Falling pics 11/25/09

[northmanlogging]

I like .308 Win myself probably a little more than is strictly healthy prefer the Remington 700, but I got three or four others in .308 as well... I don't hunt so much anymore since I spend as much on the pigs in the backyard and I can guarantee that meet in the freezer. Still hunt a bunch of paper though:smile2:

 

[tramp bushler]

I like the 308 , but it leaves a big exit hole on fox and coyote. I like little holes in the hide ..

 

[Metals406]

That's why a lot of guys use the .17 for coyotes. . . Small holes.

A buddy of mine has killed a lot of critters with a .257 Roberts as well.

 

[Plankton]

Some trees from yesterday, I wasn't used to cutting hardwoods so I pulled a lot of wood unfortunately, nice trees though.

 

[OlympicYJ]

Hey Wes; ya, I like the 6.5 Creedmoor in the Ruger m77 Target rifle. Ruger's are as tough as a good pro Husky or Stihl. They are plenty accurate and the 6.5 120gr TSX @ 2900fps shouldn't open up on a fox or lynx so they shouldn't blow out in the gut. But it's plenty big enough for caribou. And of course wolf. "! So far mostly coyote have come in up here. In S.E. I've called in plenty of brown bear. . Thats the ultimate...
But I use a 458 for them.

I see what you're goin for and like the idea! I would love to go down to SE and call for blackies and brownies. I've shot a bear in the Olympics and got my buddy on one in the same spot two yrs later. Both shots were at 30yds; even though they were 150 pounders it was still a thrill cause of how close we were.

That's why a lot of guys use the .17 for coyotes. . . Small holes.

A buddy of mine has killed a lot of critters with a .257 Roberts as well.

I've got a 250 savage on a mauser action my great uncle built. Set triggers and short so it's a "walking varmiter." Works really good for yotes and can take a deer on if need be, gotta use premium bullets though. Hoping to nail some yotes in this open wheat country this year.

 

[floyd]

Was there some wire to go with the rock wall?

Maqybe it is the angle of the images. Some stumps look like you went above the wire?

 

[Plankton]

Actually thankfully all the trees were wire free. The field never had a barbed wire fence apparently which was nice

 

[kjp]

some time at camp

pictures of a 80 foot beech at camp. Cool thing was it was 24 inches at the stump and 24 inches 60 feet up. Lots of firewood from one treeView attachment 260699View attachment 260700View attachment 260701

 

[floyd]

Thanks. The reason I asked is some stumps look high to me.

Images often fool me.

Is the wall in better shape anywhere you could see? I expect at one the wall was the fence.

 

[Slamm]

I too was wondering why the stumps were so high, but then I saw that they were cut on the west coast.

Sam

 

[floyd]

Your screen is dyslexic. MA is on the east coast.

There are a few forks there. Looks like a directional falling thing going on as well.

The wall made me think about it. Put a wire fence up because too difficult to maintain 200+ yr old walls.

 

[hammerlogging]

I too was wondering why the stumps were so high, but then I saw that they were cut on the west coast.

Sam

a nod and a smile. i'm a fan of and apply all sorts of technique but our #1 job is wood on the ground fast, safely, with maximum value and volume recovery. period. us fallers can rekon with the glory of keeping it nicely in lead, swing such and such so well, but the log buyer don't give a damn how well we swung it or how easy the loggers pulled that block. not even a little bit, unless of course, we also got 110% value and volume recovery! take it to the bank.

nice maple plankton, thanks for sharing, don't worry, always room for progress

open your faces a bit, or X2 or x3 your kerfs where you face cuts meet (like the kid taught me, a nod to the kid!) and chase the hinge a bit longer, if you can't keep up with it for whatever reason, got to get back to fundamentals, even if that means bore cutting. stumps look like the trees had some head lean.

 

[Plankton]

yup I still have a ton to learn especially in hardwoods. Every tree is a learning experience.

A little clarification on the high stumps there only on "scrap" chordwood trees and the small amount of wood waste is a good trade off for the time saving of cutting them waist high. I can then move on to the high value trees which is the actual crop. You'll notice all the timber trees are cut low.


Yes almost all of them had head lean, I ended up using the coos bay cut on a couple for peace of mind. I finally noticed at the end of the day that an open face had alot less wood pull and started doing that. on the tree I'm leaning against I actually sniped the humbolt and it came down smooth with no pull.

It's kind of hard to tell in the photos but the butts of these trees were kicking up and flopping to the right so I was booking it out of there as fast as I could most of the time which is another reason for the pull, I probably could have stayed on the stumps longer though.

I noticed that the center of the hinge would tend to pull more then the rest, is that what people bore the center of the face out for?

 

[hammerlogging]

yup I still have a ton to learn especially in hardwoods. Every tree is a learning experience.

A little clarification on the high stumps there only on "scrap" chordwood trees and the small amount of wood waste is a good trade off for the time saving of cutting them waist high. I can then move on to the high value trees which is the actual crop. You'll notice all the timber trees are cut low.

nonsense, alwas cut them low as reasonable, i.e short of dulling your chain AND a high stump won't slow down logging.
Yes almost all of them had head lean, I ended up using the coos bay cut on a couple for peace of mind. I finally noticed at the end of the day that an open face had alot less wood pull and started doing that. on the tree I'm leaning against I actually sniped the humbolt and it came down smooth with no pull.

If you notice a problem and know a solution, then apply it. immediately. practice on #### trees, not the crop.

It's kind of hard to tell in the photos but the butts of these trees were kicking up and flopping to the right so I was booking it out of there as fast as I could most of the time which is another reason for the pull, I probably could have stayed on the stumps longer though.

