Yarding Pictures

[slowp]

Yarding is getting started. Here's a downhill operation on pretty flat ground. It still makes for a bit of hopping about on the landing. The chaser and I discussed locking the yarder engineer in his cab, but we wisely did not follow through.

Here's the rigging crew at work.

 

[slowp]

I had to go down and paint (approve) the tailhold. This is a new hooktender to me, and he doesn't cut down so many trees so maybe we'll get along.
Instead, he does this, or just puts twisters on standing trees. I've never seen this done.

Name this splice.

 

[Rookie1]

Very cool pics. Thanks for taking the time to put them on here.

 

[Adkpk]

Very cool pics. Thanks for taking the time to put them on here.

Like he said. Thanks slowp.

 

[056kid]

Them boys is fallin tooth pics!

 

[Humptulips]

Slowp,
What kind of carriage is that? Hard to see but it doesn't look familiar.

In the first picture of your second post not sure what I'm looking at.

What kind of splice? Just looks like an eye splice to me. I usually tuck the core with the 4th strand but tucking it last is OK too. Makes a little more work but holds fine.

 

[slowp]

Slowp,
What kind of carriage is that? Hard to see but it doesn't look familiar.

In the first picture of your second post not sure what I'm looking at.

What kind of splice? Just looks like an eye splice to me. I usually tuck the core with the 4th strand but tucking it last is OK too. Makes a little more work but holds fine.

The carriage is a motorized Maki, made in Idaho and was brand new last year.
The other picture is of the end of the log brace.

Oh, and the hooktender pointed out that I had worked with his mother at one time.

 

[Ed*L]

Great pics!
I wouldn't have expected to find a yarder working in the woods like that.
It probably is the best way to remove the logs while keeping forest damage to a minimum.

Ed <--------never gets to see stuff like that.

 

[redwood logger]

Yikes! it sucks to be them! down hilling-thinning-motorized carriage! It couldn't get much worse then that! clear cut and burn, the only way to log!

 

[slowp]

But wait, there's going to be worse. Another outfit will be downhilling on "the 3 ibuprofen unit". The top is 90% slope and I had to pummy crawl up to mark trees to make a bigger landing so the logs won't be so inclined to slam hard into the yarder.
That'll be upcoming.

 

[redwood logger]

Twisters are a hooktenders best friend! I hook a swing yarder and use them all the time. You should post a good picture of one, that is something everyone needs to know how to do. People do them all different ways, it would be cool to see how he does it. I have used a clump of a half dozen Christmas trees tied off to other Christmas trees for a tail hold. I have never had one fail, but if it does, my mechanical danebo carriage is indestructible!

 

[Humptulips]

Twisters are a hooktenders best friend! I hook a swing yarder and use them all the time. You should post a good picture of one, that is something everyone needs to know how to do. People do them all different ways, it would be cool to see how he does it. I have used a clump of a half dozen Christmas trees tied off to other Christmas trees for a tail hold. I have never had one fail, but if it does, my mechanical danebo carriage is indestructible!

I've put lots of twisters up and I have to say not my best friend. I know you have to use them but it is so nice to break out into some stumps that don't need them. Also not bad on stumps but on standing trees makes for a lot of work. I used a cats paw to hook the ends of the section together rather then choking the stump with one end and a timber hitch at the other. If you are using hooks in your wire there is a way to put a cats paw in the middle of a section to the #####. Not sure I can explain it but saves some work at times.

I see the technical term for the eye and hook combination on the end of the strawline has been zapped above.

A swing yarder and a mechanical carriage. I feel for you buddy. That combination equals about double the work for the hooktender. Them things are terrible hard on lines too. You get good at splicing working on them. That'd for sure!

That down hill thinning must be terrible for tree damage when thinning especially the steeper slopes.

 

[hammerlogging]

Is there by any chance a relationship between the economic conditions and the associated effects on logging and an increased prevalence to putting loggers on really crappy (i.e. challenging) tracts?

 

[slowp]

Is there by any chance a relationship between the economic conditions and the associated effects on logging and an increased prevalence to putting loggers on really crappy (i.e. challenging) tracts?

No, but there is a relationship between the purging of foresters from an agency and the replacement by 'ologists on a timber sale planning team.
The timber on the really steep ground is pretty good and the volume per acre is a lot better than the newer sales being put up for sale.

The downhill in the picture did get skinned up quite badly. The fallers laid out the trees bass ackwards and well, I won't say anymore. The really steep sale is being logged by a company that is good to work for, and has very good people. They did about the same amount of damage to the downhill portion as they would to an uphill yarded unit last year which was not much. I hope they have as good a crew this year.

