Teach me everything you know about logging and forestry!

[northmanlogging]

View attachment 515882
] June 2016. Washington has good snow. BCers think it's a mountain of Cocaine.

What mountain is it?

Looks like Mt Baker,

From the other side it and down here by me it looks like someone left a cupcake in the hills, you get the better veiw in my opinion, my side is just looks like a volcano ready to destroy everything...

 

[northmanlogging]

Word on the street is that Baker got fresh snow a week or so ago, mid July for those that care.

We're not getting much of a summer this year.

 

[Westboastfaller]

Word on the street is that Baker got fresh snow a week or so ago, mid July for those that care.

We're not getting much of a summer this year.

What an absolute BEAST of a mountain. Just took the ferry of 'the rock' last night on way to the top of the BC coast/ AK to bushel In some big stuff
No prob recognising your own state and I must say your metric is comming on nicely. "Mr I fucken hate metric" It's good to think out of our comfort zone. Nice weather finally but Unfortunately the view of Baker wasn't great. To much smog from Vancouver it appeared. Should be a spectacular view on my way out of Surrey his morning though.
Yes I hear there hasn't been much for summer down here to speak of.
When I'm west coast of the island or up the coast line then you can expect rain for summer. Once I hit Prince Rupert to work, summer is done by end of July if it was ever to be. Same as SE Alaska.
Best spring probably on record though I bet. Parents garden was three weeks ahead of the norm.

 

[Gugi47]

I'm not a tree cutter by profession. So I'm not familiar with all the expression use in this business.
Would be nice somebody to post some of the mining's of the words for he.
logging=
felling=
etc.

 

[Westboastfaller]

Would be nice somebody to post some of the mining's of the words for he.
logging=
felling=
etc.

Logging= a political activity to be believed by many to be politically incorrect
felling= proper grammar

How did I do on the aptitude test?

 

[Gugi47]

Logging= a political activity to be believed by many to be politically incorrect
felling= proper grammar

How did I do on the aptitude test?

Yes that's a great help for the poor girl....who help you to come up with this great answers? your wife?
Thanks for your input.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Logging= a political activity to be believed by many to be politically incorrect
felling= proper grammar How did I do on the aptitude test?

" I be logging to get back into the high Cascades, but I keep felling down on my plans... "

um, how did I do? good? lol

 

[Westboastfaller]

^^^^ lol..thanks for the laughs Gentlemen. I know @Gugi47 is serious though. Well the wife is a fair bit smarter. ..did I mention I run a chainsaw for a living?

 

[ropensaddle]

Rope, I don't care if you move there, really. I think the posts you'd put on here would be amusing to read and I promise I won't say.......I told you so.
Read up on the Open Range rule. It's a shocker for newcomers who call the sheriff about cows in their unfenced yards and gardens. It's a leftover from the Days of the Old West which weren't as nice as portrayed on TV.

Lol Slowp, I taint movin but am glad I'd have your blessing Anyhoot ole rope aint the type to be calling a sheriff. If I had concerns Id look at the brand on the hyde and ask around and talk things out with the owner might even offer to help "if needed"! I ain't scared of cow poop; now my garden would have electric fencing ,cause; I'd have time invested there ya know

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

Hello Everyone,

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to learn from your wealth of knowledge! I think it's really important when writing something especially for the screen, to show accuracy and to be knowledgeable about one's subject matter. I haven't gotten to reading all of your comments yet, but I look forward to it. Thank you. I'm sure I'll have more questions for ya soon Thank you again for your awesome help so far!

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

Unfortunately I think you guys were taken for a ride. Who writes a screenplay about something they know nothing about? And if the screenplay thing were true, id bet that it's pro hippie. My guess by analyzing the time of the post and username that yukon John is behind this thread. Notice he's been posting in old threads again lately? He's bored. And if my accusations are incorrect and this "woman" is really writing a screenplay about logging, we will never hear from her again. "She" got us all talking again though. Yes I'm always this cynical in real life. My wife loves it.

