Teach me everything you know about logging and forestry!

[CaliforniaWalnut]

Hey folks!
I'm writing a screenplay about logging & I need to know everything there is to know! I'd really appreciate any help I've been reading about some of the equipment used such as rubber tire skidders, but I just want to have a good handle on how the whole process goes--also the danger factor---accidents, how to remain safe on the job site... what kinds of accidents could occur on a logging site? Any ideas/inspiration would be super helpful! Thank you...

Also, basic stuff like what do you wear when felling trees? Do you wear hard hats, etc? And the land used, is it reused or sold afterwards? What do you call job sites for felling trees? Where is the sawmill in relation to the job site where trees are felled? If someone were to operate a logging business, what operations would they be in charge of? Would they run a sawmill AND handle the operations in the forest in addition to this?

Common words I've heard:

Lumber Yard (is this where the logs are tagged and packaged?)
Forest - (what do you call the site where trees are felled?)
Saw Mill (what all happens at the mill?)

Thanks so much!

 

[slowp]

Just watch axmen.

 

[northmanlogging]

Hey folks!
I'm writing a screenplay about logging & I need to know everything there is to know! I'd really appreciate any help I've been reading about some of the equipment used such as rubber tire skidders, but I just want to have a good handle on how the whole process goes--also the danger factor---accidents, how to remain safe on the job site... what kinds of accidents could occur on a logging site? Any ideas/inspiration would be super helpful! Thank you...

Also, basic stuff like what do you wear when felling trees? Do you wear hard hats, etc? And the land used, is it reused or sold afterwards? What do you call job sites for felling trees? Where is the sawmill in relation to the job site where trees are felled? If someone were to operate a logging business, what operations would they be in charge of? Would they run a sawmill AND handle the operations in the forest in addition to this?

Common words I've heard:

Lumber Yard (is this where the logs are tagged and packaged?)
Forest - (what do you call the site where trees are felled?)
Saw Mill (what all happens at the mill?)

Thanks so much!

Thats a big question...

poke around on this forum for a few months and it will give you a start.

But to narrow things down a bit, do you have a location for this screen play, cause every area of the country has its own way of logging, its own terms and colloquialisms etc.

its break fast time... I'll get back to this in a minute.

 

[Del_]

Just watch axmen.

Yeah that what I do.

 

[northmanlogging]

Ok, so this is just an overveiw... cause there are 100 ways to skin a cat and 1,000,000 ways to go logging...

Remaining safe, be alert watch everything, trees fight back and they are sneaky ****s. Broke limbs will fall without warning, logs roll for no reason at all, trees fall the wrong way, or split (barber chair or just chair) when being cut. Machinery can break in new and interesting ways, cables can snap or get cut turning several tons of wood loose, about the only thing you can do to stay safe is be alert and be ready to move, always have a plan b and and escape route.

Personal gear:

Hard hat (called simply "hat" or if its an aluminium "tin hat" on the west coast anyway)

Caulked boots (tough leather or rubber boots with hardened steel spikes in the soles for traction on logs and brush) often called just caulks, or calks, or caulked shoes usually in a very tall boot mine range from 14"-16" tall.

Tough denim pants either double front or single front, tough this bit is more a personal choice, but dickies and the like don't hold up to logging, often folks will cut the hem off so if yer pants get snagged they will tear instead of tripping you, it also helps them dry a little faster, some folks will stag them off quite high like halfway up the shin.

Hickory shirts are the norm out her, tough cotton shirt with small very fine blue and white stripes, from a few feet away they look light blue, its a regional thing as well. Though they are a very tough shirt and put up to a boat load of abuse, available in button front or a half zipper version, these are often stagged as well, mostly cause long sleeves are ****ing hot... that and you never know when you need TP...

Chain Saw chaps, kevlar lined cover the front of yer legs as well as the important sensitive bits, designed to clog up and stop the chainsaw chain from spinning and whacking yer leg off... (saw chain is very sharp and spins very fast, not much can stop it and yer leg will take a few moments to realize its not attached anymore)

The above covers just about all logging activities, except chaps... just need those when running a saw.

