# Barberchair



## Spotted Owl (Dec 21, 2014)

They boy was paroozing that youtube. This one of the best barberchairs I have seen on camera. About 2:30, that guy put's it to 4 wheel drive. I'd bet everything I had, that guy thought he was done for. We talked about this one for a while once he found it. Good thing he saw whatever he saw before it totally blew up on him.

Good show for some who have never seen such a thing before and why it's such a nasty hand to have dealt to ya.





Owl


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## RandyMac (Dec 21, 2014)

yeah, that was a tasty one


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## HuskStihl (Dec 21, 2014)

Part barber-chair, part giant "Indiana Jones" boulder.


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## KenJax Tree (Dec 21, 2014)

Chair it just for the noise!!


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## Samlock (Dec 22, 2014)

I took a dive from my chair. Scary!


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## Thornton (Dec 22, 2014)

Wow


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## BeatCJ (Dec 22, 2014)

Looked to me like something had him all ready to go, he was finishing up his backcut poised to run.


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## Philip Wheelock (Dec 22, 2014)

Escape routes are for sissies.


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## SliverPicker (Dec 22, 2014)

I posted a link to this video at another forum. 

I wish that guy would do some more videos. 

On steep ground you don't always get the escape route (or perhaps anything else either) that you want. He must have felt like a mouse watching the falcon swooping in for supper. I had one come out by the roots last week. Missed me by 25 feet as I had my wheels on, but I did get a minor dirt shower. Those are the ones that make you want to take an early lunch to calm down.

Everyone be safe out there.


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## Philip Wheelock (Dec 22, 2014)

So how do you define "be safe" when you're working without an escape route? Just curious; I don't know much.


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## HuskStihl (Dec 22, 2014)

You don't chair them when you don't have an escape route. Duh


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## Gologit (Dec 22, 2014)

Philip Wheelock said:


> So how do you define "be safe" when you're working without an escape route? Just curious; I don't know much.



Prayer? Lucky rabbit's foot? Large doses of optimism? Using all your skills? Sometimes there just _aren't_ any good choices for an escape route but the tree has to come down anyway. That's the job.

Look at the pictures of guys working on springboards. Their escape route is straight down.


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## RandyMac (Dec 22, 2014)

flying leaps, make sure you are going off the short side


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## Philip Wheelock (Dec 22, 2014)

Gologit said:


> ...Sometimes there just _aren't_ any good choices for an escape route but the tree has to come down anyway...





RandyMac said:


> flying leaps, make sure you are going off the short side



OK. Thanks.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

at times i thought i grew wings lol...............some times its just that way.........i guess expeiriance helps keep one alive when things go side ways.

by the way, you westcoasters get kinda bigger chairs than we do. some of your dead snags just come all apart.


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## RandyMac (Dec 22, 2014)

treeslayer2003 said:


> at times i thought i grew wings lol...............some times its just that way.........i guess expeiriance helps keep one alive when things go side ways.
> 
> by the way, you westcoasters get kinda bigger chairs than we do. some of your dead snags just come all apart.



We are just soo special.


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

While we are at it............... I'm not too proud. This was a couple weeks ago. Shoulda' jumped this one......


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

Of course that was after I trimmed the evidence off the stump and beat the heck outta the stump with my ax.............


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

lol, thats why i don't do it no more..........
seems like once you start facing, ya just can't do it any more......


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## Gologit (Dec 22, 2014)

RandyMac said:


> We are just soo special.



LOL....I heard a guy say exactly that one day. We were cutting snags in a burn salvage and they should have been cut the year before.
After about the fourth one in a row blew up on us I asked him "what in the hell are we doing here?" He said "It's 'cause we're just so special."


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

Special or "Special" ???


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## northmanlogging (Dec 22, 2014)

"special"... for sure...

Just an assumption... but seems like a bunch of the east coast gang get away with a lot dumber **** then we can on the left coast? I know its a bit high minded to think like that but all the stories I here of guys cutting without hats, corks, or a clue seem to come from east of the mississippi...


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## RandyMac (Dec 22, 2014)

northmanlogging said:


> "special"... for sure...
> 
> Just an assumption... but seems like a bunch of the east coast gang get away with a lot dumber **** then we can on the left coast? I know its a bit high minded to think like that but all the stories I here of guys cutting without hats, corks, or a clue seem to come from east of the mississippi...



We might be "special", but Easters are "different"


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)




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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

I had this conversation the other day. I can only speak for my neck of the woods. Timber falling is a profession out West, you are a logger or a timber faller........ I am sure there are many exceptions. Around here a dedicated "timber faller" is a hard thing to find. What it seems to be around here are a "jack of all trades" kinda guy. I fall, skid, buck, load and haul. But then again I am a two man show. Falling here seems to be looked upon very casually, and anything different is scoffed at. You should hear the remarks I get for calks, hard hat and wedges.............. The total lack of professionalism, and application of different techniques around here kills me. Jackstrawing is commonplace......... then you have the hardcore GOL type loggers................totally different. To the extreme.


