# Take Pictures



## slowp (Jan 18, 2010)

You guys, TAKE PICTURES! Why am I saying this? Well, I have 3 poster boards with 8x10 pictures of logging on them. I use it if I am included in a school or educational program which is not often. I had to move them out of their hidey hole when we got new carpet put in.

So, a few guys have seen them for the first time. They comment on how we should have taken more pictures during the 80's here when the big stuff was being logged. I'm one of them who didn't. It was too hard to pack a good camera down into the brush, keep it in one piece (and yourself) and then to get the film developed, and we thought that logging the big stuff would keep on going. It didn't. 

With the new, small digital cameras being easy to put in the pocket or pack, we need to keep on taking pictures. Your style of logging may be history some day too. It is good to have pictures of it.


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## Greystoke (Jan 18, 2010)

slowp said:


> You guys, TAKE PICTURES! Why am I saying this? Well, I have 3 poster boards with 8x10 pictures of logging on them. I use it if I am included in a school or educational program which is not often. I had to move them out of their hidey hole when we got new carpet put in.
> 
> So, a few guys have seen them for the first time. They comment on how we should have taken more pictures during the 80's here when the big stuff was being logged. I'm one of them who didn't. It was too hard to pack a good camera down into the brush, keep it in one piece (and yourself) and then to get the film developed, and we thought that logging the big stuff would keep on going. It didn't.
> 
> With the new, small digital cameras being easy to put in the pocket or pack, we need to keep on taking pictures. Your style of logging may be history some day too. It is good to have pictures of it.



I totally agree! Wish that I would have made more of an effort to get pictures. Usually always seemed like I was wasting time, especially when I was busheling, but now when I look back and see the ones that I do have, I get nostalgic and can't believe how much scenery, and memorable moments I have passed up that I would love to recall with a good picture!


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## Ed*L (Jan 18, 2010)

Sooooo, you want pictures like the Dead Ash I dropped yesterday? Perfectly placed, exactly where is was supposed to go......until it caught another tree and rolled 90 degress into a clump of Soft Maples? Only took me another hour (and 1 Maple) to get the damn thing on the ground............

Gotta believe someone would have gotten a laugh out of it.

Ed


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## tramp bushler (Jan 25, 2010)

*I did take a bunch .*

But now I don,t have a scanner . Heck , I still havn,t even developed some rolls of film ............. I need to scann a hundred or so and post them ....I have some great ones of the guy who broke me in ...Some jackin timber , climbin and topping ect .. Some SPOOKY trees .. ...
.Just need to get them posted ...


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## hammerlogging (Jan 25, 2010)

following another load of poplar out of the job a while back


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## RandyMac (Jan 25, 2010)

Polly, if you are interested you can use any of my posted photos. If you do, let me know which ones and I can give you dates, location.
I gotta get another scanner and dig through the archives, I won't show most of them, your going to have to buy the book.

October 1977, some nameless creek in the Van Duzen River drainage. 
A D8K with a 60"X32' Redwood.


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## Greystoke (Jan 25, 2010)

:drool::drool::drool::drool::drool: More Please...Dang I wish I coulda been in on some of that!


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## bullbuck (Jan 25, 2010)

cant touch that pic,but i got some decent ones that i cant post apparently?windows vista sucks if you ask me!my girlfriend agrees,we could get no cooperation,it would be cool to show you guys im not all mouth,but for now i guess im just text


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## tramp bushler (Jan 26, 2010)

*whats the new one ? Windows 7*

I agree from what everyone has said Vista major sucked ..I,m glad I didn,t get one ....


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## BuddhaKat (Jan 26, 2010)

Windows 7. Feedback on it has been all good.


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## tramp bushler (Jan 26, 2010)

Do you just need more of them little sun balls or something ......The rep thing works kinda funny on here....


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## tramp bushler (Jan 26, 2010)

Randy, thats a cool pic . Was that log being brought down a switch back , or it that the bed it was fell onto .???I don,t see where there would be any room for the rest of the tree beyond it,s aparant small end ..


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## bullbuck (Jan 26, 2010)

haha could be?i dont even know how to give rep or whatever,not much of a computer person,thats what the sunny things are eh?


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## joesawer (Jan 26, 2010)

tarzanstree said:


> :drool::drool::drool::drool::drool: More Please...Dang I wish I coulda been in on some of that!



You and me both!


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## slowp (Jan 26, 2010)

Unfortunately I too have Windows Vista. I bought the cheapest photo program I could find and although more complicated, can shrink photos on it to post on here. So, IF we ever get some logging going on, I can continue to bore you guys with pictures of our peckerpoles getting logged.


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## RandyMac (Jan 27, 2010)

We skipped Vista, went from XP to 7, it works just fine.

I dropped that tree on the road, you can see the scattered remains of the tops on the bank on the upper left. That log was the third cut, I was standing on the second log, the tree was 102" at the stump.

Typical landing, 1977 VanDuzen River.


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## Cedarkerf (Jan 27, 2010)

Several years ago I used to cut quite a bit of Doug fir 36-48" diameter never thought to take any pics cause I wasnt cutting any big trees. By todays standards they would be huge but back then they still had occasional single log loads and 3 log loads. When I dropped a 56 incher I thought it was picture worthy but didnt have a camera around when I fell and bucked it. These wernt logging jobs just lot clearing logs were sent to the mill so I guess it was wannabe logging.


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## Curlycherry1 (Jan 27, 2010)

I took gobs and gobs of photos when I was young and hustling firewood. One set of pictures taken from the roof of our barn every year showing the piles of wood actually saved my brother from a lawsuit and allowed him to stay in business when his neighbor sued him a few years ago.

Problem is the photos were not always put in safe places and most of them have been lost. So not only take lots of pics, but put them or their data in a safe place.

Here is an oldie but goodie Polaroid from my woodchuck firewood days.


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## Greystoke (Jan 27, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> .
> 
> Typical landing, 1977 VanDuzen River.



The year I was born  Why didn't you leave those magnificent trees...


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## Greystoke (Jan 27, 2010)

tarzanstree said:


> The year I was born  Why didn't you leave those magnificent trees...



