The answer to all of those questions depends a lot on the log, but I made some observations and learned a few nice tricks, just in my first few hours of pulling with them. Here's a few of those, in no particular order:
- Setting the tongs is the main trick, when working alone. If I had my buddy on the tractor, and me setting the tongs, I'd just hold them on the log whil he pulls away with the tractor. It would be a breeze.
- If working alone, the easiest way to set the tongs is to lay them flat on the ground, slide one prong under the log until it stops (pinched between log and ground), then lift the other prong which will lever up on the one under the log (setting it), and then drop the top prong high on the log. I might not be describing this well, but you'll figure it out, and it's quite easy.
- The prongs set real easy in punky wood, but they can also tear out more easily in punky wood. Conversely, setting them is a trick on hard oak without bark, but once set they hold very well.
- Removing the tongs is very easy. I usually just grab one leg, and lever up. If they're set especially deep, then one quick kick with the heel of your boot will always release them. No issue.
- If you reverse the tractor, you'll usually release the tongs. This is not a problem, and in fact is quite handy. If you don't want them to release, just keep upward pressure on them.
In hauling maybe 20 - 30 logs, I only had them pop off once or twice, and that was early in the day while I was still getting a feel for using them. Getting them set was harder on the first ten logs, but once you get the hang of it, it's really not much of an issue.
Now a question for you folks: I need some sort of spike or hook that I can put on the far end of a log, when I'm getting it all the way up to the front wall of the trailer. On smaller logs, I find I can reposition the tongs from the front end of the log to the back end, once it gets too close to the front wall of the trailer for the winch to pull any father. This does no work on larger logs, where the angles don't work for the tongs to reach over the back of the log. I made due with putting the winch to the toggle on my cant hook, and hooking that into the trailing end of those logs, but that's not idea.