A more open face or boring would have given you more time to get away. still sounds like bs.

I noticed that the center of the hinge would tend to pull more then the rest, is that what people bore the center of the face out for?

among all the reasons.... see, you know when you've made mistakes, and you recognize how to improve, so listen to yourself. then you won't have to try and talk your way around some bs mistake and can just keep on doing your thing and nobody will have to hassle you becasue if you make a mistake, you fix it before its a habit. thats the problem with getting on here or god forbid cutting for someone that knows the game- they can see the bs and read right through it. so the bs makes it worse. argh. its ok.
Like I saud, having recognized the problems is a huge step. knowing how to fix them is another huge step. taking these steps, or whatever steps it takes to cut logs properly, and safely, that'll solve the problem.

great time to be a faller, cool not cold, leaves off, nice pictures. looks like that here now too.

answers submitted

 

[bitzer]

Tramp- Thanks for the kind words a few weeks back! Although the guys on here who really know how to put wood on the ground would cut circles around me! I've been busting ass after a 2 week rainy period and ####ing with 3 different breakdowns this week. I'm enjoying weather in the 30s at night and 40s during the day. Godammit I wish it was Monday tomorrow!

Hammer- well said posts on hardwood falling technique. Hope all is well with you.

Plank- nipping out the heart does eliminate that pull, but esentially its up to the face. I put a little snipe on nearly everything sawtimber; humboldt or conventional. 5 second insurance in my opinion.

 

[floyd]

I could see most of the higher stumps were small stems. Only down side I see to high stumps on hardwood is the sprouts may end up with pistol butt. If a coppiced stand is next in the mgmt plan it could affect quality x yrs out.

Another problem with high stumps is falling a tree on them could ruin that stick.

Funny, this "forester" forum I used to look at cracked me up 1x. Talking about falling hwds. Basically asking how long one stays on the stump. I said long time. Steer it where you want it. They did not like that.

Then 1x I was talking about CCA, Container Corp America & their 31yr rotation in N FL using COMMOM forestry abbreviations. A "forester" from N FL didn't know who CCA was. I even got an invite back to that forum. I was nice enough to explain that I rarely do stoopid anymore so I would waste my time elsewhere, thank you.

 

[Slamm]

Your screen is dyslexic. MA is on the east coast.

There are a few forks there. Looks like a directional falling thing going on as well.

The wall made me think about it. Put a wire fence up because too difficult to maintain 200+ yr old walls.

Actually, I thought the MA was a WA, LOL................ and the stumps looked like a West Coast thing.

While, I'm all for cutter speed, its for nothing if the skidder or forwarder operator has to screw around with either driving over or around high stumps, not to mention the serious damage that is caused when things go around with such needless stumps sitting up that high and machinery operating around it.

As do several of you, I cut and skid, and I have found that cutters (only, ones that don't carry about the skidder) get in a hurry making the footage that they forget that nobody gets paid until its out on the landing and it takes the skidder to get it there. when you cut a woods, and you leave nice low stumps you open up many more path opportunities for the skidder driver with each stump cut. When you high stump them, there is much less opportunities, because now you have the uncut trees and the tops and stumps, if you have low stumps its just uncut trees and tops .......... tops can be pushed out of the way, stumps, no.

Low stumps decrease cutter footage some what, but increase overall production with regards to typical getting the logs to the landing.

The above speaks nothing of how the land/job looks afterwards when you leave high stumps here and there, it just looks "Hackish", like the cutter didn't care about anyone but making his job easier.

My opinion,

Sam

 

[northmanlogging]

yup I still have a ton to learn especially in hardwoods. Every tree is a learning experience.

A little clarification on the high stumps there only on "scrap" chordwood trees and the small amount of wood waste is a good trade off for the time saving of cutting them waist high. I can then move on to the high value trees which is the actual crop. You'll notice all the timber trees are cut low.


Yes almost all of them had head lean, I ended up using the coos bay cut on a couple for peace of mind. I finally noticed at the end of the day that an open face had alot less wood pull and started doing that. on the tree I'm leaning against I actually sniped the humbolt and it came down smooth with no pull.

It's kind of hard to tell in the photos but the butts of these trees were kicking up and flopping to the right so I was booking it out of there as fast as I could most of the time which is another reason for the pull, I probably could have stayed on the stumps longer though.

I noticed that the center of the hinge would tend to pull more then the rest, is that what people bore the center of the face out for?

I don't worry to much about the butt kicking up. use the humboldt and try not to park em to steeply up hill and it shouldn't be and issue, gets the ticker goin though don't it. If you have to use the standard face (still find it funny) make you're back cut a smidge, no more than an inch or two, high, and put some snipe in it. Also allot of the time having the butt buck like that is caused by what the stem is landing on, stumps, lumps, rock, etc, tend to have a teeter totter effect, when they don't smash the tree, try to miss them. Its all about situation awareness. biggest reason to boogie out of the way is falling debree hence all the dents in your tin hat, or if the bastard goes the wrong way... but that never happens right?

 

[Plankton]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll be changing my technique alot next time I'm out in large hardwoods seems like.

It is a great time to be cutting, crisp air and no rain or snow or dust.


thanks

 

[Rounder]

View attachment 260894

Bought this for fun, but I'm thinking it might be handy to have tucked behind a gate in the bottom. Better than putting the wear on the truck.
Thinking a little sled/ trailer type deal might be the ticket, instead of having to wear my harness, pack and jam whatever else on the sled.
Might also really suck to ride out on if I get soaked.....we'll see.

Have a good, safe week - Sam