Art Martin: Will the Real Logger Please Stand Up

I think it's become fairly evident to me from talking to various people, that Art Martin could easily keep his own website going if he were to choose to do so. Because he won't, I thought it would be very informative for Art to have his own thread where he could talk some more about the way things used to be in the old days. He has many pictures that we can get posted one way or the other.

Art's having some health issues right now, so he may not be up to posting right away, but between Ken, Gypo and myself, we can probably get many interesting pictures up here in fairly short order and when Art is feeling better, perhaps he will comment for us.

I'm reposting the picture that Gypo posted of Art sawing a big tree. Ken says that there are many things about this process that only Art knows: like when you're 15 feet in the air on a springboard and the tree starts to go, what do you do with yourself and a 60-70 lb. saw. Or maybe: what happens when the 1/2" chain in a 6 foot bar decides to get jammed and the gear drive saw bucks you off the board.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Art!

Great idea Doug! I`m looking forward to whatever you guys put up and I second the sentiment of a speedy recovery to you Art. Russ

Doug,
Yes, Great idea and thanks. Get Well soon Art!

Bill

Good show Doug!! Hurry back Art!!!

Hi there, heres another picture that Art sent me. Two Loggers finishing an undercut on their knees. I bet there was at least 6 full cords of wood chips removed from the undercut.
It makes you wonder how long it took them and what they were saying to each other.
Gypo

Get well Soon

Someone should do his autobiography. I bet it would sell.

Great idea Doug, we are very fortunate on this forum to have as much knowledge and experience as we do. And so many that are willing to share this wealth. Wishing you a complete and speedy recovery Mr. Martin.

I want to thank everyone who has sent me wishes for a speedy recovery. It's great to have friends even though I have not met most of you. Thank you again for your get well wishes.
Of course I would be happy to relate many of my experiences during the years that I was a west coast logger. With the help of Doug and John, perhaps I will be able to post a lot of pictures that are very interesting and cover all phases of the logging industry as I knew it many years ago.
When I started my second career as a professional fire fighter, we used to sit around after a days work and tell stories of our lives prior to being firemen. The young men I worked with, were interested in my life as a logger as it was such a unique occupation and enjoyed listening to my experiences as a logger. We developed strong ties of friendship and comraderie that lasts to this day. Even as a fireman, I still competed in many logging shows and my co-workers became my biggest fans. Even the chief sometimes gave me special priviledges as far as changing days off so they would coincide with contest dates.
I remember the first evening when someone asked me where I was from. I told them that my hometown was Fort Bragg, a small coastal town where lumber and fishing were the main industries. I also told them that Fort Bragg was a town with a population of 5,000 and that the population never changed. They asked why was that? I told them that the reason the population remained at 5,000 was that everytime a woman got pregnant a man left town.

Art Martin

John,
You were wondering how long it took those two choppers on their knees to finish the undercut and what they were saying. Well, it took several days to finish the undercut before they started sawing the back cut. The back cut took a day to saw and sometimes part of another day to finish sawing and to wedge it over. Tapering falling wedges, almost 2 feet long with 8"X6" "shims," were placed in the cut before the wedges were put in. The "shims" made out of old crosscut saws, were put in to help the wedges slide and to keep the wedges from sinking into the wood. Sometimes there were 20 to 30 wedges in the back of tree. The choppers would face each other and hit the wedges in series until they were buried. Then they would double up etc. until the tree fell over. Sometimes the wedge would be grazed with the sledge hammer and a piece of metal would fly back and hit a person in the eye or any other place, like their privates. I still have a piece of steel imbeded in my brow bone. It showed up on the MRI that I had yesterday and it's been there 52 years.
As what the choppers, on their knees, were talking about, I think the chopper in front said to the one behind him. "Whatever you do, don't hit me in the gluteus maximus with that sharp axe!"
Art Martin

