Falling pics 11/25/09

[forestryworks]

those amber lenses had me screwed up. they're bad in the summer when the sun is at its brightest.

 

[Gologit]

That reminds of me a story, not sure if I told you guys or not. I've told Slowp about the patch of Silver and White fir we cut north of Adams that was a stand full of huge wood.
They left some trees for seed and wildlife, and some happened to look really nice and tall. I was having a nice day in some big wood and just kept my strip going. I was bucking one of those nice trees when my Dad came up to me while I was limbing. I actually grinned and said something about the wood being so nice. He was pissed! He then said something to me about wanting to be some big shot timber faller and this and that, and I said "what?". He pointed to painted ring on the tree and I said "what ring?" And that one! He says. I slid my amber lens Stihl glasses down and saw the yellow paint. Oh ####! I thought. I quickly handed my glasses to my Dad and made him look. He was just as shocked as I was. I left a few big ones in my strip for a trade and told the guy on the shovel to scrape the bark off with his grapples in the landing. It all turned out ok. I know longer wear those shades in heavliy marked units, or orange and yellow.

LOL...It happens. One our truck drivers went through a FS accountability inspection and they asked him "What do you do if you lose a FS log off of your load?" He told them "Well, I'd make sure to chop the brand out of the end before I rolled it over the bank". They didn't like that answer too much.

 

[Gologit]

In the construction trade we would call that passing it on to the next trade. The excavator digs a bad hole and expects the foundation guys to correct it. The foundation guys make a bad foundation and expect the framers to make it right. The framers pass on a bad framing to the drywallers and the drywallers leave it to the trim carpenters. The trim carpenters are the ones that get stuck with finally making it right, even though it was the excavator that could not follow grade.

Hmmmm...that make sense. Now I know how my house got to be the way it is.

 

[tramp bushler]

Been workin my butt off , Havn,t been around for some time , Hows the hand coming ??

 

[Burvol]

Been workin my butt off , Havn,t been around for some time , Hows the hand coming ??

The scar on the skin is healing beautiful, almost amazing. The bone, meat, and tendon is screwed up. I can cut logs, so I am very happy! The cold weather hurts it like a mother. It got cold for here last week, 0-5 for work temps all day. Fairly uncommon anymore. How are you guys doing up north?

 

[slowp]

I tried wearing those amber safety glasses for marking and had the same problem. I think there's another tint that makes it hard to distinguish between blue and green.

The accountability auditors don't like to hear our side about what happens in the real world either.

But somehow, we used to recognize logs and would have a pretty good idea where they came from after the truck drivers whacked the ends off--always a lot on "weigh day". But we didn't get the rumored to exist xray machine out to the woods.

How do you get an old growth sized log off the truck halfway down the haul road and keep the others on? And not get hurt, maimed or killed? What is the technique? I'm talking 7 log load size.

 

[Burvol]

You crawl up there with a wire brush and a hatchet if they are exposed. The marks need to be "blended gracefully" LOL

 

[slowp]

You crawl up there with a wire brush and a hatchet if they are exposed. The marks need to be "blended gracefully" LOL

I've seen that. I'm wondering about the days when the State Patrol used to show up--about once a year with their portable scales. Suddenly, there'd be logs in the road ditches with the ends cut off. Decent sized logs.

The Morton Permanent weigh station could be easily avoided by going around.
But the portable scales were another matter. One big outfit had all 20+ trucks "break down" along their haul route. The cops went into the woods that day. One gypo, who would haul astronomical loads normally, would not haul that day. I think he had a mole in the works. The state would make a lot of money on weigh day and the CB would be busy with whining and questions of "Did they get you?".

The only trucks that would go unscathed were the ones hauling to Oregon because they got weighed on just about every trip.

On the subject of marking, when a faller cuts the paint off with the saw, it really really stands out. I've seen this a couple of times. The bark is gone in a nice little line and the stump mark also. It just doesn't look quite natural.

 

[Gologit]

I've seen that. I'm wondering about the days when the State Patrol used to show up--about once a year with their portable scales. Suddenly, there'd be logs in the road ditches with the ends cut off. Decent sized logs.

