# Some Logging Going On



## slowp (May 28, 2009)

These guys are skidding in what was cut last November and then buried by the snow. I thought I'd show what goes on at the landing. This landing is large. It doubles as a helicopter landing. There's a few trees that got their tops nipped off. The average tree height was 150 feet. The treatment is a thinning, of course. The logger picks out the biggest diameter at 4 inches high, and then cuts every conifer that is smaller, yet of a merch size within 12.5 feet of the leave tree. I doesn't make for always leaving the best tree, but it is what we have to work with here.

Here's the high track grapple skidder. 










Then there was one of "Those short little PNW log trucks
to load. Thought I'd show the process for those who don't know how the piggyback truck works. 
It arrives piggyback and the loader grabs the loop of cable on the trailer and lifts the trailer off.


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## slowp (May 28, 2009)

The truck driver hooks things up and adds the stake things (I don't know the truck lingo) because these logs are light in weight but high in board foot volume. They are going to a peeler mill.












Loading begins.





Loading is almost finished. The truck driver watches his scales and lets the loader operator know how much is gettiing on the truck. They communicate with CB radios.





Then, 3 wrappers/binders are thrown over the load and tightened. The load is hammer branded and painted, a ticket stapled on and it heads to the mill.


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## John Ellison (May 28, 2009)

Good pictures and play by play slowp.


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## RRSsawshop (May 28, 2009)

GOOD PICS :yourock:


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## TimberFaller660 (May 28, 2009)

nice pics! i love them pole trailers


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## Metals406 (May 28, 2009)

Awesome thread as always slowp!

The 'stake things' are referred to as "gun barrels"... Least here anywho.


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## dancan (May 28, 2009)

Nice pics !
Thanks for posting them .


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## Rookie1 (May 28, 2009)

Very nice pics Slow. Keep em coming.


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## 371groundie (May 28, 2009)

we always called then stakes, and ive never seen one that was straight enough to qualify as a gun barrel. i would refer to those in the picture as bunks. 

slowp? what happens to the ticket when it rains? and what kind of info is in the hammer brands?

around here a load of wood is a load of wood. we do have 'trip tickets' that help identify the load, has info such as landowner, logger, trucker, cutting crew, product, destination, ticket number, and harvest notification number. youre supposed to file a notification number with the state forest service if you are going to harvest any commercial forest product. that includes things like fiddleheads and mushrooms if its on a commercial scale. then you get a weather resistant notice to post at your primary yard. it helps keep loads from getting lost.


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## bullbuck (May 28, 2009)

i prefer the stakes bent means you can get one more on,must be some d.o.t. in the area if hes eyeballing the scales that heavy...


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## slowp (May 28, 2009)

I plan to return tomorrow, maybe I can get a picture of the branding hammer.
It is kind of like cows. The brand is registered with the state. Since this is National Forest wood, and we have ports nearby that export, branding and painting each end (except one end for 7 inches and under) with yellow paint is required. The PNW contract specifies that only Alaska Yellow Cedar and Incense Cedar may be exported--in an unmanufactured state. The yellow paint is easy to see in an export yard (this has happened) and the brands supposedly will show up in an x-ray of the log end even if cut off. Sounds like a subject for Mythbusters. 

Every load has to have a ticket too--another contractual requirement and it may even be a state requirement? Blue ones for this sale, the date, time, sale name, truck driver, etc is shown on the ticket or ticket book. During the wet nasty weather, smart loggers staple them on in baggies. 

A lump sum sale will have blue tickets, and a scaled sale will have orangish pinkish tickets. They get stapled on the front driver's side bunk log. Loads from a scaled sale have to go right to the mill--can't be parked unscaled overnight unless the location is approved beforehand. 

So, I get to pick on the loggers about branding and painting. That's probably the biggest PIA of logging for both of us. They hate doing it, and I hate the constant whining.  But I'd probably whine too.


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## BuddhaKat (May 28, 2009)

Thanks for posting these SP. Can't wait for more. Good to know how an operation works.


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## tomtrees58 (May 28, 2009)

excellent tom trees


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## redprospector (May 28, 2009)

Slowp,
Why do they run those little bitty truck's up there? They should get some "real trucks". 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Andy


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## lfnh (May 28, 2009)

Nice pictures, slowp.

Do the tops/slash and culls get chipped for sale to Co-Gen plants ?


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## 2dogs (May 28, 2009)

redprospector said:


> Slowp,
> Why do they run those little bitty truck's up there? They should get some "real trucks".
> 
> Sorry, I couldn't resist.
> ...



And bigger trilers!


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## redprospector (May 29, 2009)

2dogs said:


> And bigger trilers!



Oh yeah, that's what it was. I've got to start paying attention better.

Andy


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## slowp (May 29, 2009)

redprospector said:


> Slowp,
> Why do they run those little bitty truck's up there? They should get some "real trucks".
> 
> Sorry, I couldn't resist.
> ...



I almost titled the thread--what was it? Those small trailers.:greenchainsaw:



> _Do the tops/slash and culls get chipped for sale to Co-Gen plants ?_



No. Landing slash gets piled and burned. The slash in the woods stays as is.
We get a lot of rain so it breaks down quickly. So far, no bio mass market is around here.


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## KD57 (May 29, 2009)

Very informative, thanks for posting the pics.


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## stihlloggin (May 29, 2009)

around here we call them Cheaters


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## Mike Van (May 30, 2009)

Some of those tops look real small, but I guess if the mill couldn't use them, they wouldn't get loaded. Nice pics, good to see some logs heading out. I'll bet it smells good there.


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## ak4195 (May 30, 2009)

looks like an awesome work day too


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## woodguy105 (May 31, 2009)

Cool Pics!