So I could fall them 22 years later!  Lol! OOhh the glory!!! Nice pics man...somebody rep him for me


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## slowp (Jan 27, 2010)

Yah, you guys are the glory guys. 

This equipment was starting up today. It was a frosty chilly for here morning because the strange bright orb in the sky was visible.


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## bullbuck (Jan 27, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> We skipped Vista, went from XP to 7, it works just fine.
> 
> I dropped that tree on the road, you can see the scattered remains of the tops on the bank on the upper left. That log was the third cut, I was standing on the second log, the tree was 102" at the stump.
> 
> Typical landing, 1977 VanDuzen River.



six cuts with a 60"bar even!!!now that is a big tree,seems that you would have to have a 60 unless you gutted the face somehow?nice pic!


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## Metals406 (Jan 27, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Polly, if you are interested you can use any of my posted photos. If you do, let me know which ones and I can give you dates, location.
> I gotta get another scanner and dig through the archives, I won't show most of them, your going to have to buy the book.
> 
> October 1977, some nameless creek in the Van Duzen River drainage.
> A D8K with a 60"X32' Redwood.



I was born October of 1977. . . My mom said it was one heck of a winter here. . . Lots of snow and cold.

You older fellas sure got to do some badass logging.

Thanks for posting the cool pics Randy!


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## stihl sawing (Jan 27, 2010)

RandyMac could probably fill up the server with all the pics he has. He has posted some nice ones before.


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## 056 kid (Jan 27, 2010)

il second that the older fellas cut some really fine timber!


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## RandyMac (Jan 27, 2010)

Thanks to you-all.

I also cut alot of crap, it wasn't all glory timber. 

BullBuck, I used 48"-60" bars on all kinds of McCullochs and Homelites, depending on what was going on, I used the Master's big geardrives with 72" for bucking. I didn't fall anything that required anything longer than a 60" bar. I spent many happy hours listening to geardrives as they gnawed their way through.


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## bullbuck (Jan 28, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Thanks to you-all.
> 
> I also cut alot of crap, it wasn't all glory timber.
> 
> BullBuck, I used 48"-60" bars on all kinds of McCullochs and Homelites, depending on what was going on, I used the Master's big geardrives with 72" for bucking. I didn't fall anything that required anything longer than a 60" bar. I spent many happy hours listening to geardrives as they gnawed their way through.



i appreciate you getting back to me RandyMac.honestly i could not imagine running those..........verry fukn impressive


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## tramp bushler (Jan 28, 2010)

bullbuck said:


> haha could be?i dont even know how to give rep or whatever,not much of a computer person,thats what the sunny things are eh?


. 

. Thats how ya do it bull buck .. It,s so secret , even the CIA doesn,t know about it .:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::biggrinbounce2:


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## tramp bushler (Jan 28, 2010)

That looks like an off highway Hayes log truck , and a 966 A model with extra heavy counter balance . .. Thanks for the reply Randy .....Did you grit up your chain buckin them ........... I,m so used to the thin bark and broke up ground in Southeast ,I prolly couldn,t keep a chain sharp down there ..... I had a 650 or 680 Mac that was a direct drive saw when I was 13 .. A friend got it for 10 or 11 dollars at a cattle auction in Maine .. It had a full wrap handle bar No one there knew what that was for . It was pretty wore out when I got it ..... Any idea what the displacement of that was ?????


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## RandyMac (Jan 28, 2010)

TB, sounds like an 87cc McCulloch, some of the best saws Mac built.
The truck was a KW, the loader a 988 and yes, Redwood bark is full of chain eating grit, the dust is asbestos like. Redwood logging could be slow and tedious, nothing moved very fast, even the damned trees took their time falling to the ground. I bucked for hours on end, I worked from the topside, the Master at ground level. First, you have to get up there, dragging the chainsaw with you, then drop a plumbline over the side where Ray (the Master) would line up the cut. I would drop the saw over the side, line up and retrieve the cord, set the spikes and commence. I used to crouch along the left side of the saw, left thumb on the throttle, right hand pushing the end of the pistol grip, right foot on the front bar, the big geardrives loved the pressure. Sure as shootin', there was buckin' in a bind, which I learned to do without wedges, as sometimes the big ones would just squeeze them into the wood. Geardrives were tricky in a bound cut, they would keep on sawing long after a direct drive would stall, and yes Virginia an 090 will stall long before a geardrive would. If you missed the change in engine tone, the thing would come flying out of the cut with the speed and force of a torpedo. 
I ran the Master's big upright cylinder Homelites a fair amount, he had a dozen or so at any time, 9-whatevers, 900 series geardrives, the shortest bar he had was 60", standard, for him was 72". I am a McCulloch fan, and I will give those old Homelites their due, in some minor ways, they were better than the same class (dreadnaught) McCullochs, but all chainsaws have their weak points, starters were Homelite's.
I have rambled on enough.......


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## Turkeyslayer (Jan 28, 2010)

Good stuff RandyMac!!!!


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## stihl sawing (Jan 28, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> TB, sounds like an 87cc McCulloch, some of the best saws Mac built.
> The truck was a KW, the loader a 988 and yes, Redwood bark is full of chain eating grit, the dust is asbestos like. Redwood logging could be slow and tedious, nothing moved very fast, even the damned trees took their time falling to the ground. I bucked for hours on end, I worked from the topside, the Master at ground level. First, you have to get up there, dragging the chainsaw with you, then drop a plumbline over the side where Ray (the Master) would line up the cut. I would drop the saw over the side, line up and retrieve the cord, set the spikes and commence. I used to crouch along the left side of the saw, left thumb on the throttle, right hand pushing the end of the pistol grip, right foot on the front bar, the big geardrives loved the pressure. Sure as shootin', there was buckin' in a bind, which I learned to do without wedges, as sometimes the big ones would just squeeze them into the wood. Geardrives were tricky in a bound cut, they would keep on sawing long after a direct drive would stall, and yes Virginia an 090 will stall long before a geardrive would. If you missed the change in engine tone, the thing would come flying out of the cut with the speed and force of a torpedo.
> I ran the Master's big upright cylinder Homelites a fair amount, he had a dozen or so at any time, 9-whatevers, 900 series geardrives, the shortest bar he had was 60", standard, for him was 72". I am a McCulloch fan, and I will give those old Homelites their due, in some minor ways, they were better than the same class (dreadnaught) McCullochs, but all chainsaws have their weak points, starters were Homelite's.
> I have rambled on enough.......


