Dugout Chair Step 1: Get it Out of the Truck

My new 2-ton shop crane (glamorous women not included).

After picking up the rotted stump for my dugout chair, I parked my truck in front of my shop and then went inside to ponder: How do I get it out of the truck?

Sure, there are lots of redneck methods involving wax paper, Wesson oil and chains. But I wanted to avoid damaging myself and trashing my truck.

I could rent a forklift or other machine to make it easy, but two things stopped me from calling the rental store:

1. I am moving more logs than I used to.
2. I am 49. My back is in good shape and I want to keep it that way.

So I decided to buy a 2-ton shop crane. I’ve worked with these in the past to move machinery and figured it would be an easy thing to rig it to move logs. So I bought chains, hooks and links that were rated for 2,000 to 4,000 pounds each and went to work.

The crane pulled right up to the back of my truck. I wrapped the chain though the rotted hole in the stump’s middle (nature’s eyelet!) and hooked the chain to the crane. After a couple minutes of pumping the crane’s jack, the log was floating over the bed of my truck. My wife drove the truck forward and that was that.

I set the log down on the driveway and it’s in position for its first chainsaw cuts.

— Christopher Schwarz