bitzer
******** Timber Expert
That sounds like me too. Trade the hemlock for an oak though.
One Man Crew?
- Thread starter sledge&wedge
- Start date
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Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nothing like big long sticks out here with no limbs in sight till 125 feet up that's a way to make loads up fast as long as everything is the same sort.
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Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
I noticed since we went back to company work we don't see the forester for thinning hardly ever but we sure have to check when we hit the job, at noon, and leave the job.
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SliverPicker
ArboristSite Guru
Trucks are few and far between. I don't see those guys much even. I have loads still in the woods from last season due to a lack of truckers.
didya ever get yer own truck?
I'm a sawyer not a logger. (Ran skidder for a one-man show in 1973.) But most of my time in the woods since the '70s, I've worked alone. Now I have a guy working for me to keep me on the saw and make me more efficient. (I do my own payroll, and the admin is a total pain in the a$$.)
Since living here in Colorado I encounter folks whose intro to saw work is thru fire service training (S-212 course, etc.), based on the late Douglas Dent's methods. Much of the way I operate is shocking to them. Working alone with a saw is forbidden of course.
The growth we have on the front range in CO is some of the most uncomplicated trees you'll find, and it's comical to see 212-trained guys approaching a 15" Ponderosa as if it were the same animal the PNW guys deal with. Also funny to see them carrying monster saws w/ 28--32" bars in our small timber. My biggest saw, Dolmar 7900 w/ 24" bar, sees little use. I want the smallest, lightest saw I can use efficiently, since I lug it all day. My everyday users are a 372/20" and a 550xp/18" for limbing or in lodgepole pine and similar small stuff.
Even a small tree can cause you grief, so I'm not saying smaller is safer. In fact small stuff--vines, brushy growth, hidden fence wire--can be big trouble if you don't pay attention. Everyone tends to be super-aware on the big stuff, but then might let down their guard on the little.
Working alone is so much simpler. Don't have to concern yourself with what he's doing over there, and what do I need to line up for him next--did he just run that bar in the dirt? The key to working alone is this: if you phuk up you're screwed, so you learn early to spot and understand risk and minimize it. This kind of work favors those of us with a methodical approach.
Working in the woods can be risky--I don't claim otherwise. But most accidents are preventable. Fatigue, lack of experience, hurrying with a saw, distracted attention, etc.--usually it's something that a careful, experienced operator would avoid. And even with a crew nearby you can get crushed or bleed out before anyone can help.
Friday afternoon I finished the day with two hours of climbing and limbing a Pondo (remove limbs within 10' of house roof to satisfy insurance co.) Didn't have my guy along on Friday, so there I was alone. Completely frowned on. (I carry a whistle around my neck whenever climbing.) But moving carefully through the tree, tied in twice for cutting, paying attention to my climb-line, test your footing/balance before committing the saw, thinking thru each limb-cut and its rigging beforehand--it's all doable with the right mindset.
Just like some people use a table saw or skilsaw for decades and keep all their fingers, you can work in the woods on your own if you do it right.
Oh, and I always turn my pickup around when I arrive at work for a quick escape if necessary.
Since living here in Colorado I encounter folks whose intro to saw work is thru fire service training (S-212 course, etc.), based on the late Douglas Dent's methods. Much of the way I operate is shocking to them. Working alone with a saw is forbidden of course.
The growth we have on the front range in CO is some of the most uncomplicated trees you'll find, and it's comical to see 212-trained guys approaching a 15" Ponderosa as if it were the same animal the PNW guys deal with. Also funny to see them carrying monster saws w/ 28--32" bars in our small timber. My biggest saw, Dolmar 7900 w/ 24" bar, sees little use. I want the smallest, lightest saw I can use efficiently, since I lug it all day. My everyday users are a 372/20" and a 550xp/18" for limbing or in lodgepole pine and similar small stuff.
Even a small tree can cause you grief, so I'm not saying smaller is safer. In fact small stuff--vines, brushy growth, hidden fence wire--can be big trouble if you don't pay attention. Everyone tends to be super-aware on the big stuff, but then might let down their guard on the little.
Working alone is so much simpler. Don't have to concern yourself with what he's doing over there, and what do I need to line up for him next--did he just run that bar in the dirt? The key to working alone is this: if you phuk up you're screwed, so you learn early to spot and understand risk and minimize it. This kind of work favors those of us with a methodical approach.
Working in the woods can be risky--I don't claim otherwise. But most accidents are preventable. Fatigue, lack of experience, hurrying with a saw, distracted attention, etc.--usually it's something that a careful, experienced operator would avoid. And even with a crew nearby you can get crushed or bleed out before anyone can help.