For falling timber, yer also going to need:

Plastic wedges 3-5 of em (arguments will start over how many and what type)

A square polled fallers axe for driving said wedges and various other duties like hacking bark off of thick skinned trees and freeing up a pinched saw

Saw gas 1-2 gallons

Bar oil 1 gallon

water 1-2 gallons (fer the poor bastard that has to carry all this stuff)

First Aid kit fallers are generally on their own, 2-4 in an 80 acre site and 200 feet or so apart so we don't kill each other with falling trees, Generally speaking the cutters start weeks in advance of the machinery, if something where to happen it would take a very long time for one of the other fallers to A notice and B make their way over to you.

A radio so you can communicate with the rest of the crew

and a big ole chainsaw, (also a thing that has lots of fight worthy oppinions) on the west coast its a 70-90cc saw with 28-36" guide bar, or bigger though bigger is sort of unnecessary anymore. The saw is used for the falling of the timber.

All together the fallers is carrying about 40-50#s of extra junk around with them in the woods, granted the gas oil and water can be left somewhere nearby until needed, the saw alone weights right around 20 pounds, each wedge about .5 pounds, axe 4-6# etc...

 

[northmanlogging]

Hey folks!
I'm writing a screenplay about logging & I need to know everything there is to know! I'd really appreciate any help I've been reading about some of the equipment used such as rubber tire skidders, but I just want to have a good handle on how the whole process goes--also the danger factor---accidents, how to remain safe on the job site... what kinds of accidents could occur on a logging site? Any ideas/inspiration would be super helpful! Thank you...

Also, basic stuff like what do you wear when felling trees? Do you wear hard hats, etc? And the land used, is it reused or sold afterwards? What do you call job sites for felling trees? Where is the sawmill in relation to the job site where trees are felled? If someone were to operate a logging business, what operations would they be in charge of? Would they run a sawmill AND handle the operations in the forest in addition to this?

Common words I've heard:

Lumber Yard (is this where the logs are tagged and packaged?)
Forest - (what do you call the site where trees are felled?)
Saw Mill (what all happens at the mill?)

Thanks so much!

Job site= unit, clearing, or simply site

Mills are generally a fixed location at least on the commercial end of things, usually near salt water here on the coast, or near train tracks, always on flat ground near convenient transportation. so the logging in turn can be 5 miles from the mill or 300 miles (though its more like no more then 70 miles trucking is expensive)

There are smaller portable mills for small time production, I imagine they are set up somewhere with solid level ground near or at the actual logging site.

Owner is a broad job title, me I do all the logging end of thing cause I'm owner operator with no employees, others have 500 employees and only see a tree on a weekend camping trip, Most though are jacks of all trades, they can and will do it all, but mostly end up farting in the seat of some piece of equipment for most of the day.

Its rare to see a logger that also runs the mill, the mills are generally separate, though many mills own their own timber land, then hire out the logging part of it. Mills actually own most of the land around here that isn't government land, bought it all from the railroads way back when and have been managing it since... well mostly...

Lumber yard, thats where folks go to buy boards, finished lumber

Forest, unit, clearing, site, etc (landing is where the logs are stacked ready to be trucked to the mill)

 

[IyaMan]

Movie about logging?

That sounds like a A Great Notion... Sometimes.

 

[Woos31]

Wow you covers alot there pard with a very Good generality, and holy **** is there so much more! A guy never realizes all the possibilities to cover on the subject until you try to explain it and then listing all the ways to die would take quite awhile just for falling and bucking, then a logging show all the way around................where's a guy start

 

[northmanlogging]

Mills....