The Morton Permanent weigh station could be easily avoided by going around.
But the portable scales were another matter. One big outfit had all 20+ trucks "break down" along their haul route. The cops went into the woods that day. One gypo, who would haul astronomical loads normally, would not haul that day. I think he had a mole in the works. The state would make a lot of money on weigh day and the CB would be busy with whining and questions of "Did they get you?".

The only trucks that would go unscathed were the ones hauling to Oregon because they got weighed on just about every trip.

On the subject of marking, when a faller cuts the paint off with the saw, it really really stands out. I've seen this a couple of times. The bark is gone in a nice little line and the stump mark also. It just doesn't look quite natural.

LOL...It's pretty hard for us guys in the woods to come up with anything that a good experienced FS person hasn't seen before. We try, though. There's getting to be less of those old time FS people around .

With big logs, no, you don't roll them off. Too much money involved and it's a sure way to get kicked off a job. With smaller stuff, especially if it's bug kill or burn salvage...well, things happen. If the wrappers get loose and a small wing log unstakes and starts dragging it's just easier to choke the dirt end to a stump and drag it the rest of the way off. The time and money it would take to get a loader to you and reload one little log just isn't worth it. On larger stuff you might be able to choke one end, throw the bitter end over the load, put it under a tire and drive on the line to pull it back up but that gets a little dicey...takes about three guys who know exactly what they're doing.

If a log comes off the best way to get rid of it is to put a Do Not Cut For Firewood sign on it. It'll be gone the next day.

 

[Greystoke]

We need more pics, this is a re-run from last week lol. Bob, you have to have some recent photos for us! What about from that pine pic, anymore from that job? Cody?

Here are some pics from when I was falling timber for Columbia, in Concrete Washington, Winter of 97 I beleive? Bunch of spindly little second growth. I know I looked like I was 12, but I was actually 19 in these pics, was married and had a kid on the way!

This was a cool waterfall that was in my strip:

I was wearing all of my ppe:

Oh Yayeah! I was the man...or at least I thought I was! lol!

Look at the pathetic little paint mark on this tree.

 

[slowp]

Here are some pics from when I was falling timber for Columbia, in Concrete Washington, Winter of 97 I beleive? Bunch of spindly little second growth. I know I looked like I was 12, but I was actually 19 in these pics, was married and had a kid on the way!


Look at the pathetic little paint mark on this tree.

It must have been a bit of a hike in, or the marker was running out of paint but too close to quitting time to go back and get another can, or...

I have had to remark corridors 3 times because the paint would not stick on wet trees, and the logger was too slow to get them cut out before the paint washed off. In fact, about the time you were cutting that, was the time the new non-baby killing paint came out. It didn't stick very well at all if the bark was wet.

Yes, when you notice the skidder is rubbing all the bark off the bottoms of stumps in a leave tree area, on trees that look like they would have been leave trees, it is time to start crawling around looking at the ground. And then get the Secret Squirrel guys with guns out.

 

[Greystoke]

It must have been a bit of a hike in, or the marker was running out of paint but too close to quitting time to go back and get another can, or...

I have had to remark corridors 3 times because the paint would not stick on wet trees, and the logger was too slow to get them cut out before the paint washed off. In fact, about the time you were cutting that, was the time the new non-baby killing paint came out. It didn't stick very well at all if the bark was wet.

Yes, when you notice the skidder is rubbing all the bark off the bottoms of stumps in a leave tree area, on trees that look like they would have been leave trees, it is time to start crawling around looking at the ground. And then get the Secret Squirrel guys with guns out.

It was probably just because the mill that we were working for was too cheap to use more paint, but...the nice thing was that we would not get into any trouble if we had to cut an unmarked one...they understood, as long as we kept it within reason

 

[Burvol]

I see you were running Husky and switched before the new generation of the good smooth ones came out. How did you get started as a cutter?

 

[Greystoke]

I see you were running Husky and switched before the new generation of the good smooth ones came out

Actually I stuck with them, as I had several modded 394's. I never switched til I got to Humboldt County and noticed that all of the guys that were cutting the big trees, coincidentally had big chainsaws, so I bought a hopped up 088, and loved it. My next saw after that was a modified 066, and I have had several of them and really like em, although, imho, both Husky and Stihl have their goods and bads.

How did you get started as a cutter?

