The "Not So Pro" discussion thread...of course Pros are welcome!

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NM, I had a short career in airfreight. If we had enough freight to cover the operating cost plus a little we put the planes in the air. Can't survive long that way but when your capital is leased or hocked to the bank it is costing you just sitting there. Every dollar over operating cost is a dollar you would not have otherwise. Don't know if that was the situation you observed or not. Of course when something greater than your margin breaks you wished you left it parked. Ron
 
They bang it out in a day. That's how they do it. I was talking with an old logger about a month ago. He told me about two brothers who ran a crew with 4 bunchers and 4 big grapple skidders. They slicked off 40 acres of low grade bs in 24 hours. He said that kind of crap with them was not unusual. They were very competitive among themselves. In that low dollar crap I'll bet that's what they're doing. I'm sure they own the lowboys to haul the equipment and maybe they're between jobs.
 
Exactly right, Ron. It's not the big expenditures that kill you financially in logging. You plan for those and, if you're smart, you have the aquisition and operating costs already nailed down. You know, or should know, if it's going to pay off before you spend the money.
It's the little costs, the nickle and dime stuff that a lot of guys don't pay attention to, that can really wipe you out. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. That stuff adds up fast.
 
While on vacation this week I found this rainy day one hour government film for by West coast friends. Though made several years before I was born, this film reminded me of my early childhood in Florida when my mother's biggest concern was that one of us boys would get hit by a pulpwood truck while crossing the road to get the mail. My father did most of his logging about 11 years after this film was made. To my knowledge, he cut timber exclusively. Like in the film, the poorer folks cut pulpwood. The only things that seem to have changed in the ten years of so for the pulpwood cutter was the wheeled saw was replaced with gear-driven bow saws and most trucks were equipped with a pto driven hoist made from an old rear axle. This allowed two racks on the trucks. My grandfather had a saw like those shown in the film. I asked once why they didn't use it any longer and was told that they were super dangerous to those working around them and to never touch it. It disappeared before I got big enough to fool with it - probably a good thing. IIRC the saw had a two word nickname that I won't repeat other than to say the last word was "killer". Seems many men were killed or maimed by the saw when they were standing too close as it was being moved while the blade was in the falling position - the blade could catch on about anything and wrestle control from the operator with anyone and anything at the side in peril as the machine whirled sideways. It seems ironic that the replacement saw pretty much substituted the operator for the co-worker as the person in the greatest danger. I am told that many met their fate from a kickback with a bow to the neck. Having sent my grandfather's old gear-drive McCulloch over my head even after slowing its trajectory by busting all my knuckles on the shield, I can certainly see how many less fortunate men lost their heads to bow saws.

My father used an early 50s Dodge with a single 2 speed axle. The truck usually wore a cattle bed made from surplus landing mats. He replaced the cattle bed with a then conventional log bed with wood cross members supported by two long wood beams - pretty much similar to the beams on the pulpwood trucks in this film. The standards were wood and in metal brackets attached to the cross members. I don't remember if they were hinged or not. He had two saws - a Wright reciprocating saw and a new McCulloch gear-drive bow saw (equipped with 9/16ths chain I believe). Other than steel splitting wedges, the only wedge he had was a short aluminum wedge (4" long or so). I don't know what he knew about falling or how he did it. Neither do I know how he loaded the truck. I was only 7 and not permitted around the logging operation. I believe he used our small tractor with a rope block and tackle to hoist the logs over the standards. I did get to go to the mill with him sometimes to unload. There was no offloading equipment. The standards were either unpinned or removed on one side before the chain binders were let loose. Besides being ordered to stay in the cab at all times, I remember only two instructions for my continued future: 1) Never walk beside a loaded log truck and 2) always stand to the side when running a saw. Little did either of us realize that the later instruction would likely save my life some twenty years later.

The woods shown in the film is similar to what we call scrub land in Florida; a haven for rattlesnakes. The house shown is pretty much the same as that lived in by many African-Americans of my childhood. The yard fence and gate are pretty much the same as the one that contained my brothers and me.



Granddaddy's chainsaw (top saw; in my possession and never fired since my accident).
004.JPG

My dad's saws:

McCulloch 640 (whereabouts unknown, but my search continues). Wright saw (dismantled by a handsome young lad; never reassembled and later trashed). Images courtesy of Chainsaw Collector's Corner.
0.7C.gif

0.84.jpg

Model of a typical configuration of a Florida pulpwood truck in the sixties.

http://thetimbershop.proboards.com/thread/1203/pulpwood-hauler


Ron
 
They say the mind is the first thing to go. Last night I originally typed my dad has given me only three instructions about logging but before I finished the sentence I forgot one of them so I changed it to read I remember only two. Well, the third one came back to me on the way to church this morning - run from the side of a falling tree as you likely can't out run one. Although I can only remember watching my dad fall one tree of any size, he drilled this running business in my head. Never thought to ask him why, but later in life I learned from my older brother that my second oldest brother at age twelve narrowly escaped being mashed by a tall pine my father cut by ignoring similar instruction. He wasn't allowed to go logging after that event - not because of it per se but because he didn't appreciate the danger. Why was he in front of the tree to begin with - who knows - probably just being a kid with a preoccupied father or he was told to stand where he could be seen at all times but misjudged the height of the tree and stood too close. If you watched the film, notice how often the young boy is standing in the falling path watching dad and brother cut. I suspect the same here.

Ron
 
So I picked up an 064 what needed a bunch of work.

Its got the standard 3/4 bars on it... they really ****ing suck...

Been using it most of this week, overall a handy sized saw, pulls a 36" with authority fairly light and small...

But I really can't wrap my head around how some folks fall timber without a 3/4 or full wrap bar, keep finding myself reaching for the that extra handle only to grab air, and then have to hold the saw up with my knee or some other goofy contortion, and I'm not exactly flexible ya know what I mean?

Overall Though, I think the 461's have it beat, except on torque, a modernized 064 (say an ms640?) with the uber fancy new piston and cyl that stihl has going, and a better vibration system would be an ass kicker of a saw.
 
northmanlogging said:
Kinda defeats the purpose of the small body on the 064 though doesn't it?

I mean the 066/660's are cool for a big saw but they are a bear to drag around all day.

the 064 is like an anorexic version.
Click to expand...
If you're so worried about weight and power why not try a 390 or 385?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
northmanlogging said:
Kinda defeats the purpose of the small body on the 064 though doesn't it?

I mean the 066/660's are cool for a big saw but they are a bear to drag around all day.

the 064 is like an anorexic version.
Click to expand...
Wish you were closer ,i would let ya try my hopped up 440 hybrid ,440's don't impress me normally .but this one with 046 top and ported gets it done real quick like ,i run .404 on that saw and it pulls it fine .
 

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