?? nary a one ?? we here only have 48" bell white pine at 100 feet straight up and a few more taller.. oaks running 50+ inches diameter with 50' spider crowns an 65' vertical... lol
Falling pics 11/25/09
- Thread starter Burvol
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
A decent one from the other day
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
1270d
ArboristSite Guru
That one at your place?
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Nice stick. Was that about a 5 footer? How many logs?
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
52" inside the bark 54" outside the bark, 6 before the break, 5 @36 and one 41
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
flying pig
ArboristSite Member
Well, I started reading this thread in the last part of December while bored staying in a hotel in Hinton while working on some of our rental equipment at a coal mine. I've just finished reading the latest posts. What a trip, I feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge and have a much better insight into where hazards may lie. It's too bad I didn't actually take notes on things that didn't quite catch as I was reading them, that would have helped me to gain an understanding of a lot more of the techniques shown here. Obviously though having ideas in my head is a lot different than actually learning to apply the stuff I've learned here, learning saw skills and how different wood and environmental factors react. I'd equate it to taking an online crash course in brain surgery and hoping and praying your way through actually doing it. Ha ha. It's also too bad that so many of the great contributors to this thread haven't been posting here anymore. Has anyone heard from Burvol? Ted posted about a year ago? How's Glenn doing? What about Jon? Colton?
Anyway, Bitz, you've kinda lit a bit of a fire under me and sparked an interest in maybe logging in some way shape or form as a side job as a few of you guys here do it. A really good buddy of mine and I have been talking about it and kind of shopping around trying to come up with a plan. We've found a few skidders that I think would work well enough for us. I'm a HD mechanic and former dozer operator with 11 years experience, my buddy is a dual ticketed HD and millwright who worked in a machine shop for 8 years. So old junk is no problem for us. We've been thinking of buying our own mill and offering services on private land from standing trees to finished lumber. I quite enjoy milling. We may have a line on a small job this summer doing a few miles of fenceline for a friend. He had a guy do another piece with a hydro axe and some hand falling and they gouged him like $50,000 for it. In my prime cat skinning days I would have had it fell, cleaned up and stumped in a day and the whole bill would have been under $5,000 including trucking. I thought that was really shady. So we might take it on, see if we can have the wood and use my buddies little ancient John Deere crawler to skid it. What can't be sawn could be cut into firewood, split and sold too. If we made enough off of it to put towards a skidder or mill (or both) then we are off to the races. I've also been buying, fixing, and selling saws to save up towards this on the side.
Anyway, Bitz, you've kinda lit a bit of a fire under me and sparked an interest in maybe logging in some way shape or form as a side job as a few of you guys here do it. A really good buddy of mine and I have been talking about it and kind of shopping around trying to come up with a plan. We've found a few skidders that I think would work well enough for us. I'm a HD mechanic and former dozer operator with 11 years experience, my buddy is a dual ticketed HD and millwright who worked in a machine shop for 8 years. So old junk is no problem for us. We've been thinking of buying our own mill and offering services on private land from standing trees to finished lumber. I quite enjoy milling. We may have a line on a small job this summer doing a few miles of fenceline for a friend. He had a guy do another piece with a hydro axe and some hand falling and they gouged him like $50,000 for it. In my prime cat skinning days I would have had it fell, cleaned up and stumped in a day and the whole bill would have been under $5,000 including trucking. I thought that was really shady. So we might take it on, see if we can have the wood and use my buddies little ancient John Deere crawler to skid it. What can't be sawn could be cut into firewood, split and sold too. If we made enough off of it to put towards a skidder or mill (or both) then we are off to the races. I've also been buying, fixing, and selling saws to save up towards this on the side.
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Can I ask why you haven't looked at a grapple cat like a d4h like I have?
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
flying pig
ArboristSite Member
Grapple cat may be ideal for the kind of work we are looking at if it winds up being tight stuff like fence lines with stumping and that. But, it's pretty flat ground here too. I definitely wouldn't be objected to the idea. Biggest deterrent for me would be undercarriage cost. It's not like tires imo, undercarriage you are best off going new. You can't really get by with half worn stuff as it's almost always dry or has something wrong, plus mismatching components causes extremely accelerated wear. Tires are simpler that way.