Mills are where logs go to get turned into boards, sawdust, pulp, and various other things... but I assume you knew that...

logs are shipped to the mill either by truck or by water though water shipments are getting rarer (between mills they will ship these often enough but river drives of yore are no more)
once logs are unloaded they are then scaled and graded, measured and judged for "quality" this is where the logger gets ripped off... but I digress...

the logs are usually then sorted and stacked by species and grade, waiting for their turn to be cut up (sometimes months)

when they finally start the mill process the first thing is always debarking, gets all the bark dirt and rocks off the wood, bark is then sent to compost or garden stores.

from there its all mill stuff, square the log up, and make the most boards out of em as they can, I'm not a mill guy so I only have a basic idea as to what happens inside the mill...

planed, treated, graded etc

then stacked up and shipped to your local hardware store to build tract houses in Nebraska?

As I said before this is just an overview there are so many processes and types of logging that the mind could boggle if I started rambling...

But a couple machines fer ya to look into...

Yarder

Log loader or Log Shovel (modified excavator)

Dozer, Cat, Bull Dozer

Skidder

Processor

Feller Buncher

Forwarder

Grapple Cat

Log trucks, self loaders... all sorts of fun stuff...

 

[northmanlogging]

Also, logging has its own language, but I'm supposed to be killing trees right now... so I'll let others skool ya's on that one...

 

[northmanlogging]

Couple of books to dig up if you have the time, probably have to settle for the good ole paper version...

Ken Kessey Sometimes a Great Notion, (also made into a movie with Paul Newman, and Henry Fonda)

Margaret Elley Felt, Gyppo Logger, bout a family that started contract logging in the 50's with not much more then some broken machines and grit... should make a movie of this one too...

 

[slowp]

A small yarder. That's a processor in the background. This is in Western Warshington. Don't move here.


Two fallers, dressed for a summer day.


Joe from Axmen who was filling in on the crew here. He's a nice guy and despite the show, had a good reputation as a hard worker. This was taken during the Fall, when things were cooler and damper.




Needs no explanation. A relative of mine.


A rigging crew rigging up a too small tail hold stump with twisters to help keep it from pulling out of the ground. This is a skyline yarder unit.

 

[GilksTreeFelling]

Here the bulk of the logging is mechanized with the use of harvesters, forwarders, and feller bunchers. The typical "logger" here seldom touches a chainsaw let alone a tree, but they sure strip a chunk of land fast.

 

[1270d]

I love seeing that pic of the little guy slowp.

 

[slowp]

I love seeing that pic of the little guy slowp.

If I understand his mother correctly, they may move to our fair state. Not to worry, both parents and his sister are native born from here. But he might have.......an.......accent!

 

[capetrees]

Just watch axmen.

This is better

http://nosakraw.com/extras.php

 

[slowp]

Skyline Yarding with a motorized carriage in the Cascade Mtns. of Warshington.


More but in a flat unit. Flatness is not a good thing for skyline systems.

A motorized carriage about to pass over an intermediate support (jack). The opening is called a skyline corridor.


A commercial thin unit nicely cut and bucked.


The hooktender and crew (over the edge) stringing out haywire for a skyline operation.

 

[slowp]

This is a small landing. Note carriage, yarder and loader, called a shovel around these parts. The guy is a chaser.



A chaser doing some limbing on the landing.


A truck being loaded.


Another hooktender at work on a fine and pleasant day.



I shall quote the rant of a logger who was a friend. "Painting and flagging! Painting and flagging! That's all you foresters do." Well, here it is. Trees to be used for tail trees in the yarding operation are picked out and flagged and painted so the fallers will not cut them. We hope.


In this case, the paint also means that the crew can cut the tree after it is no longer needed. That makes de-rigging (taking the blocks down)
easier to do. On this sale, the tail trees were left on the ground to be wildlife logs.

 

[ropensaddle]

Lol whats up with the don't move here stuff rotflmfao.

 

[northmanlogging]

Lol whats up with the don't move here stuff rotflmfao.

it should be self explanatory, lots of jerks have moved here over the past 20-30 years, things is getting crowded and tense, used to be known as one of the politest places in the world... sadly not so much anymore...

so don't move here...