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## Gologit (Dec 22, 2014)

Remember OLDTIMER? He was different. Very different. I think he was a one man band up in New England somewhere.
He was the one who explained to us how to get machinery under low hanging power lines...you just grab a pole or a stick and push the line up.
I thought Spotted Owl was going to have a stroke over that one.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> I had this conversation the other day. I can only speak for my neck of the woods. Timber falling is a profession out West, you are a logger or a timber faller........ I am sure there are many exceptions. Around here a dedicated "timber faller" is a hard thing to find. What it seems to be around here are a "jack of all trades" kinda guy. I fall, skid, buck, load and haul. But then again I am a two man show. Falling here seems to be looked upon very casually, and anything different is scoffed at. You should hear the remarks I get for calks, hard hat and wedges.............. The total lack of professionalism, and application of different techniques around here kills me. Jackstrawing is commonplace......... then you have the hardcore GOL type loggers................totally different. To the extreme.


but who do they call when big valueable sticks need cuttin? they don't laff at my bar when i save out a 1000 dollar stick. they just don't care enough to learn.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

Gologit said:


> Remember OLDTIMER? He was different. Very different. I think he was a one man band up in New England somewhere.
> He was the one who explained to us how to get machinery under low hanging power lines...you just grab a pole or a stick and push the line up.
> I thought Spotted Owl was going to have a stroke over that one.


what ever happened to him?


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## Gologit (Dec 22, 2014)

treeslayer2003 said:


> what ever happened to him?


 My guess is ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAP!


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## KenJax Tree (Dec 22, 2014)

You gotta know what you're poking at...i wouldn't suggest just anyone go touching wires.


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

Yeah, I know............. I got called a couple months ago to fall 10 trees, large chestnut, and white oaks. The "faller" they had in there before me had busted 6 out of the 8 that he had cut. It was a shame to see a 30" plus 16' chestnut oak log laying in pieces. You should have seen it............. And of course I got asked if I knew what I was doing when I threw a humboldt in my first tree. They shut up pretty quick............ lol


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> Yeah, I know............. I got called a couple months ago to fall 10 trees, large chestnut, and white oaks. The "faller" they had in there before me had busted 6 out of the 8 that he had cut. It was a shame to see a 30" plus 16' chestnut oak log laying in pieces. You should have seen it............. And of course I got asked if I knew what I was doing when I threw a humboldt in my first tree. They shut up pretty quick............ lol


pisses me off to no end........oh they know how to cut trees but these are just to big...........bull chit


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## Spotted Owl (Dec 22, 2014)

Gologit said:


> Remember OLDTIMER? He was different. Very different. I think he was a one man band up in New England somewhere.
> He was the one who explained to us how to get machinery under low hanging power lines...you just grab a pole or a stick and push the line up.
> I thought Spotted Owl was going to have a stroke over that one.



He keeps that crap up and he's gonna die. My gawd electricity makes a horrific, mean, nasty noise.

Even when you know what you're doing things go wrong, we damned near lost a guy in the last blow here. 

There are trades and inside those trades are trades. Logger v. faller case in point. Every faller has logged and moved wood, but not every logger can be a faller. Jack of all trades, doesn't leave time to get "good" at any one aspect. Don't take that wrong, you can be good but not excel at one aspect. Of coarse being a good jack is something in it's own right, how many guys can actually run a 1 or 2 man side and make it go.



Owl


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## hseII (Dec 22, 2014)

Gologit said:


> Remember OLDTIMER? He was different. Very different. I think he was a one man band up in New England somewhere.
> He was the one who explained to us how to get machinery under low hanging power lines...you just grab a pole or a stick and push the line up.
> I thought Spotted Owl was going to have a stroke over that one.


We've done it to get a 120 ton under 14.4kv. 

But we don't talk about that no mo


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## KenJax Tree (Dec 22, 2014)

You can put on a pretty good light show


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## hseII (Dec 22, 2014)

KenJax Tree said:


> You can put on a pretty good light show


It helps to have a lineman supervising, but hey, what does one of them know?

I bet you thought we just did it huh? 
Yeah, ok.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

Spotted Owl said:


> He keeps that crap up and he's gonna die. My gawd electricity makes a horrific, mean, nasty noise.
> 
> Even when you know what you're doing things go wrong, we damned near lost a guy in the last blow here.
> 
> ...


bout the only thing i hate is hauling.........skidding is boreing but i guess i'm good at it, as most guys just aggravate the hell out of me.........can't stand to watch um.


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

I HATE having to run skidder or dozer, and I really HATE hauling.......... but you do with what you have. Alot less headaches with a two man show. I am decent at all of it I guess, but I didn't realize how mediocre of a faller I was until the last year or so...... I have really been working on my technique and taking the time to analyze each stump to read the story, and when I screw up to figure out exactly what went wrong.............. and LEARN. I have improved by leaps and bounds, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement!


