Logging!!

[slowp]

This crew is new to me. I'm liking their work. They put out 5 loads today downhilling. There are 3 guys up in the brush, a hooktender, chaser, loader operator and the yarder engineer. Today started out good.
Here''s the cute yarder. I don't think they call it cute. It is a Madill and seems to run well.

This is the chaser, doing the job that is hated, branding and painting logs. He is trying to get my Kuliens. We seem to have the same size of feet. Call him a smurf?

A load.

Then the crew sent the carriage back in. It would not give any slack. The diagnostics began, the production ended.

The loader operator got out, touched a wire with a finger, and the carriage began to work. He was a hero for a moment. When the carriage got in the air, the same problem occurred. Somebody said they thought it might be afraid of heights.

Well, they worked on it, and I had to break open my finest Chinese discount socket/tool kit. They wanted it AND my Kuliens.

When I left, desperation had set in, they dug out a manual. A log truck driver had joined the group.

Seriously, they have done a great job this week. There are very few dings to the leave trees, and the damage is small--baseball size. Exellent!

 

[forestryworks]

I spy a 441 there on the landing. Can't make out the other saw.

Is this a hand falling unit?

How much leeway is given to loggers on the scarring of leave trees?

As always, thanks for sharing the photos!

 

[palogger]

the saw closest to the camera looks alot like a 362

 

[slowp]

Yes. It was felled by hand and by a faller who likes to do thinnings. He's good too.

I used to be more forgiving on downhill yarding, but now I've seen crews that can do it with no more damage than uphill yarding. It is hard to say on how much is too much. I'll usually start lecturing when the trees are losing slabs of bark. This being Fall, that should not happen if I have done my job of marking out the corridors wide enough, and the fallers do their part.

I had to mark 3 trees just above the cut bank. This is a wagon wheel landing, which makes for a little opening where the corridors all come together.

This is all I found on my walk up and around on the hill. They have 4 more settings, one which will require moving the yarder a bit.

 

[slowp]

the saw closest to the camera looks alot like a 362

It is smaller than Twinkle. So I'm thinking it is in that size range. I do not know which one is the traditionally bent bar one.

 

[forestryworks]

the saw closest to the camera looks alot like a 362

I think you may be right, the decomp is off to the side-like. I can't remember on a 441, but isn't the decomp square in the middle?

EDIT: I take that back, the decomp on the 441 is off to the side as well.

 

[Cedarkerf]

Great pics and narrative as usual:yourock:

 

[2dogs]

Good pics but the narrative is severely lacking. Were there any logging dogs, and what was lunch? Did they go the entire day without cussing? If they are Washingtonians how did they do in the sunlight?

 

[Dave Hadden]

Good pics but the narrative is severely lacking. Were there any logging dogs, and what was lunch? Did they go the entire day without cussing? If they are Washingtonians how did they do in the sunlight?

Genuinely LMAO at the above.
Well done!!!

Take care.

 

[slowp]

Good pics but the narrative is severely lacking. Were there any logging dogs, and what was lunch? Did they go the entire day without cussing? If they are Washingtonians how did they do in the sunlight?

It was a bright and sunny day, once you were out of the Big Bottom country.
It would be chilly and foggy there, until it burned off. I climbed into my Chevy Vortec and started it up. I had the debate about which radio station to tune to...news with NPR? Country music with Dean Dallen and the weather? Radio Free Glenoma? KOMO? I was feeling a bit cranky, it might could be time for the Happy Lights and a pastel thermos of coffee mixed with No Sugar Added hot chocolate. I decided on Radio Free Glenoma so punched in 90.1 FM on the dusty radio console. I shifted into D and took off. Stopped at the stop sign and turned left. Accellerated up to 45 and then turned left after a mile. And so it went.

I arrived on the unit and booted up. There were no dogs, cats, deer, cougars, elk, or even mushroom hunters. I threw my paint gun in my vest pocket and walked up to the busy landing. Two trucks were there, one being loaded and one waiting. I noticed that the one driver was white haired and had a new style of hard hat.

