PNW wood question

[nw axe man]

Yeah, I struggle with it. It's hard for an old saw dog to move on to tough typing.
I've got a ton of pics so I'll put some on once in a while. I'm new at this site but feel right at home with all of you. Looks like RandyMac and I have a lot in common. I see he's got some good ones. If I get a minute tonite I'll post some.

 

[RandyMac]

What can we call you other than axe man?
Are you making plans to attend the PNW GTG?


Yep, we did similar stuff.

 

[madhatte]

I wish somebody had gotten a picture of the nasty open-grown prairie monster I dropped across a powerline last fire season. It collapsed almost 90 degrees off of its natural lean JUST as I pulled the face out. I'm not sure I ever touched the back with the bar. The power was already out, and the line crew a couple hundred yards up the road, so no real harm was done to anything but my pride... and my crew's trust. I'm pretty sure I'm not done learning from that one yet.

 

[nw axe man]

I hear you on that one. Those are the ones that you cut over and over again wondering what you could have done different. Seems like they come to you about 2:47am regularly. You lose water when your cutting them and then in the morning when your thinking about them. Most of the time when the ducks are lined up right things go your way. However, just when you think all is well something like that happens gives you an earthquake in your mind.

 

[madhatte]

I even had a 30-year "C" faller as my spotter on that one. I don't see how we could have done it any differently, and it had to come down to make the area safe to work in. I high-stumped it as far up as I could hold the saw to stay in good wood even. It just didn't like having its weight shifted at all, and had been burned before. The stump continued to burn for days. There's barely anything left to tell the tale. I think about it every time I pass it. Yes, and also at night.

 

[nw axe man]

You're making reference to a "C" faller. You must have had experience with a federal agency or two. Sounds like USFS. They're the ones that came up with the ABC designations. Were you an instructor at some point?

 

[madhatte]

Naw, I'm a FFT1/ICT5 a few signatures short of SRB/ICT4/RXB3. Yes, we're Federal. I only do fire in the summer; I do Forestry year-round. I do some basic saw instruction for our seasonal crews, but I can't bottom-line any taskbooks.

 

[floyd]

I stayed away from the fires. Too much grunt work when not fighting fire.

Funny how it's not grunt work when you are making OT X 2 + hazzard
pay.

 

[nw axe man]

Mornin' there RandyMac.
I guess you can just call me RJP.
Since I'm relatively new to this site, not sure what the PNW GTG is. Enlighten me please.
Not too good with acronyms. Madhatte has some really good ones in this thread. I couldn't even begin to get started. Trouble is, I'll be they're real ones, too.
My step dad died 11/2/10. He left with us an ECHO 320S. Yesterday was real nasty. Tried to get the big field harrowed but finally had to come in as my legs were getting too cold. Thought I'd give it a try getting the little fart running. The gas was so old it was more like
10w oil. Ran some gas through the jug, took the carb off and apart, blew it out and was wishing for an electric starter by the time I got done. Finally got it running. The chain (I think it's a .325, pretty small) had seen some pretty tough Pacific Sand and Gravel. Ran a file through it, took the riders down about 6 licks and by gosh, it doesn't cut too awful bad for a riceburner. Everything's made out of magnesium. Not sure what the vintage is but it's definitely older. Had a friend that has a Lucas saw mill slabber device that gave me 3 chains to file. Interesting chain. Has sets of two teethabout 14" apart. Took longer to file the ECHO 20" chain than those.
Well, better get packed. Heading down to San Francisco today for the week. Putting on a saw training session for the California Disaster Relief crew. Went last year and had a ball. Anyone ever cut that Monterey Pine? I've never cut such a pitchy tree in my life. It's right in the grain and stops your chain cold. You've got to let your chain run a little bit to get the oil sleucing down the bar. It just sucks up the oil.
Anyway, unless they have a hookup I can use for my laptop, won't be on this week. Everyone take care. Sure enjoy yaking at you guys.

 

[slowp]

I had trouble with Madhatte's acronyms too! I should be used to them.

The GTG is a Get ToGether. I guess it will be in the same place as last year if the river calms down. It was held just out of Springfield, OR at a nice place--Farley9N will hold it again.

You can read a bit about it if you click on community (in very small print at the top of the page but under the sponsors) then click on PNW Longbar Association.

I learned how to make Scandahoovian Candles at last year's. There's good food. Lots of chainsaws too.

I think it is around June 10th?

There are motels but some of us camp there. I have a teardrop trailer to camp in and have reserved the same spot.

There should be more info coming soon. We've had folks from as far as England come to it. We do not have clotted cream for sale in Safeway.

 

[slowp]

A bit of thread drift....


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[RandyMac]

a drift?

RJP, I know the little Echo.

 

[madhatte]

Acronyms there are all wildland fire stuff.

FFT1 -- Firefighter, type 1 -- that is, neither rookie nor master. It's sort of the orange or maybe green belt of fire ranks.

ICT5 -- Incident Commander, type 5 -- baby boss able to act independently on very small fires of low complexity.

SRB -- Single Resource Boss -- used to be that every skillset had its own training and qualification tree; often, the guy you had right here right now lacked whatever skillset was needed, and things either operated against policy, or stopped while the right person could be located and shipped in. SRB gives common skillsets to a lot of different job types and shortens the training and command chain.

ICT4 -- Incident Commander, Type 4 -- slightly bigger boss able to operate independently on slightly bigger fires of slightly higher complexity.

RXB3 -- Prescribed Burn Boss, Type 3 -- can plan and execute the smallest and simplest of prescribed burns.

So, basically, I'm just another yellow shirt with some extra duties and responsibilities.

 

[nw axe man]

Gotta love that pic, RM.
Reminds me of a day in 1985 when my father and I made a 30 second commercial for Stihl using an 011 with a 16" bar to cut a 5' fir. My oh my, days gone by. I was surprised at how that little Echo turns up.
Drove by Grants Pass and was thinking of you. If I ever get down that way I'll stop by. Not sure if I'll be heading to Hoopa this year or not. They've been dragging their feet and I'm pretty well booked up for this spring. If I do I'll get hold of you.

 

[nw axe man]

a drift?

RJP, I know the little Echo.

Looks like you've got all the required PPE for that little project. That's quite a challenging tree for that little fart.