Nope, not for me, you know i like reading your stories.


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## Burvol (Jan 28, 2010)

*A couple*

I posted those pics before, kinda mundane I guess.


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## bitzer (Jan 28, 2010)

Hey Burvol great pics! How tall of trees you working on there? Around here 100fters are getting up there. I know some trees out there are pushing 200+. Man that looks like fun!


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## tramp bushler (Jan 28, 2010)

*What chain did you run ?*

5/8 ths pitch ?? Round or chisel ?, file or grind ?? .As I,ve never run a gear drive saw , did the chain always turn if the saw was running ? did his saws have the 325 gears or the 2 ta 1 gears ????................The guy who broke me in and the first contractors / bull bucks I worked for were all gear drive cutters when they started ...........


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## bullbuck (Jan 28, 2010)

my folks started a museum here in town,so i grew up around the logging history of the logging in these mountains,lots of neat stuff!my mom acquired an old two man chainsaw four stroke i believe?with four handles on the powerhead side similiar to wheel barrow handles,apparently they did not have the technology to make a carburator work on its side yet,so instead of tilting the powerhead the bar and chain would either stand vertically or lay on its side at 90derees,and man was that thing heavy!


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## Gologit (Jan 28, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> ... Sure as shootin', there was buckin' in a bind, which I learned to do without wedges, as sometimes the big ones would just squeeze them into the wood. .......



LOL...I'd almost forgotten about that. Did you ever use the big wide wedges made out of oak? They'd still get eaten by the log sometimes but not as often as the smaller ones.

It's funny how the second growth Redwood doesn't seem to do that but the OG sure did.

Great post...especially the part about dragging the saw up on the log. Is that why us old Yager Creek boys are so stove up these days? 

Somewhere I have some pictures of my brothers and I with peeler bars...up on top and getting the bark on the ground. We were just teen agers.


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## RandyMac (Jan 28, 2010)

TB, jeeze, I'm old but not that old!! 5/8" chain was well before my time, Ray had 9/16" chisel on the Homelites, I used 1/2" chisel on the geardrive McCullochs, hand file all the way. Geardrives had a clutch, just like direct drives, on a cold day, before the gearbox got warm, the chain would move at idle. The Macs had 3 to 1, I think the Homelites did too.

Let's see that peeler bar pic Bob!!!
I didn't see any Oak wedges, Ray had a large selection of steel falling wedges, some were three feet long.


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## bitzer (Jan 29, 2010)

Somehow I missed that story Randy, about dragging the saw up over the top and it coming out like a torpedo when she'd bind up. Just crazy! I'll bet it wasn't much fun at the time, but man you must have some great stories to tell!


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## stihl sawing (Jan 29, 2010)

bitzercreek1 said:


> Somehow I missed that story Randy, about dragging the saw up over the top and it coming out like a torpedo when she'd bind up. Just crazy! I'll bet it wasn't much fun at the time, but man you must have some great stories to tell!


He has some great storys, he's got a knack for telling them too. Very interesting things he writes.


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## tramp bushler (Jan 29, 2010)

*090 s wil cannon out of a bind too .*

I know a guy who played football for the Pliladelphia Eagles..then was bushlin in Southeast with 090s when they were the thing to run .. he had a 42 or 48 " bar on his and was bucking about a 4' cut on a log . The log was above him somewhat, and was pinching from the top down ... He was getting ready to pull the saw out and bore back in when he slightly slipped and momentarily lost his concentration on what he was doing ... The top of the cut came tight and that 090 flew out of the cut .. The back hump of the pistol grip hit him in the sternum and broke it in half lengthwise .......Knocked him out cold !!!!. Ray is a Big, Tough, Man ..... If he would have been against a stump , or bluff that saw would have killed him .....
. Ya really need to watch your footing when cutting .. .. I,ve had my 3120 come out of a cut , and I couldn,t stop it ............. I,ve heard all kinds of stories about kart engine McCullough's , Canadian's big old Homelites ..gettin a guy .....


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## RandyMac (Jan 29, 2010)

*Ok, here abit from the "book"*

Just another day in the woods.

Picture a Southern Humboldt morning in late October, dawn, cold, no frost, light breeze brings scents from the orchard. I'm tricking my old Honda CL450 into starting, it does, it always did, but not without some drama. It lost a choke valve in one carb, so whenever I started it, it went throught the same routine, could be near freezing or 90 degress, spitting, popping back through carb, laboring to idle. Finally it runs on all two, the thrash from the valve gear quiets as the oil makes it's way there. I check the gear, took some fancy lashing to get it all on the bike, and to keep it there. I blew a head gasket in the Old man's Scout, so I used the beater Honda. It had a very sturdy rack, had to be tough, I strapped on a 797 with 48" bar, four gallons of mix, one of bar oil, wedges, axe, saw spares and 5 pounds worth of lunch. I had to wait for the sun to rise, my GranDad told me not to travel his roads in the dark. Roads indeed, skidtrails would be a fair bet. With a gritty crunch, I found first gear, and thump thump thump headed down the hill, I was almost sitting on the tank, not much room left. Three miles, 20 minutes later, I get to the main ranch. The old guy is swearing something fierce, something about the old D6 and the need to waste a day going to town (Eureka) for parts. Then he gave me that sideways look, you know the one, where they think you are nuts, but are too polite to say so. He mentioned the lash up I had going, wished me luck and continued swearing at the malingering D6. Wow, real county road, not paved, but it looked like freeway after the goat trails on the ranch. I headed towards Whitethorn, the road was good enough to use 3rd and 4th gears, maybe 35-40 mph in spots. Took about 30 minutes to get to the turn-off, yet more goat trails, fresh ones this time. I could hear the NorthWest log loader running, dust hung in the air from the trucks getting their first load of the day. My partner Ray was coming up behind me, his beat International pick-up chugging and squeaking up the hill. It was steep enough that I was standing on the pegs, leaning towards the headlight, all that weight on the rear made the front end a bit light. The landing was it's normal chaos, heavy equipment, log trucks, men, all moving in seemingly random directions. I parked/crashed out of the way, headed to the landing chaser's fire for coffee/crankcase drippings, before commencing on the day's harvest/destruction of timber. Ray and I felled, bucked and accounted for around 25 old growth Doug Firs, the smallest probably went 40"dbh, the big ones ran 60"-72"+. Ray was a gas to work with, wise old guy, had a way with words, I learned a tremendous amount from him, the old school way of logging. We quit at 3pm, since I was halfway there already, I decided to run into Garberville, heck paved road was only a few miles away. So, I had a couple beers, a steak dinner and visited this gal I knew. It was almost sunset when I headed back to the wilderness, I did a shortcut, yep, this time it was real freeway. The fun didn't last very long, cotton pickin' Highway Patrolman decided to stop me. He went on about overlength load, no flag, obstructed tail light.....he even used a tape to measure, just how overlength the bar was. jeeze a man born without a sense of humour and well, patience stretched a little thin by my back chat, and watching me climb the bank, to borrow some flagging off a stake. Of course crumpling and tossing the ticket didn't improve matters. I didn't make it back to the cabin, too dark by then, I hung out with my GranDad, sipped whiskey, smoked cigars on the porch, talked about the day's work.

