 feet wide and you have three (one in the middle) and you use 2x8 treated.

And SCREWED down real good ...
You'll be fine your grand kids will have to replace it some day. But you won't be around.

Just don't try to pull that fancy camper arocss it.

[Thumper]

Use that cedar for firewood! Then head down to your local Army Surplus store and pick up one o'these puppies!

[Big Muddy]

Well, I'm not Bill Gates, either....but, you asked for recommendations, and you got them from both Cap and me....which happened to include the I-beam option, as well.

The rest is up to you....however, I already know what you are going to do....you are gonna drag some raggedy-azz trees down there, and use them for runners....then, you are gonna use nails to install the deck boards.

Then, in a couple of years, you will come on here, and make a post to bitch about, you had no idea that trees, used for bridge runners, rotted so quickly....and, that a poacher's atv fell off the sagging bridge, and broke his back....he sued you, and now owns your farm.

[Big Muddy]

BTW, do you not know of one single person, from whom you could borrow a 16 ft. utility trailer, to haul these telephone poles???

I mean, day'um near everybody down here, even the city-folk, have a 16 ft. utility trailer, sitting in their yard.

Since you've got all that hunting stuff up for sale, I'll tell you what I'll do....if you drive down here, I'll load the poles on my 16 ft. trailer, and strap them down, and have the trailer ready to go.

All you gotta do is hook it up to your vehicle, and drive away....then, when you get unloaded at your place, return the trailer to my lakehouse at Lake Chicot....that'll cut down on your return time, by over an hour, each way.

All I want in return is a VERY good deal on one of those pistolas....did I say VERY good deal???

[Captain]

Oh..........I don't know what a crepe myrtle is..............and I don't know what a heart cedar is..............sorry.

A heart cedar is a cedar that is almost all "red" inside. Very little white. Look at the butt cut of the cedar If you got more than a half inch of white before you got red it ain't a heart cedar. When laying on the ground (or as a fence post) the white part rots fast. The Red part will last a LONGTIME. a lot of "Yard grown" or open field grown cedars are mostly white because they grow so fast due to fertilizer etc and they keep limbs all the way to the ground. A woods grown cedar loose the lower limbs and grow very slowly and are usually mostly red inside, heart cedar. Some are so hard you have to drill into them to get a staple in them to hold wire.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[BarryBobPosthole]

You need an Oklahoma County Commisioner in your club. He'd have a bridge built and a nice paved road in there in no time at all. and for free.

BKB

[Buckrub]

BTW, do you not know of one single person, from whom you could borrow a 16 ft. utility trailer, to haul these telephone poles???

I mean, day'um near everybody down here, even the city-folk, have a 16 ft. utility trailer, sitting in their yard.

Since you've got all that hunting stuff up for sale, I'll tell you what I'll do....if you drive down here, I'll load the poles on my 16 ft. trailer, and strap them down, and have the trailer ready to go.

All you gotta do is hook it up to your vehicle, and drive away....then, when you get unloaded at your place, return the trailer to my lakehouse at Lake Chicot....that'll cut down on your return time, by over an hour, each way.

All I want in return is a VERY good deal on one of those pistolas....did I say VERY good deal???

Ed, that's why I'm having the 'sale', to try and get a 16 foot trailer. Lots of money going out right now for certain "child assistance programs" and I still haven't heard what my taxes will be. But I can't get one now. I do know one guy that has one, but it's a single wheel model and if I tell him the weight that's going on it, he'll say 'no'. Which gun do you want and what is a 'good deal'?

Arty, I have one cedar down right now. I doubt it's a foot in diameter at the small end. I'll look.

Cappy, I dunno which I have, I'll go look when I can get outside later.

Bwana, will take a picture in next few days for you of the bag.

Posthole, this is the FARM.........not my club........just me there, ain't got no help.

[Big Muddy]

I forgot, but what town is nearest your farm???....

[Buckrub]

Um.........ha. Um............... town???

If you do Google, try Immanuel. I'm 500 yards from Immanuel. But that ain't a town, not sure it even has a road sign with that name on it. The mail comes from Almyra. The school district is DeWitt. The volunteer fire department is from Casscoe. But it's a ways from either of them.

[Buckrub]

I have no idea if this will work. Try this link:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.3946578,-91.3279971,15z

not sure how much you'll have to zoom in. House is right (east side of) on Hwy 33 (also called Boston Lane, although I've never even heard that before). Needmore road hits it on the west, and Immanuel road to the east. It's barely south of where Needmore road hits Hwy 33, and about 500 yards south of Immanuel road. It is Immanuel road (gravel part way) that I have to take all the way around on my wheely, that this bridge would solve. Once you find the house location, look directly east. The land I hunt is literally at the intersection of Sunrise and Jennings road. Craziest thing, there is literally a street sign with both of those street names on it, right in front of our gate. Sure looks out of place out there in middle of nowhere. The land fronts Sunrise Road starting at that intersection and going west for two 40-acre tracts (80 acres). Bar-F is a guy south of the hunting area that runs cows.

Ha. OK, tried that link, and I think that works. Then you can zoom OUT and see how to get there.............if you wanted to.

[Big Muddy]

There is not a Sunrise Rd. on your map....I assume you mean Rising Sun Rd.

What is the physical address of your house, down there???

[Buckrub]

Dang. Yeah, Rising Sun.

2950 Highway 33 (might show up in Google as either city of Casscoe or Almyra)........

[Big Muddy]

Google Earth says Almyra.

[Buckrub]

OK. That's the mail route. Casscoe is closer, but Almyra is mailing address.

[Captain]

Heart cedar will last a lifetime. The other has little heart and will rot away in a couple of years. (At least in our par of the country anyway)

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Buckrub]

Sure learned something there.

I just went in backyard and looked. I'd guess this one is closer to the 2nd picture. But it's more perfectly round as a pole..........but it's about 12" thick at bottom and maybe 6" at top, about 16 feet long.

[Thumper]

Notice the wide growth rings on the right image ... that's what you DON'T want.

[BarryBobPosthole]

So that old tree on the left has seen some hard times, eh Eddie?

BKB