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## Kiwilogger (Jun 1, 2009)

Geez!

In NZ, if our trees were on the ground for more than, say 3 weeks, they'd be sap stained to buggery and totally unmerchantable.

2 months and it would be rotten/full of insect.


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## wvlogger (Jun 17, 2009)

nice pics you got any of the felling?


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## 2dogs (Jun 17, 2009)

What is Douglass-Fir bringing these days? Last I heard here it was 175 per thousand (if you could find a buyer). Redwood is 600, old growth (cants) can bring as high as 3,500!


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## slowp (Jun 17, 2009)

2dogs said:


> What is Douglass-Fir bringing these days? Last I heard here it was 175 per thousand (if you could find a buyer). Redwood is 600, old growth (cants) can bring as high as 3,500!



I think it is the same here. I haven't looked lately. 

wvlogger


> nice pics you got any of the felling?



Nope. That stuff was too tall and the ground too flat to get close to the cutters. I haven't taken many pictures of falling because I don't want to interrupt the concentration, I don't want to get smashed, and I don't want to slow them down. 

Here's another sale that started up this week. They are using a faller-buncher, grapple skidder, and delimber. Today's landing was in the high elevation seed orchard--offspring of genetically superior trees. Road right of way is being skidded. I spent the day hiking up and down the steeper slopes, marking trees to get cut for the skyline corridors. I think the chainsaw cutters will start tomorrow.


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## Adkpk (Jun 17, 2009)

Very good pics. Thanks slowp.


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## hvy 1ton (Jun 17, 2009)

slowp, you wouldn't know if the skidder is a 517 or a 527 would you. I've only ever seen a wore out 517 i can only imagine what a 527 can do on some decent ground.


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## Humptulips (Jun 18, 2009)

Slowp,
I believe they're just called stake extensions.

There are a couple of co-generation plants on the Harbor. One is even taking slash on a limited basis. Sierra Pacifics mill runs on mill waste and Grays Harbor Paper has a co-generation plant funded by Grays Harbor PUD. It uses a lot of cedar spaltz from the shingle mills and is using slash I think all coming from Rayonier land.

Don't know about fir but I heard $230/thousand on hemlock last week. Don't think any mill on the Harbor cuts fir now. Have to truck it a long way.


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## slowp (Jun 18, 2009)

hvy 1ton said:


> slowp, you wouldn't know if the skidder is a 517 or a 527 would you. I've only ever seen a wore out 517 i can only imagine what a 527 can do on some decent ground.



Whatever it is, it was brand new last year. It has all the bells and whistles and the operator was pretty happy with it. He was hard to get out of it.


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## slowp (Jun 18, 2009)

It is a 527.


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## jeremym (Jun 18, 2009)

Humptulips said:


> Slowp,
> I believe they're just called stake extensions.
> 
> There are a couple of co-generation plants on the Harbor. One is even taking slash on a limited basis. Sierra Pacifics mill runs on mill waste and Grays Harbor Paper has a co-generation plant funded by Grays Harbor PUD. It uses a lot of cedar spaltz from the shingle mills and is using slash I think all coming from Rayonier land.
> ...



There is talk about building a co-gen biomass generator plant at the old International Paper mill in Chelatchie Prairie, WA. Should be interesting if it comes to be!


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## Humptulips (Jun 19, 2009)

jeremym said:


> There is talk about building a co-gen biomass generator plant at the old International Paper mill in Chelatchie Prairie, WA. Should be interesting if it comes to be!



I don't think the gathering of slash for hog fuel to fuel the co-generation plant is turning out to be very cost effective but it counts as green energy and the PUDs are scrambling to come up with enough to meet the requirements of the intiative that passed ( forget the number) mandating targets for green energy production.
PUD paid for all the capital costs of the one in Hoquiam and Grays harbor paper just has to pay for running it. Doubt it would have been built if GH Paper had to pay for building it or I should say upgrading as part of it was already there. The old Rayonier pulp mill boilers.


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## bullbuck (Jun 20, 2009)

slowp,you had mentioned that your log trucks carry high bd.ft.age,well when we had an active stud mill in these parts they scaled one of our loads at 7650bd.ft. give or take that is our record to date,do you know what those trucks can haul?just curious...:monkey:


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## slowp (Jun 20, 2009)

I usually use 4.7 or 4.8 mbf (Net) for estimating. 

Back when there weren't so many cops, and no weigh stations, one old guy got 8 mbf (old growth) on his trucks. That's what the scaling turned out to be.


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## bullbuck (Jun 20, 2009)

mbf?....what does the m stand for?


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## deeker (Jun 20, 2009)

bullbuck said:


> mbf?....what does the m stand for?



mbf = one thousand board feet.


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## bullbuck (Jun 20, 2009)

thanks deeker,its interesting how the lingo and logistics of logging varies throughout the country...


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## slowp (Jun 21, 2009)

Well, to confuse us more, we sell timber mostly by the ton now, but cruise it to the CCF which is hundred cubic feet. There's not quite 10 ccf on a log truck. I use a 2 CCF to 1 MBF ratio because I think in MBF.


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## Gologit (Jun 21, 2009)

slowp said:


> Well, to confuse us more, we sell timber mostly by the ton now, but cruise it to the CCF which is hundred cubic feet. There's not quite 10 ccf on a log truck. I use a 2 CCF to 1 MBF ratio because I think in MBF.



Well, now I have a headache.


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## bullbuck (Jun 21, 2009)

uhhh....ditto....mmmm...ok....yeah...gotcha!yep i ask too many questions,and my brain hurts!cut on both ends still means its a log right?lol:monkey:


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