I had tons of days like this one, at the time, it seemed endless, I know better now. So, I sit here, in the dead of night, trying to get some of this down, before it dissappears.

RandyMac


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## 056 kid (Jan 29, 2010)

i really enjoyed that diaolouge, you should try & keep it going..


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## Jaredm (Jan 29, 2010)

RandyMac, I really enjoy reading your posts about the way things used to be.


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## stihl sawing (Jan 29, 2010)

Good read Randy.


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## Greystoke (Jan 29, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Just another day in the woods.
> 
> Picture a Southern Humboldt morning in late October, dawn, cold, no frost, light breeze brings scents from the orchard. I'm tricking my old Honda CL450 into starting, it does, it always did, but not without some drama. It lost a choke valve in one carb, so whenever I started it, it went throught the same routine, could be near freezing or 90 degress, spitting, popping back through carb, laboring to idle. Finally it runs on all two, the thrash from the valve gear quiets as the oil makes it's way there. I check the gear, took some fancy lashing to get it all on the bike, and to keep it there. I blew a head gasket in the Old man's Scout, so I used the beater Honda. It had a very sturdy rack, had to be tough, I strapped on a 797 with 48" bar, four gallons of mix, one of bar oil, wedges, axe, saw spares and 5 pounds worth of lunch. I had to wait for the sun to rise, my GranDad told me not to travel his roads in the dark. Roads indeed, skidtrails would be a fair bet. With a gritty crunch, I found first gear, and thump thump thump headed down the hill, I was almost sitting on the tank, not much room left. Three miles, 20 minutes later, I get to the main ranch. The old guy is swearing something fierce, something about the old D6 and the need to waste a day going to town (Eureka) for parts. Then he gave me that sideways look, you know the one, where they think you are nuts, but are too polite to say so. He mentioned the lash up I had going, wished me luck and continued swearing at the malingering D6. Wow, real county road, not paved, but it looked like freeway after the goat trails on the ranch. I headed towards Whitethorn, the road was good enough to use 3rd and 4th gears, maybe 35-40 mph in spots. Took about 30 minutes to get to the turn-off, yet more goat trails, fresh ones this time. I could hear the NorthWest log loader running, dust hung in the air from the trucks getting their first load of the day. My partner Ray was coming up behind me, his beat International pick-up chugging and squeaking up the hill. It was steep enough that I was standing on the pegs, leaning towards the headlight, all that weight on the rear made the front end a bit light. The landing was it's normal chaos, heavy equipment, log trucks, men, all moving in seemingly random directions. I parked/crashed out of the way, headed to the landing chaser's fire for coffee/crankcase drippings, before commencing on the day's harvest/destruction of timber. Ray and I felled, bucked and accounted for around 25 old growth Doug Firs, the smallest probably went 40"dbh, the big ones ran 60"-72"+. Ray was a gas to work with, wise old guy, had a way with words, I learned a tremendous amount from him, the old school way of logging. We quit at 3pm, since I was halfway there already, I decided to run into Garberville, heck paved road was only a few miles away. So, I had a couple beers, a steak dinner and visited this gal I knew. It was almost sunset when I headed back to the wilderness, I did a shortcut, yep, this time it was real freeway. The fun didn't last very long, cotton pickin' Highway Patrolman decided to stop me. He went on about overlength load, no flag, obstructed tail light.....he even used a tape to measure, just how overlength the bar was. jeeze a man born without a sense of humour and well, patience stretched a little thin by my back chat, and watching me climb the bank, to borrow some flagging off a stake. Of course crumpling and tossing the ticket didn't improve matters. I didn't make it back to the cabin, too dark by then, I hung out with my GranDad, sipped whiskey, smoked cigars on the porch, talked about the day's work.
> 
> ...



Awesome post man! I want to sit on a porch sometime and drink whiskey and smoke cigars with ya!


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## RandyMac (Jan 30, 2010)

*Cody check your PM*

Cody, come on by about 0630, I'll be starting my 4 day weekend with whiskey and a cigar. I sent you a PM, I hope you enjoy it.


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## slowp (Jan 30, 2010)

Good story. Write more please. I'm mad at the local library.


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## RandyMac (Jan 30, 2010)

Well sweet Polly, since it was you askin', I'll go fetch something. Back in a bit.


