Ed said what I thought when I first saw the title. The BEST loggers arent piddling around making youbube videos for subscription hits. They are in the woods actually making a living.
IS BBR the best logger you've ever seen?
- Thread starter slabMan
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I took his channel off my YouTube. Nothing against the guy, I think he knows a lot, but his videos are 10% useful, 90% rambling.
He's alright, he does ramble a lot, which is a bit annoying. I think what gets me the most is the fact that he's a salesman. He's always selling a producing and sucking you in with his questions and enthusiasm. He's always selling some sort of ripsaw, or the Weaver tool belt that one of his buddies designed, or the $400 exhaust pipe for the 500i, or that bar oil that's $60 bucks a gallon, or his new Husky 60cc saw that's "the best invention since the wheel". Everything that is given to him or he uses is the best thing since sliced bread. Don't get me wrong, he's knowledgeable when it comes to felling but I feel like he's more a salesman than anything else.
WI_Hedgehog
You bought a WHAT???!!
He used to LOVE McCullochs until Husqvarna gave him a saw and $$$. Those McCullochs are old, heavy tanks that ran at like 5,000 RPM, so he's a bit biased. (nothing wrong with an old saw, in context BBR doesn't seem genuine)
He has ADD, likely from the heavy recreational drug usage he talks about in a few videos, he's fried and aging--not a good combination. I've seen him take three 30-minute videos to explain how to sharpen a chain--painful.
I've seen him do crazy, dangerous stuff in his early days, though every time I link that sort of video that gets the thread pulled (the whole thread) so not gonna link it.
FRIENDS, his middle-years stuff was pretty good, FRIENDS...
slabMan
ArboristSite Operative
Hopefully he is not hitting the nose candy, because he sure seems to be wide- eye'd with the sniffles in a few of his vids...and of course, the endless rambling on basic topics like 'how to untangle a chain' [duh] and his firewood processing methods and burning, etc! He definitely likes the camera moreso now than his earlier vids. I say good for him on his popularity and hopefully he will make hay while the Youtube thing shines. It kills me to see how many times he has to handle the firewood before it see's the stove!He used to LOVE McCullochs until Husqvarna gave him a saw and $$$. Those McCullochs are old, heavy tanks that ran at like 5,000 RPM, so he's a bit biased. (nothing wrong with an old saw, in context BBR doesn't seem genuine)
He has ADD, likely from the heavy recreational drug usage he talks about in a few videos, he's fried and aging--not a good combination. I've seen him take three 30-minute videos to explain how to sharpen a chain--painful.
I've seen him do crazy, dangerous stuff in his early days, though every time I link that sort of video that gets the thread pulled (the whole thread) so not gonna link it.
FRIENDS, his middle-years stuff was pretty good, FRIENDS...
I tried cutting a tree up into firewood like BBR once, it was a suckfest.
I've asked him in the comments a few times, how do you get the stove length wood from the stump to the wood shed? I never got an answer, I feel bad for the costumers he drops trees for then bucks up.
I'll stick to skidding trees out of the woods to where I can buck them and get them on a trailer or truck. I may dull the chain a couple of times but that beats carrying armloads of wood through the woods.
I've asked him in the comments a few times, how do you get the stove length wood from the stump to the wood shed? I never got an answer, I feel bad for the costumers he drops trees for then bucks up.
I'll stick to skidding trees out of the woods to where I can buck them and get them on a trailer or truck. I may dull the chain a couple of times but that beats carrying armloads of wood through the woods.
WI_Hedgehog
You bought a WHAT???!!
Small tractor on a long trailer pulled by your truck.
Unload the tractor, pull the trailer to the wood, cut the wood, put the wood on the trailer, drive the tractor with the trailer of wood back to the truck.
Use the truck to drive a trailer full of wood (and the tractor) [wherever].
This is not ideal for every situation. I do landscaping so dragging logs across a lawn isn't ideal, especially if it has a sprinkler system.
I dont do landscaping jobs I just cut fire wood, I could do that with my atv and trailer if I had to tho.
The woods close to home where I cut fire wood are a stumpy muddy mess. I have an atv and trailer for it but it's hard to get close to where the trees fall. We skid the tree to the road close the where we're cutting with a farm tractor and buck them up there. We try to only skid logs when it's frozen so they stay clean.
I helped my buddies skid and cut up over 20 cord in a couple weekends this year. It was not a normal winter, it was only frozen solid for a few weeks, we get a couple months of frozen ground most winters.
slabMan
ArboristSite Operative
"Bring the woodshed to the wood" as much as possible...IE buck, split and stack on pallet or ibc tote apple bin, etc and wrap a little pallet wrap around it and if you have forklift attachment, unload when you get home and it is done. If you are splitting by hand, line up your rounds and toss the lightest car tire [22" or so tire works best] over the round and swing away! Then you dont have to pick up each split piece and line it up again. You can also easily bundle each split round if that is what you do, as each round is all put together inside the tire. IT is a lot safer than doing a golf swing like BBR and you never ground your axe because you have a tire to stop it. It sure beats tossing in the truck, stacking in the truck, unloading on the ground, picking up again and moving/stacking in woodshed. Also, you can bring the 'woodshed' [pallet] close to your house for easy access and assuring your wood will be dry when you prestack the wood to your 'on deck' wood access [inside house] and you dont have to keep opening the outside door to your house [letting all the hot air out each time]. In wet climates, your firewood is only as dry as the outside humidity. This method works well for me, but I understand that forklift [attachments] are a few bucks, but money well spent, IMHO.
