# Ax Men Question



## LD1 (May 12, 2009)

I apologize if this question has already been asked or answered, as I cant possibly read thousands of posts a day.

Let me start by saying I am not a big fan of ax-men. Too much drama, and not enough cutting and logging. But I watched another episode last night as there was nothing else on.

The question I have is why do they carry the saws with the bar/chain on their shoulder and the powerhead behind them?

I am not a logger, just a firewood cutter, so I have never used a big heavy saw with a huge bar, but I carry my saws by the handle at my side.

Cutters are really sharp, and I don't think I would want to treck down a mountain side with them right at my neck. What happens if he were to trip and fall??


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## tomtrees58 (May 12, 2009)

thers a shoulder pad baileys sell them its easer to move around with a big saw in the brush tom trees


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## John D (May 12, 2009)

After holding those 15-20lb saws all day w 32+" bars,Im sure the way they put them on there shoulder is out of neccesity to help there back muscles from being overworked ,and keep them from having more back pain than they already do.The powerhead out back will give there back a break.IMO,it would be more dangerous to carry them on there side,due to the extra fatigue in the arms and back.


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## CJ-7 (May 12, 2009)

Did I read somewhere that carrying a saw in that manner is a safety violation? Or is that just in BC?


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## 2dogs (May 12, 2009)

With the bar on the shoulder and the powerhead next to the back the load is very well balanced. My suspenders have a bar pad to protect my shoulder. This way I have no swinging load and no bar digging into the ground. Most fallers wear a collared shirt too to help protect the neck. Yes the dogs will stick you now and then, it's just part of the game. Sometimes I will carry my axe up on the bar, other times it is in my off hand. Big jobs mean I will be carrying extra fuel in gypo jugs or a piggyback can in my off hand.

Suspenders are a must when running a big saw when falling. All this stuff is cheap so give it a try.


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## GASoline71 (May 12, 2009)

2dogs said:


> With the bar on the shoulder and the powerhead next to the back the load is very well balanced. My suspenders have a bar pad to protect my shoulder. This way I have no swinging load and no bar digging into the ground. Most fallers wear a collared shirt too to help protect the neck. *Yes the dogs will stick you now and then, it's just part of the game.* Sometimes I will carry my axe up on the bar, other times it is in my off hand. Big jobs mean I will be carrying extra fuel in gypo jugs or a piggyback can in my off hand.
> 
> Suspenders are a must when running a big saw when falling. All this stuff is cheap so give it a try.




Gots a few "nicks" on my right shoulder and neck myself mang... 

Gary


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## Cedarkerf (May 12, 2009)

Easiest way to keep from geetin tangled in the brush. Second growyh up here can be very brushy and 32" + bar just love to duck under stuff. 044/440's with 28" bars on up get carried that way around here. Like 2 dogs said very balanced and you may be covering long distances.


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## Gologit (May 12, 2009)

2dogs said:


> With the bar on the shoulder and the powerhead next to the back the load is very well balanced. My suspenders have a bar pad to protect my shoulder. This way I have no swinging load and no bar digging into the ground. Most fallers wear a collared shirt too to help protect the neck. Yes the dogs will stick you now and then, it's just part of the game. Sometimes I will carry my axe up on the bar, other times it is in my off hand. Big jobs mean I will be carrying extra fuel in gypo jugs or a piggyback can in my off hand.
> 
> Suspenders are a must when running a big saw when falling. All this stuff is cheap so give it a try.



Yup...and along with the axe and gypo jugs you might have a lunch and a water bottle, and maybe a jack.


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## GASoline71 (May 12, 2009)

...and chokers... and...

Gary


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## Gologit (May 12, 2009)

GASoline71 said:


> ...and chokers... and...
> 
> Gary



...and snoose, and a candy bar, and....Hi Gary !


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## GASoline71 (May 12, 2009)

HI BOB!!!

Gary


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## slowp (May 12, 2009)

Hah, you are forgetting fire season where you add a shovel and extinguisher.
Ever thought of having a pack pony or goat or huge dog? 

But you can carry it all in that oil soaked canvas pack. No problems.:greenchainsaw:


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## Gologit (May 12, 2009)

slowp said:


> Hah, you are forgetting fire season where you add a shovel and extinguisher.
> Ever thought of having a pack pony or goat or huge dog?
> 
> But you can carry it all in that oil soaked canvas pack. No problems.:greenchainsaw:



Yup...along with our trusty can of blue paint.


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## hammerlogging (May 12, 2009)

And there is the bail method where it is rapidly pitched off the side in a roll off motion where you and the saw go fumbling down hill tangled in briars, but hopefully the saw lands to you side and not still perched next to your neck.

Carry it that way all the time.


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## slowp (May 12, 2009)

Gologit said:


> Yup...along with our trusty can of blue paint.