The skidder we've been thinking of is a Clark 667 grapple/line combo. We've located 3 machines, two locally and one about 6hrs away.
The skidder we've been thinking of is a Clark 667 grapple/line combo. We've located 3 machines, two locally and one about 6hrs away.
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
My D4H has a line in the arch yes undercarriage is a concern but for most seasons in PNW they work the best.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Take a long hard look at what the folks around you are running and ask why.
Skidders are fun and all, but they are getting obsolete, what with forwarders and ctl being the norm in many places.
Then take a look at the type of work you are likely to wind up in at first, small plots a few loads here and there or lots of wood and wide open plots, will dictate the kind of equipment you will need far more then the opinion of a handful of nut jobs on the interweb (me included)
Any how best of luck to you and yer friend, though I would advise against any kind of partnership especially with some one you actually like... business mistakes however slight can ruin a friendship quick. At the very least set some hard fast rules at the beginning... if it goes south it can sting bad...
As for most of the folks that have posted in this thread over the years... most grew up or got busy with life, the rest baled a few years ago after a spate of hackers fuggered up the site for a few months... there are other sites, but they each have their quirks, like annoying emojis all over, or super strict rules on language or just difficult to navigate... anyway... I talk too much...
flying pig
ArboristSite Member
Northman, a forwarder would fit the bill quite nicely too. That's the problem with seeing what everyone else is running here, no one is really doing it. There are big shows that are all mechanized, brushing crews who don't really salvage anything and that's about it. No one is really working with farmers it seems. Small operators are mostly doing lease sites for salvage and not much else. The small operators that I know run a buncher and a grapple skidder, and had been contracting their processing to another fellow with a delimber. We'd be going in thinking outside the box, maybe it would work, maybe not. The plan would be to start off with nothing financed, we can either afford to do a job and we either make money or not, but the lowest overhead possible would clearly be the goal. Pay for our equipment cash and that way it could be sold to pay bills if we really lost our ass. My father in law and current employer have both been great influences there, one has shown me to make my company grow itself, the other has shown me how much of a hole you can dig yourself into if you bite off too much too quick and rely on credit.
I hear you on being leary of going into business with a friend. That is something like you say that we'll have to figure out solid. We're on a good start, we already have worked together for 3 years and we hang out outside of work a ton, and when we do it's usually something in the bush involving chainsaws anyways ha ha. But no, I understand exactly what you mean. it's just an idea so far, and who knows? By the end of this little job for our friend we'll know if going after it any further is viable or not, and we won't have anything invested but our time and a little wear and tear on our saws and his cat, plus a bit of diesel and gas.
I hear you on being leary of going into business with a friend. That is something like you say that we'll have to figure out solid. We're on a good start, we already have worked together for 3 years and we hang out outside of work a ton, and when we do it's usually something in the bush involving chainsaws anyways ha ha. But no, I understand exactly what you mean. it's just an idea so far, and who knows? By the end of this little job for our friend we'll know if going after it any further is viable or not, and we won't have anything invested but our time and a little wear and tear on our saws and his cat, plus a bit of diesel and gas.
well... what ya waiting for?
Woos31
Addicted to ArboristSite
A dump show is a good change of pace now and again
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Swingin an ugly.
And to prove I didn't tear the hell out of it.
And to prove I didn't tear the hell out of it.
RandyMac
Stiff Member
fiber puller...
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Yer damn right! Good sounds. How's the coast?
fiber puller...
AAAAAH, been too long since we heard those words hereabouts!
RandyMac
Stiff Member
YeeHaww!
The coast is cold and damp, rains every night in the Redwoods.
The coast is cold and damp, rains every night in the Redwoods.
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Sounds like my kinda place!
Lookin at a lot of this these days. Damn shame what eab is doin.
Lookin at a lot of this these days. Damn shame what eab is doin.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)- Latest: Squareground3691
-
-
Post pictures of your woodpile/splitting area
- Latest: Squareground3691
-
-
-
