Snow Machine

[captainsteep]

Could somebody unplug the snow machine for us pa. and ny. loggers. the snow is waist deep in some areas and the temp. is been in the teens for three weeks now, this winter has been like it was when i was a little kid it started in november and has not quit, 1976 was the last winter like this and we had 189" snowfall we are close to that now.getting hard for the skidders to go through the snow,would like to get back to the yoader and get it going. I guss we dont have global warming here, ha ha ha.

 

[treejunkie13]

The snow is so deep, that it is like running in slow motion! Call me a puss, but I am pretty sore from treking through it the last few days. Does slow up the skidders a bit, but every time I turn around there is another one wanting more logs, so I just keep whacking. More snow to come I hear!

 

[hammerlogging]

The snow is so deep, that it is like running in slow motion! Call me a puss, but I am pretty sore from treking through it the last few days. Does slow up the skidders a bit, but every time I turn around there is another one wanting more logs, so I just keep whacking. More snow to come I hear!

I'm glad to hear someone wants your logs!
How great a component is cherry up there, percentage of overall volume? Hard maple? Sure, different sites hold different timber types (aspect, elev., etc.) but in general, I won't hold you to it.
Spring is tight around the corner, I'd rather blame low production on snow than quotas.

 

[treejunkie13]

There are too many mills, with too many secrets, for me to follow along with. A lot of those mills are down and out right now. Lots of crews shut down and the one's left are on quota.
Into the Red Oak right now. It's going somewhere? Cherry is in the crapper! Yet I have heard of some mills whacking the heck out of it. There is a bad ora in the air (no doubt) taking whatever I can get and riding it out.
IMO: wood wood wood, take the garbage for pulp and leave the good logs for better days. Pulp chips are in the future GREEN movement and has been going that way for a while.

 

[captainsteep]

right now softmaple hardmaple and oak is moving good right now the pulp is going good the mills are low on pulp because the saw mills are not running to make chips, so the polewood is going good, when the snowpack begains to melt all the crews are going to be sitting because its going to be to wet and sloppy to surface skid,(unless you dot give a crap and make a enviro. mess and reck the property owners land,like some crews i know)Will see what happens.

 

[371groundie]

you wusses! i cut wood in maine. from december to april a snow shovel is as important a part of your gear as a saw. somtimes even two. i like a steel shovel i can use to break limbs if i need to, but they dont make those as big as plastic ones. so when i gets deep i carry a plastic one to get the snow really movin. you gotta have lots of space to make a bore cut.

pulp grade trees im not so picky about. but for logs i get just as low as i can.

 

[hutch3912]

you wusses! i cut wood in maine. from december to april a snow shovel is as important a part of your gear as a saw. somtimes even two. i like a steel shovel i can use to break limbs if i need to, but they dont make those as big as plastic ones. so when i gets deep i carry a plastic one to get the snow really movin. you gotta have lots of space to make a bore cut.

pulp grade trees im not so picky about. but for logs i get just as low as i can.

Agreed, dig right down to the dirt and cut her flush. Then in the summer time when your out there you don't have a mine field of 3foot stumps to weave in and out of. Plus the fact that the way the wood business is up here every bf could make or break the week.

 

[hutch3912]

On the mills issue, pulp is moving as well up here, as well as chips, but low grade pine has been miserable. Dont' know about hw.

 

[Ontario_Logger]

In Ontario im in 4 feet of snow right now always walking up to ur chest in it hard time getting anywhere in the bush. Skidder is having a hard time too.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

We had 213 inches of snow as of January 27th with 40-50 inches on the ground in many spots (and we have got a few feet since then too), and we are still going as strong as can be with the markets the way they are. The feller bunchers and processors have the power to push down to dirt and drop the trees. And with 6 and 8 wheel drive and tracks the processors and forwarders get around the snow easy. The skidders have to use the winches more and stick to the high ground but they get through it.

But marking timber on snowshoes in that much snow and -10* temps really bites sometimes.

 

[PB]

Hutch and 371, you don't know snow up here in Maine. Trust me, captainsteep and treejunkie are dealing with 3 or 4 times more snow than we get here. It's colder here, but not anywhere near the amount of snow in NW PA.

NW PA doesn't take snow days. 18" of snow a day for a week is common. When I moved up here and heard about the "big snow storm", they canceled classes for 3" of snow! I couldn't believe it.

I feel for you NW PA guys, I grew up in the snow belt just west of Corry.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Hutch and 371, you don't know snow up here in Maine. Trust me, captainsteep and treejunkie are dealing with 3 or 4 times more snow than we get here. It's colder here, but not anywhere near the amount of snow in NW PA.

NW PA doesn't take snow days. 18" of snow a day for a week is common. When I moved up here and heard about the "big snow storm", they canceled classes for 3" of snow! I couldn't believe it.

Come on UP to Michigan's western UP. Todays forcast was for 1-2" of snow and we now have another 24" on the ground since 8am this morning. Snows a few inches pretty much every day of the week. I've only seen pavement once since October/November. Pushing over 20 feet of snow so far and no end is in sight.

 

[palogger]

i'm from NW PA and we don't have alot of snow, compared to some of u guys but more than we have been getting the last several years, and its enough to make it diffucult, for us hand fallers, the feller bunchers and the grapple skidders don't have any trouble, the cable skidder operaters are getting tired of it to

 

[Cletuspsc]

Personally i dont mind the snow at all. more snow just means a worse mud season later. We have been runnin on about 12 to 14 inches on our roads where its packed down good and about 1 to 2 foot to hoof it threw off the trails. we were up to 10 crews at one point this winter but due to the markets they are gonna cut us down to 3 with weekly quotas. Its gonna be one tuff mud season here.

 

[treejunkie13]

you wusses!

YUP!
heck, I even let my wife paint my toe nails when she is bored.:biggrinbounce2:
No time for a shovel, it's bad enough trying to baby sit my axe. But I guarantee you 1 thing...I'm a ground burner. "inch @ the butt is a foot @ the top"

 

[captainsteep]

yes we are taught to be ground burners, on the other hand skidder operators can be very mean when they come at you with what we call the good old screen print from ear to ear right treejunkie you know what i am talking about,as far as the snow i love snow its clean,saws run crisp(with a little nitromethane added) no mud to cut,skidder stays clean,and nobody comes out to bother you.