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> I HATE having to run skidder or dozer, and I really HATE hauling.......... but you do with what you have. Alot less headaches with a two man show. I am decent at all of it I guess, but I didn't realize how mediocre of a faller I was until the last year or so...... I have really been working on my technique and taking the time to analyze each stump to read the story, and when I screw up to figure out exactly what went wrong.............. and LEARN. I have improved by leaps and bounds, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement!


when we stop learning, we better quit..........i am more criticle of my falling than ever before......but, not much rattles me now. i have alot more tools now.


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

When I screw one up, I go to friggin pieces............ I hold myself to a very high standard. I just have to accept that sometimes all the skill in the world cannot overcome the laws of physics................... I had two this week that fell 90 degrees off of intended direction of fall. Two in one week! I haven't had two in the last 2 years! Really tore me up....


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

you are wedging?


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

When needed. One, a big tall forked poplar I overcut my back cut on one side, and the other, a big chestnut oak was just too top heavy with alot of rot on one side.


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

I was trying to fall the poplar opposite the lean. Got it halfway


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

some ya just can't get........much as we think we should, we just not magic


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> I was trying to fall the poplar opposite the lean. Got it halfway


you try a block on your poplar? a block and three or four 10" wedges can do wonderful things. white oak has limits......you know that i'm sure.


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## KYLogger (Dec 22, 2014)

I have blocked some of em. Here lately I have been playing with the "ultra soft" dutchman. Really cool, I like it on smaller stuff that wedges are inconvenient on.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 22, 2014)

little trees have always got me in trouble........


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## hseII (Dec 22, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> When I screw one up, I go to friggin pieces............ I hold myself to a very high standard. I just have to accept that sometimes all the skill in the world cannot overcome the laws of physics................... I had two this week that fell 90 degrees off of intended direction of fall. Two in one week! I haven't had two in the last 2 years! Really tore me up....


That says a lot about you;

1) That you give a **** about your work
2) You are man enough to admit when you make a mistake.


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## KYLogger (Dec 23, 2014)

No room in the woods for being a macho man jackass.....


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## HuskStihl (Dec 23, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> No room in the woods for being a macho man jackass.....


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## SliverPicker (Dec 23, 2014)

Gologit said:


> Prayer? Lucky rabbit's foot? Large doses of optimism? Using all your skills? Sometimes there just _aren't_ any good choices for an escape route but the tree has to come down anyway. That's the job.
> 
> Look at the pictures of guys working on springboards. Their escape route is straight down.



Exactly. I hate snags with a passion, but leave too many of them standing and the phone stops ringing in short order.


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## sw oh logger (Dec 23, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> I had this conversation the other day. I can only speak for my neck of the woods. Timber falling is a profession out West, you are a logger or a timber faller........ I am sure there are many exceptions. Around here a dedicated "timber faller" is a hard thing to find. What it seems to be around here are a "jack of all trades" kinda guy. I fall, skid, buck, load and haul. But then again I am a two man show. Falling here seems to be looked upon very casually, and anything different is scoffed at. You should hear the remarks I get for calks, hard hat and wedges.............. The total lack of professionalism, and application of different techniques around here kills me. Jackstrawing is commonplace......... then you have the hardcore GOL type loggers................totally different. To the extreme.


Here in the Midwest, most loggers are 2 or 3 man shows.You have to be able to do everything fairly well--I always thought little of any man who started logging who couldn't cut at least some for himself. Now, around here, as I guess it is getting to be a lot of other places, the age of loggers, or people who are doing this kind of work is getting to be a lot older. Just to hard and dangerous for most young guys! Therefore, I can pick and choose who I want to cut for. Besides cutting for my brother's 3 man company, I get calls all the time.Two months ago, I cut 16 veneer walnuts for a guy 50 miles north of me--1 walnut cut 566 bf.., the veneer buyer paid $10/bd.ft. for it alone!! 5,660.00 for 1 walnut tree--took me about 10 minutes to cut it right for him.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 23, 2014)

i hope ya charged him. i getting so i don't feel bad for charging them good money.......


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## sw oh logger (Dec 23, 2014)

treeslayer2003 said:


> i hope ya charged him. i getting so i don't feel bad for charging them good money.......


That's sort of a funny thing! I guess I can kind of make up my own prices as I go along, depending on how far I drive to get to the site, the type of trees, how many they have, how much business I do with guy, etc. My brother I charge less, but for good trees like that and any distance away I'll charge 16 to 20 dollars per tree, I always use my own equipment--yes, good aluminum helmet, hearing protection, chaps etc., always have--some guys don't,believe it or not.


