not much of a face cut

[Meadow Beaver]

I agree with the any excuse commentary...
I have a new 60" Cannon bar with your name on when the time comes. Also, if you want it to really run, there are a few tricks that, for a small fee of course, can be done to make it an animal.

Jack when I do get one you'd have to make a vid to go along with your work.

 

[RPM]

.

You ever cut in Southeast ????? How many guys you work with died working , or got busted up for life ???????? When you are cutting all the time so you can see salt water , it really increases the challenges ..... There are some nice steep places in BC but I figure you guys can speak for your selves ... Do you guys bushel ????????????????

Bushel?? I'm guessing piece work / by the volume / ton whatever measure you use in the US.

Not around here...our fallers are paid by the hour and / or day rates. Our hand fallers are doing the nasty steep stuff around here (cable or heli work), everything else is done with feller bunchers. There are expectations with regards to production numbers but I also expect that it will all be quality work. Nobody gets paid if the wood doesn't go on the truck.

Anyone can slam wood down and go for the high production numbers if thats how they get paid...in my experience thats how people usually get hurt.

As far as fatalities or maimings ... none for several years thankfully. I don't expect people who work for us to go out and get themsleves hurt or killed.

Some of the heli fallers on the BC cost may still get paid by volume scale - someone will correct me but I think it mostly day rate with production targets.

And I think MR4WD's point is that there are other big brass ball type jobs out there .... I think he swings off high voltage transmission towers for a living....I think dropping trees is safer IMHO.

 

[tramp bushler]

Not according to OSHA ...... We are number one by a good margin , next in line is Bering Sea crabbing ........Lots of things more dangerous than working high steel ...... Not that I,m bragging about cheating death . Thank God I,m still alive and upright .... My point is , there is a reason we get paid well . And to earn the pay you have to do the work without bustin up the timber .... But in fact , very few men can put alot of wood on the ground on a consistent basis ... To say " anyone " can is just being un knowing !..... How much a day do the fallers working for you make ........How many hours a day do they work ????

 

[MR4WD]

Not according to OSHA ...... We are number one by a good margin , next in line is Bering Sea crabbing ........Lots of things more dangerous than working high steel ...... Not that I,m bragging about cheating death . Thank God I,m still alive and upright .... My point is , there is a reason we get paid well . And to earn the pay you have to do the work without bustin up the timber .... But in fact , very few men can put alot of wood on the ground on a consistent basis ... To say " anyone " can is just being un knowing !..... How much a day do the fallers working for you make ........How many hours a day do they work ????

I don't beleive your job is more dangerous than mine. There is no way it could be. The fact more people die logging, is because there isn't the money in it for safety. The reason Canadians wear more safety crap is because we have a government run health care set up. If it wasn't for the government paying for the hospital, then they wouldn't spend money on mandating safety.

I don't work high steel, I work high steel with helicopters energized at 500,000 volts. I did a job on the north BC coast this year with 7 helicopters where I lived at 200' above sea level but worked at 6500'. I climbed spruce over 10' wide just to top them for powerline clearance... Felled a few with an 880 and a 42" bar.

Got trapped once in the clouds on a what's called a catenary, the only one in the world. The only way to get on the catenary is a helicopter. I had to repel 650' to the ground, which was the highest repel in north america and the highest work related repel in the world. there was 6 of us up there that day. I've spent 103 days in, on or under a chopper this year, and about 50 days working barehand at 500,000 volts. I was inserted twice, in heavy cloud by a helicopter long line (80' rope underneath the chopper) onto energized conductor. I spent july in 30' of snow in grizzly country.

I could elaborate more, but the few guys I work with couldn't be beaten in terms of job danger, or pay...

I'd like to try a few months high-leading, but all the good hands I've got workin for me say it's no good, especially now with this cheap market.

Sorry for getting this thread soooo off topic.

 

[056kid]

I climbed spruce over 10' wide just to top them for powerline clearance... Felled a few with an 880 and a 42'' bar

Thoes would be some nice photos!