Last weekend we backed the dump trailer up beside the hydraulic wood splitter and tossed the wood on it while splitting it. We only picked the wood up off the ground once, split it then delivered it. Half the pile will be dealt with this way, the other half will be dumped beside our wood sheds and we'll have to pile it up."Bring the woodshed to the wood" as much as possible...IE buck, split and stack on pallet or ibc tote apple bin, etc and wrap a little pallet wrap around it and if you have forklift attachment, unload when you get home and it is done. If you are splitting by hand, line up your rounds and toss the lightest car tire [22" or so tire works best] over the round and swing away! Then you dont have to pick up each split piece and line it up again. You can also easily bundle each split round if that is what you do, as each round is all put together inside the tire. IT is a lot safer than doing a golf swing like BBR and you never ground your axe because you have a tire to stop it. It sure beats tossing in the truck, stacking in the truck, unloading on the ground, picking up again and moving/stacking in woodshed. Also, you can bring the 'woodshed' [pallet] close to your house for easy access and assuring your wood will be dry when you prestack the wood to your 'on deck' wood access [inside house] and you dont have to keep opening the outside door to your house [letting all the hot air out each time]. In wet climates, your firewood is only as dry as the outside humidity. This method works well for me, but I understand that forklift [attachments] are a few bucks, but money well spent, IMHO.
I do split some wood like BBR, I hate putting it in a tire or on a splitting block, I just swing the axe, I havent chopped any toes off yet lol.
slabMan
ArboristSite Operative
Good man! When you add up all the times a person has to handle the wood and not processing it efficiently, it takes a toll when we get a little older for sure!
Exophysical
ArboristSite Operative
I kind of like him just because he reminds me of an old bugger that I used to work with. We were millwrights when I worked with him but, he'd been a faller in BC when he was younger. Much like BBR he was freakishly positive, a bit of a cowboy, and I dont beleive he was actually capable of thinking without talking. Alot of guys didnt like him, but I learned get allong with him, and if you kept him steered in the right direction alot of work got done.
In terms of the wood handling, I cant talk. In my area birch is the prime firewood and there aint much good birch near the roads any more. My usual method is to find stands of birch up hill of a logging road, and use a big sled to slide the rounds out to the truck. In the summer I split it on site and leave it descretely stacked untill winter rolls around.
Neither method is terribly efficient but its more efficient than any other method of filling a truck with birch, including the use of ATV's, and when you hit a stretch of -40 your glad you did it.
Had fun watching BBR when he wasn't selling stuff, and was running the old McCulloch's. Fun and entertaining. Bjarne Butlers is the favorite "West Coast" channel for me, a window into a world I will only experience on YouTube. "Good Fellers" for east coast stuff that is more in line with what I do. As far as the "Best" logger, that's a matter of opinion. For me it's one of my saw customers. Awesome person and has the local reputation of getting the most out of the woods ( money ) of anyone in the area. I've worked on his stuff since the 2010 time frame and watched him grow into the most sought after logging outfit in this area by the local land owner/farms etc. Doesn't have time or even desire for anything related to online exposure. Has a three plus year back log & only does "word of mouth" marketing. There are a lot of folks wanting to work his jobs, but he has a real hard time finding loggers to sub to who work to his standards on both felling and cleanup, Folks out here might know who I'm talking about, but for the rest it doesn't matter. 
One thing is for sure there are a lot of "independent" loggers out there like him and most couldn't care less what's happening in the online culture. Too busy growing their business.
One thing is for sure there are a lot of "independent" loggers out there like him and most couldn't care less what's happening in the online culture. Too busy growing their business.Great story brother. There's a lot of interesting people out there for sure. My current employer worked in a logging camp for years before he started up his own tree service. His expectations/standards for work are far above and beyond those of any tree companies inhe area.Had fun watching BBR when he wasn't selling stuff, and was running the old McCulloch's. Fun and entertaining. Bjarne Butlers is the favorite "West Coast" channel for me, a window into a world I will only experience on YouTube. "Good Fellers" for east coast stuff that is more in line with what I do. As far as the "Best" logger, that's a matter of opinion. For me it's one of my saw customers. Awesome person and has the local reputation of getting the most out of the woods ( money ) of anyone in the area. I've worked on his stuff since the 2010 time frame and watched him grow into the most sought after logging outfit in this area by the local land owner/farms etc. Doesn't have time or even desire for anything related to online exposure. Has a three plus year back log & only does "word of mouth" marketing. There are a lot of folks wanting to work his jobs, but he has a real hard time finding loggers to sub to who work to his standards on both felling and cleanup, Folks out here might know who I'm talking about, but for the rest it doesn't matter.
Two other guys on the crew have confirmed this.
I am blessed to be a part of his crew, and I honestly don't think we work all THAT hard - however if we performed the way we do at another company, they'd ask us to take it easy
We get trees pruned, we cut em down, we chip, and do a great cleanup.. far faster and better than any other local service I've seen. I am grateful for this work experience, and will carry it with me throughout my career
