sperho
ArboristSite Operative
I will show my vast ignorance while at the same time show some fascination with the logging trade: what is a tail tree and why is using one "old school"?
Pictures of Topping the Tail Tree
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Could be considered old school been around since steam donkeys. Its a way to get logs up steep hills and not dragging them on the ground hope this pic explains. Still used today commonly in the PNW. It is a TRUE PNW thing. The tail spar is the oppisite end of the yarder.
Here is a pic 2 miles from my house where a hi lead was used. It drags the logs to a central area and as you can see from the tree density and slope that an access road is only way in.
sILlogger
Addicted to ArboristSite
tail trees are used to support a pulley that a winchline would run through to skid logs. a "donkey engine"(steam engine powered winch)...
ok..
so u got a donkey engine(winch) with the cable ran up through a pulley on the tail tree(that is supported by several guy lines-typically tied off to stumps) and the winchline runs out to another pulley at the end with chokers used to get the logs. this elevated system helps to get one end of the logs up and make them easier to skid and allows them to go over the terrain better...
atleast this is my take on it
ok..
so u got a donkey engine(winch) with the cable ran up through a pulley on the tail tree(that is supported by several guy lines-typically tied off to stumps) and the winchline runs out to another pulley at the end with chokers used to get the logs. this elevated system helps to get one end of the logs up and make them easier to skid and allows them to go over the terrain better...
atleast this is my take on it
sperho
ArboristSite Operative
Very cool, thanks guys. Now, hooktender?
He is the guy who knows what hes doin. Will know system for riggin know how and where to put it.
sperho
ArboristSite Operative
So once the yarder rigging is set, he basically sets chokers and keeps things moving out of the woods? Or does he move to another yarder rig and set that one up? I have no feel for how long these operations go on before tearing down and moving the equipment to the next location.
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More like the show foreman.
sperho
ArboristSite Operative
Gotya. What does a typical crew consist of in terms of various jobs? (Send me to another website if I annoy you guys with silly questions...)
Crew sizes will vary from three to seven or eight.
Hooktender- Crew boss. Keeps things moving smoothly by arranging the rigging for the logging that is yet to be done. This is usually laying out the next road line. Packing tailblocks, straps and coils of haywire in the unlogged area and setting it up.
Yarder engineer- Operates the yarder, also known as a donkey puncher.
Loader operator-Runs the log loader also known as a shovel and loads log trucks.
Chaser- Unhooks the turns of logs on the landing, bumps knots, bucks logs where needed and helps out anywhere needed on landing. Also buids coils of haywire and ships rigging back to the hooker (on the butt rigging) when he is setting up a new roadline.
Rigging Slinger- Directs (and very much participates in the setting of each turn of logs) Does most of the whistle blowing (Talkie Tooter) to signal the yarder operator when to slack/go ahead on the lines.
Choker Setters- Follow the Slinger around and do what he says. A lot of guys will think they know it all after a few weeks of setting chokers, but to learn all the fine points and be a really good at it will take around a season. Some never learn and some just arent able to get around in the brush. Most rigging men arent the Paul Bunyan (big) type.
Hooktender- Crew boss. Keeps things moving smoothly by arranging the rigging for the logging that is yet to be done. This is usually laying out the next road line. Packing tailblocks, straps and coils of haywire in the unlogged area and setting it up.
Yarder engineer- Operates the yarder, also known as a donkey puncher.
Loader operator-Runs the log loader also known as a shovel and loads log trucks.
Chaser- Unhooks the turns of logs on the landing, bumps knots, bucks logs where needed and helps out anywhere needed on landing. Also buids coils of haywire and ships rigging back to the hooker (on the butt rigging) when he is setting up a new roadline.
Rigging Slinger- Directs (and very much participates in the setting of each turn of logs) Does most of the whistle blowing (Talkie Tooter) to signal the yarder operator when to slack/go ahead on the lines.
Choker Setters- Follow the Slinger around and do what he says. A lot of guys will think they know it all after a few weeks of setting chokers, but to learn all the fine points and be a really good at it will take around a season. Some never learn and some just arent able to get around in the brush. Most rigging men arent the Paul Bunyan (big) type.
Tail trees also known as lift trees, are being used on the units I've been taking pictures of because the ground is not steep. The area was skidder/cat logged in the past down to the roads. Nobody walked it much to see if it was viable to skyline log. A judge during one of the court hearings pronounced it was to be 100% cable logged. Because the ground also "roman noses" off between the landing and tail tree, the loggers are using intermediate supports at these places--they rig a tree by the problem area (guyline it, hang a block)
and then hang a hunk of iron that supports the skyline and allows the carriage to run over it. Kind of goes KA THUNK when it runs over it. This keeps the logs from plowing a ditch when the ground changes profile. There's a lot of stress put on this tree also. So, a good hooktender will pick a nice, sound, sturdy Douglas-fir to use. Sometimes they top it, sometimes not. The same kind of tree is preferred to use for the tail tree and guylines. The yarders used here for the smaller second growth are made to be rigged up fast, usually a maximum of 4 guylines. The old growth size yarders use 6 to 8 guylines.
The crews on the thinning operations around here vary in size every day. It is a real problem finding reliable help--Gyppo logging, not big companies. They like to have 2 guys setting chokers, a hooktender to rig ahead and set chokers when he's caught up, a shovel operator, a yarder engineer and a chaser. But, I've often seen them running short with half a crew. Not a lot of production, but some. There's one operator who runs a Koller Yarder with his dad and brother. That way they know they'll show up. The two brothers do the cutting. When they have enough on the ground, the dad helps to rig up the yarder. The yarding is done with the dad as yarder engineer and one of his sons as the choker setter. The other son loads and drives their truck.
Well, the coffee's gone and I gotta go. ..later.
and then hang a hunk of iron that supports the skyline and allows the carriage to run over it. Kind of goes KA THUNK when it runs over it. This keeps the logs from plowing a ditch when the ground changes profile. There's a lot of stress put on this tree also. So, a good hooktender will pick a nice, sound, sturdy Douglas-fir to use. Sometimes they top it, sometimes not. The same kind of tree is preferred to use for the tail tree and guylines. The yarders used here for the smaller second growth are made to be rigged up fast, usually a maximum of 4 guylines. The old growth size yarders use 6 to 8 guylines.
The crews on the thinning operations around here vary in size every day. It is a real problem finding reliable help--Gyppo logging, not big companies. They like to have 2 guys setting chokers, a hooktender to rig ahead and set chokers when he's caught up, a shovel operator, a yarder engineer and a chaser. But, I've often seen them running short with half a crew. Not a lot of production, but some. There's one operator who runs a Koller Yarder with his dad and brother. That way they know they'll show up. The two brothers do the cutting. When they have enough on the ground, the dad helps to rig up the yarder. The yarding is done with the dad as yarder engineer and one of his sons as the choker setter. The other son loads and drives their truck.
Well, the coffee's gone and I gotta go. ..later.
sperho
ArboristSite Operative
Great stuff! Thanks for more elaboration... Someday when nerdsite.com gets up an running I can explain what it's like to be an analytical chemist in the chemical industry. 
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+1 to sustainable forestry....i was talking to an older guy in the biz the other day that has been running his own biz for 34 years. and he said that he has got to cut the same patches of timber 3 times....select cut years ago and then came back and cut it again. i thought that was pretty darn neat. Boboak, u work for a logging company? any pos. open out there?
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