 

[tramp bushler]

.... The fact is that being a bushler in Southeast Alaska is more dangerous than what you do ......... Wether there is alot of money spent on safety or not... I,m not tower loggin , that isn,t nearly as dangerous .... Just fallin and buckin for production ... .... Just go thru the people you know and have worked with over a ten year span and see what percentage are dead from job related deaths ...... I,m not braggin .. its actually very sad . But working for a power utility , isn,t on the same page ......... I know a guy who repelled about 550 ft.into a sink hole near Nauketi Bay on Prince of Wales Island .. He was doing it for fun ......
.
. But there is a serious danger question I have for you about what you do ..... It seems there is a very high percentage of electrical lineman that get alot of health problems that seem to be related to working in close proximity to high voltage .. You say you are working bare handed on the wires while they are energized . it seems that wouldn,t be too good for you !. I understand you are only on one line and not grounded . But all that juice has to go somewhere ......

 

[MR4WD]

.... The fact is that being a bushler in Southeast Alaska is more dangerous than what you do ......... Wether there is alot of money spent on safety or not... I,m not tower loggin , that isn,t nearly as dangerous .... Just fallin and buckin for production ... .... Just go thru the people you know and have worked with over a ten year span and see what percentage are dead from job related deaths ...... I,m not braggin .. its actually very sad . But working for a power utility , isn,t on the same page ......... I know a guy who repelled about 550 ft.into a sink hole near Nauketi Bay on Prince of Wales Island .. He was doing it for fun ......
.
. But there is a serious danger question I have for you about what you do ..... It seems there is a very high percentage of electrical lineman that get alot of health problems that seem to be related to working in close proximity to high voltage .. You say you are working bare handed on the wires while they are energized . it seems that wouldn,t be too good for you !. I understand you are only on one line and not grounded . But all that juice has to go somewhere ......

I guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree. I just couldn't see dropping big trees as world class danger. I don't work for a utility either, btw.

I don't know of a single lineman with a health related problem, from working in the proximity of high voltage. I don't know of anybody in the world with a health related problem from high voltage. It's all hysteria.

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This is a closer look at what I'm pretty good at.

 

[tramp bushler]

Cool video !!! Must be hard on the legs crawling around like that ... What is tyhat called , a Fairaday cage ??? I have a slow dsl connection ..

 

[hammerlogging]

on another note...

Fell a tree today- left a good enough pause before i went down to buck it and top it, looked up as it fell and all, didn't notice a hanger. I was bucking the stem in half on the way down to top it, looking down at my work and damn hanger butt end hit me, a branch about 3" round right behind the ear-- hit the rear strap of the helmet harness. Just about knocked me out. Seeing stars. Just so happens it was the last tree I was falling before I had to leave early today, good thing, I wasn't mentally normal for a good 2 hours.

I radioed over to the other 2 fallers that I'd just had a head shot, to hang tight while i figured out if I was ok but they were there in a second anyway. Nice of them. Nice to have radios. Packed my #### out for me even, hung out telling stories while i decided if I could drive or not.

Wake up call. Just have a big bump there now. Be safe.

Kind of an exposed spot on a helmet, when your head is tilted down like that

 

[coastalfaller]

Fell a tree today- left a good enough pause before i went down to buck it and top it, looked up as it fell and all, didn't notice a hanger. I was bucking the stem in half on the way down to top it, looking down at my work and damn hanger butt end hit me, a branch about 3" round right behind the ear-- hit the rear strap of the helmet harness. Just about knocked me out. Seeing stars. Just so happens it was the last tree I was falling before I had to leave early today, good thing, I wasn't mentally normal for a good 2 hours.

I radioed over to the other 2 fallers that I'd just had a head shot, to hang tight while i figured out if I was ok but they were there in a second anyway. Nice of them. Nice to have radios. Packed my #### out for me even, hung out telling stories while i decided if I could drive or not.