Glad you weren't along today! I'd probably be still at work, getting grilled with comments like that.

We did discuss paint colors, and the manliness of pink paint. I pointed out that if helicopter fallers used pink paint without any qualms, regular timber markers should be able to do so without losing man points.


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## Cedarkerf (May 12, 2009)

slowp said:


> Glad you weren't along today! I'd probably be still at work, getting grilled with comments like that.
> 
> We did discuss paint colors, and the manliness of pink paint. I pointed out that if helicopter fallers used pink paint without any qualms, regular timber markers should be able to do so without losing man points.


You didnt get snowed out today. Beautiful white hill behind us today down to about 1700feet. Trees looked like January all white and pretty.


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## 2dogs (May 13, 2009)

Gologit said:


> Yup...along with our trusty can of blue paint.



Cough, cough!! That one made me spit my Hamm's on the dog sleeping at my feet. He went over and climbed on the couch. I think I have beer in my nose too.


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## Gologit (May 13, 2009)

2dogs said:


> Cough, cough!! That one made me spit my Hamm's on the dog sleeping at my feet. He went over and climbed on the couch. I think I have beer in my nose too.



They don't have any sense of humor when it comes to blue paint, do they?

They shouldn't worry, though. With no more timber than they're putting up for sale a guy could do his "touch-up" marking with a blue _crayon_.


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## slowp (May 13, 2009)

Cedarkerf said:


> You didnt get snowed out today. Beautiful white hill behind us today down to about 1700feet. Trees looked like January all white and pretty.



No, but we got snowed on. Big flakes that weren't sticking at the time. One Eastsider and one guy (surprisingly) who had spent most of his career in SE Alaska, actually went down the hill early to sit in their rig with the heater on. 
They had more raingear on than I did.



Along with that blue paint, you need to put in one of those industrial sized toilet paper rolls for all the bullcrap expelled and kleenex for the whining about the lack of proper tree marking.:greenchainsaw:


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## redprospector (May 13, 2009)

If the FS didn't throw such a fit at a little can of blue paint, it would probably cut down on the amount of whining over the lack of proper tree marking.

But the industrial size toilet paper is a good idea.

Andy


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## Gologit (May 13, 2009)

redprospector said:


> But the industrial size toilet paper is a good idea.
> 
> Andy



Especially if you had 7-11 breakfast burritos on the way to work.


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## redprospector (May 14, 2009)

Gologit said:


> Especially if you had 7-11 breakfast burritos on the way to work.



Mmmm, mmmm, mmm,
Good old GUT BOMBS.
The breakfast of champions.

Andy


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## slowp (May 14, 2009)

Just don't go where the next landing is. Or where the forester has to walk.
Those are the rules.


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## redprospector (May 14, 2009)

slowp said:


> Just don't go where the next landing is. Or where the forester has to walk.
> Those are the rules.



Hahaha. Just watch for strips of that industrial TP (danger flagging) hanging on a tree. That will tell you where not to step. 

Andy


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## slowp (May 14, 2009)

redprospector said:


> Hahaha. Just watch for strips of that industrial TP (danger flagging) hanging on a tree. That will tell you where not to step.
> 
> Andy



That's not the style here. There'll be a wad on top of the well, you know what. Ick. There actually was a chaser here who would just go in the road.
But, one time he went where the next setting of the yarder was to be and his boss got a little bit mad. So then he'd go in the easiest way to get down to the unit.

Well, I didn't need to eat anything that day anyhow....


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## Greystoke (Jun 1, 2009)

All good responses!The safety guys used to come around and tell us to roll the chain off and wrap it around the handlebar before we carried it on our shoulder  but that can be a hassle every time you need to cover some ground, so it is good that the safety guys did not come around very often. I admit I got a few wounds from carrying my saw on my shoulder with the chain on, but the alternative sucks! After taking a few spills with my saw on my shoulder(mostly in the beginning of my career) I started reading the ground a little better, and when the ground got rough, or brushy, I would carry the saw at my side by the handlebar, and sometimes if the ground was consistently rugged and I had a long hike in with my saw I would roll the chain off. I Fell timber on some gnarly helicopter ground, so you have to learn your footing. Also I have my own custom shoulder pad that works great for not only protecting your shoulder, but your neck too. It is just the top cut off of an old pair of cork boots(right at the ankle so you already have a natural bend where shoulder meets neck) These are not the best pictures of it, but they are the best that I currently have. Also I posted a couple of pics to show how rough the ground can be at times (esp. in Southeast Alaska), and why you would sometimes want to carry your chainsaw by the handlbar, rather than on your shoulder.


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## 2dogs (Jun 1, 2009)

At first I thought the third picture was rotated 90°. That is some steep country!

I use wildland saw bar covers on most of my saws so I will leave them on if I have a long hike in.

