Moving to Hood River OR

[jsnspence]

Here goes my first post...

I am moving to Hood River Oregon and I am going to try my best to get a job with a logging company. :jawdrop:

Simply put, I have always admired the profession and wanted to become a logger and cut big timber.

I may be putting the cart far ahead of the horse as I don't know how hard it may be to secure a job with a logging company let alone as a cutter....

Okay with that said I want to purchase 1 or 2 saws. The only saw I currently own is a 260pro that I modified the muffler on with help from this web site. After reading many posts I am ready to purchase a 660 1st and then maybe a 460.

I have a bunch of other questions but will start with just this.

 

[tlandrum]

in my humble opinion dont waste your time, there are too many established professional fallers in need of work for someone with zero experience to hope for a job. i would also go as far as to say that i would not want to be working with a company that would hire a newby with no experience over an experienced faller in this dangerous profession. jmho

 

[jsnspence]

tlandrum2002 your advise is well taken. Especially about being about being wary of anybody who would bring on somebody with no experience vs hiring an experienced faller. I hope some of my other skills might allow me to secure a position lower in the hierarchy of the logging profession first.

I have owned an emergency commercial sewer and water construction company for years now. This is also dangerous work and labor intense. I am a good excavator operator with more than 6000 hours of experience, I know rigging, I can splice & eye splice wire rope, I know all the knots and eye splices used on synthetic wire rope replacement such as Amsteel Blue Tenex, I have my class A and have plenty of experience lowboy and tractor, I can run a loader with the best of them... to name a few.

 

[slowp]

This is a joke, right?

The industry is in a slump. Very experienced and good loggers have sold or had their equipment repoed. Two that I know of are still in the business but no longer working for their own companies--after a struggle they found work with others.

I'm a forester who usually is out checking up on logging jobs for contract compliance. I'm doing planning/recon work instead. There might be a couple outfits starting up soon. A couple. This isn't Hood River either.

The market took and upswing in the spring and then crashed again last month.

If you are moving to Hood River, you might get a job working in a restaurant or bar or motel. It is more of a yuppie sports place than a logging town. Oh, it has a brewery too.

 

[Jacob J.]

As said above, there's already too many seasoned veterans out of work who are among the best of the best in the industry. I can't really say "don't waste your time" but I'm going to say it anyways- don't waste your time on logging and timber falling.

If you really want to cut wood for a living, establish a professional tree service business close to a metropolitan area and then farm yourself out to logging companies as a cutter once in a while after you are established.

 

[hdcoop72]

jmspence It is not like the old days where after repeated trips to the site and dressed properly you'r hired. Please keep in mind Oregon has a very high unemployment rate. Non the less good luck!!!! It has been a wonderful state to live in for many a year.

 

[jsnspence]

I should have known better than to admit I would like to get a job in the logging industry.

And no this is not a joke. With a little digging i have found 5 logging companies based in hood river. I guess they only log sites that can be reached by windsurfing or kite boarding. It sounds cool and all the jobs are catered by Starbucks.

I have no delusions of grandeur. It is very tough out there for anybody even remotely connected to the construction industry.

Never the less I am going to give it a try.

Perhaps the following would have been a better post...

"How many and of what size saws would be a typical professional fallers in the Northwest usually have with them on a daily basis?"

I work with cut off saws everyday and we always have no less than 2 on every job because if one takes a shiitake we are dead in the water.

 

[slowp]

Hooookay. Good luck.

 

[gavin]

If it's what you really want to do, and you honestly think you will be good at it, I would say go for it. But keep a back up in mind. I wouldn't waste thousands of dollars on gear until you have a job secured. If you are persistent and show a good attitude someone will probably give you a try if they have an opening. Almost for certain you would have to work on the rigging and buck on a landing before you be given a chance to break in as a faller. Some guys pick it up real fast and some guys never pick it up.

Logging is an up-and-down industry and fallers are the first to be out of work when things slow down. That said, I love my job even with all the downsides to it!

 

[kkottemann]

660 or 395xp with 28 or 32" bar. Working for a tree service is probably a better bet for employment and a starting point. Slow p is right, bad time to log....also you might be able to pick up a good saw at a local pawn shop in the area.

 

[jsnspence]

Gavin do guys bucking still use such a big damn saw?

