Anyone Catch Dirty Jobs Last Night?

[mbopp]

As far as the mules being better trained, ever been to a horse & mule pull? As soon as the pin goes "clink", they're off and pulling.
Dad's 75 now. When he was a teenager he worked at his uncle's logging & sawmill operation. They used both horses & tractors to skid the logs, dad always said he never saw a horse get stuck but couldn't say the same for a tractor.
I've heard there's at least one guy in the Finger Lakes in NY that skids with horses yet.

 

[John Ellison]

Some of those pulling horses are used only for that and they are so wound up that it would be hard to work with them.
It sounds like whoever filmed that must have asked around till he found the most "cowboy" outfit that they could find. But, if you have not seen it before,logging with mules/horses might look kind of dangerous to some people. 99.9% of the time my mules are quiet and calm but they are animals and once in awhile something will get them worked up. Yellow jackets will do it or one of the strangest was an ostrich went running by us and they were a hundred mph the rest of the day. Even tho it hardly ever happens you always have to be ready for the unexpected. But thats what makes it more fun than a boring machine.:jester:

 

[turnkey4099]

As far as the mules being better trained, ever been to a horse & mule pull? As soon as the pin goes "clink", they're off and pulling.

Yes, I have seen videos of them. It is a totally different deal. Anyone using a team to skid logs isn't going to put up with one that does that. They didn't even have time to set the tongs, basically just dropped it and hoped it hooked.

Harry K

 

[DOLMARatOs]

I'm sure the team itself was NOT used to the half-dozen or so people milling around with camera gear and equipment.

My guess is the mule team had a case of stage fright and performance anxiety. Plus if the crew itself was a bit nervous then the mules will pick up on that and get high-strung.

As for Mike running that 660...I was praying that no one got killed.

 

[jhellwig]

Mules are high strung and twitchy no matter what.

 

[John Ellison]

Mules are high strung and twitchy no matter what.

jhellwig,:deadhorse: If you are calm around a good logging team they will be calm. You must hang out with the wrong kind of mules or teamsters. High strung and twitchy wont last long in the woods whether its mules or people.
There are a lot of calm and sensible mules around, you just have to know where to look.

 

[jhellwig]

I have been around lots of mules and all of the were far more uneasy compared to horses. Yeah they can be calm when trained well but most still have a disposition to be knot heads most of the time. I have seen many teams allot better handling than the ones they had on there.

 

[B_Turner]

Some of those pulling horses are used only for that and they are so wound up that it would be hard to work with them.
It sounds like whoever filmed that must have asked around till he found the most "cowboy" outfit that they could find. But, if you have not seen it before,logging with mules/horses might look kind of dangerous to some people. 99.9% of the time my mules are quiet and calm but they are animals and once in awhile something will get them worked up. Yellow jackets will do it or one of the strangest was an ostrich went running by us and they were a hundred mph the rest of the day. Even tho it hardly ever happens you always have to be ready for the unexpected. But thats what makes it more fun than a boring machine.:jester:

Handsome pair of mules,John.

 

[BLACKeR]

i think businesses invite mike to come along for the day, i have a feeling the logging crew cowboy-ed up a bit to give mike a hard time. as for the lack of PPE there was a dirty jobs on a couple weeks ago where he went along with a tree removal crew in cali. i was sure there would be a thread on here about how unsafe it was. i would say 80% of chain saw users don't use any protective gear though. so hes not exactly an exception.

 

[johncinco]

John, you need an avatar.

I tried this one. Got it to 75x62 and 2500 bytes.

I couldnt find the limitations as to what they have to be down to so just guessed.

 

[leweee]

mules

Great looking team John.:biggrinbounce2:

 

[B_Turner]

John, you need an avatar.

I tried this one. Got it to 75x62 and 2500 bytes.

I couldnt find the limitations as to what they have to be down to so just guessed.

I seem to recall the limit is about 100 by 100 pixels.

 

[John Ellison]

Thanks guys, I will get to the avatar someday. Hate to rush in to things.

 

[theXman]

Dirty jobs.... unsafe!

I just watched the mule logging show tonight, had it on Tivo. I searched to see if you guys already started a talk about it.

Unbelievable!

I have both of them saved on Tivo right now, the Florida tree service and the mule logging.

And I thought the Florida tree service episode was bad.

On the mule show:

1.NO CHAPS ON ANYONE.