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## RandyMac (Jan 30, 2010)

*1 of 2*

During my 14 year rampage through out Northern California, I did about five years worth of Forestry work. This is about fire stuff. I'm finding it tough to relate the total expirience...the smoke, waves of heat from merely hot to searing, the sounds of the crew working, the scary sounds from the fire, the smells of fresh earth, cut brush, trees and of course, smoke....there seems to be no way for me to express the noise made by a crownout in heavy timber... yes I had moments of fear, running away was sometimes the only option, mostly you gritted it out, relied on the training and your crew. 
There were times that I took a long breath when the fire came into view, hadn't even gotten within several miles of the thing and already it made me tired just looking at it. One such fire was in Modoc County, I don't remember exactly what year it was, it happened one of the times I worked near Happy Camp Ca, so 1977-79. We had worked all day, clearing a fuelbreak on a ridge, lots of fun sawing. We had been back at our incampment on Elk Creek for maybe an hour when the call came in. I had just finished daily maintance on my work saws, an XL12 and XL925 (Uncle Sam loved Homelites) and jumped in the creek. I spent the next three hours driving a 35 foot cornbinder bus over a bunch of county roads, but hey, they were paved. Just before sundown, we topped a ridge, 15-20 miles to the south east, was a giant convection column, complete with a vapor cap formed as the very hot air hit very cold air. From our view point, with the setting sun behind us, it looked like something in the moderate megaton range had been detonated. It was a very quiet crew that stood and looked, as we pissed over the bank. Another hour got us to the fire camp, were they fed us the standard steak and potato dinner and actually gave us four whole hours to sleep. Four hours for some, less for others, I had to attend a briefing, check the bus, get supplies before wandering around kicking comatose boots into action. The next hour was spent in the dark, following a guide truck that had one taillight, down dusty logging roads. Dust? It was that powdered up red dirt stuff, inches deep, every vehicle had an attendent red cloud around it. Eh, I digress, you will get used to it. We were relieving a crew that had been on the line for 24 hours, it would be 36 hours before we were relieved. So, I should probably say a few words about Modoc, an Indian named place, some hills, mountains, mostly flat with lava flows and cinder cones. The area had been extensively logged of it's pines, about a century before. Regrowth was very good, lots and lots of nearly identicle trees, 24-30"dbh 125' tall, closely spaced. It's a high desert area, most of what the oldtime loggers left on the ground, was still there, kinda rotten, very dry. This was a lightning caused fire, it spread fast, very fast, in the first day, it consumed nearly 5000 acres and incorporated a few big spot fires into itself. We arrived, the Boss and I lined the crew out, I armed myself with the 925, and off we went. By daylight, we had to abandon our fireline three times, flaming crap was falling a few hundred feet from the main fire, nothing like fighting the big one and having the little ones sneak around behind you. By noon we had backed up to a half mile away from where we started, it wasn't going well for us, or anyone else. A 100 foot wide cat line had been completely ignored by the fire, there was very little water available for the pumpers, so they were on foot like the rest of us (ha ha hoseheads) The airtankers had a good time, they kept the fire from spreading to the east, but they didn't have much effect on the front. We heard them constantly, big prop jobs, ahh what a sound those big rotaries make. Anyways, sometimes hearing that rumbling roar was reassuring, more often it was a reminder that the fire was still out of control, and if they were going in, right over your head, you were close to the real action. Getting hit by retardent always brightened up your day.


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## RandyMac (Jan 30, 2010)

*the rest*

By mid afternoon, there was a change of plan, I was shocked, after all the original plan was so wonderful. They pulled everyone out of our side, we regrouped on a two lane road about a half a mile from the fire's head. There were 6 Caterpillers rooting up both sides of the road, mostly Sixes with an odd Seven here and there. I killed pines with that 925, hardly waited to see one hit the ground, before setting steel on the next one, it was like a Xmas tree harvest, writ large. My swamper, who was good at such things, lost count after the first 40 or so. After a short break to eat crap out of cans, I cut a couple dozen more before dark, progress slowed about then. That line held, well mostly, fires, wild creatures that they are, don't always behave the way you guess that they will. We chased spot fires, lots of them, some were smothered with dirt, others had to be contained within a fireline. Forest fires are fought with dirt, don't let the nozzle jockies tell you otherwise, dirt doesn't burn, if that is all you leave in front of the fire, it starves. By sunrise, our part of the line was secure, which meant, after more canned crap, we took our circus on the road, to a more active area. Many more pines were killed, by then I was getting deaf, even with ear plugs, I was starting to hate the smell of pine sap and I was getting tired. I swore at everything. I beat that Homelite without mercy, I got the blasted thing stuck in a tree, instead of taking a break, waiting for another chainsaw, I went ballistic. I grabbed a Pulaski and went to hacking at the tree, I was enthused, not only did I get the chainsaw free, but severed the chain as well. My swamper, a fine lad named Joel, had seen it all before, just calmly replaced the chain after he filed the notch in the bar smooth. My name was "Havoc" for the rest of the day. About noon the wind changed, the fire turned back to the east, we patrolled our section, sharpened the tools, had at the canned stuff, again. We left the fire early, we didn't do mop-up, that was left for junior crews and the shiney truck guys.


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## Burvol (Jan 30, 2010)

Yeeha!


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## stihl sawing (Jan 30, 2010)

Good reading.


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## RandyMac (Jan 30, 2010)

I laugh my ass off every time I see these old photos.

I think I just turned 20 when we went to this Kings Range fire. It was a CDF 14 man, er, person crew. I'm the goofy bastard on the left. 








My barbarian phase.


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## Burvol (Jan 30, 2010)

I love the Barbarian picture. Total wood savage, out for scale....look out.


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## stihl sawing (Jan 30, 2010)

Keep em coming.


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## RandyMac (Jan 30, 2010)

Yeah, and great fun while it lasted, those were unruly times.


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## Burvol (Jan 30, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Yeah, and great fun while it lasted, those were unruly times.



I hear those stories from my family, all of the characters in the woods....now just a bunch machines with a handfaller here and there. I still throw roadkill in crummies, tape silver grey squirrel tails anttenas, ect. I can't wait to see all the new guys this season!


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## Gologit (Jan 30, 2010)

Burvol said:


> I love the Barbarian picture. Total wood savage, out for scale....look out.



 And let me tell you...he ain't changed much since then either.


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## mdavlee (Jan 30, 2010)

That's some good stories there!


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## tramp bushler (Jan 30, 2010)

*No spenders , no pad ???? ouch*

What is with the blue hard hats ??? How did you pack that big cully ... At least if you have spenders on you can slip a piece of bark under them to keep from burning tooth brands into your shoulder ..


