Up and Down Day

[2dogs]

Let me begin by saying if the boss happens to get wind of this thread then it is all a lie.

The morning began by waking my son up so he could go to work with me. It was his first "real" day of the rest of his life. Work starts today and continues for the next 40 or maybe 50 years. That was an up.

Then the boss called early and told me to put the mower on the tractor and pick up the chipper up the coast. Cool, no problemo. Mission accomplished with time to spare. Another up.

Then Javier fueled his saw with bar oil, a minor mistake anyone can make. Then the boss was mowing with the Seppi mower and broke a pair of mounting lugs off the drum. I had to meet him at the mechanic's shop so the lugs could be welded back on. That cost money. Then I was filling my piggyback can with Stihl Bio Plus but put it in the mix side with mix already in it. At over $20.00/gallon I wasted ten dollars of the boss's money. Then the biggie, I left the pintle hook on the chipper by mistake in the morning and someone stole it. That was a $120.00 mistake that is all my fault. I have already ordered a replacement shank but I'll see what kind of pintle hook we want. Dang stupid of me. Lots of downs.

 

[RandyMac]

I once backed over a pulaski with a truck that had brand new tires on it, right in front of the Bosses office window.
8.5X20.5s are expensive. On one occasion, that I will admit to, I crushed a 3 month old chainsaw, it wasn't a small one either. The ups are always in the lead, but the downs, they hurt and they really sting in a series.

 

[lfnh]

Upside - Nobody got hurt.

just my take. the rest - a good meal will help.

 

[056kid]

Don't fret, I cut a tree over a boundary, got hit in the nose by a bald hornet, and put a big limb right across the front clip of the crummy,(6,500 in damage) all in less than two weeks.

I payed off my stupidity, but my pride will always be damaged. .

 

[hammerlogging]

when it rains it pours, never fails.

 

[Sport Faller]

Oh now buddy, that's not all that bad

My worst was ruining about 700.00 worth of barrels at an undisclosed custom gun shop
also, harpooning the outside wall of the new shop at my job before that with the forklift (the P.O.S. only had the E-brake to stop it as they were to cheap to replace the regular brakes though)

 

[Greystoke]

I once cut over five hundred logs a foot too long! Thought for sure I was gonna get fired over that one, but the boss was cool. Gotta be willing to pay the price if'n your gonna splice

 

[RandyMac]

I once cut over five hundred logs a foot too long! Thought for sure I was gonna get fired over that one, but the boss was cool. Gotta be willing to pay the price if'n your gonna splice

Oh dear, I cut an 80" 19 footer once. As a choker setter, right out of the gate, set a new inch choker the wrong way and broke it.

 

[Samlock]

Then Javier fueled his saw with bar oil, a minor mistake anyone can make.

Not long time ago I did that. It happens, no big deal out in the bush. Just pour the oil to the ground. Except I forgot I wasn't in a bush. I thought the landowner was out, but in fact he stood right behind me and watched me spraying oil and gas all over his ground. Well, he had no guts to tell me off, but I could tell by his eyes there will be a lot of talking about a polluting terrorist logger trashing people's yards and gardens.

 

[2dogs]

Well I told the boss about the pintle hook and his eyes went wide. Uh-oh. The he said something to the effect of "oh yeah I forgot to tell you I grabbed it. Sorry bout that". So alls well that end well.

Tomorrow we are being pulled off our regular job for an emergency stream clearing job. It is a concrete lined stream where we have to climb down ladders built into the wall. The city requires us to wear fall protection harnesses and be belayed from above. Then we, probably me, have to wade out into the stream and cut some little trees and have them hoisted out. I'm guessing it will take all day long.

 

[T_F_E]

I once cut over five hundred logs a foot too long! Thought for sure I was gonna get fired over that one, but the boss was cool. Gotta be willing to pay the price if'n your gonna splice

Same thing here but mine were all a foot to short, which is worse I reckon. Boss spliced the tape though, course it was still my fault though.

 

[Gologit]

Mistakes and bad things that happen on a job? Things that I did personally? I'll make a list. It might take a while. Might take quite a while.

 

[hammerlogging]

Mistakes and bad things that happen on a job? Things that I did personally? I'll make a list. It might take a while. Might take quite a while.

I am used to the majority of poplar going to peelers, 9' and/or 18'. On this new job, after bucking down a good many poles at 27' or 36' for peelers to help them log more easily, I found out it was all going to sawlogs, of which there is a not a lot to do but waste some wood. A 27 can get a 12 and a 14, a 36? waste. kind of embarrassing since I was the new hotshot outsider coming in to help step it all up.

 

[Mastermind]

Maybe a bit off the topic but I'll share one I did as a young "know-it-all" carpenter. I was working for my brother and his partner framing homes. They decided I was ready to take a crew and frame a few on my own. Things went well for three or four houses, and I was learning to find ways to speed the process up. This was making me a little cocky.

I was taught to cut a pattern for the rafters and then check them for fit before cutting the rest. This means cutting a pair, climbing up onto the ridge pole scaffold, pulling the rafters up and seeing how they look. Time consuming for sure.

I laid out and cut a set of patterns for a house that was 26'9" in width. One of the men on the crew started to get ready for checking the set. I told him I was sure they would fit, hell they did on the last house. So I decided we would just cut em.

When all 60 were cut we began to install them only to find that they were short. We remeasured the house to find it was really 29'6", I had turned the numbers around in my head. I wanted to climb under a stack of wood and hide. It cost me over $600.00 to replace the 60 2x8s I wasted. Not to mention the ribbing I took for the next several years.

I continued building for 20 more years and have never cut rafters without checking them first again.

 

[Gologit]

Mistakes and bad things that happen on a job? Things that I did personally? I'll make a list. It might take a while. Might take quite a while.

I'm still adding things to the list. If I run out of things to write down I'll call some old logging buddies...I'm sure they'll remember stuff I've forgotten.

 

[hammerlogging]

I'm still adding things to the list. If I run out of things to write down I'll call some old logging buddies...I'm sure they'll remember stuff I've forgotten.

Dare I ask, does "becoming a logger" make the list?

 

[Gologit]

Dare I ask, does "becoming a logger" make the list?

It might but I think that "staying a logger" would be above it in order of serious mistakes and other mishaps.

 

[bitzer]

Well, 2Dogs when the #### hits the fan it makes a mess. Everytime.

Glad to hear the hitch was not part of the fun. Just one of those days. I'm due for one.

 

[slowp]

The one that haunts me is when I was making maps for a timber sale. We'd just had a severe lecture from our boss that we were using too much plotter paper. He was going through the recycle paper and seeing a lot of it there and in waste baskets.

I wanted to see how my little NORTH arrow would look, so I thought I sent it to the little printer. Nope, I sent it to the big plotter and my little one inch long arrow showed up on a huge piece of paper. The plotter was right outside his open door too. I acted quite serious, ripped it off, rolled it up, ran it down to my office and hid it behind a file cabinet. It may still be there today. :redface:

 

[paccity]

I'm still adding things to the list. If I run out of things to write down I'll call some old logging buddies...I'm sure they'll remember stuff I've forgotten.

it's funny how you try to forget things, but your buddies are the first to remind ya.