Due to the pumice in the soil, sometimes twisters are used to reinforce twisters. And most guys have "a hooktender who can climb." The latter seems to be getting rarer.

 

[hammerlogging]

Right, lets manage some ground thats unproductive.

I was asking because paper mills are known to pull that when someone needs wood.

 

[Bushler]

"No, but there is a relationship between the purging of foresters from an agency and the replacement by 'ologists on a timber sale planning team."

That right there speaks volumns. Those 'ologists should be the ones doing the cutting and setting babbit.

One important part of the equation lost on many is the efficiency ratio. Logs are low value/weight ratio commodity that needs to be cost effective to harvest and transport.

So much value is lost, 'making it harder' there's no wonder we're going backward.

 

[redwood logger]

The mechanical carriage- running sky line set up, could possibly be a little more work for the hooktender, but in my opinion the most productive for logging our short (restrickted) units here in CA. I think the motorized carriage would be ideal for skidding distances over 1,500 feet.

I agree about the climbing, I do climb, but most the other hooktenders around these parts don't. Years ago when i was a rigging slinger, my hooktender never pulled hay wire far enough to get any lift, so we would ground pound the log out! Then i learned to climb and he had me rigging lift trees for every road line. I knew it wasn't always neccesary but, I got paid extra for it and he was the boss. So up I went. I have rigged lift trees for many years, and never topped one. Why do they do that up north? I am one of only a few climbers I know that still climb with chain. I started out with a nice rope set up, then I had to rigg a 10 ft old growth redwood for a lift tree, and my rope was too short to make it around the tree. So I rigged up with 40 ft of chain and up i went. I discovered it was much more user friendly then the rope and never looked back. I know its goofy, but its what I like.

 

[slowp]

The tree topping is explained this way. As you know, there's a lot of stress on the lift or tail tree when rigged up high onthe tree. They take the top off to get rid of some of the weight, which if left would cause the tree to sway more and loosen up. That would make it more likely to fail. I guess to really prove this, you'd need an engineer to work out the forces and stresses involved. It sounds logical to me.

 

[Humptulips]

The mechanical carriage- running sky line set up, could possibly be a little more work for the hooktender, but in my opinion the most productive for logging our short (restrickted) units here in CA. I think the motorized carriage would be ideal for skidding distances over 1,500 feet.

I agree about the climbing, I do climb, but most the other hooktenders around these parts don't. Years ago when i was a rigging slinger, my hooktender never pulled hay wire far enough to get any lift, so we would ground pound the log out! Then i learned to climb and he had me rigging lift trees for every road line. I knew it wasn't always neccesary but, I got paid extra for it and he was the boss. So up I went. I have rigged lift trees for many years, and never topped one. Why do they do that up north? I am one of only a few climbers I know that still climb with chain. I started out with a nice rope set up, then I had to rigg a 10 ft old growth redwood for a lift tree, and my rope was too short to make it around the tree. So I rigged up with 40 ft of chain and up i went. I discovered it was much more user friendly then the rope and never looked back. I know its goofy, but its what I like.

I have to say more then just a little extra work. First there is twice as much strawline to string for your layout. Second more blocks. I always hung two blocks in tail trees and tried for two tail blocks but sometimes one and they are haul back blocks so heavier then the tommys you can use when putting a skyline out. Worked on two swing yaders and we had 15 inch youngs for tail blocks and 13 inch youngs for tree blocks. Then add in tree guylines and straps and you're looking at a lot of riggin to pack aroud. Very seldom did we get a road where you could get by without a tail tree. IMHO you have to have lift if you're to get any prodution. Then there is the splicing. It was a rare day when I didn't have to splice at least one eye.Very hard on the haul back too. Haulbacks seemed to only last 8 or 9 months and that is with several upends and a number of long splices towards the end of their life.

Been my experience the running skyline just as hard on stumps as a standing skyline so just as much need for twisters. Only difference more tail stumps so more twisters.

Give me a standing skyline anyday. A tommy for a tranfer block, one leg of stawline for the layout and if you have to rig a tail tree only one block.
Too each his own I guess.

Never saw anyone use a chain for climbing. Biggest tail tree I ever rigged was a 10 foot fir. Have to agree with you about topping the tail trees. Not very often I ever topped them. Sometimes they need it but mostly not.

 

[redwood logger]

You have some good points there. I don't understand the one leg of haywire thing, how does that work? I don't pull haywire from the landing to often. Lucky for me the company I work for only does clear cut logging, so most of the time I can get away with making the hook up right by the tail and flying the haywire with the rigging. That way I only have to pull two real short legs of haywire. One major advantage I would like about the standing skyline set up, would be not needing to clean under the tail block during fire season.