Friday afternoon I finished the day with two hours of climbing and limbing a Pondo (remove limbs within 10' of house roof to satisfy insurance co.) Didn't have my guy along on Friday, so there I was alone. Completely frowned on. (I carry a whistle around my neck whenever climbing.) But moving carefully through the tree, tied in twice for cutting, paying attention to my climb-line, test your footing/balance before committing the saw, thinking thru each limb-cut and its rigging beforehand--it's all doable with the right mindset.
Just like some people use a table saw or skilsaw for decades and keep all their fingers, you can work in the woods on your own if you do it right.
Oh, and I always turn my pickup around when I arrive at work for a quick escape if necessary.
If I had known ya'll were so stupid over here, I would have never started trespassing!!!
Can only draw limited analogies between the pro logger and a firewood hack, but as a hack that prefers solo I can identify to some extent - I can concentrate so much better on what I am doing and going to try to do if certain contingencies develop while working alone than I can while trying to keep up with others and all that they might do. And like others, if I am going to accidentally injure or kill someone, I would rather it be me than somone else.
Not saying that I wouldn't love to have some competent help from time to time, but that isn't easy to come by these days - paid or volunteer. As is often said, "It is hard to play second fiddle well." It also seems extraordinarily hard to find one of these type of folks as most competent folk yearn for first chair.
Ron
Can only draw limited analogies between the pro logger and a firewood hack, but as a hack that prefers solo I can identify to some extent - I can concentrate so much better on what I am doing and going to try to do if certain contingencies develop while working alone than I can while trying to keep up with others and all that they might do. And like others, if I am going to accidentally injure or kill someone, I would rather it be me than somone else.
Not saying that I wouldn't love to have some competent help from time to time, but that isn't easy to come by these days - paid or volunteer. As is often said, "It is hard to play second fiddle well." It also seems extraordinarily hard to find one of these type of folks as most competent folk yearn for first chair.
Ron
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Wannabe! Lol.
Working alone is fine, but it's a learning curve and a good one. You have to be a self starter, independent, resourceful, stupid and ready to tramp whenever.
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
Bitzer don't know what west coast style is lol not saying he couldn't do west coast style but an east coast guy saying he runs his west coast saw west coast style doesn't exist until he works on the coast. unless he's talking about doing humbolt undercuts with is west coast saw. i don't mind ya at all Bitz
even if we had our run ins. ya wanna see a joke east coast cull, coltont on another site is the definition of it.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
No need to extrapolate Shane, Bitzter swims both ways and seems to be just another run of the mill woodtick, but Bitzer always comes back with something funny, so maybe he's just another limp wristed bushler, just like you, Bob, Brushape, Rocky J Squirrel, Bullwinkle and myself. LolBitzer don't know what west coast style is lol not saying he couldn't do west coast style but an east coast guy saying he runs his west coast saw west coast style doesn't exist until he works on the coast. unless he's talking about doing humbolt undercuts with is west coast saw. i don't mind ya at all Bitz
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
John, not even you know what the coast is but at least you don't really pretend too lol.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Correct, i got my start on Van Isle., never cut big wood there, but I was the Wayne Gretzy of tree spacing on or about 1981. Like an Idiot, I haven't put a saw down since then.
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
i don't call that being an idiot. i call that blood born. i can't work with the public or in the public. i literally hate people lol so i like cutting timber. i'd do a cord of firewood a day for $100 before i worked at a gas station for $25 an hour.
! bad enough dealing with public, idiot's buying firewood that don't know an inch from a foot .......
Let's not be too hard on the average Joe.
It seems even folks on AS can't agree on firewood measurement. Nor how much a saw weighs. Ron
hseII
Addicted to ArboristSite
Ain't that the Truth.Let's not be too hard on the average Joe.
I am so thankful to discover how stooped I am. A majority of my work has been alone. My hotel room is a single and only sleeps one. With the exception of my vicious guard dog who thinks that the bottom of my room is just for him. A local young fellow who worked for a competitor was killed recently. He was accustomed to working with a six person crew, but made a fatal error in judgement. I have trouble being safe with people around asking all kind of questions or not asking any questions. As I get older I take more time to plan every move that I am going to make plus never have to discuss what is it going to be for dinner. Just my penny's worth. My hotel room does have its problems, there is no room service. Thanks 
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Took you *******s long enough to take the bait....
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Shane, my experience has been the opposite, I much prefer to buy my wood from the public sector, but the governent is ok to deal with if you run out of wood, which is not too likely.
The stuff is growing faster than we can cut it down.
Trees:99
Woodticks: 1