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## Greystoke (Jan 31, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Yeah, and great fun while it lasted, those were unruly times.



Awesome stories "Havoc" Sounded like some good times


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## Meadow Beaver (Jan 31, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> TB, sounds like an 87cc McCulloch, some of the best saws Mac built.
> The truck was a KW, the loader a 988 and yes, Redwood bark is full of chain eating grit, the dust is asbestos like. Redwood logging could be slow and tedious, nothing moved very fast, even the damned trees took their time falling to the ground. I bucked for hours on end, I worked from the topside, the Master at ground level. First, you have to get up there, dragging the chainsaw with you, then drop a plumbline over the side where Ray (the Master) would line up the cut. I would drop the saw over the side, line up and retrieve the cord, set the spikes and commence. I used to crouch along the left side of the saw, left thumb on the throttle, right hand pushing the end of the pistol grip, right foot on the front bar, the big geardrives loved the pressure. Sure as shootin', there was buckin' in a bind, which I learned to do without wedges, as sometimes the big ones would just squeeze them into the wood. Geardrives were tricky in a bound cut, they would keep on sawing long after a direct drive would stall, and yes Virginia an 090 will stall long before a geardrive would. If you missed the change in engine tone, the thing would come flying out of the cut with the speed and force of a torpedo.
> I ran the Master's big upright cylinder Homelites a fair amount, he had a dozen or so at any time, 9-whatevers, 900 series geardrives, the shortest bar he had was 60", standard, for him was 72". I am a McCulloch fan, and I will give those old Homelites their due, in some minor ways, they were better than the same class (dreadnaught) McCullochs, but all chainsaws have their weak points, starters were Homelite's.
> I have rambled on enough.......



Randy you forgot that they made an 090G


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## RandyMac (Jan 31, 2010)

MM39, I know that there are 090Gs, I have no opinion on them, having never seen or ran one.
Stihls didn't have much of a presence in my area until the mid 1970s, by then the available OG timber was quickly running out and was nearly finished 10 years later. The 1970s were the last years of bustass logging, although PALCO showed genuine effort though the '80s, they even clearcut the old select cut lands, some dated back to '50s.


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## Meadow Beaver (Jan 31, 2010)

Yeah I remember you metioning how McCulloch and Homelite were big at the time.


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## tramp bushler (Jan 31, 2010)

The Us and Canada had the ability to be the world leaders with saws and they dropped the ball ....Lost the game .......


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## Meadow Beaver (Jan 31, 2010)

Yep, there was Shindaiwa but I guess Echo bought them, so no more American based saw companies. Oh well America buys everything else from foreign countries too.


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## tramp bushler (Jan 31, 2010)

Shindawa doesn,t sound very American ?


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## Metals406 (Jan 31, 2010)

tramp bushler said:


> Shindawa doesn,t sound very American ?



You've never heard of Shindawa, Ohio??


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## RandyMac (Jan 31, 2010)

I bought a 075 in '77, the guys I worked with called me a Democrat, and the saw a "nazi saw". I gave it a good trial, three months worth, ditched it, carried on with my Macs.


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## Meadow Beaver (Jan 31, 2010)

tramp bushler said:


> Shindawa doesn,t sound very American ?



Shindaiwa has a US office in Lake Zurich, Illinois


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## Meadow Beaver (Jan 31, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> I bought a 075 in '77, the guys I worked with called me a Democrat, and the saw a "nazi saw". I gave it a good trial, three months worth, ditched it, carried on with my Macs.



Here's a tough question for you Randy. What do you think is the best saw out of all the saws you've ran?


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## tramp bushler (Jan 31, 2010)

Randy, did you NOT like the anti vibe or something ?????. Granted it didn,t have the power of a Super Pro 125 . But it didn,t viberate as much either ..... I had a couple older 075 s . They were ok , but the 2100 was a better all around saw and the 3120 hands down out cut them ..


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## Gologit (Feb 1, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> I bought a 075 in '77, the guys I worked with called me a Democrat, and the saw a "nazi saw". I gave it a good trial, three months worth, ditched it, carried on with my Macs.



Yup...nazi saw, kraut crap, and some other names the censor won't let me list. A lot of those "old" guys fought the Germans in WWll and the thought of using a German saw really bothered them. You had to respect that. Some never did make the switch and ran that heavy red or yellow iron until they retired. Me, I'll take a turn running some of the old iron just for fun at a GTG but if I'm working I'll take my kraut crap 660 every time. And I'm not a Democrat.


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## bitzer (Feb 1, 2010)

Awesome stories Randy! I'd rep ya again if I could! You could easily turn that kind of stuff into a book. I'd buy it! Someone needs to tell the stories of the past and you've got a knack for it.


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## RandyMac (Feb 1, 2010)

MMFaller39 said:


> Here's a tough question for you Randy. What do you think is the best saw out of all the saws you've ran?



That is a toughy, there were many that were really good, not that many stinkers. That 075 was a very civilized chainsaw, quiet, AV and all, but lacked zing, in my twisted opinion, it was an over-rated, over-weight, over-priced, under-powered yuppie saw.
Ok, the best big direct drive, the 797, had lots of zing, the right hand start doesn't bother me, no distracting "flex" from AV.
Medium chainsaws, so many good ones, PM850, Super 250, XL925. I had an 045, nice, no zing.
Though medium in displacement at 87cc, the first and best 660  rates as a heavy saw, meaning a bar length to 48", 60" if needed. The McC 895 and Homie 900 series were great heavy saws, the XP1130 deserves mention.
Little chainsaws, gosh, I used an XL12, alot, more hours than a 10-10, the McCulloch had more zing, the XLs would never die.

Zing factor had alot to do with what I liked, it's subjective. In general, Stihls lacked zing.


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## stihl sawing (Feb 1, 2010)

Wonder why mac and homelite stopped making pro saws and go to the cheap things they make now. Looks like one of them would start making good saws again and try to sell the people that use them everyday. I think if they did come out with a saw that was worthy of a pro saw it would sell. I remember some of the old macs i have run, They were well built, now none of them were the size of the ones Randy has used. I would certainly look at one if they came out with a good saw.