I got through the landing and used a vegetation belay to climb up the cutbank. Sauntered onward, still sleepy, and found myself being pulled down by gravity. Due to sleepyness, did not get the "cramps of fear" in my calf muscles. Sleepily noticed no projectiles to get impaled on so went with the gravity. Got up, looked around, nobody saw, I am safe. Started up the hill again....

Got up to the top, noticed where lines were hizzzzing by. Followed them around, looking at stuff. Ick, there's a "land mine" so made a detour upwind and proceeded around. Found an elk trail to get across the draw where the Devil's Club likes to grow. Moseyed around the tail tree and downward. Agreed with hooktender that it was hard work to be a hooktender and wandered up to a previously logged unit and then back down via the old skid trail.

Got down to the landing. The chaser began making gestures. I turned around, there was nobody behind me, so I climbed over the log deck, up a bank to get around the log deck, to the chaser. The Yarder Engineer wanted to discuss some trees that might be in the way. After a few more turns, the crew hit their whistle, and informed the Yarder Engineer that the carriage was not spooling off the slack line, The carriage came in, empty.

Whilst the stubborn carriage was being worked on, I went back up the hill to mark trees for death. I came back down, only to meet the hooktender, who pointed out another tree, so I went back up and shot more paint. The crew came down and BEGAN OPENING THEIR LUNCH BUCKETS. Cigarettes were smoked. A small bag of potato chips was consumed. I noticed they had the unmanly small containers of ......YOGURT! I saw fruit! No sandwiches, except for the smokes and chips it looked healthy.

We Warshintonians are able to tolerate the sun because the unit is a thinning and shade is available to cool off in.

That's all I can write for now...

 

[2dogs]

slowp you are out... standing in your field. The pics were even better than the earlier ones. The lunch description made my stomach growl. You must get the name of the hard hat maker. I see a new trend on the horizon. The new lightweight-extra vision AS model hard hat for 2010.

Thanks again!!!

 

[slowp]

It might be a custom made hat for truckers. I believe he had the English Version since the brim was gone on the left side. Maybe he had it on backwards?

 

[bitzer]

Very entertaining. You know if you found a tv exec to sell this too you could make millions. Kind of like a real-life melo-drama about logging in the PNW. What do you think?

 

[2dogs]

Very entertaining. You know if you found a tv exec to sell this too you could make millions. Kind of like a real-life melo-drama about logging in the PNW. What do you think?

Sounds kinda familiar.

 

[bitzer]

Sounds kinda familiar.

Whatever do you mean?

 

[slowp]

Yes. I'd have to teach them to cuss so the BLEEP could be used. The only crew rivalry was the hooktender throwing sticks at the rigging crew as they came merrily hopping (like young people can do) down the cutbank to get into their lunches during the breakdown. They threw the sticks back. Nobody was whining, nobody was messing up, and the miracle of the finger
(mentioned previously) occurred. Nope, too upbeat for a manly soap opera.

 

[Jacob J.]

I think you may be right, the decomp is off to the side-like. I can't remember on a 441, but isn't the decomp square in the middle?

EDIT: I take that back, the decomp on the 441 is off to the side as well.

I think it's a 361.

The weather sure looks nice for SW Washington at this time of year (Although the real bad stuff is coming...)

 

[tantoy]

Are you up out of Randle? Gifford Pinchot?

 

[slowp]

Another Bright and Sunny Fall Day Picnic in the Woods

Here's the saw of the Chaser. I did not see the other saw.

A little teamwork.

Not much lift here. The hooktender eventually hung the block up higher.

I did not see what was for lunch. They got the OK to make it a short day today so maybe they skipped lunch? Deer season opens tomorrow.

 

[Johndirt82]

Man Im always lookin at the pics that Slowp and burvol and others post and it makes me look forward to retiring from the Navy and gettin back into the woods where I came from. Hope I won't be too old , I will be 37 , when Im done with the Navy, to move into a timber job of some sort. Guess Ill have to stick to doing the firewood business for now.