New personal best today

[catbuster]

the "educated idiots" can go hand in hand with "I've been doing this xx years", both are idiots but lumping all folks into one file or the other pretty much puts you in one file or the other...

I've had my fair share of college idiots, as well as the guys that don't even mention the schooling they have cause its evident in their work.
Just as I've worked, or tried to around the folks that were born in a briar patch spitting caulk boots and sharpening daddies axe... that couldn't figure out which end of a choker went where...
As well as some folks I was pretty sure until recently were completely illiterate, but one of the best damned operators I've had the pleasure to work with and for. (turns our the ****ers just too stubborn to wear glasses) or a CPA that didn't even bat an eye at wallowing in the muck with me and picked up most of my choker tricks just by watching, even taught me a couple.
Anyway, point is, books and covers etc

Though I would appreciate if folks from both camps the properly schooled, and the ditch schooled would stop looking down their collective noses at everyone that isn't from their school, then maybe ya all could work together and create something really impressive.

It actually happens on a regular basis. Here’s one I worked on:

 

[northmanlogging]

It actually happens on a regular basis. Here’s one I worked on:
View attachment 967830

Well... It could happen a damned sight more often then.

 

[Cricket]

the "educated idiots" can go hand in hand with "I've been doing this xx years", both are idiots but lumping all folks into one file or the other pretty much puts you in one file or the other...

I've had my fair share of college idiots, as well as the guys that don't even mention the schooling they have cause its evident in their work.
Just as I've worked, or tried to around the folks that were born in a briar patch spitting caulk boots and sharpening daddies axe... that couldn't figure out which end of a choker went where...
As well as some folks I was pretty sure until recently were completely illiterate, but one of the best damned operators I've had the pleasure to work with and for. (turns our the ****ers just too stubborn to wear glasses) or a CPA that didn't even bat an eye at wallowing in the muck with me and picked up most of my choker tricks just by watching, even taught me a couple.
Anyway, point is, books and covers etc

Though I would appreciate if folks from both camps the properly schooled, and the ditch schooled would stop looking down their collective noses at everyone that isn't from their school, then maybe ya all could work together and create something really impressive.

This. I've been shoeing horses for forty years - owned them (or my folks did) for fifteen before that - and I'm the sort that keeps up with the newest research, etc. But I really hate hauling out "I've been doing this for forty years!", because I've known so many people - horse people, tree people, whatever - who have also been doing whatever they've been doing, for forty years - but flat refused to learn - flat out fought against learning - anything besides what daddy taught 'em. And quite often that was just enough to get by. And they made a virtue out of never having let another iota of information in.

 

[Cricket]

Hi Patty!

Five years to finish my bachelor’s in Civil & Environmental Engineering at UofL. I think the word “Environmental” was just tacked on to make it seem fancier, we only had one class that had “environmental” stuff, and that had mostly to do with water and air quality. I got to learn the ecology stuff on my own.

For the record, I have two years experience in government (highway department) and lasted less than a year at a consulting firm if I had to say exactly how long I used what exactly my degree was “for.”

The rest have been out in the field working for either civil contractors or, well, I had a short time tipping trees. I was pretty good at it, but K Bridge & Marine was more enticing to me at the time.

I had a similar upbringing to the boys you mention, except dad was a plumber and my uncle was the excavating contractor, and I started on the farm only to get on the construction iron when I was old enough to drive.

Anyway, first job out of college was laying pipe. Paid well enough to survive, I had a company truck, and I wanted to work for the place I got hired at. I made my way up to foreman in a few months and started managing projects six months in.

I moved around a little and ended up at the biggest strictly-civil outfit I could find, then promptly quit and started working for myself. I gave that up in November and am still looking for the right thing to do.

Anyway, yeah I feel fulfilled in what I’ve been able to do. Now it’s time to give back as much as I can. The current group of people in the dirt world will not be around forever, the rate of hires to lost people is unsustainable, and it may be time to give them a chance and train a lot of the younger ones.

"and lasted less than a year at a consulting firm if I had to say exactly how long I used what exactly my degree was “for.”

Six years of college, biology, chemistry, and computers - forty years of shoeing horses. (Though I did work fixing computers for a couple of years, and still fix those of friends on occasion).

Wasn't even a training thing. I just realized I don't like people much, or working indoors. Kind of an expensive lesson, but it was worth it both because I use some of what I learned from all my various classes on occasion, and because I did it long enough to know that working indoors for other people wasn't going to work out well for me, so no second guessing going with a "not gonna get rich" career. No education is ever a loss.

 

[rwoods]

The forecasters were close. We got enough rain to keep my logs on the hill for quite a while. However, I was able to fix the dozer after work today without rain so it will be ready when things dry up a bit.

Ron

 

[slowp]

Engineers take logging technology and convert it to skier transport. What could possibly go wrong?
I have never heard this story before and am surprised that my dad didn't mention it.