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## Spotted Owl (Dec 23, 2014)

16 to 20 bucks per tree? Man, I don't even pull a saw out of the back for less than 200, cash and carry on side work. Be it either 1 stick or all day. Same on strait jobs with saw rental charge of 50 a day, their gas and oil, standard around my area. Unless it's a close by little ole lady/friend sort of thing. Start adding in distance and that price can go up fast, unless there's a crummy ride in the mix. I bring what ever I will or might need, except jacks. Don't give your skill & know how away. If anyone could do it, they wouldn't be calling.



Owl


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## BeatCJ (Dec 23, 2014)

I did some logging on my own property almost 20 years ago, paid the faller $200 a day then, and followed him around all day, bumped knots, bucked where he told me, watched his back. I figure he made me that much just by knowing the best sorts for my mixed species. I had loads going to 4 different mills from my 5 acres, cedar, Doug fir and alder all going every which way. Made more on the alder than everything else together, alder saw logs were really high at the time.

I wonder if he charged me extra for the lessons? I learned a ton from him. He was retired, bored and needed the money. Too busted up to work full time, he did the falling in about 4 days. He was recommended by a local tree farmer, I'm sure glad I listened.


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## HuskStihl (Dec 23, 2014)

16-20 a tree sounds fine to jack-straw a field of skinny yellow pine, but not for technical, and especially veneer work. You may have seen less than 1% of the money from that walnut job.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 23, 2014)

Spotted Owl said:


> 16 to 20 bucks per tree? Man, I don't even pull a saw out of the back for less than 200, cash and carry on side work. Be it either 1 stick or all day. Same on strait jobs with saw rental charge of 50 a day, their gas and oil, standard around my area. Unless it's a close by little ole lady/friend sort of thing. Start adding in distance and that price can go up fast, unless there's a crummy ride in the mix. I bring what ever I will or might need, except jacks. Don't give your skill & know how away. If anyone could do it, they wouldn't be calling.
> 
> 
> 
> Owl


thats it, they can't........i will make as much as i would on my own job or i ain't comin out.


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## HuskStihl (Dec 23, 2014)

To put it into perspective. I charge a case of Shiner or a bottle of Jack to take down a tree for my neighbors (one that can't possibly hit something I cannot repair myself). That's more than $20, and this is a stump I made


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## Spotted Owl (Dec 23, 2014)

If a homeowner helps, it automatically adds a minimum of 100. Normally they don't do what's needed or said. They have a nack for being in the exact wrong place at the exact wrong time, cutting the wring thing the wrong way. Worse than a kid most of the time, cause THEY think they know what their doing. There is a rare occasion that a homeowner is an asset though. That is a refreshing surprise.



Owl


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## Spotted Owl (Dec 23, 2014)

You really gonna claim that stump?



Owl


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## hseII (Dec 23, 2014)

HuskStihl said:


> To put it into perspective. I charge a case of Shiner or a bottle of Jack to take down a tree for my neighbors (one that can't possibly hit something I cannot repair myself). That's more than $20, and this is a stump I made
> View attachment 389035


Hold the jack, and I'll be there

Nice seat back btw.

Trying to be a farma?


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## madhatte (Dec 23, 2014)

Finally got around to watching the OP. DAAAAANG that was a hairy couple of seconds there. I don't like those moments much, and I am happy to say that I've only had a few. Fingers crossed that I can keep it that way.


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## HuskStihl (Dec 23, 2014)

Spotted Owl said:


> You really gonna claim that stump?
> Owl





hseII said:


> Nice seat back btw.
> 
> Trying to be a farma?



Oh, I'm the worst thing there is. Half farmer, half homeowner, all know-it-all. That pic was from 5 years ago (pre-AS) when I intentionally made sloping back cuts. Now I'm learned-er, and I unintentionally make sloping back cuts


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## Gologit (Dec 24, 2014)

HuskStihl said:


> Oh, I'm the worst thing there is. Half farmer, half homeowner, all know-it-all. That pic was from 5 years ago (pre-AS) when I intentionally made sloping back cuts. Now I'm learned-er, and I unintentionally make sloping back cuts




LOL...you've made a lot of progress since you've been here. If you wanted to log you already have two of the main requirements...a sense of humor and a wife with a steady job.


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## rwoods (Dec 24, 2014)

KYLogger said:


> I had this conversation the other day. I can only speak for my neck of the woods. Timber falling is a profession out West, you are a logger or a timber faller........ I am sure there are many exceptions. Around here a dedicated "timber faller" is a hard thing to find. *What it seems to be around here are a "jack of all trades" kinda guy.* I fall, skid, buck, load and haul. But then again I am a two man show. Falling here seems to be looked upon very casually, and anything different is scoffed at. You should hear the remarks I get for calks, hard hat and wedges.............. The total lack of professionalism, and application of different techniques around here kills me. Jackstrawing is commonplace......... then you have the hardcore GOL type loggers................totally different. To the extreme.