I didn't have a choice; My Dad was a faller and let me finish off a back cut of a nice spruce tree when I was about 6, and I thought it was the most glorious thing in the world! Bought my first brand new chainsaw (535 Jonsered) when I was 12, and was off and running! I will have to see if my Mom can dig up some old pics of my outfit complete with cork boots, hickory, suspenders, stagged pants, log counter, outfitted wedge belt, and mac t; I even had inside chaps. My Dad won a little husky in a cutting contest so I had a brand new back up, and bought an old mccullough pro-mac 850 for my BIG saw!lol Anyhow, I worked for my uncle in the summers and weekends falling post and pole sales, until my Dad quit his fallin job and went into business with a post and pole outfit. After school I would buck tree length lodgepole into posts and poles, and do various other things around the post plant. On weekends and all summer I was working in the woods with my Dad. Then I quit school end of my sophomore year and Dad and I took a job for another logger...and I finally got to fall some non-post and pole timber! As soon as I was 18 I had to move on to the big boys...fell timber for a local guy for a few months, until he put me to hooking indefinitely, so I gave Columbia a call, and they took a chance on me...the rest is history It was funny when I first started for them all the guys called me "schoolboy", as I would have been a Senior in high school that year. I never really took the time to be a kid, but I'm making up for it now!

 

[Greystoke]

That reminds of me a story, not sure if I told you guys or not. I've told Slowp about the patch of Silver and White fir we cut north of Adams that was a stand full of huge wood.
They left some trees for seed and wildlife, and some happened to look really nice and tall. I was having a nice day in some big wood and just kept my strip going. I was bucking one of those nice trees when my Dad came up to me while I was limbing. I actually grinned and said something about the wood being so nice. He was pissed! He then said something to me about wanting to be some big shot timber faller and this and that, and I said "what?". He pointed to painted ring on the tree and I said "what ring?" And that one! He says. I slid my amber lens Stihl glasses down and saw the yellow paint. Oh ####! I thought. I quickly handed my glasses to my Dad and made him look. He was just as shocked as I was. I left a few big ones in my strip for a trade and told the guy on the shovel to scrape the bark off with his grapples in the landing. It all turned out ok. I know longer wear those shades in heavliy marked units, or orange and yellow.

That was a good story! I wish I could remember all the times my Dad yelled at me in my strip.

 

[tramp bushler]

An idea that may help !

The scar on the skin is healing beautiful, almost amazing. The bone, meat, and tendon is screwed up. I can cut logs, so I am very happy! The cold weather hurts it like a mother. It got cold for here last week, 0-5 for work temps all day. Fairly uncommon anymore. How are you guys doing up north?

.

.

. My left hand , my " bushlin " hand has been really banged up over the years ... Hurts most all the time . I cut the end of my index finger off a few years ago and it gets cold very easily .. I fought cold hands until I learned , you can,t just keep your hands warm .. Got to keep the blood warm till it gets to your hands .......... It is actually pretty warm here -5 thru -20 .. Last winter it was -50 thru -60 here and I had alot of days I couldn,t go to work . I don,t go to the woods if it,s colder than -35 . Had lots of that last winter ..... It,s different when -20 isn,t cold .... Right over in Tok (" pronounced Toke" like joke ) it gets into the minus 70s F . You just hunker down in those temps . When you spit hard and fast at the ground it is ice time it gets to the snow . .
ok I,m rambiling ,
.
. My idea, wear a big Thick 300 or 400 weight polyester fleece pull over , if it warms up a little,, get from somewhere,( thrift shop . Salvation Army , ect .) some fleece pullovers and cut the sleeve off especially the left sleeve , and put it on either under or over what ever top layer you wear ....... . Fallers have an attitude problem when it gets cold , because the cold makes you change how you cut ... Not the least of which is you can,t swing your timber like you can @ 40 degrees above ...But also , Your body doesn,t hold it,s temps inside right .. Breathing hard hurts , the rewind freezes on your saw ..ect. ect. ... Don,t fight it , it,s as bad as fighting the wind only quieter . You have to adapt to it for when it is there .... I put out as much wood in a day here in the winter as I usually do in the summer . But it is dark to dark . and I have to get in the crummy a couple times to warm up @ -5thru -30 . At minus 30 I leave the crummy running all day . 7.3 l International diesel . . It takes alot more clothes tho , and it isn't as comfortable . It,s actually pretty hard .........But I can get a job workin at a gas station , or I can use my brain and be a man and work .... A friend of mine says " you gotta be tough to live in Alaska ". Also wearing choppers over your gloves helps , and on the left hand isn,t bad ...