Glad to have you here

I have family in their 80's and older who will not tell us what it was like way back. I want my children to know what it was like for them and our fore fathers. The reason I know about Great Uncles and Aunts are bill of sales kept by the state of Illinois.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------My great Great Grandma bout 40 acres of land for $50 in 1841. A saw mill was built by using creek water and then converted to steam. They sold the land for $1400 some years later when the railwood used up all the wood for trussels. So they bought some other land and blasted rock for the railroad. They built steam engines for thrasher machines and small river boats. That lasted till about 1910 when they were hired to take care of a "religious resort" in New Piasa Chataugua Illinois. There they built housing a huge hotel, a pier, ferry's, created an irrigation system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------My family bought the original land from the "Chautauqua community" in the "hollow" next to Chautauqua Illinois because a drought dried up the water and they did not want the land. They use to have parties cutting wood and would go from farm to farm cutting wood and building facilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------One smart thing they did was to save all the saw dust. In the summer they would dig big hole on the properties for ice. They would take the large saws and go out on the Mississippi River and cut the ice haul it to these holes they dug in the summer and fill it with the ice. Between the blocks and each layer they would put the saw dust for insulation and kept the blocks from fully icing up together. My Dad told me he would go around in a horse drawn cart and sell ice for 5 cents a block. They didn't use a steam transportation because of the weight and the cost/hazards of the engine.
____________________________________________________Never seen a tree as big as the ones Art is cutting down in Illinois. I live and California now and they are still big trees here but I think they are monitored by satellite. (Some guy bulldozed some trees on Ojai and they fined him more than his land is worth, over a million dollars. )
____________________________________________________I figuire most of the big ones in Illinois were cut down long ago in the 1700's by those darn frenchman.
Sorry about that Kanucks but your expansion into the Illinois territory left my forefathers high and dry (dead) because we supported the French and the Illini were wiped out by the surrounding "civilized" tribes anf what they didn't finish Congress declared all natives hostile east of the Mississippi around the civil war. My family immediately became "white" except for a few brave ones who immediately lost their land to the war of 1812 reparation. The family used canoes they carved out of timber until a cousin Tommy Brown drowned in one on the 4th of July in 1939.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------It is amazing what history can tell you and I am happy Art Martin tells the story of what happened out here in California. Hey Art, when did you guys start using powered saws and diesel truck's and tractors?

Here is one of Art's favourites. Here's a picture of a couple of Art's friends after they cut down this Redwood. Art says: " note they are using a full complimentary chain! Who says you need a skip chain in anything over 30" ? Not me!"

Chain size ?

Is the chain size 3/4 or larger ?

what could they have used to get that tree to mill? looks like it would have taken a freight train ,an i dont see no tracks.

I'm not sure, but I think it was a 3/4" pitch chain although there was a 5/8" pitch chain used during that era until the 1/2" chain came out. We used full compliment chain and it worked fine. The gear ratio was 3:1, so the chain speed was so slow you could almost file the chain while it was running. The hardest part of using those big saws with their long bars, was trying to get the saw started in the back cut. When the operator raised the saw up to the tree, the bar would sag, and when he revved the engine, the chain would come out of the bar groove. To overcome this problem, the partner would hold up the tip of the bar with an axe handle or long limb, to keep the bar as straight as possible until it got buried in the tree. The danger always, when doing this, was if the prop slipped off the then vibrating bar, the chain would fly off and end up around the guys neck, cutting him pretty bad. You have to remember that we were up on spring boards, 15' or more high, so there was no way to jump out of the way to avoid the spinning chain. The danger didn't end there either, once the bar was buried, the operator had to work his way around the perimeter of the tree until he reached the designated mark of the holding wood, which was the hinge part tree. As he worked his way around the tree, the tip of the bar would often bump the uncut portion of the tree, and with such a slow moving chain, it would kick- back with tremendous force, sometimes knocking the faller off the spring board. Many compound fractures occured as a result of this. I had many bruised hip bones and upper thigh muscle aches as a result of the kick-backs. You had to keep your body braced and tense as much as possible, you just couldn't relax at all during this proceedure. You had to do your relaxing at the Honky-Tonks after the days work was done.

Art Martin

Art Martin

what a picture. what a hinge. the forearms on that man would shiver popeye's timbers.

Thanks Art, Gypo, and Doug. But mostly Art. Hope you get well soon.

Outrageous, Art! What you take, or took, for granted is simply jaw-dropping to me. You da man.

I would like to give a little insight on the tools that the choppers depended on. The double bitted axes were their main tools. The axes had a cutting edge of about 3-1/2" across on each side and the length from bit to bit was approximately 12". The head weighed about 3-1/2 to 4 pounds. The handles were usually second growth hickory and were 40 or more inches in length. The handles, before being attached or mounted, were bent at the lower area above the eye of the head. The handles were steamed so that they could be bent and were left in that position while they cooled so they would take a set that would become permanent. The reason for the approximate 15 or 20 degrees bend was so that the choppers could chop the "scarf" which was the upper angled part of the undercut, without hitting their knuckles when standing inside the undercut itself. When they made a hit on the bottom portion of the undercut, they would just flip the axe over automatically and that would allow the bottom bit to be flat against the bottom of the undercut without bending down. This would be similar to the curve of a golf club that allows the head to be level with the ground and yet the golfer stands erect. The choppers all had a flat, round stone in their back pocket that would leave an imprint similar to a snuff can. They would hone the edge in a circular motion, any time the axe started to make scratches on the wood. They were real particular about the smoothness of their cut and their accuracy was unbelievable. If you ran your hand down the "scarf" it felt smooth as if it had been planed. It took me quite awhile before my side looked as good as my dad's. Thank goodness for chainsaws.

Art Martin

Art,
Have any pics of what you use to move a tree like that once you have it down? Thanx in advance...Rick

Creep on loggin'

Hey Eric ya big slouch, If you will just shut up for a bit, say until tomorrow, I will be posting more pictures that will answer your question. I'll hit you with so many picaroons, you'll think your on the green chain.
Gypo