Less so now, but in years past where I grew up many folks logged at one or more points in their lives, including my father, but there were few career professional loggers much less timber fallers. I'm 58 and have always lived in southeastern rural areas except while in college. I have personally known only one career logger and he supplemented his income with dozer work and a few cattle. I think a lot of the East West thing is due to the lack of resources and the resulting progression of the profession where work was more abundant.* In Florida, our family as did many others, logged to clear land for cattle. In western North Carolina during my teenage years, there were almost no males 18 to 25 - they were either in the Army or had relocated to Washington State to chase the timber.

Ron

*If you look at photographs of the cross cut saw days, you will see many similarities between the two coasts. I believe the cross cut saw and axe pretty much took down the old growth in the South.


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## hseII (Dec 24, 2014)

rwoods said:


> Less so now, but in years past where I grew up many folks logged at one or more points in their lives, including my father, but there were few career professional loggers much less timber fallers. I'm 58 and have always lived in southeastern rural areas except while in college. I have personally known only one career logger and he supplemented his income with dozer work and a few cattle. I think a lot of the East West thing is due to the lack of resources and the resulting progression of the profession where work was more abundant.* In Florida, our family as did many others, logged to clear land for cattle. In western North Carolina during my teenage years, there were almost no males 18 to 25 - they were either in the Army or had relocated to Washington State to chase the timber.
> 
> Ron
> 
> *If you look at photographs of the cross cut saw days, you will see many similarities between the two coasts. I believe the cross cut saw and axe pretty much took down the old growth in the South.


That is a cool post.

Thank You for sharing,

HEath


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## Gologit (Dec 24, 2014)

Good post Ron.
Where I grew up we thought our choices for a profession were limited. They weren't really but breaking the mold set by previous generations wasn't common. It wasn't encouraged either.
One side of our family were commercial fisherman and ranchers, the other side were loggers and crop dusters. I tended toward the logging and airplane side but I tried them all at one time or another.
Finishing high school was grudgingly accepted but not mandatory. We had a couple of renegades that went to college and established good careers outside of the normal family occupations but they left the area to do it. A lot of the family considered them to be snooty and pretentious. They weren't. They just found a way out of the cycle.
I went to the woods because I liked the work and the money was good. A career of sorts evolved from that with no conscious effort or thought on my part. In those days a guy just showed up, learned, did his work, kept his mouth shut, and defined himself...again with no conscious thought...by what he did for a living. One day, after a while, you turn around and you're a part of what's going on. You're logging.
I had good role models, great teachers in the woods, and I had some luck, too. I got in on the old growth redwood falling and I'll always be glad of that. 
Every few years I'd get fed up, quit logging, find something else to do, and swear I was never putting on calks or picking up a saw, or getting up before daylight again. I always wound up going back to logging.
I'm 68 now and it's fun to play the "what if" game but if I had to do it all over again, start from zero and decide on a profession to follow all my life, I'd probably head for the woods . 
LOLOL...some people just never learn.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 24, 2014)

i wouldn't do much different as far as work........i love the woods.
waterman huh? the simularitys between here and there are uncanny some times. farm, log, work on the water, truck.......that was it besides low pay factory or canning house work and thats gone here now.


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## Gologit (Dec 24, 2014)

treeslayer2003 said:


> i wouldn't do much different as far as work........i love the woods.
> waterman huh? the simularitys between here and there are uncanny some times. farm, log, work on the water, truck.......that was it besides low pay factory or canning house work and thats gone here now.



Yup, lots of things the same. I worked for relatives on salmon trollers and crabbers when I was a kid. I liked the life and the boats but I never could get used to sometimes working for a week or more, not catching very much, and winding up with no paycheck. The boat got paid first, the hired help split up what was left. Sometimes that wasn't much.
We ate a lot of good fresh seafood though.


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## sw oh logger (Dec 24, 2014)

Spotted Owl said:


> 16 to 20 bucks per tree? Man, I don't even pull a saw out of the back for less than 200, cash and carry on side work. Be it either 1 stick or all day. Same on strait jobs with saw rental charge of 50 a day, their gas and oil, standard around my area. Unless it's a close by little ole lady/friend sort of thing. Start adding in distance and that price can go up fast, unless there's a crummy ride in the mix. I bring what ever I will or might need, except jacks. Don't give your skill & know how away. If anyone could do it, they wouldn't be calling.
> 
> 
> 
> Owl


This kind of went where it didn't need to go! Although we all have many general similarities in our work in the woods , specifics vary. I don't have s skidder payment, a log truck to fuel, maintain, or drive anymore--let alone a million dollar insurance umbrella policy AND Workers Comp. payments to make any more. I'm almost 66 yrs.old{unfortunately!}, my kids are grown up and gone {youngest lives in D.C. and runs Tesla Motor Cars Mid-Atlantic region}, my grandkids come and go. I still maintain my CDL, haul 200 -225 loads of wheat,corn, and soybeans, and still cut just like I've done more or less since about 1978. My youngest brother needs me to help him in the woods, I worry about him, and want him to be safe and successful. I don't have a Bell 3-wheeler to upkeep, and house is paid for, I supervised Teamsters for 15 yrs. while logging on the side, but I still always ended up in the woods. 50+ yrs. ago my Dad would leave my 2 brothers and I in the woods in the cold and snow and say:"Have another load split when I get back!" So, I do this because I still can-I'm 6'4" 255# of old man, I get tired easier now, but I can still put the trees on the ground right, safely, in hot or cold weather. I enjoy my modded Huskys and Stihls, being with younger guys. Gologit has it right--a sense of humor and a good wife{41+ yrs.] who had a good job. I hope to leave this earth with a clear conscience, a full heart, and an empty wallet!


