Art Martin: Will the Real Logger Please Stand Up

[MasterBlaster]

Aw, why the heck not?

 

[glens]

You sound like a fine northern redneck.  Take it to another thread.

Glen

 

[stihltech]

location

Where abouts is suckerbrook. Do you know where Pike is?

 

[redpowerd]

my apoligies
its redundant, i know.

hate to tear up this great thread, and invite russ to remove the redundancy.

thanks for the correction.

 

[rj selaf]

Sorry "rj", we can do without your antagonism. This post is gone.

jokers

 

[MasterBlaster]

Does anyone know the inventor and evolution of the climbing spur? The one shown in the attachment looks pretty odd to me, like their backwards or something.

 

[Lawn Masters]

I think they were designed so that you used them like they are shown in the picture, I could be wrong but I dont think I am. The idea was probably to climb up the tree with the spurs using the inner side of the foot to climb with for some reason, most likely because then you could go almost straight up the tree without having to put a lot of effort into it.
Just my thoughts.

 

[MasterBlaster]

You always use the inner part of your foot to climb. I'm talking bout the shank going up the outer part of your calf.

 

[Crofter]

looks like they would have a lot more flex being cantilevered out so far., Make your horse nervous too.

Frank

 

[Art Martin]

Masterblaster,

The climbing spurs in the picture were certainly odd looking by todays' standards. I found a pair of those spurs in an old abandoned logging shack. They were exactly like the the ones in the picture. Although I was never a climber, I tried them on and tried to climb a few steps on an old spar pole. They created a lot of pressure on the upper part of the leg above the calves and were really painful.

Art Martin

 

[MasterBlaster]

I wonder how long it took em to move the shank to the inside of the leg.

 

[glens]

They probably made the change no later than the time the first upper strap failed.

Glen

 

[Art Martin]

“Doggy boning” is a word coined by racing chain makers. In fact, in recent years there are those who claim to have invented it. Again, this is misinformation. “Doggy boning” is basically lowering the top center profile of a side strap. I use it to lighten the chain somewhat and I also like the appearance of it. I can’t claim for sure that it speeds up the actual cutting time, but every little bit helps. I was using “doggy boned” chains already in 1956. Since many of the chains in that era had the tie straps made that way at the factory. You could reverse the tie strap because both the top and bottom were identical. There were many chain companies in the ‘50’s that had that feature. The Blue Jet chain, that I used, had the notch on the top of the tie strap that matched the notch on the bottom. There was a lot of breakage on those tie straps probably because of the hammering with hard-faced round tipped bars as they were going into the wood in these big trees and not reaching through. The saws were all gear driven and had very slow chain speed. Probably metal fatigue set in from the constant pounding. I would often notice hairline cracks on either side while filing the chain and would replace those tie straps. Some of the companies making saw chains during the ‘50’s were: Atkins, Oregon, McCulloch, Mall, Sabre, Gouger, Delman, Stihl, Blue Jet, Beaver. Wolf, Reed Prentice, Standahl, Titan, Jamieson, Diston, Dyna-link, Remington, Burns, Zip-Penn, and Winsor and possibly more. Most of the companies changed their tie straps by just having the notch on the bottom where they fit on the sprocket. Using direct drive saws doesn’t seem to cause breaking in chains that are “doggy boned” at least I haven’t had any problems.

Art Martin

 

[Madsaw]

Hello Art,
Thank you for such very useful advice. I have a question for back into the old logging times. Down the page I posted a thread called race chain. Its actually a new chain from lombard, with carbide cutters on it. Did you evy see anything like this? If so what did you think of it?
Thank very much,
Bob

 

[BigSawMan]

I belive that they mainly used chisel chain, and that carbide was only used in the firefighting profession due to the reason that they might encounter nails.


Neil

 

[Art Martin]

Recently, I received a newspaper from the City of Campbell in Santa Clara County, California called the “Campbell Reporter”. On the front page was a large picture of a Redwood tree that had been planted by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. There were also other pictures of President Roosevelt planting the tree in the middle of Winchester Boulevard and Campbell Avenue along with a five-page article about this famous tree. Sixty years later, this intersection became one of the busiest in the area and had to be widened. The tree had grown to 65 feet tall by this time. Fearing protests to prevent the tree’s removal, the City Council voted to have it removed but thought it necessary to do so before the news got out.

At that time, I was a fireman for the City of Campbell. The Fire Chief asked me to cut it down since he knew of my experience as a timber faller and he also wanted to save the City money. He also warned me not to hit any power lines or hit any stop signs or I’d be back in the woods falling timber. At 9:00 a.m. on the morning of September 29, 1964, I cut down this famous tree. I also cut an 8-foot section out of the tree above the undercut, This section was hauled to the Public Works yard where I cut a large pie, shaped section out of the log to make a bench. The Public works crew finished the surface and put on an appropriate sealer and delivered the bench to a park for public use. A fellow fireman remembered the incident and had the newspaper contact me for more details.

At the time, a local woman, who was apparently a history buff, heard that the root section had been discarded. She rescued that discarded root section and had it planted in the adjoining City of Los Gatos in a large park there. It began to sprout and now is growing there as the famous Teddy Roosevelt tree for the public to view. This wasn’t the largest tree I’d ever fell but it was certainly the most famous.

Art Martin

 

[BigSawMan]

What would be the largest tree you ever felled? Seems to be bugging me for a while.



Neil

 

[Art Martin]

Madsaw,
I have never seen any chain like the one in the pictures that you submitted. It might have been designed for ice cutting or ripping. It certainly is not for crosscutting wood fiber. The hook that is put on the teeth looks like something that John Lambert might do.


BigSawMan,
Around 13 feet in diameter and over 200 feet tall. There is a video of three of these large trees in the Art Martin videos thread that Doug Babcock submitted.

Art Martin

 

[butch]

big trees

Mr. Martin,

I'm new to the site and have been reading this thread. I am very interested in these big trees you fell especially the one 13ft wide and 200 ft tall where in the world did you fall that one and do you have some sort of picture to post? I would really be intersted in seeing it if you could post it.

Thanks, Butch

 

[Art Martin]

Butch,

Just scroll down to Art Martin videos and you can see the pictures of these big trees falling.

Art