2. They give Mike the saw and tell him to start it. He tries to drop start it several times, they choke it, then lock it full throttle. He flails it all around and I'm glad it didn't start on those uncontroled drop starts (now I see how people cut themselves drop-starting). It starts on a drop start and the chain immediately runs, NO CHAIN BREAK OR the CHAIN BREAK was NOT ON. Made me cringe.

3. While Mike is bucking the logs, he holds the saw right smack in the middle of his body. I was worried that when he did the under cut, he was going to pull the tip back too far and get a big kick back, nailing him right in the for-head. He was wearing a baseball cap, no eye protection, no chaps.

4. When Mike felled a tree, he just stood around fairly close, they obviously did not talk about an escape route ahead of time. Most of the guys did not wear hardhats, I saw one.


When the mule kept taking off with the logs and almost catching people's legs, Mike said, "no OSHA in these woods, let me tell ya".

This work is all documented on film and in view of the public on TV. I would think that this is all the proof OSHA would need to site this logging company.

Yes, they kept saying logging is the second most dangerous occupation. Yeah, with doing things like that, no wonder.

Dirty Jobs was one of my favorite shows. Real shame, does make me wonder what safty violations they are doing on the other occupations that I'm not familar with.

Someone should give them a link to this forum so they can read these comments.

 

[turnkey4099]

It was on again today. I watched to confirm my opinions of the "untrained" mule team. I was wrong. At the start of the segment they seemed to be a well trained and mannered team. Moved on command, stood well, etc. It wasn't until Mike started screwing around that they became nervouse. By the end the team was so hyped not even the regular driver(s) could handle them and no wonder. There were 2 and 3 people giving them commands at the same time. The mules behavior at the end was not their fault.

Harry K

 

[Hard Knocks]

I still think that Dirty Jobs is a cool show. I was just a bit surprised that the producers and staff didn't do a bit of homework on the rules and regulations and general safety practices.

 

[BostonBull]

36 posts and not one mention of the good ole boys obvious inherent ability to make a proper notch. The first notch had a bypass in it at least 6" long and maybe longer. Then he made a landscapers angled backcut! How these men make it out f the woods alive everytime is a miracle!

 

[Log Splitter]

I finally watched it tonight. Most everything has already been said, but I'll add my comments about the mules.

My grandfather skidded logs for Huey P. Long's logging company down in Winnfield, Louisiana back in the early 1900s. After he bought his farm (part of which is now my land today), he used mules to plow until tractors came along. But for some reason he kept a mule team as long as he worked the land, and always skidded his firewood logs with the mules, not his tractor. It took quite a bit of firewood to get through a winter as their house had 3 fireplaces that provided all the heat. The point is as a kid growing up I was around these mules a lot and can recognize a good team.

The 'girls' as Mike Rowe referred to them were an adequate team. They were fine the whole time except for starting as soon as they were hitched to the logs, but that was more a problem of bad handling than anything else. 'Jack', however, was a very high strung animal, and the two guys running the logging operation should have never let Mike try to handle him. I think these guys had a plan to show Mike a rough day (southern humor?) and made sure Jack did his part to shake Mike up. I did notice when it was time to load the hauler Jack was back at the trailer and the 'girls' were doing the skidding.

I'm just glad nobody got seriously hurt. The show did have it's moments....

 

[drmiller100]

wow.

Hmmm. Should we make a list???
1. No eye protection.
2. No hard helmet.
3. No hearing Protection.
4. No Chaps.
5. No boots.
6. Improper saw starting technique.
7. Waving saw around next to guy when starting.
8. TERRIBLE Technique for falling logs. Somewhat surprised it went in the general direction it did.
9. Standing around watching your buddy fall the log within range.
10. No shovel or fireextinguisher.
11. No Technique to prevent kickback.
12. Dull chain.
13. Log loader for truck is illegal.
14. Cracked windshield on truck is illegal
15. Logs not chained down using approved binding.
16. Blips of rolling logs around in truck.
17. Falling trees on top of other trees on purpose (widow makers)
18. People standing too close when falling logs
19. Cutting next to your leg
20. I liked the directoins "cut down through the log until it pinches your saw, then wrench it out....."

 

[O51Av]

I did not see the show but I do not understand why they consider logging with mules or horses a dirty job.If it is so bad why do they do it?Rural Heritage on the RFD channel had a horse logging segment last night.The man doing the show was wearing chaps and had a protective helmet on and I never saw him touch a chain saw.He spent a lot time on safe and proper prcedures for hooking up and skidding.There was also a piece on skidding with oxen.He said they work better in deep snow.