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## M_S_S (Dec 24, 2014)

Gologit said:


> Good post Ron.
> Where I grew up we thought our choices for a profession were limited. They weren't really but breaking the mold set by previous generations wasn't common. It wasn't encouraged either.
> One side of our family were commercial fisherman and ranchers, the other side were loggers and crop dusters. I tended toward the logging and airplane side but I tried them all at one time or another.
> Finishing high school was grudgingly accepted but not mandatory. We had a couple of renegades that went to college and established good careers outside of the normal family occupations but they left the area to do it. A lot of the family considered them to be snooty and pretentious. They weren't. They just found a way out of the cycle.
> ...



I can relate to what you said Gologit. I am 69, although not many loggers in my family, I was raised in the country on a cow ranch, family had summer premits in the mountains. Lol I didn't want to be a cowboy, but I kept coming back to it. I am still cowboying lol. Slowed down a hell of a lot though. I was always intrigued by logging, but never did any. Logging is a lot like cowboying, there are good ones and some not so good. Like the old saying, the clothes don't make the man. Ed


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## HuskStihl (Dec 24, 2014)

Gologit said:


> I'm 68 now.





M_S_S said:


> I am 69,Ed





sw oh logger said:


> I'm almost 66 yrs.old{unfortunately!!


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## Spotted Owl (Dec 24, 2014)

sw oh logger said:


> This kind of went where it didn't need to go! Although we all have many general similarities in our work in the woods , specifics vary. I don't have s skidder payment, a log truck to fuel, maintain, or drive anymore--let alone a million dollar insurance umbrella policy AND Workers Comp. payments to make any more. I'm almost 66 yrs.old{unfortunately!}, my kids are grown up and gone {youngest lives in D.C. and runs Tesla Motor Cars Mid-Atlantic region}, my grandkids come and go. I still maintain my CDL, haul 200 -225 loads of wheat,corn, and soybeans, and still cut just like I've done more or less since about 1978. My youngest brother needs me to help him in the woods, I worry about him, and want him to be safe and successful. I don't have a Bell 3-wheeler to upkeep, and house is paid for, I supervised Teamsters for 15 yrs. while logging on the side, but I still always ended up in the woods. 50+ yrs. ago my Dad would leave my 2 brothers and I in the woods in the cold and snow and say:"Have another load split when I get back!" So, I do this because I still can-I'm 6'4" 255# of old man, I get tired easier now, but I can still put the trees on the ground right, safely, in hot or cold weather. I enjoy my modded Huskys and Stihls, being with younger guys. Gologit has it right--a sense of humor and a good wife{41+ yrs.] who had a good job. I hope to leave this earth with a clear conscience, a full heart, and an empty wallet!



Wasn't intended to lead astray. Just my end of things. I do keep my CDL also. I'm not close to "retirement" age yet. I don't have any of those things or payments, mortgage aside, either. I don't work for myself other than side work here and there. I'm a hired gun, I do the check cashing not check writing. Don't want the hassle of the other side, to honest and didn't make it enough to keep on. I hear ya about the conscience and heart, believe it or not I really am a softie. At this stage in my game though an empty wallet does no favors for my family. In time though I look forward to what I think you are saying, just not quite yet. I do like being able to do this for the enjoyment of doing it, and to help some in need now and then. As time goes, I enjoy it more and more. I do still think though, don't give your skill away, I understand about the brother thing though.

I do certainly hope when I hit your stage in the game, I can be in the same fashion. I'm sure you already know, but it isn't always easy along the way to make sure, that later things can be as you describe. I'm always glad to see guys get to your stage and are able to make it. Lots, around here anyway seem like they are working right up to the grave.



Owl


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## rwoods (Dec 24, 2014)

M_S_S said:


> ... Logging is a lot like cowboying, there are good ones and some not so good. Like the old saying, *the clothes don't make the man*. Ed



I am about as much a cowboy as a logger but I did grow up with cattle and had a nice pair of "dress" cowboy boots I wore while in college. A young booted student from Texas stroll up to me one day on campus and she asks me if I was the real thing or just a kicker. I had never heard that term before but I knew I was no horse riding cowboy so I simply replied that back home they just called folks like me rednecks. Can't remember her reply but I remember her getting in a huff, spinning around and marching off. I didn't get a chance to ask her if she was the real thing or just a kicker. I understand that in today's slang a kicker can mean redneck but as used by her a kicker meant - "(slang, Southern US) A particular type of resident of Texas who is associated with country/western attire, attitudes and/or philosophy." Wiktionary.

