Art Martin: Will the Real Logger Please Stand Up

[Dok]

What an incredible thread! Thank you for sharing, Art. My uncle Ernie Celeri was the fire chief in Fort Bragg when he was killed in the early 70's. His brother, Dom Celeri, was a topper for many years in that area. I'm saving this thread and the pictures, it is special to me to know what my family was doing back in the day.
Brad

 

[GASoline71]

Bump...

Gary

 

[Tzed250]

I would love it if this thread regained the momentum it had back in the day...

 

[GASoline71]

Yup...

Gary

 

[sILlogger]

m playing catch up on this thread, (pg. 4) it seems as tho Art is a great man that has been dedicated to the woods. Did Art take those pics? did he start out cutting with axes and crosscuts and move into chainsaws? i believe i was born 100 yrs too late.

 

[ShoerFast]

It is a good read, and free screen-savers towards the beginning!

Here is one idea along the lines of this thread:

There is a chance that Gypo could get this ball rolling again?

 

[stihl 440]

good thread

This is a good thread, took me 2 nights to read it though! :greenchainsaw:

 

[RiverRat2]

and worth everyminute of it !!!!!!

This is a good thread, took me 2 nights to read it though! :greenchainsaw:

That Art,,,,He is a class act!!!!!!!!!!!! it is an honor and a privledge to have him share and grace us with his knowledge about chains and sawyership in general,,,,,

We are not Worthy!!!!!!!!

 

[RiverRat2]

Good Move!!!!

​

Bump...

Gary

it is a breath of fresh air!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[crazymanmike]

good lord there is a lot of reading in this thread. lots of good info and I'll see you in week or so when I am done.

CMM

 

[Art Martin]

When I began working in the woods right after graduating from high school, only hand tools were used in our area. However, drag saws were still used to some extent in some areas. The drag saws were cumbersome and very heavy as well as dangerous. They were not practical in the steep terrain common to the timberland where I worked.

The tools that I became familiar with in the beginning were double bladed axes and crosscut felling saws. These saws were not as wide as bucking saws because the width of a bucking saw was necessary so that it would not to buckle when used by a single person. The felling saws were narrower as two people were needed to use them. Also the narrower felling saws allowed more room for the long, narrow felling wedges to be placed in the back of the cut sooner so as not to let the huge redwoods to set back. Set back means that the weight of the tree closes the back cut which would close the kerf and therefore pinch the saw making it impossible to pull. Bucking wedges, which were shorter and wider, were used to keep the kerf open to allow the saw to move back and forth. They were also used as “hanging” wedges on hillsides to prevent the log from rolling when placed lengthwise with the grain spanning the cut holding the logs together until severed. Undercutters were used to finish the cut from underneath the log when a tree was in a bind and the top part of the log could no longer be sawed because the cut was closing. Spring boards were usually used at every tree, on the lower side because of the steep terrain. They were also used to allow a person to stand above a swelled tree trunk or “butt” when putting in the undercut. “Gunning” sticks were necessary to aim where the tree was to fall, and of course, caulk boots were required for safe footing. All these tools were necessary and used daily. “Tin” hats were not used at the time but became required much later.
I lived at the logging camps and ate in the cookhouses. The food in the cookhouses was exceptionally good and nourishing and there was plenty of it. The companies knew that a man could not work hard unless he was well fed. The cooks were usually Chinese. The days were long and the pay was poor. The future looked bleak with no way out. This was akin to the hopelessness of today’s coal miners. It seemed at times the only thing to do in a timber town was to go work in the woods. College was out of the question because of lack of money and no desire at the time, A HUGE MISTAKE. The Northwest timber faller career seemed colorful to some, but it was not in reality. At the time I graduated from high school, being a timber faller was the goal of an idealistic young man. For someone who had never had much money, the thought all that BIG money was very impressive. No real thought was given to the actual work and how hard it would be to earn that money.

