The Dead of Night, Old Growth spiders in my brain.

[schmuck.k]

again randy good writing

 

[drill.daddy]

It strange how a mans occupation all to often takes over a good portion of his life. In some cases the job becomes his life, it directly affects them as a person . its the turning point in our lifes where its not what we do for a living, its what we live to do .

 

[joesawer]

It is the freedom of mind and body the lack of an ever present and stifling safety net that protects us from ourselves. But in return turns us into good little docile well fenced livestock.
As a very young person I have a memory of it and long for it.

 

[056kid]

I tried to form a metophoric picture of what has gone on in my head for the last few weeks, I had control issues so to speak. The entity that was run down and locked up, has been running freely for months, not a normal thing for me, a tight and sturdy leash is used. However, I let him out, let him run, had a blast and ran the ragged edge for too long. I told him enough already and was ignored, I lost control, he gained it. I had to resort to using one of the more basic entities to force him into the locked box, it wasn't fun. This is where my fear of spiders comes from. I have gone through this cycle many times, I get tired, one of them seizes the reins and goes until the wheels fall off.
I use my barbarian friend to go back, to see, feel and almost live the past, this is where the stories come from. He loves it there, hates the current era and trys to trick me in becoming stuck in the 1970s. He has done it before, will again, it is too easy for me to be drawn back, I really don't care for this era either. I have gotten stuck there, it took effort to be present, when here, I want to go back and I fear that if I do, I'll get lost.

You where lucky enough to live the life, I dont see any problems staying in it. #### this wireless hands free era, its fake . . .

 

[Massmacfreak]

McCulloch's

Randy Mac, I think you just put your finger on the reason I restore old Macs. Dangerous, gnarly and temperamental. Well said!!!!!!

Originally Posted by slowp. Edited from "Huge Trees"

I started out here when the big stuff was still being logged. It was scary and I usually just stayed out of the way during falling operations. I'd check their work after they went home. They took a while to get those trees on the ground, and around here often had another guy along to pack gear and pound in wedges.

There was a lot of breakage. The tops exploded when they hit the ground.

To cruise those big punkins (estimate the volume before cutting) you'd stand back and try to figure out where the tree was going to bust up and put that top diameter on the data card. There was a lot of other defect in them too.

The mills were not as efficient so a lot of "cull" logs were left either in the unit or on the landings and burned. The landing wood might get sold again for pulp, but was left for the firewood cutters and then burned. I only had an 032 with a 20 inch bar so had a hard time finding small enough wood to cut.

The slash in the clearcuts was deep. I was following a 6 foot guy through it and he let out an "oops" and disappeared. That was how deep that bit of slash left after yarding was. That's why those units were burned. You had to be able to get to the soil for planting.

The spiders didn't quit, whiskey slowed them down, but they are a crawlin'.

Old Growth, brings to most minds, parks or groves, treasured remnants of what was. Dark, peaceful, a place to reflect on one's place in the World.
Now, welcome to my Old Growth World. My past is littered with stumps and shattered debris, evidence of my passage is marked by a swath of devastation. OG logging was by nature a destructive process, slowp caught some of that, actually well enough to wake up my spiders. I tend to avoid the subject, that is, my own thoughts on what my falling of OG timber means to me now. I tend to consider much of what I did, to be a series of violent acts. Now, I ain't goin' hippie here, nope. Just reflecting on my motives, God help me, I loved it, the more noise and stuff flyin' in the air, the harder I pushed it. To walk up to a huge, silent being, with intent to tear into it's flesh with a ravening machine, a machine that has a mindless hunger, that gnaws with endless teeth, all the while gleefully howling it's bloodlust, I was all too often one with that beast. That is why I ran McCullochs, most other makes were too tame, McCullochs dared you to master them, a half hearted attempt to do so, gave them the chance to whip your ass.
I don't think even film can capture how it was, I won't do it the justice it deserves. The level of destruction has to be seen first hand, better yet, watch it happen, even better is making it happen. I have seen a dozen or so, very tall trees come apart on the way down down, we aren't talkin' tops, limbs, that was an everyday thing, these kinda folded in half, scattering crap everywhere. Oh yeah. Another noisy event was dropping a big tree into other big trees, best to be avoided, it happened on a fairly regular basis. Pitching a big tree down a steep slope was always made a good mess. Before you greenies, if you read this, get all bent (well, further bent) there was often no alternative. It was what it was, you dumped it's ass on the ground the best way you could, the balance between saving every inch and the pressure to produce, plus the gawd-dammed trees were contrary and fought your best efforts. We did leave some, there was no point in trying, they would be a total loss. I got in on the last of the old style bustass logging, I worked with men who had been at it from the begining of that era, I saw and did things that few others have. Does that make me better than anyone else, no, it makes me a worn out relic. I am rusting away like an old left behind arch. Those days are past and for many good reasons, mostly because sobs like me cut without much thought to what we were leaving behind.
Do I regret any of it, yes. There are several trees that come to mind, they might still be standing and they were left where they were laid. It rarely occured to me, at those times, that maybe I shoulda walked away, left them standing. In those days, I would have walked into Hell to fall timber. I remember looking back at what was left, a sea of broken wood, hulking stumps, the only dirt showing were skidroads. I felt satisfaction, I would never have to go back there, and there was more Old Growth just ahead.
The Dead of Night, that is when stuff catches up with me and flows out my slow, worn fingers. Sitting in the near dark, chewing asprin, chain smoking, swatting spiders and doing a poor job at putting thoughts into words.