 

[Burvol]

.

.

. My left hand , my " bushlin " hand has been really banged up over the years ... Hurts most all the time . I cut the end of my index finger off a few years ago and it gets cold very easily .. I fought cold hands until I learned , you can,t just keep your hands warm .. Got to keep the blood warm till it gets to your hands .......... It is actually pretty warm here -5 thru -20 .. Last winter it was -50 thru -60 here and I had alot of days I couldn,t go to work . I don,t go to the woods if it,s colder than -35 . Had lots of that last winter ..... It,s different when -20 isn,t cold .... Right over in Tok (" pronounced Toke" like joke ) it gets into the minus 70s F . You just hunker down in those temps . When you spit hard and fast at the ground it is ice time it gets to the snow . .
ok I,m rambiling ,
.
. My idea, wear a big Thick 300 or 400 weight polyester fleece pull over , if it warms up a little,, get from somewhere,( thrift shop . Salvation Army , ect .) some fleece pullovers and cut the sleeve off especially the left sleeve , and put it on either under or over what ever top layer you wear ....... . Fallers have an attitude problem when it gets cold , because the cold makes you change how you cut ... Not the least of which is you can,t swing your timber like you can @ 40 degrees above ...But also , Your body doesn,t hold it,s temps inside right .. Breathing hard hurts , the rewind freezes on your saw ..ect. ect. ... Don,t fight it , it,s as bad as fighting the wind only quieter . You have to adapt to it for when it is there .... I put out as much wood in a day here in the winter as I usually do in the summer . But it is dark to dark . and I have to get in the crummy a couple times to warm up @ -5thru -30 . At minus 30 I leave the crummy running all day . 7.3 l International diesel . . It takes alot more clothes tho , and it isn't as comfortable . It,s actually pretty hard .........But I can get a job workin at a gas station , or I can use my brain and be a man and work .... A friend of mine says " you gotta be tough to live in Alaska ". Also wearing choppers over your gloves helps , and on the left hand isn,t bad ...

My God, that sounds like survival alright...I'll go enjoy my week now! LOL!!!!

 

[Burvol]

Actually I stuck with them, as I had several modded 394's. I never switched til I got to Humboldt County and noticed that all of the guys that were cutting the big trees, coincidentally had big chainsaws, so I bought a hopped up 088, and loved it. My next saw after that was a modified 066, and I have had several of them and really like em, although, imho, both Husky and Stihl have their goods and bads.



I didn't have a choice; My Dad was a faller and let me finish off a back cut of a nice spruce tree when I was about 6, and I thought it was the most glorious thing in the world! Bought my first brand new chainsaw (535 Jonsered) when I was 12, and was off and running! I will have to see if my Mom can dig up some old pics of my outfit complete with cork boots, hickory, suspenders, stagged pants, log counter, outfitted wedge belt, and mac t; I even had inside chaps. My Dad won a little husky in a cutting contest so I had a brand new back up, and bought an old mccullough pro-mac 850 for my BIG saw!lol Anyhow, I worked for my uncle in the summers and weekends falling post and pole sales, until my Dad quit his fallin job and went into business with a post and pole outfit. After school I would buck tree length lodgepole into posts and poles, and do various other things around the post plant. On weekends and all summer I was working in the woods with my Dad. Then I quit school end of my sophomore year and Dad and I took a job for another logger...and I finally got to fall some non-post and pole timber! As soon as I was 18 I had to move on to the big boys...fell timber for a local guy for a few months, until he put me to hooking indefinitely, so I gave Columbia a call, and they took a chance on me...the rest is history It was funny when I first started for them all the guys called me "schoolboy", as I would have been a Senior in high school that year. I never really took the time to be a kid, but I'm making up for it now!

Actually those 394's were the cat's meow for Husky and have hardly changed. Just don't like the outboard clutch, and was not a huge 288 fan. Proabably why I use to love Stihls.