Here is a pic of my son Cody packing the 660 up a steep road to cut my stupid a$$ out of a fallen snag. He likes to carry with the powerhead on his shoulder. Note the bar cover in place. You can't see the attached leather flap that covers the hot powerhead and adds a little more protection.


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## Greystoke (Jun 1, 2009)

2dogs said:


> At first I thought the third picture was rotated 90°. That is some steep country!
> 
> I use wildland saw bar covers on most of my saws so I will leave them on if I have a long hike in.
> 
> Here is a pic of my son Cody packing the 660 up a steep road to cut my stupid a$$ out of a fallen snag. He likes to carry with the powerhead on his shoulder. Note the bar cover in place. You can't see the attached leather flap that covers the hot powerhead and adds a little more protection.


Everyone is naming their boys after me nowlol, Yeah I used to carry my saw like that when I was a kid and did not have a full wrap handlbar on my saw,(had a little top handled skil brand chainsaw when I was 10 and used to follow my dad around with it and limb trees for him, then I graduated to a brand new 535 jonsered when I was 12), but once I started falling timber professionally, especially with a full wrap handlebar, I found it more practical to carry the bar on my shoulder method, and I have tried it with a bar cover on a few times too, but everyone has different methods.You tell Cody he better not disgrace our name!Thanks,

Cody


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## bigskyguy5 (Jun 1, 2009)

GASoline71 said:


> Gots a few "nicks" on my right shoulder and neck myself mang...
> 
> Gary



:agree2::greenchainsaw::greenchainsaw:


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## slowp (Jun 2, 2009)

Should I try that belly bucking next year when reupping my bucking certification? 

That ground is similar to here, where steep ground makes for excellent deflection. But I bet there was more prickly stuff (devil's club) to not grab up there. 

Every unit we had in the 1980s had a cliff in it. That's the way the ground is here. The top of the unit would be fairly flat--it would be high lead or shovel logged. Then a spur would be punched out to the edge of the cliff, and the yarder moved to there. The good thing was that there was always a little shoot or some brush to slide down or do a vegetation belay off to get down into the unit. The bad news was walking and checking the fireline construction and coming to a rock face with a rope hanging over it. I'm not a rock climber.


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## Greystoke (Jun 2, 2009)

slowp said:


> Should I try that belly bucking next year when reupping my bucking certification?
> 
> That ground is similar to here, where steep ground makes for excellent deflection. But I bet there was more prickly stuff (devil's club) to not grab up there.
> 
> Every unit we had in the 1980s had a cliff in it. That's the way the ground is here. The top of the unit would be fairly flat--it would be high lead or shovel logged. Then a spur would be punched out to the edge of the cliff, and the yarder moved to there. The good thing was that there was always a little shoot or some brush to slide down or do a vegetation belay off to get down into the unit. The bad news was walking and checking the fireline construction and coming to a rock face with a rope hanging over it. I'm not a rock climber.


As far as bucking on that kind of ground...every step is critical...not only to not get hurt, or killed, but to be able to buck the rest of the tree up, and keep everything nice and square with a "proverbial blade". Usually on broken ground, good bucking techniques are just as critical as good falling techniques. I fell timber in your neck of the woods (Eatonville, Raymond and Pe Ell area) both on helicopter and a stint on some conventional ground, and it is similar to Southeast Alaska. Definitely ran into more Devils Club in SE; Roughest ground I ever experienced was Helicopter ground on Dall Island:jawdrop:, sometimes it was one wrong step and you were gonna get hurt...bad:blob5:; The picture on here was Yarder ground on Prince of Wales Island, so it get's a whole lot worse on the Helicopter ground. Numerous times when I should have had a rope:monkey:. Good luck with your certification.

Cody


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## hammerlogging (Jun 5, 2009)

2dogs said:


> Here is a pic of my son Cody packing the 660 up a steep road to cut my stupid a$$ out of a fallen snag.


2DOGS- those water tanks and the dry summertime redwood forest remind me of the farm I used to live on over there, Mendo Cty., and I saw the pics of the ranch you posted in the picture forum, I guess thats the real East of Eden country. Made kind of homesick, if I can call it that.


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## RandyMac (Jun 6, 2009)

The shoulder pads are good for soaking up bar oil too, my Macs drooled some. I made some spike guards out of old fire hose, the big lower spikes seemed to always be aimed at the middle of my neck. Yeah, I have a few nicks as well.


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## 2dogs (Jun 7, 2009)

hammerlogging said:


> 2DOGS- those water tanks and the dry summertime redwood forest remind me of the farm I used to live on over there, Mendo Cty., and I saw the pics of the ranch you posted in the picture forum, I guess thats the real East of Eden country. Made kind of homesick, if I can call it that.



Yep! The water tanks are in Monterey county and the ranch is in San Benito county.


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