When I cut, I wear Key logger jeans and suspenders and carry a long bar saw. Fools a lot of folks but none of it makes me cut any better, much less does it make me a logger.

Ron


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## sw oh logger (Dec 24, 2014)

Spotted Owl said:


> Wasn't intended to lead astray. Just my end of things. I do keep my CDL also. I'm not close to "retirement" age yet. I don't have any of those things or payments, mortgage aside, either. I don't work for myself other than side work here and there. I'm a hired gun, I do the check cashing not check writing. Don't want the hassle of the other side, to honest and didn't make it enough to keep on. I hear ya about the conscience and heart, believe it or not I really am a softie. At this stage in my game though an empty wallet does no favors for my family. In time though I look forward to what I think you are saying, just not quite yet. I do like being able to do this for the enjoyment of doing it, and to help some in need now and then. As time goes, I enjoy it more and more. I do still think though, don't give your skill away, I understand about the brother thing though.
> 
> I do certainly hope when I hit your stage in the game, I can be in the same fashion. I'm sure you already know, but it isn't always easy along the way to make sure, that later things can be as you describe. I'm always glad to see guys get to your stage and are able to make it. Lots, around here anyway seem like they are working right up to the grave.
> 
> ...


What a great bunch of guys on here!! Owl, I guess I've made it,but, I look back over the years and don't know where the time went. However, I'm not done yet--if you quit working you'll die or at least go very slowly and ugly{like Huskstihl's post lol!!} I see Treeslayer2003 and KYLogger and it makes me feel good--20 yrs ago that was me, and I don't know how I survived sometimes. It's really good sharing with guys like you all, keeps me on my toes and realize where I've been. Please, all of you have a very blessed and Merry Christmas!!


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 24, 2014)

oh logger........i gotta do this 20 more years??????



LOL, i prolly will and enjoy it........the last 20 been good.


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## KYLogger (Dec 24, 2014)

The last 2 1/2 have been alright as well......sometimes starting out you have to decide if the crummy needs tires (when the wires are hanging out) or the skidder needs parts to keep it from losing a gallon of hyd. oil a day, or if you should just pay your house payment! LOL....... Like a wise old logger once said; "Chicken one day and feathers the next" And I would not have it any other way! I would like to have a skidder that wasn't a half century old.......... (Patience, Tom, Patience)

Merry Christmas everyone!


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## Gologit (Dec 24, 2014)

rwoods said:


> When I cut, I wear Key logger jeans and suspenders and carry a long bar saw. Fools a lot of folks but none of it makes me cut any better, much less does it make me a logger.
> 
> Ron




Calks, Ron, get some calks. Guaranteed to improve your cutting 100 %. 

Want to look like a logger? Try to limp a little when you walk, look just slightly pissed off all the time, learn to use snoose, start every third sentence with "those damn environmentalists......", shave twice a week if you feel like it, develop a taste for 7-11 coffee and donettos, and drive a rig that's about the same color as the ground you're working so the dust will hide the dents.
Don't wash your clothes too often 'cause the accumulated layers of dirt and sweat and saw oil and wood chips and coffee spill and donetto crumbs will make them almost waterproof when the rains come.

That's all I can think of right now. Anybody got more ideas?


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## KYLogger (Dec 24, 2014)

Have a notebook aka.... your "Brain" crammed in your front shirt pocket with the number to all the area mills, equipment dealers, mechanics, parts houses, potential jobs etc............... and about 4-7 pop bottles rolling around the floorboard a third full of 'baccer spit. And the mandatory tailgate and truck bumper that will NEVER rust cause of all the bar oil, diesel, hyd. oil, and 2 cycle that has been spilled on it. Gologit purty much summed it up!


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## RandyMac (Dec 24, 2014)

The bed on my old pickup filled full of rain water, it looked like Humboldt Bay at low tide.


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## treeslayer2003 (Dec 24, 2014)

RandyMac said:


> The bed on my old pickup filled full of rain water, it looked like Humboldt Bay at low tide.


the rust holes ain't big enough to let out the water..........hell she's almost new lol.


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## M_S_S (Dec 24, 2014)

Gologit I thought you were describing a cowboy up to the 7-11 coffee lol. Boiled coffee with a little Pentleton or crown to sweeten lol. ED


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## rwoods (Dec 25, 2014)

Gologit said:


> Calks, Ron, get some calks. Guaranteed to improve your cutting 100 %.
> 
> Want to look like a logger? Try to limp a little when you walk, look just slightly pissed off all the time, learn to use snoose, start every third sentence with "those damn environmentalists......", shave twice a week if you feel like it, develop a taste for 7-11 coffee and donettos, and drive a rig that's about the same color as the ground you're working so the dust will hide the dents.
> Don't wash your clothes too often 'cause the accumulated layers of dirt and sweat and saw oil and wood chips and coffee spill and donetto crumbs will make them almost waterproof when the rains come.
> ...