That's a cool story Cody. Having the confidecne to believe in yourself and carry yourself is all it takes to make it (if ya got the skills as well lol). You should be able to outcut us all. When you comin' back to work???? You weren't young and cocky at times where you? LOL I can't imagine you would be as an 18 year old cutting for a ship, the pinnacle of most vet's carrer...LOL. Just ribbing ya dude, what a neat deal though

 

[Greystoke]

Actually those 394's were the cat's meow for Husky and have hardly changed. Just don't like the outboard clutch, and was not a huge 288 fan. Proabably why I use to love Stihls.

That's a cool story Cody. Having the confidecne to believe in yourself and carry yourself is all it takes to make it (if ya got the skills as well lol). You should be able to outcut us all. When you comin' back to work???? You weren't young and cocky at times where you? LOL I can't imagine you would be as an 18 year old cutting for a ship, the pinnacle of most vet's carrer...LOL. Just ribbing ya dude, what a neat deal though

Yeah I am lucky I lived through some of my Cocky maneuvers! Scares the he-double l out of me now, knowing what a green horn I was, and some of the close calls I had. Anyhow, How did you get started Falling Timber?

 

[tramp bushler]

Actually I stuck with them, as I had several modded 394's. I never switched til I got to Humboldt County and noticed that all of the guys that were cutting the big trees, coincidentally had big chainsaws, so I bought a hopped up 088, and loved it. My next saw after that was a modified 066, and I have had several of them and really like em, although, imho, both Husky and Stihl have their goods and bads.



I didn't have a choice; My Dad was a faller and let me finish off a back cut of a nice spruce tree when I was about 6, and I thought it was the most glorious thing in the world! Bought my first brand new chainsaw (535 Jonsered) when I was 12, and was off and running! I will have to see if my Mom can dig up some old pics of my outfit complete with cork boots, hickory, suspenders, stagged pants, log counter, outfitted wedge belt, and mac t; I even had inside chaps. My Dad won a little husky in a cutting contest so I had a brand new back up, and bought an old mccullough pro-mac 850 for my BIG saw!lol Anyhow, I worked for my uncle in the summers and weekends falling post and pole sales, until my Dad quit his fallin job and went into business with a post and pole outfit. After school I would buck tree length lodgepole into posts and poles, and do various other things around the post plant. On weekends and all summer I was working in the woods with my Dad. Then I quit school end of my sophomore year and Dad and I took a job for another logger...and I finally got to fall some non-post and pole timber! As soon as I was 18 I had to move on to the big boys...fell timber for a local guy for a few months, until he put me to hooking indefinitely, so I gave Columbia a call, and they took a chance on me...the rest is history It was funny when I first started for them all the guys called me "schoolboy", as I would have been a Senior in high school that year. I never really took the time to be a kid, but I'm making up for it now!

.
.

I started when I was 12 also . But was running my dad's Macullouch Super 2 10 Automatic , with a 16" bar .. balsam fir was selling for 48$ a cord for pulp at the mill in Millinocket
...Poplar pulp was selling for 19$ a cord . both in 4' lengths . I fell, limbed and bucked in the woods and my Dad logged it with the tractoy and wood trailer , or in the winter a short wood sled . I could cut almost a cord on a good hard day .. We moved it all by hand with pulp hooks .... It's pretty weird , That is pretty much exactly what I am doing right now ... Execpt I am using an Arctic Cat 440 Panther , and a sled I built , I can haul 1/3 rd of a cord on it .. .I use a pulp hook .. I would be lost without one . I even use it to beat wedges , tipping over these dead white Spruce ........ Directional falling is Real important when you move the wood by hand , and some of them weigh 300 lbs ....Oh and my 50 th birthday is 6 months away ................And I work alone cause I are so mean and cranky no one can work with me ...
AHH ,,,,,The joys of being a BUSHLER !!!!!!!!
. Before any one gets any ,( poor old guy ) ideas . I,m averaging 42$ an hour 6 hrs a day , 5 days a week .. Not getting rich by any strech of the imagination ....... But , I really enjoy what I do !!!!! And I get to stop and blow a predator call and wait with the 223 and spot light on the way out !!!!!! ...
. I get the( value) out of value added forest products industry .