Time for a xanax to keep the bugs at bay

 

[woodguy105]

37 here, and agreed. Can you imagine kids of today playing "BB gun war"?

Oh yeah! BB Gun war...haven't thought of that in a long long time. And to think we walked all over with a bb guns. Now you'd have the SWAT team called in.......

 

[FSburt]

It strange how a mans occupation all to often takes over a good portion of his life. In some cases the job becomes his life, it directly affects them as a person . its the turning point in our lifes where its not what we do for a living, its what we live to do .

Well said that is how I feel my career has progressed. My family and wife did sacrifice their summers because of my career but my wife knew when we married that this was what she married into. It also helped that she worked for the outfit as well when she was younger and knew what to expect when the phone calls would come late at night or when I was gone 5 days a week all summer long. Lucky sancho stayed away or so I think he did.

 

[Gypo Logger]

It strange how a mans occupation all to often takes over a good portion of his life. In some cases the job becomes his life, it directly affects them as a person . its the turning point in our lifes where its not what we do for a living, its what we live to do .

The drilling is just the mineral below the overburden and just as exciting to see.
It's just that there's alot more granite than pine. Lol
John

 

[056kid]

I wish I could tell stories like Randy.

Been raisin hell all day in this east coast snow storm. LOLOL.

People really get scared when you cock your rig sideways, spinnig tires trying to get up hills.

LOLOLOL, I made some people hit the ditch, they where going down a hill, I was trying to rocket my way up, they saw me all sideways and decided to slam on brakes, hahahahaha, they ended up in a ditch. Thats really funny to me because those morons did that all on their own.
A whole town full of idiots

People are FUCHING STUPID. . . .

 

[Rounder]

My first logging job was the result of an interview....not sure what that means anymore. Anyhow, owner says to me, very matter of factly- "Logging is not a job, it is a lifestyle". Jesus ####ing Christ, he wasn't kidding - Sam

 

[GASoline71]

I cut my teeth on the landing with a Stihl 076. Had a 41" bar on it. Huge monster for a 17 year old kid to be runnin' around with buckin' the butt ends off of the big pickles that came up from below. It was a far cry from my Gramps old Echo EVL somethingorother jap saw we used for firewood. That big Stihl beat the snot out of me for 2 years until I enlisted in the Navy. Boot Camp was a welcome sight as it was easier than what I had been doin' in the woods the 2 years prior to joining up.

I still have a small dent in my chest where that big 076 came back at me hard in a pinch and knocked me flat on my ass. Lifted me off the ground and tossed me a good 6 feet from where my corks were planted. I misread the compression on that log. Only about 6" of the bar was still in the big Douggie spar that I was buckin' but it held the powerhead of that saw off the ground 'pert near 3 feet. It wobbled back and forth as if to say to me "Nice try punk." The saw sputtered to a halt and it was real quiet for a sec...

