"Pros" at Work--real life situations

[slowp]

I thought I'd post this here instead of the logging forum. I work in the woods. When I'm waiting for something, I'll sometimes take some pictures. I thought you'd like to see some typical stuff.

Here's the chaser, who unlike the guy on axemen, has to buck, limb, unhook, brand and paint logs, and gofer whatever the yarder engineer needs. He's working on the saw on an improvised workbench which also serves double duty as a splicing table (for the lines).

Yesterday, there was a carburator from one of the 460's setting on the table.

Here's a bucking picture.

You can't see the chips flying, but they were. Strangely enough, the landing saw is sharp. Maybe because it hasn't been sent out to the rigging crew yet?

And, since all we do is commercial thin units, here's a problem that occurs when people marking trees to cut do not understand about "limb lock" and having openings for the faller to fall to. This faller is pretty good, but had me go down and mark some additional trees so he could get them on the ground.
That's him looking up in the background. The cut trees are the smaller trees and don't have enough weight to carry them through the canopy of leave trees. There was a lot of cussing in this area. Oh, he usually cuts with a 460 but sometimes takes the 660 down "to exercise it."

Just a typical day in the woods. Well, not typical because it was hot instead of foggy.

 

[Meadow Beaver]

That's not rare for us but for you Slowp a hot, sunny day is rare in Washington.

 

[Urbicide]

I always enjoy your posts & pics of the real deal.

 

[slowp]

That's not rare for us but for you Slowp a hot, sunny day is rare in Washington.

We usually have a couple of weeks of it. But this month has been a yo-yo back and forth from no hoot owl to part hoot owl. We're back in the partial hoot owl now.

 

[Meadow Beaver]

We've had a cool, rainy summer here, how has it been getting out there?

 

[TRI955]

I have a lot of respect for you guys in the logging world, I'm sure I couldn't hack it. Thanks for the pictures and "keeping it real" for us wanna be fellers.

Rep headed your way,

 

[smokinj]

Thats some tite landings

 

[7oaks]

Thanks for posting the interesting "real world" photos. Always love seeing what working loggers do in the woods.

 

[alderman]

They do a lot of thinning over here on the Oregon side and after the first good wind storm, they go in and clean up the rest of the trees that have blown over. Up above our place they spent over a year thinning and now have ended up with clearcuts. Got to cut lots of firewood out of their leavin's.

Looks like work, but at least it isn't too steep.

 

[2000ssm6]

Kool pics! Thanks for sharing.

 

[AOD]

I wonder why all 460's and no 372's or 575's?

 

[2000ssm6]

I wonder why all 460's and no 372's or 575's?

Ummm, do you really need an answer?

 

[Ironbark]

For a minute there I thought that was Twinkle undergoing some unscheduled maintenance. Phhhheeeeeewww, panic over.

 

[Zombiechopper]

I'm just curious, but it sounds like the saws are company owned? For some reason I thought a faller would get hired on like a contractor and have to supply their own equipment.

 

[Gologit]

I'm just curious, but it sounds like the saws are company owned? For some reason I thought a faller would get hired on like a contractor and have to supply their own equipment.

In our area fallers usually supply their own saws. Landing saws are usually supplied by the company.

 

[mtngun]

Slowp, thanks for the pics. I always enjoy your posts but I don't hang out on the logging forum because the "lets-blame-everything-on-environmentalists" rants get old.

Can you explain, or provide a link for, how you mark trees ? Is there a universal code, or does each agency do it differently ? I'm trying to learn what the markings mean.

My local (state) forester uses blue paint to mark the boundary of a timber sale, and red paint means a "seed tree" that does not get cut.

What species are they cutting ? Looks awful small -- is it destined for pulp ? Around here, those little trees would end up in the slash pile because they are hardly worth what it costs to haul to the mill.

Does the logging company get paid to thin, or is it actually profitable for them to cut and market those skinny logs ?

 

[7oaks]

What species are they cutting ? Looks awful small -- is it destined for pulp ? Around here, those little trees would end up in the slash pile because they are hardly worth what it costs to haul to the mill.

Does the logging company get paid to thin, or is it actually profitable for them to cut and market those skinny logs ?

Times are pretty tough in the logging industry, at least the area I'm familiar with. A couple years ago I had the Pi$$ fir removed from my property in NW Montana for the logs only, and any of you who've worked with Pi$$ fir know that there's not much log there for the limbing and slash work.

Then a week ago I had a logger, the nephew of another logger I know, call me and want to selective cut my land to reduce fire hazard as he's done/doing for several neighbors. He told me there is almost no work in the state for fellers and that there used to be 36 lumber mills in our part of the state and now there are only 3. He said that, in recent years, one of the regions primary markets for the logs he was cutting was Japan where they would be made into log homes but with the economic down turn that market has mostly dried up.

I bought some 1x4s at 84 lumber last week in WV and on the end of each, in bright plum color, was stamped Plum Creek. I couldn't believe that lumber from the Flathead Valley of Montana was shipped out to rural WV where there is a lot of logging activity and two lumber mills in that town alone.

 

[Meadow Beaver]

I've always heard that name, what exactly is a pi$$ fir?

 

[7oaks]

I've always heard that name, what exactly is a pi$$ fir?

Subalpine fir...Soft wood with a great amount of taper and thousands of limbs from the ground up. Not worth a Pi$$!

 

[sILlogger]

slowp, it might just be the pictures....but those trees don't look very big... what is the average size? around here we wouldn't even cut trees that small.