Art Martin

 

[Just Mow]

Wow, I have been reading and if this were a book I would buy it.
Nice work Mr.Martin

 

[Tzed250]

Nice to hear from you again Art! What year did you start in the woods? Also, I would love to know what the standard equipment was when you retired. Have a good one...

 

[RiverRat2]

+1

Wow, I have been reading and if this were a book I would buy it.
Nice work Mr.Martin

Yep good stuff.......

Thanks again Art,,, As always a pleasure

 

[rbtree]

Welcome back, Art!! It's great to hear from you again. I hope all is well with you and yours. We're all eager to hear more stories of your incredible experiences as a pioneering logger, whose career spanned many eras.

 

[Crofter]

Nice to see you back! You have experience and knowledge of the timber industry thru a time of some great changes in technology. Your way of boiling down the essential principles of chain sharpening has been a huge help to a lot of people. You seem to have a way of making it "klick"

 

[stihl 440]

art

Glad to know you're still around art! :rockn:

 

[FSburt]

Falling with crosscuts

Hi Art good see you posting again. Hey I have a question about when you guys were falling with crosscuts did you guys try to keep from falling your trees with the lean most of the time because your crosscuts could not cut fast enough to keep the trees from barberchairing. I know on head leaners this was the case but i was wondering about most of the other trees and if you guys quartered your trees out of the lean for the above reason. I just bought J Baraneks Picture book about the last of the heavy old growth logging on the North coast and it was a good book with alot of good pictures of the modern redwood logging. Take care Art.

 

[Art Martin]

In 1955 at the first show that I competed in was held in Fort Bragg. This was prior to the chainsaws, they were all hand and climbing events. It was the biggest logging show on the West coast and possibly anywhere in the U.S. at that time. It was open anyone from anywhere, even Canada. The Paul Bunyan Logging Show started in 1939 and at that time just the first prize alone was $500 which was big money. That’s why it drew so many world champions in different events. Many of the world champions came there to compete (i.e. George Moen of Castle Rock, WA hand bucker; Kelly Stanley of Centralia, WA, climber) but the star attraction of the show was Danny Sailor from British Columbia. He was many times world champion speed climber. He would do special acts at the of a 100 foot pole (i.e. standing on his head, one legged squats, and dancing the Charleston). His decent from the top of the pole was his trademark. He always wore a black derby hat and as he was about to start down, he would throw his hat as you would a Frisbee and as it floated down, he would beat the hat to the ground—quite a class act. He had even performed in front of the Queen of England to his credits. There were other tree toppers such as Hap Johnson who doubled for John Wayne in the movie “North to Alaska”.

The choppers used double-bitted axes prior to the invasion of the Australian choppers who used single bladed axes and there were no standing block chopping events.

My sights were on the single bucking event. I had heard that Paul Searls was coming down from Sedro Wooley, Washington and he had been at least a seven-time single bucking champion. He also held the Guinness world record for a single bucker on a 32” Doug-fir by a single person. He used a Simonds 7 foot Royal Chinook 503 crosscut saw filed by Martin Winters of Olympia, Washington. I knew he had been retired for several years so I thought he would be easy prey for a young, strong, well conditioned bucker with high hopes. The only problem was that I only had the services of a regular local saw filer who worked in the woods and knew nothing about racing saws. The log they had set up was about 40 inches and was a super hard sinker that had been pulled up from the bottom of the log pond. I later found out they did it on purpose to teach the outsiders a lesson of winning big money too easily at the Fort Bragg show.
Paul Searls and I started sawing at the same time. About 2 minutes into the cut, Paul seemed to collapse and leaned his body, onto the log, arms and face down, breathing heavily. I continued sawing and in my mind I thought that I had beaten the world champion single bucker on my first attempt. Well, I was wrong. Paul’s friend was standing next to him with a stop watch, counting off the seconds as he rested and got his breath back. All of a sudden he started sawing again and beat me by 30 seconds. I sawed around 4 minutes and he sawed about 3 ½ minutes. What a disappointment, but it wasn’t my last.

Art Martin

 

[manual]

How ya doing Art ?
So tell me is this when you started sharping your own saws?