Wake up call. Just have a big bump there now. Be safe.

Kind of an exposed spot on a helmet, when your head is tilted down like that

Glad your OK, could have been much worse. One of my guys spent a night in hospital last month from the same thing. He actually was out for a bit. He's OK now though too. Stark reminders of the dangers of our job. Best to pay attention to these "little" wake up calls.

 

[fmaglin]

Fell a tree today- left a good enough pause before i went down to buck it and top it, looked up as it fell and all, didn't notice a hanger. I was bucking the stem in half on the way down to top it, looking down at my work and damn hanger butt end hit me, a branch about 3" round right behind the ear-- hit the rear strap of the helmet harness. Just about knocked me out. Seeing stars. Just so happens it was the last tree I was falling before I had to leave early today, good thing, I wasn't mentally normal for a good 2 hours.

I radioed over to the other 2 fallers that I'd just had a head shot, to hang tight while i figured out if I was ok but they were there in a second anyway. Nice of them. Nice to have radios. Packed my #### out for me even, hung out telling stories while i decided if I could drive or not.

Wake up call. Just have a big bump there now. Be safe.

Kind of an exposed spot on a helmet, when your head is tilted down like that

Wow! Glad you're okay. Last Friday as I was falling a snag I had a limb come loose and fall hitting my left arm which made my saw just brush my chaps. Chaps were cut but not my leg. Worst that came out of it is a black and blue forearm. That was my wake up call!

 

[Jacob J.]

Good thing you left with just a headache, were you seeing stars? I'm glad you're ok...

The radios do come in real handy and are considered a safety item here now.

There's always room for one more thing to go wrong in the woods, that's why it's one of the most dangerous jobs out there...

 

[056kid]

I guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree. I just couldn't see dropping big trees as world class danger. I don't work for a utility either, btw.

I don't know of a single lineman with a health related problem, from working in the proximity of high voltage. I don't know of anybody in the world with a health related problem from high voltage. It's all hysteria.

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This is a closer look at what I'm pretty good at.

that looks like fun. What do you end up doing up there besides checking for problems?

 

[MR4WD]

Don't really check for problems in a situation like that, but I've changed spacers and dampers before.

 

[tramp bushler]

Hammer , Your not supposed to get Hammered

I,ve got a big old permanent lump on the back of my head and neck from getting smashed back there , on the right side ......... It didn,t knock me out either , but I was a bit dazed laying upside down on the ground ...... If you start noticeing things with your body starting to not work right I recommend going to a GOOD chiropractor ..... One may have saved my life when I got smashed in the chin by a loaded up limb that tore my bottom lip half off ... Got a sever case of whiplash that I didn,t know I had , till my body started shutting down 2 weeks later ...... 2 visits to the spinal kraker and I was on my way back to health .......I caught myself not checking out a couple trees I had to blast a tree thru yesterday when I was limbing and bucking the one I fell .... It doesn,t take a big limb to kill a guy ....... Very glad you are ok !!!

 

[hammerlogging]

that looks like fun. What do you end up doing up there besides checking for problems?

BC indo bingers of course, except for Fridays, tequila shots. And checking out the killer view.

 

[hammerlogging]

It doesn,t take a big limb to kill a guy ....... Very glad you are ok !!!

No, in fact more often than not its little crap.

Just a knot now, and a good conversation starter to review safety issues at the worksite. All grins now, what is it a notch on the belt I get?

BTW, definately like the gypo shotgun system.

 

[tramp bushler]

Shotguns and Knots

Ya , There were alot of Shake Rats on the West coast who would use #9 wire and staples . They would split the blocks to handleable weight , pull the wire over , drive in the staple and have the guy on the road go ahead on what ever ..... Worked like a million bucks !!! You just need enough lift ...

 

[Ivan H.]

Why doesn't he just slash fall that little pole?

 

[tramp bushler]

Ivan , we stopped arguing about that guy some time ago .. He must be hung up any way cause he still doesn,t have the thing on the ground .......