 

[gavin]

I would assume things work more or less the same in the States as they do here. The guys bucking on the landing are generally supplied company saws. Fallers have to supply their own gear as they are subcontractors. Its really hard to say what saws guys use because it depends a lot on personal preference and the size of wood you are in. The most popular saw that I see here are modified husky 390's. They happily pull a 36" bar and do fine with a 42" bar when in big wood on steep ground. Also popular are highly modified 372's and lots of guys use stihl 660's. There's still guys using 395's but most guys that previously used them have switched to the 390's. On a landing I would expect a husky 390 or a stihl 460 to be pretty common. Like I said, I wouldn't go out and buy anything though.

 

[IcePick]

The only "logging" I've ever done has been lot clearing and thinning for firewood. If you get a job with a tree service, you may be able to do some of that. Some days you might spend all day nip plucking little ornamentals though. Tree service would get you some experience rigging, climbing, and running a saw. If the job market picks up for logging, then you could give it a go, but you got to start somewhere.

 

[Jabuol]

Here goes my first post...

I am moving to Hood River Oregon and I am going to try my best to get a job with a logging company. :jawdrop:

Simply put, I have always admired the profession and wanted to become a logger and cut big timber.

I may be putting the cart far ahead of the horse as I don't know how hard it may be to secure a job with a logging company let alone as a cutter....

Okay with that said I want to purchase 1 or 2 saws. The only saw I currently own is a 260pro that I modified the muffler on with help from this web site. After reading many posts I am ready to purchase a 660 1st and then maybe a 460.

I have a bunch of other questions but will start with just this.

If you want to move out here and try your hand at logging I think you should do it. That's the only way you'll ever know for sure if you really want to do it or not. And if you can really handle what logging really is.

It's not like AxeMen...not even a little. Not even close. You might get a job on the landing bumping knots or you might wind up in the rigging. Either job will probably be with the kind of logger that goes through a lot of hired help and is always on the look-out for fresh meat that doesn't know anything. Those kind of jobs, if you survive them, are good for experience but not much else. Expect busted rigging, rubber checks, and sporadic work.

You'll work steep ground, eat tons of dust, commute maybe a couple of hours each way for no pay, and stay on the hustle all day long.

As far as a falling job goes you can pretty much forget it until you've been around for a couple of years and people know you. Falling, especially out here, is a specialized trade. A good faller can make a bad job easier...a bad faller can drop an outfit from profit to loss in no time at all. Loggers look for the best fallers that will work for the money they're paying and there are always fallers out of work and looking to cut.

The last rookie my BIL and I broke in was five years ago and that was my son. My BIL is more the faller than I am and he's been working with my son all this time and is just now about ready to turn him loose on the easier stuff.

If you showed up around here with your new saws, the wrong kind of clothes, boots as yet unscuffed, your tape bright blue and not scratched up, and not even coming close to speaking enough of our unique language to at least ask the right questions, and asked for a falling job....well, people would just laugh at you. Maybe they'd even let you drop a tree, just for the entertainment value and so they'd have lunch time conversation.

You seem sincere about wanting to log and I hope you get a chance. But look at it for what it is. After people know you you might get a chance but the odds are against it. Most new fallers get in through knowing somebody and somebody already knows them. Play with your firewood a little...sometimes getting to cut wood is a lot more fun than having to cut wood.

Jabuol

 

[forestryworks]

If you want to move out here and try your hand at logging I think you should do it. That's the only way you'll ever know for sure if you really want to do it or not. And if you can really handle what logging really is.

It's not like AxeMen...not even a little. Not even close. You might get a job on the landing bumping knots or you might wind up in the rigging. Either job will probably be with the kind of logger that goes through a lot of hired help and is always on the look-out for fresh meat that doesn't know anything. Those kind of jobs, if you survive them, are good for experience but not much else. Expect busted rigging, rubber checks, and sporadic work.

You'll work steep ground, eat tons of dust, commute maybe a couple of hours each way for no pay, and stay on the hustle all day long.

As far as a falling job goes you can pretty much forget it until you've been around for a couple of years and people know you. Falling, especially out here, is a specialized trade. A good faller can make a bad job easier...a bad faller can drop an outfit from profit to loss in no time at all. Loggers look for the best fallers that will work for the money they're paying and there are always fallers out of work and looking to cut.

The last rookie my BIL and I broke in was five years ago and that was my son. My BIL is more the faller than I am and he's been working with my son all this time and is just now about ready to turn him loose on the easier stuff.