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## Meadow Beaver (Feb 1, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> That is a toughy, there were many that were really good, not that many stinkers. That 075 was a very civilized chainsaw, quiet, AV and all, but lacked zing, in my twisted opinion, it was an over-rated, over-weight, over-priced, under-powered yuppie saw.
> Ok, the best big direct drive, the 797, had lots of zing, the right hand start doesn't bother me, no distracting "flex" from AV.
> Medium chainsaws, so many good ones, PM850, Super 250, XL925. I had an 045, nice, no zing.
> Though medium in displacement at 87cc, the first and best 660  rates as a heavy saw, meaning a bar length to 48", 60" if needed. The McC 895 and Homie 900 series were great heavy saws, the XP1130 deserves mention.
> ...



Well I have yet to run a McCulloch but I'll buy one some day to see what the hype is about.


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## 056 kid (Feb 1, 2010)

You have never run any Mccullochs?

thats a bit odd..


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## Meadow Beaver (Feb 1, 2010)

Nope, never even seen a big mac, I've ran mostly Stihls and Huskies.


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## Greystoke (Feb 1, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> The 1970s were the last years of bustass logging, although PALCO showed genuine effort though the '80s, they even clearcut the old select cut lands, some dated back to '50s.



They would probably still be cutting some if Horowitz hadn't of taken over :bang:


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## Greystoke (Feb 1, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> That is a toughy, there were many that were really good, not that many stinkers. That 075 was a very civilized chainsaw, quiet, AV and all, but lacked zing, in my twisted opinion, it was an over-rated, over-weight, over-priced, under-powered yuppie saw.
> Ok, the best big direct drive, the 797, had lots of zing, the right hand start doesn't bother me, no distracting "flex" from AV.
> Medium chainsaws, so many good ones, PM850, Super 250, XL925. I had an 045, nice, no zing.
> Though medium in displacement at 87cc, the first and best 660  rates as a heavy saw, meaning a bar length to 48", 60" if needed. The McC 895 and Homie 900 series were great heavy saws, the XP1130 deserves mention.
> ...



I had a decent Pro Mac 850...picked it up at an auction when I was 12...it was my "Big Wood" saw  Had a 36" bar on it. Anyhow, I was bucking some big cottonwood and ran some straight gas through it  That was the end of that one! And unfortunately it did not end there...I thought it seized because it was old (surely I would not have ran straight gas through it) so I went and grabbed my Dad's prized 285 Husky (a lot like a 2100) Seized it up too! That is when I realized that the gas jugs that I had been using had been refilled by some un-mentionable un-benounced to me! Good learning lesson for a boy of 12 that wanted to be a Timber Faller...My Daddy was mad :bang::censored::rant:


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## Metals406 (Feb 1, 2010)

tarzanstree said:


> I had a decent Pro Mac 850...picked it up at an auction when I was 12...it was my "Big Wood" saw  Had a 36" bar on it. Anyhow, I was bucking some big cottonwood and ran some straight gas through it  That was the end of that one! And unfortunately it did not end there...I thought it seized because it was old (surely I would not have ran straight gas through it) so I went and grabbed my Dad's prized 285 Husky (a lot like a 2100) Seized it up too! That is when I realized that the gas jugs that I had been using had been refilled by some un-mentionable un-benounced to me! Good learning lesson for a boy of 12 that wanted to be a Timber Faller...My Daddy was mad :bang::censored::rant:



My old man would have hit me with one of them dead sawz!!


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## HorseShoeInFork (Feb 1, 2010)




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## Meadow Beaver (Feb 1, 2010)

tarzanstree said:


> I had a decent Pro Mac 850...picked it up at an auction when I was 12...it was my "Big Wood" saw  Had a 36" bar on it. Anyhow, I was bucking some big cottonwood and ran some straight gas through it  That was the end of that one! And unfortunately it did not end there...I thought it seized because it was old (surely I would not have ran straight gas through it) so I went and grabbed my Dad's prized 285 Husky (a lot like a 2100) Seized it up too! That is when I realized that the gas jugs that I had been using had been refilled by some un-mentionable un-benounced to me! Good learning lesson for a boy of 12 that wanted to be a Timber Faller...My Daddy was mad :bang::censored::rant:



That's why I always pour a little in a cup to make sure the gas is blue.


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## RandyMac (Feb 1, 2010)

Did you get to pick your Willow switch?

The PM850 loved sawing Pine, it also did well in second growth Redwood.


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## Metals406 (Feb 1, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Did you get to pick your Willow switch?
> 
> The PM850 loved sawing Pine, it also did well in second growth Redwood.



Randy,

You need to write a book brother. . . With lot's of pics. . . Preferably over 300 pages.


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## RandyMac (Feb 1, 2010)

I have two and and half years worth of sporatic output, maybe a couple dozen assorted things, some still in progress. I can only write this sort of thing in the dead of night, I do it in one take, clean-up the typing errors later.


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## hammerlogging (Feb 1, 2010)

by chance do you know or know of Gary Scneider, I think he was Jaffy from dharma bums, has some logging background, hes hidden away somewherein NOrCal, from the beat crew, Kerouac and all. Some good poems, etc. I like it. Writer anyhow, a good one, that was a logger, at least to some degree.


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## RandyMac (Feb 1, 2010)

Hammer, I haven't heard of him, I will see what I can find. 
Thanks


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## tramp bushler (Feb 2, 2010)

HorseShoeInFork said:


>



. i,ve cut Red Cedars and Sitka spruce this size in Southeast ..... BUT , this is a Nice log !!!!!!!! Seamless ,straight , quarter sawn, rain gutters without a knot or blemish in them .... You don,t find that in Southeast ....Big red cedars in Southeast are pretty wolfy ..


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## hammerlogging (Feb 2, 2010)

RandyMac said:


> Hammer, I haven't heard of him, I will see what I can find.
> Thanks



I just looked on the shelf, the one I have is Gary Snyder, Look Out: A Selection of Writings.

