"Pros" at Work--real life situations

[Veteran]

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

When a mill is cutting this wood almost as bad as going P ### on an camp fire.

 

[AUSSIE1]

Thanks for the photo's Slowp, I duck into the "forestry" section and check them out from time to time. Who marks your trees, member of your logging crew or the forestry management? If forestry management, the trouble is they have never had any hands on experiance to get an idea as to what's needed is what we find here. In the pine plantations basically thinnings are left up to us and occassionally a stem count is done per hectare by the forestry management to make sure we aren't overdoing it. We never do thinnings with a Yarder, only clearfall. How do you go for standing tree damage when hauling? What do you use for anchoring, dozer or tailspa? Consistently with stems of that size, is it not feasible to use a mechanical harvester? Would probably depend on your quota and length I guess. Trees felled by buncher and processed by harvester here with a quota between 1200 to 1600 approx per week. I drive harvesters and forwarders but did a stint behind a Madill and then a Thunderbird for twelve months.

Now wouldn't this be a nightmare? Even more so if you were on a contract rate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUpPmvnbJd0

 

[AOD]

Ummm, do you really need an answer?

Mister 2K,

If I fix up my 460 will you let me come to Stihl camp next summer?

 

[SawTroll]

Mister 2K,

If I fix up my 460 will you let me come to Stihl camp next summer?

Well - he did let Wanab in, so why not you?

 

[SawTroll]

.....

Here's a bucking picture.

.....

That has to be a joke - looks more like 50cc 16" stuff........:jawdrop::jawdrop:

 

[Gologit]

That has to be a joke - looks more like 50cc 16" stuff........:jawdrop::jawdrop:

No joke. Notice the posture. If you're going to run a saw, and run it hard, all day long, why not work standing up instead of all crouched over. A landing saw has to be able to take any size log that comes in. The long bar makes the smaller stuff easy to work on and the same saw can be used on larger logs.
Landing guys spend a lot of time on the saw all day long...and I mean a lot. There's a big difference in choosing to run a saw and having to run a saw. These guys know what works and they go with what they know.

And...I know you already know this, it's just information for those who don't.

 

[7oaks]

When a mill is cutting this wood almost as bad as going P ### on an camp fire.

That too and I forgot to mention sappy as anything. No good for firewood because of the smell when it burns and the cresote buildup in the chimney.

 

[little possum]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

[Jtheo]

Interesting. thank you for the pictures.

 

[mtngun]

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.

I think she said they were thinning. I'd love to hear Slowp explain that in detail, but I believe the idea is to take out the less desirable species (white fir, hemlock, alpine fir) and the crummier, less healthy trees, and leave a few healthy, straight, valuable trees (like douglas fir). The trees that remain will now receive more sun, so they'll get a growth spurt and become valuable timber logs. That's the theory, anyway.

You don't necessarily make money on a thinning operation (which is why I asked her if the loggers have to pay for the logs or if the F.S. is paying the loggers to thin), but the idea is to cultivate healthier trees that will be more valuable down the road.

If you didn't thin, the growth of the trees would stagnate, because the trees are crowding each other out, and not getting enough sunlight.

 

[2000ssm6]

Mister 2K,

If I fix up my 460 will you let me come to Stihl camp next summer?

Yup, anytime. You can ever bring Troll and his 372.

 

[scattergun13]

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,

"Ditto" Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you guys who do it for real. My respect to you and everyone in your profession.

 

[slowp]

OK, quick answers cuz I need to go up and OK guyline trees. Both sales are sold to a timber sale purchaser, in this case it is a mill. The mill then contracts out the logging. The chaser is working for a large logging company.
The trees are the size the mills now like. The chaser is cutting the ideal size, I think the average size on that sale is 14 inches DBH. It is second growth.
Those thinnings were "thin from below". The marker picks out the best trees and marks the smaller ones around it to release the good tree. We don't get as much wind here as the coast, so that isn't as big of a problem, and as you can see, the spacing is pretty tight.

The tree species on both sales are Doug-fir, Western Hemlock, Pacific Silver Fir, and Noble Fir. Both are high elevation sales, about 4000 feet, so the species lean towards more of the white woods--not so much doug fir as at the lower elevations.

Gologit answered the logging/saw questions correctly. On our latest sales, the kind of marking is described in the contract, and the purchaser is responsible for the marking, and paint.

Gotta git....the boys are waiting.

 

[pgg]

Thinning's a full-time job in production forests down this part of the world, you're dropping anything bent or broken, and everything left that hasn't been pruned. Pruned trees have a clear-wood 21 foot butt-log. HaHa lots of loggers/ex loggers come a gutser on a thinning block if they haven't done thinning before.

They usually turn up with 90cc saws and 25" bars when 60 - 70cc & 18-20" bars are better suited. I stir them up and tell em' any drongo can clear fell, it's all open gaps. Easy-peasy stuff. Get these heroes in a tight thinning block where it's all tall trees and skinny gaps - they're stuffed. Hang-ups galore. Most loggers down here can't aim trees for sh*t. But, hehe, after spending a few hours over the day blocking down hang-ups they soon learn umpkin2:

 

[mtngun]

14" and that's what the mill wants ? Wow.

Thanks for the answers, Slowp.

pgg, I love the way you talk. Is that English ???

I have a hard time directing the fall of small trees myself. Just about the time the back cut is deep enough to pause and insert a wedge, the tree decides to lean back and pinch the bar.

 

[BarkBuster20]

hm that is what i do just not on a comercial scale...thinning timber is way tougher than felling saw logs. and i imagine way more dangerous. a lot of hang ups and jackpots but thats what young legs are for.

 

[TreePointer]

"Ditto" Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you guys who do it for real. My respect to you and everyone in your profession.

:agree2: Double dittos!

 

[clearance]

14" and that's what the mill wants ? Wow.

Thanks for the answers, Slowp.

pgg, I love the way you talk. Is that English ???

I have a hard time directing the fall of small trees myself. Just about the time the back cut is deep enough to pause and insert a wedge, the tree decides to lean back and pinch the bar.

Put in the backcut first.

 

[KMB]

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

:agree2::agree2:

Kevin

 

[elliott]

Put in the backcut first.

Interesting. I'm gonna' try that. For a tree that has a lot of lean, I usually bore through the face cut, put a wedge in the hole (in back), then proceed to finish the backcut on each side of the wedge, but that requires me to work from both sides of the tree. Doing the backcut first seems like it would be more efficient. I'm off to experiment!