The cat workin' the shovel, saw me get the wind knocked out of me and came to check on me. I really can't type what he actually said here... but it was to the effect that there was a loggin' operation in full swing and I was holding up the show by layin' down on the job. I stood up, and went to pull that big Stihl from the wood. No dice... pinched up hard like a virgin on prom night. I went to the crummy and got an 056 that was there for a "backup". It was a beat POS... lots of nuts and bolts missing, and low on compression, and to beat all, a rattling loose muffler. But the bar was long enough to do the job of rescuing the 076 from the death grip the huge Doug had on it... and the chain was razor sharp.

Off I went with the pain still burning in my chest from that kiss I took earlier. I freed up the big saw in decent time... but continued to use the POS because it was lighter. My sternum and ribcage were killin' me with every breath. I finished the day and when I got home... my Mom took me to the ER. I had torn cartilage on my sternum, and 2 cracked ribs. I was back on the job in 2 weeks (against doctors orders)... I almost missed football that year (my senior year) because of that injury.

Oh well... I have the dent in my chest to match the dent in my head... and that pard'... is another story.

Gary

 

[RandyMac]

YeeHaww!!!

That 056 sounds like every landing saw I have ever seen.

So, about that dent in your head.

 

[Tzed250]

.

The scars help to keep the memories clear...


.

 

[joesawer]

The spiders bite me today. Lol
I am at my dads and dug out my very first saw and started messing with it.
How many people get to go through as many saws as I have and still go back to the one that got their cherry? Lol

 

[RandyMac]

The spiders bite me today. Lol
I am at my dads and dug out my very first saw and started messing with it.
How many people get to go through as many saws as I have and still go back to the one that got their cherry? Lol

Squish that spider, let's hear your first saw story.

 

[RandyMac]

Dammitalltohell!!!
A couple days ago, someone let me know that most of my photos don't show up in threads, and they don't. I checked my photo site, it's been hacked, mostly gone and they left tree hugging crap in it. I have started fixing it. Happened just after I got an AS content warning. Back to rotating passwords again. I also got a big increase in unknown username e-mails, that I never open, the titles are enough.

The spiders are suspicious.

 

[Joe46]

That's a ##### Randy. Had that happen to me last spring while I was visiting friends in SoCal. Scumbag hit up all my contacts for money. Fortunately all my contacts know that's not how I operate and nobody sent them anything.

 

[Eccentric]

Dammitalltohell!!!
A couple days ago, someone let me know that most of my photos don't show up in threads, and they don't. I checked my photo site, it's been hacked, mostly gone and they left tree hugging crap in it. I have started fixing it. Happened just after I got an AS content warning. Back to rotating passwords again. I also got a big increase in unknown username e-mails, that I never open, the titles are enough.

The spiders are suspicious.

Bastards!

Hold my beer while I go get my tire iron...:chainsawguy:

 

[joesawer]

That sucks about your getting hacked. There is more than one way to steal from a man.

As for my saw... It was given to me when I was 15 yrs old by grandpa.
It is a Mac 550 that was really to much saw for me at the time.
It is 99cc and I did not know how to sharpen a chain and could not take advantage of the power.
With its lack of anti vibe and slow cutting and weight it was quite unpleasant to run.
The exhaust sound was also impressive.
It has a ton of compression and without good drop start technique it is impossible to start. When it spits back it will take the starter handle from you.
As an unskilled teenager it was simply too much saw and I grew to not really like it much.
I put it up some time before I graduated high school in the loft of a tractor shed at my dads.
The tractor shed now is a part of a whole lot of sheds and a the sight of a sawmill and the tractor shed itself houses a planer mill and filling shop.
Things have changed some since then. The first thing I noticed it only weighs about half of what I remembered. Lol
Sitting for over twenty years has not been kind to it. I hope it will be worth fixing.
I don't really want to do a restoration on it but get it in good working condition and actually cut a few trees with it. Not for production but when I have an occasional big yard tree or some sport cutting to do.

 

[RandyMac]

Sport cutting, oh those were the days. My bro aka Humboldt Red and I roamed southern Humboldt county looking for interesting trees to fall, we often got far more than we bargined for. There are reasons why the old loggers left trees, we rediscovered some of the whys.

Joe, that 550 shouldn't give you too much trouble to get going, if it does, the Mac guys will help.