An sample:

_After weeks of watching the roof leak
I fixed it tonight
by moving a single board_


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## tramp bushler (Feb 2, 2010)

hammerlogging said:


> I just looked on the shelf, the one I have is Gary Snyder, Look Out: A Selection of Writings.
> 
> An sample:
> 
> ...


.



:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:. That guy would fit right in in Southeast !!!


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## 2dogs (Feb 2, 2010)

This is from last week. I had not run the 090 for awhile and it has a 4' bar on it so I thought what the heck I'll use it on this redwood. Man that saw beat me up! It was OK here but once I got the butt section on the road and there was not much room to move the weight and length worked me. BTW I need another 6" of bar to buck all the way through from one side. I also found that my chain wasn't cutting straight but drifted off about 1" at the end of the cut. When I finished the buck from the far side it left a piece of triangular wood on the end of the log.


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## tramp bushler (Feb 2, 2010)

I hated how my Lightning would flop over on it,s side .. In a buck I always had to hold up on the side of the front handle bar to get a nice straight buck ... Nice Pic !!!!!


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## Curlycherry1 (Feb 2, 2010)

2dogs said:


>



I see nice redwood being cut like this one and yet there is pretty much ZERO redwood to be found around here at any of the lumber dealers. I cannot even special order the stuff to work with any more. Where the heck is this stuff going because it sure as heck is not being sold ANYWHERE in the midwest! 

Who wants to ship me an ~8' hunk of one of those nice clear logs so I can get it cut up.


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## 2dogs (Feb 2, 2010)

tramp bushler said:


> I hated how my Lightning would flop over on it,s side .. In a buck I always had to hold up on the side of the front handle bar to get a nice straight buck ... Nice Pic !!!!!



Maybe that is the problem. I just don't have enough experience with the 090 to tell. Besides, I just don't need that big of a saw in redwood. I would like to try a 4' bar and 404 chain on all this big second growth but on a 660. I could drive right up to this tree, I sure hate to pack an 090 very far.


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## Greystoke (Feb 2, 2010)

Nice redwood pic!


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## bitzer (Feb 2, 2010)

Great pic 2dogs!


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## 2dogs (Feb 2, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> I see nice redwood being cut like this one and yet there is pretty much ZERO redwood to be found around here at any of the lumber dealers. I cannot even special order the stuff to work with any more. Where the heck is this stuff going because it sure as heck is not being sold ANYWHERE in the midwest!
> 
> Who wants to ship me an ~8' hunk of one of those nice clear logs so I can get it cut up.



PM me your address and send me 2 semi loads of stamps and I'll mail it to you.


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## Curlycherry1 (Feb 2, 2010)

2dogs said:


> PM me your address and send me 2 semi loads of stamps and I'll mail it to you.



Call Bob at Freghtquote.com and tell him to use Curlycherry's account for a stick or two. Heck, I would be glad to get the branches from some of those trees! 

So I still have two questions:
Where does that redwood go once processed - overseas?????

And is that tree in the pic a fallen tree that was taken out by some act of nature, or is that part of a normal harvest?


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## 2dogs (Feb 2, 2010)

Curlycherry1 said:


> Call Bob at Freghtquote.com and tell him to use Curlycherry's account for a stick or two. Heck, I would be glad to get the branches from some of those trees!
> 
> So I still have two questions:
> Where does that redwood go once processed - overseas?????
> ...



Great! I'll send that tree freight collect!

I can only say the local mill sells most of its redwood with a few hundred miles of here. I think they have 5 lumber yards.

This tree was a victim of the fires of 2008 even though it fell 2 weeks ago. That stump was cat faced over the years by fire and a recent windy rainstorm took it down. The base of the tree, that is the cat faced trunk broke apart. The cat face is on the uphill side where debris collects and the burns aginst the stump each time a fire blows through. The good wood is on the down hill side so it has to break before the tree comes down. It broke the top out of another redwood, maybe around 4' DBH, I haven't hiked up the hill to it yet, that I will have to fall soon. The tree fall gap this tree left is huge! The tree fell over and then slid 120' down the hill, spanned the road, and finally the top stuck where the hill ran out. It has heart rot so it will not yield great lumber. I forgot to take a pic of the butt log showing the rot. 

Since we are chainsaw geeks here is a pic of the 090 with a 4' bar about 50' from the butt.






The next two pics are of the same small fir that blew over in the same storm that knocked over the redwood. This tree obviously fell over when the root plate failed. I had marked this tree for removal but the forester wouldn't allow it to happen. There a many of these trees to take care of.


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## Meadow Beaver (Feb 2, 2010)

That nameplate on the starter cover looks new, of course the saw looks good as well.


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## 2dogs (Feb 2, 2010)

MMFaller39 said:


> That nameplate on the starter cover looks new, of course the saw looks good as well.



I bought that saw last year for $500.00 without a bar. It had a 5', 1/2" pitch bar and chain on it that the my friend kept. I changed the sprocket and bought a 4' bar and a 5' bar with 2 chains on ebay. Nothing had been used much. The dealer tuned it up and set the governor, it starts easily. A little sun fading is its only blemish. I think I could spray clear Rust Oleum and bring out the shine. But, it's just a working toll for me. That said I have no love for this thing. It vibrates way too much, its loud and heavy as heck. It set the bark on fire while I was bucking the redwood in the pic.

I think there are quite a few 090s here, maybe from the days when the redwood burl business was strong. My friend Andy finds one every 6 months or so.


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## RandyMac (Feb 2, 2010)

2dogs said:


> That said I have no love for this thing. It vibrates way too much, its loud and heavy as heck. It set the bark on fire while I was bucking the redwood in the pic.



Ha ha, I said that very thing, they are far worse than the Homelites of that time.

HorseShoe, that is a big Cedar, and a very old one at that.


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## GNAR13 (Feb 2, 2010)

stihl sawing said:


> Wonder why mac and homelite stopped making pro saws and go to the cheap things they make now. Looks like one of them would start making good saws again and try to sell the people that use them everyday. I think if they did come out with a saw that was worthy of a pro saw it would sell. I remember some of the old macs i have run, They were well built, now none of them were the size of the ones Randy has used. I would certainly look at one if they came out with a good saw.



so that wal-mart and others would keep selling their saws at prices that the average homeowner liked


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