Mt Hood Skyway

 

[rwoods]

Probably should post this in another thread, but since part of the story is here, I will finish here.

We drugged the deuce up the hill today with the dozer. Actually, a cake walk. I told my buddy, who among other life pursuits ran a towing business, to let the dozer set the place.

Since we don't have any bunks and broke all our stakes last week hauling out of a field, we loaded the truck with only six logs pyramid style.

3 ash and 3 red oak.


My partner in crime on the high side lashing.


The road from the top is a series of steps, short flat then short steep, short flat, short steep, short flat then long steep with a curve near the bottom. The long section is the steepest. We short chained the dozer to the rear of the truck. Like the ascent, I told my buddy to let the dozer set the pace going down. First section was fine, just a little skidding of the dozer. The next section, we are going faster and faster with the dozer sliding so much that I progressively lower the blade until the truck is stopped. By that time the blade is buried so deep that the rear of the dozer raises as I try to lift the blade. Can't back up. After some finagling with the tilt and angle, I freed up the dozer. I tell my buddy that we need to rethink the long section as unknown to him I am being dragged. It is then he tells me that he has been powering the truck to keep the chain tight. Of course there has never been any slack in the chain that he can't even see. I can only assume that his mind had shifted to towing and he forgot that he isn't towing. I reminded him to stay off the throttle and we made it down the long incline with not much problem. My s-i-l who was following us said the road is torn all to pieces in places, as you would suspect from the ride, so I will be back to repair the road before we make any more trips.

The above only took 4.5 hours. 1.25 hrs fixing, fueling and driving the truck to the site. Another hour spent with a stuck master cylinder, with the balance going to road prep, loading and the trip. Master cylinder is stuck again at the end of the road so this small load though down the hill is still far from the wood lot. A lot of work for very little wood. Days like today, make me think buying folks a heat pump might be more productive, but with 349 families on the list that is out of my reach.

To my surprise, the load didn't shift or settle any.

Ron

 

[Huntaholic]

Probably should post this in another thread, but since part of the story is here, I will finish here.

We drugged the deuce up the hill today with the dozer. Actually, a cake walk. I told my buddy, who among other life pursuits ran a towing business, to let the dozer set the place.

Since we don't have any bunks and broke all our stakes last week hauling out of a field, we loaded the truck with only six logs pyramid style.

3 ash and 3 red oak.
View attachment 970644

My partner in crime on the high side lashing.
View attachment 970646

The road from the top is a series of steps, short flat then short steep, short flat, short steep, short flat then long steep with a curve near the bottom. The long section is the steepest. We short chained the dozer to the rear of the truck. Like the ascent, I told my buddy to let the dozer set the pace going down. First section was fine, just a little skidding of the dozer. The next section, we are going faster and faster with the dozer sliding so much that I progressively lower the blade until the truck is stopped. By that time the blade is buried so deep that the rear of the dozer raises as I try to lift the blade. Can't back up. After some finagling with the tilt and angle, I freed up the dozer. I tell my buddy that we need to rethink the long section as unknown to him I am being dragged. It is then he tells me that he has been powering the truck to keep the chain tight. Of course there has never been any slack in the chain that he can't even see. I can only assume that his mind had shifted to towing and he forgot that he isn't towing. I reminded him to stay off the throttle and we made it down the long incline with not much problem. My s-i-l who was following us said the road is torn all to pieces in places, as you would suspect from the ride, so I will be back to repair the road before we make any more trips.

The above only took 4.5 hours. 1.25 hrs fixing, fueling and driving the truck to the site. Another hour spent with a stuck master cylinder, with the balance going to road prep, loading and the trip. Master cylinder is stuck again at the end of the road so this small load though down the hill is still far from the wood lot. A lot of work for very little wood. Days like today, make me think buying folks a heat pump might be more productive, but with 349 families on the list that is out of my reach.

To my surprise, the load didn't shift or settle any.

Ron

Please don't take any of this the wrong way, but I hope youre not doing this to make a living! That's a good looking dozer btw! What is it? G? H? J? A set of 18" pads and a winch and you would have a hell of a log moving machine there! Mine is a wide track-lgp with 18in pads and it will do things a dozer isn't supposed to do.

 

[rwoods]

No problem. This is charity work. I would go broke before the first tree hit the ground.

The dozer is a 750B LT. Military surplus owned by the county Sheriff’s Department. The old truck is mine. A winch with an arch would be nice.

Ron

 

[rwoods]

Smoothed the road out today, but now the tractor battery is dead. If I liked wrenching, I would be having more fun than I can stand. Ron

 

[Campbellcontractlogging]

I didn't even think of posting those numbers, just assumed since it was forestry and logging, folks would know? I had to stump it higher than normal because I knew I didn't have enough bar to cut it low, but it was 5 ft across the stump, 4 main trunk logs, 3 10 footers and an 8 foot log.

That’s a stud for sure.