Big doug fir leaner needs to come down

[RPM]

Some more of the same tree.....in its final stage. This tree was on a road R/W so it was bucked to shorter lengths for ease of handling - although the hoe operator was a little impatient in waiting for the loader to help him out.

 

[Pacific]

Couldn't you have taken a Madill Buncher to drop that tree and brought in the Waratah 628 tree processor to limb it and chunk it

You don't see many fir that size anymore your going to have the tree huggers mad at you

What are or were they hauling with ? HDX off highways ?

A big tree like that would be good for a specialty cutter probably could get some nice beams out them.

 

[Buzz 880]

Couldn't you have taken a Madill Buncher to drop that tree and brought in the Waratah 628 tree processor to limb it and chunk it

You don't see many fir that size anymore your going to have the tree huggers mad at you

What are or were they hauling with ? HDX off highways ?

A big tree like that would be good for a specialty cutter probably could get some nice beams out them.

I don't know about out there but here the way of the buncher has sure screwed it up for all us conventional guys.


RPM nice pic's that is sure a nice tree and looks better bucked up in logs then left on the stump to rot just to please the tree huggers.

 

[sILlogger]

Seems as though this thread has evolved into a show and tell of big tree slaying - which is fine by me. As most of noted these monsters are few and far between. Although there are still a few lurkers out there.

This Doug-fir was located on southern Vancouver Island near Port Renfrew and measured approx. 10' 6'' across the butt and was about 60m (200') tall and measured out approx. 85m3 of nice tight grained timber in front of the mill.

There were several of these vets scattered throughout this block and in others within the valley. The Red Creek fir located just south of this area near Port Renfrew is reported to be the largest Douglas-fir in BC....note the top has been blown off a few times over the last few hundred years of its life.

http://www.portrenfrew.com/redfir.htm

Some more of the same tree.....in its final stage. This tree was on a road R/W so it was bucked to shorter lengths for ease of handling - although the hoe operator was a little impatient in waiting for the loader to help him out.

I was born in the wrong part of the world!!!

 

[RPM]

No, definitely not a buncher block here. Although, not far from here we started using Madill bunchers in the 2nd growth (this was about 97-98) and the hand fallers definitely weren't pleased. Waratahs were soon to follow....

The camp I worked out of were using Hayes off highway trucks (16' bunks). The road system out of the block had a nasty adverse pull (15-17%) for about 2.5km - but no real problem for those trucks - lighter loads was about all (70-80 ton vs-100-120).

These logs probably ended up in the Fraser River and then got squared up and sent south into Bellingham for reman. The clears out of those logs would have been incredilble - it was around 850 years old. Yah, it was definitely an old impressive tree, but I have to agree it looks a whole lot sexier all dressed up and loaded out on a truck

 

[gavin]

really nice pics. must be fun falling trees that big eh? a few years ago i was laying out heli wood along the san juan. still some nice big fir and cedar pumpkins out there, but i didn't see anything nearly that big. pretty much all of the stuff i laid out was in real gnarly ground.

 

[RPM]

I love the 'whooooosh' of the crown through the air and the jesus big thump when they hit the ground.

This is heli wood in the San Juan about 1997-98 - south side in a drainage called Garbage Creek - follow the Bear Creek main up from the Lens main (I think - too long ago to remember). What fire crew type are you on - Unit crew / IA / Helitack / Rap?

 

[gavin]

i did a bunch of work in dent creek, bear creek, and various places along the san juan. that was a few years ago when i was doing forest engineering (i didn't go to school for it or anything, just kinda worked my way into it). i'm on a unit crew and love every minute of it. haha i can't wait for fire season, may seems so far away.

 

[Pacific]

Bunchers and Processors won't completely eliminate handfalling,limbing and bucking. The terrian and size of wood limits what a buncher can chop down and what a dangle head can process. The HTH 626 can handle up to a 34 inch diameter tree the other popular HTH 624 can handle a 30 inch diameter tree.

Hoe chucking has saved lots of time in logging. Where wood that used to be yarded can be chucked.

The fallers that work the hardest is the heli logging operations lots of work climbing every tree limbing it drop the top climb back down notch it so the grapple on the copter to snap it off.

 

[RPM]

The fallers that work the hardest is the heli logging operations lots of work climbing every tree limbing it drop the top climb back down notch it so the grapple on the copter to snap it off.

Single tree selection, like you are describing is definitely specialized work, although not quit the norm everywhere. It may account for for 1/1o% of the cut on the coast. You need a pretty nice stand (Coastal wood - western red cedar and cypress) to make it pay. I agree, and so does any other climber on this site, that climbing and topping is a chore. This also includes any high riggers (hook tender types out there as well)......and this probably leads into a whole other thread.

As far as processors go though, the only limbing and bucking that goes on around here is for heli wood. Everything else, including cable ground, is machine processed roadside or landing. Everything is bush run into the mill so all sorting and processing is done in the woods - no dryland sort Coastal fallers get worked either way - climbing or regular falling & bucking - esp. in the old growth.

Some pics of the processor choking on some big Doug-fir and hemlock....

 

[RPM]

A couple of more of the landing....

 

[Pacific]

RPM where is that operation that logging truck looks familliar it looks like a Radar truck.

 

[RPM]

RPM where is that operation that logging truck looks familiar it looks like a Radar truck.

Central Interior......those are scud missiles disguised as Doug-fir peelers