We're not sure. If he's leading by example I hope nobody follows him.
Axe Men is back I got a question
- Thread starter millbilly
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Thornton
40:1 wide open like a chicken on a chain
I watch it for Joe it's like he was raised by Bill Murray
Joe worked here a couple of days. He posed for a picture. I'd have gotten his autograph but I didn't have a sharpie. Stupid plastic hard hats! He has a good reputation, except for what he does on that show. He was setting chokers and filling in for a guy who had to take off a couple of days. At that time, I don't think he made any money from the show. They paid for his plane tickets. He put on a quick "fight" act with his fellow rigging rat, they laughed and set a turn. Then something broke down on the landing and Joe galloped away up the hill to help fix it, pretty gracefully like most guys who make a living in the brush.
OlympicYJ
ArboristSite Guru
I've heard he's a good hand also. Most probably are it's just for the show but I wouldn't want that kind of cap on my reputation.
Ran into him and Coatsy at the Dog House in Coffman Cove AK a few years back.... I recognized the voice before I saw him. Both were pretty down to earth. We watched their outfit logging cedars the next day from a ridge near them while deer hunting. The whole thing was boringly efficient and nothing like the show at all.
I am sure he is now being paid well for his goofball TV reputation. If not, he should be. Ron
Spotted Owl
ArboristSite Guru
That is what I tell people when they ask me about the show. I've never seen it. Boringly efficient production is what it should be. The excitement comes when something has gone wrong. No room for day dreaming by any means, but the blood pumping stuff most always could've, should've been avoided. They look at ya like where have you been, no way is that what really happens in the woods, haven't you seen TV. Sometimes it would be nice if the rest of the world had half a clue.
Owl
Odog
ArboristSite Operative
Honestly that's what making a TV show about any job would be like. Boringly efficient unless something goes wrong. I'm a driller and blaster and our job is fun but would make horrible TV, unless something goes wrong. That's what drives me crazy about axe men, they make sh#% crazy for entertainment and then people get the impression that's the way it is all the time. If they did that for blasting we would never get a job again because people would freak the f$&@ out.
It would take a lot of time, but following a forester around could make a good comedy. It would just take a lot of time and editing. Like listening to how a logger saved the gubmint money, "I hauled my yarder over that bridge so you don't need to inspect it. It was Skagit tested." Or, telling one outfit you have 15 minutes to get that radiator back in the firetruck and get the engine running...or hearing a faller say, "We use pink wedges to support breast cancer research." And so on. Not much profanity, lots of profound statements, Comedy. It would take too much time and work and money, and you'd be lucky to get one season worth.
Before AxMen started, when they were still in the process of picking crews, they contacted the company I was working for. They didn't ask us if they could visit, they just told us they were.
They sent four people down and we took them with us for a couple of days so they could see what logging was all about. They shot quite a bit of video and did the best they could to stay out of the way. They didn't say much except to ask when lunch was being brought in...it wasn't...and to ask where the porta potties were...there weren't any. We shared our lunches and toilet paper with them but I don't think they were too impressed. They brought their own stuff the second day.
I think they were bored, too. We were Cat logging and it was one of those days when everything was working perfectly. The fallers were far enough ahead that we weren't bumping them, all the machinery was running well, the turns were coming in one right after the other, the trucks were going in and out, nobody got hurt, there was no screaming and yelling (not that there was ever that much anyway) and it was just a typical day in the woods.
After the video guys went home a producer came to visit us. We had a meeting. He asked if we could "liven things up a bit, maybe stage some arguments or breakdowns or runaway logs or Cats turning over or just anything to make it a little more exciting". We told him no. Those people don't like being told no.
He also let us know that in all probability the scenes they shot would be "edited for content and may not actually give a wholly accurate depiction of what we were doing". We told him no. Again.
They also mentioned that they might bring a couple of their own people to work on the crew to "lend some creativity and personal interaction to the program". We told him no. Again. He insisted. We told him to go home.
We never heard from them again.
They sent four people down and we took them with us for a couple of days so they could see what logging was all about. They shot quite a bit of video and did the best they could to stay out of the way. They didn't say much except to ask when lunch was being brought in...it wasn't...and to ask where the porta potties were...there weren't any. We shared our lunches and toilet paper with them but I don't think they were too impressed. They brought their own stuff the second day.
I think they were bored, too. We were Cat logging and it was one of those days when everything was working perfectly. The fallers were far enough ahead that we weren't bumping them, all the machinery was running well, the turns were coming in one right after the other, the trucks were going in and out, nobody got hurt, there was no screaming and yelling (not that there was ever that much anyway) and it was just a typical day in the woods.
After the video guys went home a producer came to visit us. We had a meeting. He asked if we could "liven things up a bit, maybe stage some arguments or breakdowns or runaway logs or Cats turning over or just anything to make it a little more exciting". We told him no. Those people don't like being told no.
He also let us know that in all probability the scenes they shot would be "edited for content and may not actually give a wholly accurate depiction of what we were doing". We told him no. Again.
They also mentioned that they might bring a couple of their own people to work on the crew to "lend some creativity and personal interaction to the program". We told him no. Again. He insisted. We told him to go home.
We never heard from them again.
Wayne68
ArboristSite Operative
Good for you, the show is a total joke
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
They called my this spring wanting to make a new show on alaska logging. I told them I wanted no part of it.
HuskStihl
Chairin'em for the sound
I could totally be "that guy" on any ax men crew. Smart to keep my kind out of u'r woods
LOL...Art, you can charge me for the cleanup. I'll put it with all the other bills.
gologit, ? if we could only believe you and your statement.. we all really watch "AXE MEN", so we really know how it's done in the real hollywierd world! sometimes we like to fantasize the logging trade to be what we want it to be but alas it is what it is to them in hollywierd..... if you know what I mean.... lol
I know what you mean. Sometimes it might be just downright fun to do some of the goofy things they do on that show. But production would suffer, the machinery repair budget would get stretched, our insurance rates would go up, we'd probably all get fired, people in town would laugh at us, and that cute little clerk at 7-11 wouldn't give us free coffee in the mornings anymore.
We better just play it straight.
Okay, here's a concept reality show that you might consider: Naked Loggers. Participants get dropped off on a remote Aleutian island with just a fueled chainsaw. 
You got to hike in three miles pulling a 3/4" choker, top a spar tree, build a one room log cabin and an outhouse, cut firewood for a continuous fire, skin a Kodiak (extra daily points if you wear it), after 20 days hike out 5 miles and built a log raft to pole/paddle back to a waiting crab boat. Oh, I forgot, you also have to secure all your permits 20 minutes before embarking. Ron
You got to hike in three miles pulling a 3/4" choker, top a spar tree, build a one room log cabin and an outhouse, cut firewood for a continuous fire, skin a Kodiak (extra daily points if you wear it), after 20 days hike out 5 miles and built a log raft to pole/paddle back to a waiting crab boat. Oh, I forgot, you also have to secure all your permits 20 minutes before embarking. Ron
!! piece of cake....Okay, here's a concept reality show that you might consider: Naked Loggers. Participants get dropped off on a remote Aleutian island with just a fueled chainsaw.
KYLogger
Professional Tree Assassin
You gonna be the star of the first season?? On second thought I don't really want to see you naked. 
Better just get that ditz Paris Hilton...........
Better just get that ditz Paris Hilton...........Similar threads
