Falling pics 11/25/09

[Hayubusa]

Thanks Joe. I agree it's hard. I just pulled my phone out of my hickory pocket and snapped a few.

People will always look down on us, but you know as well as I, that they could not do our job. Not being arrogant, just plain truthful. Being a good faller is not only production and quality, but reliability and the grind of a whole season. The general population is fairly soft. Think about even 50 years ago. Everyone worked hard. People are needed in all occupations, but when they snub us like you speak of, it makes me laugh.

Great Pics thanks for posting them - you couldnt be more right, there arent too many people out there that could do your job. I work in a well air conditioned / heated office and you wouldnt believe the things people in here complain about! I kind of lucked out getting the job I have had for the last 10 years but prior to this I was in the Marine Corps infantry for 4 years, so I'm well aware of what real work is like and I'll be the first to say your job definately looks harder than anything I've ever done. Keep up the good work!

 

[MR4WD]

Yes there is a lot of big wood that is tall, but the ground is only flat for short distances, really broken up, draws, ridges, ect. trees longer than the ground in spots, and some steep areas.

Gotcha! I should come down there one day and hang out with some fallers and learn some stuff.

Keep the pics coming, I always enjoy em.

Stay safe.

 

[deeker]

Here are some pics of a dying spruce take down.

It is the 088 with a 3 foot bar in front of the tree. Huge butt swell, and it was harder wood than I expected.

The top hit the ground before the tree really started to fall over....wedges...

The trunk, heading for my sawmill...then back as table tops in the spring.

It was not the best cut....but the top missed me!!!

 

[dancan]

He helped me out of the brush once in Humboldt when I went for a ride down the mountain with a couple of small redwoods.

Doesn't sound like a fun ride but this and Burvol's incident show that keeping a cool head and working with people that know how to keep a cool head are a big part of going home at the end of the day .

 

[fmaglin]

A snipe kicks the butt off the stump and puts it in the ground, a block out face keeps it hooked up longer. A snipe (or Swanson cut, a really steep face, Canadian term) is typically used on steep terrain going down hill or other similar applications. Since the hump in the lay would break the wood (120-160ft tall), it needs to stay hooked up as long as possible. The log hits the ground evenly, not top or butt first, make sense?

Sorry I didn't get back to ya in your PM bud. I wasn't delibertly ignoring ya. Hope you are having a good thanksgiving!

Just wondering if the Block Out Face does the same as a Sez Wheel?

 

[056kid]

HAY, BURVOL,


when you gonna gonna give me a reply on my river???

 

[oregoncutter]

You're right...it is a cuss word. The use of a feller buncher usually comes down to money. If there's enough work for it, and it takes a lot, to make it worthwhile to pay the costs of moving one in, using it, and moving it back out they'll get used. It's not worth it, though, to move one in for just a few trees.

And that makes more work for fallers.

I was offered a job running one of those things. I said no. I'll run Cat, loader, skidder, spent a couple of really boring days on a stroker delimber once...hell, I'll even drive truck. But running a feller buncher just kinda seems like treason somehow.

:agree2:
It doe's seem like treason I have ran bunchers on jobs before when it comes time to feed the family, that takes precedence over all else. There not all bad the last one I ran would only handle up to a 24'' tree. The patch I was in had alot of sticks well over that ( kept my 372 stuffed behind the seat just in case), but majority was handled with the buncher. The pics remind me of my dad and uncles they cut into their late 60s and early 70s, before semi retiring. Between technology, and a poor market I fear the trade may go the way of manual machinists, I just hope enough young intellegent guys keep an interest in the trade to not loose the history and knowledge passed down from the old guys. Logging has kept mine and alot of other families around here clothed and fed for alot of generations.

 

[RandyMac]

 

[NC4TN]

Great pics fellers! Great, because I love to watch people who know what they're doin' and doin' it right. Pride in their work is what it's all about.

 

[Burvol]

HAY, BURVOL,


when you gonna gonna give me a reply on my river???

The Grande Ronde?

Try Coon shrimp and bobber with either a number one or 1/0 hook with your shrimp rigged "through the back style". Try anywhere from 2-5 feet off the bottom. Works well on the B run down here in the Columbia. Black and purple Maribou style jigs fished in the same manner works well too.

A great idea to learn what is going on in a new fishery is to go down and watch the guys that are slaying them.

 

[Burvol]

Hey,

I look up and see that picture of a big Pine with a step in it.....How's it going Randy?

 

[rmihalek]

block + Humboldt?

What if you made the block face as usual but then angled the bottom with a Humboldt to hold the stem on the stump even longer? You can see the stem contacting the stump at about 45 degree lean. With a Humboldt thrown in there, it looks like it would hold even longer.

 

[hammerlogging]

rain day

if you look closely it looks like hes got a snipe in the butt log which essentially opens the face a bit more before the face closes. The hinge performs diferently with the block because the whole hinge can pull off- when the log hits the ground you can end up with the hinge sticking out the 3 inches from it breaking down the block face- thus the peeling off the stump differently than with a non-blocked face. But, the snipe does what you are asking about- can be on the stump too.

Ourloadermanhas scratched his head more than a few times as i send in more and more of these funky butts, I definately enjoy working these various techniques where I can-- poplars and other softwoods that grow tall and straight like ya'lls timber, and some tall and straight oaks/hickories but NO REAL TIMBER cause, I guess you'd have to stand next to it to understand, but not ______ing it (don't even want to say it anymore) you'd be crazy- barberchair central. No real timber except for the soft hardwoods.

 

[RandyMac]

Burvol!!!
I'm doing good, feeling the wear, but that is expected, I earned most of it.

I sniped the stump on that Sugar Pine, I've got a pic of it somewhere, lost in the archives.

Step cut and sniped

I lost about 50 feet when it hit the road, was about 36" at the break.

Hah, what a mess, and we were being careful.

 

[Burvol]

Randy,

You were a renegade. I know it! LOL

 

[Greystoke]

Burvol!!!
I'm doing good, feeling the wear, but that is expected, I earned most of it.

I sniped the stump on that Sugar Pine, I've got a pic of it somewhere, lost in the archives.

Step cut and sniped

I lost about 50 feet when it hit the road, was about 36" at the break.

Hah, what a mess, and we were being careful.

Looked good to me! It seems like no matter how careful you are with those dang brittle redwood, you at least get some mess. Nice pics Randy Wish I could rep ya!

 

[Metals406]

Watch this cool "back-slip" technique Jack uses to help save-out this tree. Very cool technique!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/hotsaws101#p/u/27/LLDEUZ6z7rE

I'd love to pack his saw and fuel for a week or two, and learn some of his more technical procedures'.

 

[RandyMac]

Renegade and Pirate LOL

that was my first solo Redwood, I got some of the ones that the Master decided were good training, but were rotten, like that one or were going to bust up anyway, like that one, I wasn't expirienced enough to fall the prime trees. I did get to do a few really nice trees, but mostly the ugly ones.

 

[Burvol]

Went to the east to cut pine the last two days. Picture of some tools and my 390 with a 32" and full comp. I kinda high stumped last one right behind another.

 

[056kid]

Look at them baby trees..