If you showed up around here with your new saws, the wrong kind of clothes, boots as yet unscuffed, your tape bright blue and not scratched up, and not even coming close to speaking enough of our unique language to at least ask the right questions, and asked for a falling job....well, people would just laugh at you. Maybe they'd even let you drop a tree, just for the entertainment value and so they'd have lunch time conversation.

You seem sincere about wanting to log and I hope you get a chance. But look at it for what it is. After people know you you might get a chance but the odds are against it. Most new fallers get in through knowing somebody and somebody already knows them. Play with your firewood a little...sometimes getting to cut wood is a lot more fun than having to cut wood.

Jabuol

Excellent post.

 

[74fencer]

Go for it! You will never know until you try for yourself. Good Luck

 

[jsnspence]

EXCELLENT.... Jabuol thank you very much for taking the time to provide such thoughtful advise. Many of the first responses to this thread were completely dismissive and discouraging. I know there are many guys on this site with a vast amount of knowledge. I am a small business owner I know its going to be hard as hell to get a job. I am old enough know what kind of outfit I want to work for. Undoubtedly I will have to start by earning my keep doing the less skilled, run your ass off positions, like setting chokers. I would happily do so. I would set chokers, be on the landing, bucking, load trucks, anything.

Owning a sewer & water company I have gone through many guys that show up with new boots, no hard hat, brand new safety vest, no rain gear, no water, can't start a cut off saw. The best is the first time you get a guy out on a water main break when it 10 below and 2am.

I know there is a language that goes with every specialized trade. This is far more apparent in dangerous trades. Let me tell you... in about 2 minutes of talking to a prospective pipe layer I can see through BS. Of course this comes from experience and knowing your trade backwards and forwards.

Excavator operators are the same way. If all a guy has done is mainline sewer or water putting in new housing developments with NOTHING to dig around, we don't want any operator with only that type of experience. See attached pictures. Yes that is the MetroDome where the Vikings play and the Twin use to...

I have Wesco's w/o calks so that will have to change. See pics. I plan on sending them in to get rebuilt and get screw in calks. I have Hoffman 14" steel toe packs w/o calks so that will have to change to...

 

[slowp]

Well, there is a local hooktender, who went into the septic tank and excavating business, and is very very good at it, so maybe it could work the other way.

Hint on the Wescos, see if they can put in regular calks (pronounced corks) because the exclusive Wesco spikes can only be bought from Wesco and are spendy. The regular ones are carried at saw shops and are less expensive.

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[Jacob J.]

You seem sincere about wanting to log and I hope you get a chance. But look at it for what it is. After people know you you might get a chance but the odds are against it. Most new fallers get in through knowing somebody and somebody already knows them. Play with your firewood a little...sometimes getting to cut wood is a lot more fun than having to cut wood.

Jabuol

That's about the best way to put it.

jsnspence, what kind of cardio do you have? Can you honestly put 95 pounds on your back and run up and down steep, rocky terrain at high elevations all day long? Seriously?

Falling is the most arduous work in logging besides tending hook. I've got twenty years in and the bad knees and bad back to show for it. Most of the guys on here who've cut full time (Gologit, Burvol, Oregoncutter, Spotted Owl, Joesawer, Hammerlogging, Randymac, Tarzanstree) all have the wear and tear on their bodies to show for it. You better have some damn good conditioning in place if you want to roll on a tower side under the rigging or cut full time.

Like others have said, break in first with a tree service or on a high-lead landing to get some saw handling skills and core strength. There is nothing in the way of an exercise routine that will prepare a person for full-time cutting. Running, aerobics, and weight lifting do help.

 

[jsnspence]

Jacob J fitness is a huge part of the job and a love it. I rowed in lightweight class (under 165lb) in college and my 2000 meter time was 6 seconds away from US Rowing National team times. After that I raced road bicycles as a category 1/Pro for 5 years.

Working in the field and mostly in the office for the last 3 years my cardio has suffered and I am all around much bigger than I was when I was 25. I am 35 now 6' 195lbs. I love being fit and working hard. I might be the only guy on the planet that liked stacking hay when I worked on a farm in high school. Fitness is key to being fast and remaining effective all day not just the first hour of the day after that dragging your sack for the rest of the day.

Fitness is not something most people consider but I sure do. I bet you dont see many choker setters that go 300lbs.

AxMen KEEPS being mentioned and speaking of AxMen a few of those dudes are just plain F-ing FAT. Probably more the ride around in the pickup and get out and yell alot types or more office boys.

I have never hired a fat person because they simply have a hard time working in a small trench box or heaven-for-bid a manhole or utility vault.