Limp - sometimes; if I had calks I would bust a leg on the concrete and limp all the time. Look - Check. Unshaven - 1 out of 7. Dirt color rig - Always. Unwashed clothes - Check. Waterproof layers - 4 out of 6.




KYLogger said:


> Have a notebook aka.... your "Brain" crammed in your front shirt pocket with the number to all the area mills, equipment dealers, mechanics, parts houses, potential jobs etc............... and about 4-7 pop bottles rolling around the floorboard a third full of 'baccer spit. And the mandatory tailgate and truck bumper that will NEVER rust cause of all the bar oil, diesel, hyd. oil, and 2 cycle that has been spilled on it. Gologit purty much summed it up!



Rust proof tailgate - Check.

Skills and experience worth a tinker's dam - Nope.

Ron


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## 1270d (Dec 25, 2014)

Some nice country and cutting in this clip. For another barberchair, jump to around 730/or 745. Kinda thinking that might have been the last tree for a certain stihl. Dump it and run! Saws are cheap.


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## hseII (Dec 25, 2014)

1270d said:


> Some nice country and cutting in this clip. For another barberchair, jump to around 730/or 745. Kinda thinking that might have been the last tree for a certain stihl. Dump it and run! Saws are cheap.


Missing clip?...


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## 1270d (Dec 25, 2014)

Whoops. 745 for the chair


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## northmanlogging (Dec 26, 2014)

Oh yeah she bit the saw good on that one, still running at the end so maybe not to much damage...


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## MattB (Dec 26, 2014)

I'm not sure if I posted these pictures right. We were taking down 98 red gum eucs with heavy leans towards the road. We had to put some pretty serious pull on them to get them going the right way. It only took a couple tries to figure out we couldn't cut through from the back without having the trees split out and fall willy nilly. Not quite a full barber chair but you can see the trunk slivered up a good ten feet and then closed up again on the ground. I started using a plunge cut to set up a thick strap of holding wood and then triggered it from behind. The other 96 went fine.


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## KiwiBro (Dec 26, 2014)

Have given up trying to persuade belligerent red gums. Too many less than happy endings. Until I learn more, it's just gut the heart and ask it very gently if it wouldn't mind taking a few steps to the left or right for me on the way down if it feels like that might be a good thing.


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## KiwiBro (Dec 26, 2014)

While visiting the olds I noticed Dad had just dropped a tree. I therefore present conclusive proof my fuglystumposis is genetic:


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## SliverPicker (Dec 27, 2014)

Yikes! I find plenty of stumps like that in the woods. I'm surprised I haven't found a skeleton near one or two of them.


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## Wannabe123 (Jan 6, 2015)

KiwiBro said:


> While visiting the olds I noticed Dad had just dropped a tree. I therefore present conclusive proof my fuglystumposis is genetic:
> 
> View attachment 389693


 Dad's my foot! You been prowlin' around my woodlot again! That's my patented zebra-sharkstooth undercut, I'd know it anywhere.


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## Gypo Logger (Jan 23, 2015)

I can't recall how I chaired this one, but I don't recall that it was very dramatic either. A cull non the less.


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## HuskStihl (Jan 25, 2015)

Gypo Logger said:


> I can't recall how I chaired this one, but I don't recall that it was very dramatic either. A cull non the less.View attachment 397534


No way that's you


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## Gypo Logger (Jan 25, 2015)

Fortunately yes, it was a hung up shattered blowdown, so no chance of an undercut. If I recall correctly I choked it tight with the skidder and finished the cut and winched it down. Most of the butt log ended up as firewood.


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## HuskStihl (Jan 25, 2015)

Are you standing directly under that disaster?


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## Gypo Logger (Jan 26, 2015)

HuskStihl said:


> Are you standing directly under that disaster?


Yes, it was hung up in bigger tree, so I could have pitched my tent right under it. 
John


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## Rx7man (Feb 6, 2015)

At least the butt piece was already nicely split for the firewood!

I have a big (40" butt excluding bark?) douglas fir that's REALLY leaning over a road, most of the root is hanging in the air because it's on a steep bank.. it's going to be a very fun one to get down.. I'm hoping to be able to coax it to lay along the road, but I'm not going to bet any money on that!


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## lfnh (Feb 7, 2015)

Rx7man said:


> At least the butt piece was already nicely split for the firewood!
> 
> I have a big (40" butt excluding bark?) douglas fir that's REALLY leaning over a road, most of the root is hanging in the air because it's on a steep bank.. it's going to be a very fun one to get down.. I'm hoping to be able to coax it to lay along the road, but I'm not going to bet any money on that!


 
Pics before the cut (chair) as the case maybe ?


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