066blaster - give me a shout if interested

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bitzer

******** Timber Expert
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
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Location
Hardwood Country
Since they shut down the barber chair thread I thought I'd just put this on the table for you. Send me a pm if you are interested and I will send you my number. I live 5 miles north of west bend and over the past year or so I cut 700,000 board feet and about 500 cords of pulp within 10 miles of town. I will be cutting in Jackson in about a week and a half. If you can handle stomping around in two feet of snow for several hours I can give you some pointers. Frankly your stumps you posted in that thread looked ugly and some of your suggestions were questionable. Not trying to knock on you just extending a hand.
 
I can put them on the ground just fine. I know my dad's stump in the pic wasn't perfect but we don't stand around and critique them . I'm sure if your selling logs you cut different. I can make them look perfect too if I want and usually do. Just like to say an ugly stump doesn't mean it's not gonna fall where you want safely. I have a 20 acre woods with all big Oaks and hickory in Sussex I'm working. Waiting for enough snow to melt to get back in. Do you have a log truck?
 
I need help choosing the right beer to go with a stihl 460 with a 28" bar with full skip chain... (running it at night, no electricity)

Seriously though, wish you were closer, cheers
 
Wish I lived closer. I would take you up if nobody else would. I have much to learn and not ashamed to admit it.

Me too! And I had no idea the thread I started would turn out the way it did. There's a difference between just reading about procedures and trying to copy them and actually watching it being done. It's like welding - yeah, you can teach yourself to do it, but things will go safer, better, and faster with a teacher who knows what he's doing.
 
Bitz, I commend you on your offer, and if you're ever up in my part of the state, I'd love to meet you and maybe learn something.

066, I locked that thread down because it needed some cleanup. As Bitzer mentioned, some of your advice was questionable at best. I'm no professional, but I'm a heck of a lot better off than I was when I joined this site, thanks at least partly to some of the grumpy old loggers who's advice you resent so much. Even the big meanie west coasters can teach a great lakes hardwood guy a thing or two, if they'll listen.

Just because your way has worked so far (IE ain't killed you yet), doesn't mean it's the right way, the best way, or even a good way to do it. There are a lot of "firewood hacks" out there - just check stumps out while you're out hunting sometime - who could get a Darwin award at any time. Should Google send one of them here looking for a better way, consider that this is seen as a "professional" site where the advice should be good. Bottom line: rather than be a tough guy internet logger who's never wrong, listen, learn and leave any advice giving to those that know what they're talking about.


***I might sound like a total A-Whole here, and if I do, so be it. Giving out bad advice that's acted on and gets someone hurt or killed is not something I'd want on my conscience. ***

I'll clean up that other train wreck in the morning. It's been a long night at work.
 
I can put them on the ground just fine. I know my dad's stump in the pic wasn't perfect but we don't stand around and critique them . I'm sure if your selling logs you cut different. I can make them look perfect too if I want and usually do. Just like to say an ugly stump doesn't mean it's not gonna fall where you want safely. I have a 20 acre woods with all big Oaks and hickory in Sussex I'm working. Waiting for enough snow to melt to get back in. Do you have a log truck?
You are right about an ugly stump doesn't mean it didn't go how you wanted. Especially in hardwoods when you cut with the lean. You can get away with a lot. I guess I wouldn't post pictures or even take pictures of stumps like that. Strive for perfection every time. Either the cuts on that stump were made by a really worn out bar or screwed up chain and they kind of rode away on him or it was just sloppy technique. Just because you guys are cutting for firewood doesn't mean it has to be sloppy. Some of the trees you posted have logs in them. If you run into any decent logs get a hold of me and I could probably get them bought for you. I'd send my forester down to look at em. I may be cutting a job in Merton in a week and a half depending on the weather. I do not have a log truck, but I do know some guys that do. My logs get hauled by the mill's truck, but I have to find my own trucking for the pulp/firewood. This time of year with break up approaching they have no time though. I've got bills to pay so it doesn't really matter to me how much snow or rain or **** is out there. Just packin up now to head to Caledonia. I hate driving through Milwaukee. Even if you wanna give me a call just to shoot the **** the offer is there.
 
I don't think I gave bad advise. That's how I would have cut those trees we were talking about. And they were a cake walk compared to a huge oak tree. I looked at some pics in the logging section on here some guys posted of there stumps. Impressive but I would not recommend any beginners even think of trying those techniques. I do cut another log off my stumps and leave a nice flush cut stump for the land owner that is much better than most of the loggers work I have seen. I cut all my trees into firewood ,the woods I'm cutting now was a pasture at one time and there is nails and wire in some trees anyway. But if I could skid logs out and pay a log truck to haul them home I would be saving money and time.
Bitzer, I am leaving for Florida in a week for 12 days I will pm you after I get back. I have a snow plowing business that's what pays my bills in winter.
 
Just because your way has worked so far (IE ain't killed you yet), doesn't mean it's the right way, the best way, or even a good way to do it. There are a lot of "firewood hacks" out there - just check stumps out while you're out hunting sometime - who could get a Darwin award at any time.

I have a story for you.

My neighbor had some dead trees he needed down. I showed him which ones I was comfortable with, which ones I wasn't. He decided to let the guy who mows his lawn take care of it. I came home one day, a giant oak was down across his driveway, a very large pine was hung up in an oak hanging over the driveway. Neither of these 2 things should have happened. Other trees were down too. I immediately went over and looked at the stumps. There was no face cut; there was no hinge; there was no back cut. They just started cutting and kept going around the tree until it started to fall and ran like H**L to try to get out of the way. It worked before, why change right? I offered to help them finish free of charge; they turned me down. I watched as they tried to get the leaner out of the tree. He was cutting about a foot off the base with each cut; his helper just standing there in the danger zone watching. It looked like a youtube video. I told him I had chains, we need to pull it down before somebody gets hurt. He said no, he had it. I told my neighbor he was putting himself in danger and the solution. She said help him. I got my chains and we pulled it down safely. He was actually very thankful. I think they wanted help but were too proud to ask or even except help. One man asked the other "how is your back?". He said it hurts. I thought he strained it from lifting. WRONG; he was cutting a dead hollow tree using the method he always uses. The tree broke loose and he couldn't quite get out of the way fast enough and it grazed his back on the way down. The man who got hurt told me it scared the crap out of him; he was still visibly shaken. They left a widow maker that broke off in another tree on the way down. I asked them what they were going to do about it. He told me they would be back with a pole saw tomorrow. Wrong answer, no way a professional would leave that in a tree over night. My kids play there 4-5 days a week; if it fell on one of our kids it would kill them. So, I went home, got a ladder and some rope and pulled it down my self with ease; in fact, I don't know what was holding it up.

Anyhow, everybody be safe; and don't be too proud to learn and accept advise.
 
every time i saw a tree down, i think of a young man who was the son of one of my dads friends. 18 years old,KILLED cutting a tree down. i am not afraid to cut most trees but i damn well respect them.if you don't you are stupid or foolish or soon dead.please saw smart and saw safe.
Steve.
 
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