Hello! Yes, I am a screenwriter, and no, I'm not a logger. The story isn't all about logging, it's a drama/thriller that takes place in a logging town. A lot of writers don't take the time to research their subjects and end up putting inaccurate information up on the screen. This has happened millions of times and led people to believe false information! But I appreciate your concern

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

If this is genuine, then it's a very lazy / half arsed approach

You need to meet with and talk to people in the industry in the area where the story is supposed to be set

You also need to visit a range of typical job sites

And when you've written the script in draft form, you need to run relevant parts of it past some people - pay them to critique it for factual errors / errors in terminology / etc

No offense, but I didn't ask you about screenwriting. I'm asking for information about logging. I don't care if you don't like my approach! When is the last time you wrote anything of significance?

 

[ropensaddle]

Hello! Yes, I am a screenwriter, and no, I'm not a logger. The story isn't all about logging, it's a drama/thriller that takes place in a logging town. A lot of writers don't take the time to research their subjects and end up putting inaccurate information up on the screen. This has happened millions of times and led people to believe false information! But I appreciate your concern

You might rent an old movie called sometimes a great notion, its dated a bit but was ok, poor ole Henry couldn't get in the woods without having an accident lol

 

[bitzer]

Hello! Yes, I am a screenwriter, and no, I'm not a logger. The story isn't all about logging, it's a drama/thriller that takes place in a logging town. A lot of writers don't take the time to research their subjects and end up putting inaccurate information up on the screen. This has happened millions of times and led people to believe false information! But I appreciate your concern

Is it going to show logging in a bad light? I'd prefer not help the hippies. My job is important to me and my family.

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

Ok, so this is just an overveiw... cause there are 100 ways to skin a cat and 1,000,000 ways to go logging...

Remaining safe, be alert watch everything, trees fight back and they are sneaky ****s. Broke limbs will fall without warning, logs roll for no reason at all, trees fall the wrong way, or split (barber chair or just chair) when being cut. Machinery can break in new and interesting ways, cables can snap or get cut turning several tons of wood loose, about the only thing you can do to stay safe is be alert and be ready to move, always have a plan b and and escape route.

Personal gear:

Hard hat (called simply "hat" or if its an aluminium "tin hat" on the west coast anyway)

Caulked boots (tough leather or rubber boots with hardened steel spikes in the soles for traction on logs and brush) often called just caulks, or calks, or caulked shoes usually in a very tall boot mine range from 14"-16" tall.

Tough denim pants either double front or single front, tough this bit is more a personal choice, but dickies and the like don't hold up to logging, often folks will cut the hem off so if yer pants get snagged they will tear instead of tripping you, it also helps them dry a little faster, some folks will stag them off quite high like halfway up the shin.

Hickory shirts are the norm out her, tough cotton shirt with small very fine blue and white stripes, from a few feet away they look light blue, its a regional thing as well. Though they are a very tough shirt and put up to a boat load of abuse, available in button front or a half zipper version, these are often stagged as well, mostly cause long sleeves are ****ing hot... that and you never know when you need TP...

Chain Saw chaps, kevlar lined cover the front of yer legs as well as the important sensitive bits, designed to clog up and stop the chainsaw chain from spinning and whacking yer leg off... (saw chain is very sharp and spins very fast, not much can stop it and yer leg will take a few moments to realize its not attached anymore)

The above covers just about all logging activities, except chaps... just need those when running a saw.

For falling timber, yer also going to need:

Plastic wedges 3-5 of em (arguments will start over how many and what type)

A square polled fallers axe for driving said wedges and various other duties like hacking bark off of thick skinned trees and freeing up a pinched saw

Saw gas 1-2 gallons

Bar oil 1 gallon

water 1-2 gallons (fer the poor ******* that has to carry all this stuff)

First Aid kit fallers are generally on their own, 2-4 in an 80 acre site and 200 feet or so apart so we don't kill each other with falling trees, Generally speaking the cutters start weeks in advance of the machinery, if something where to happen it would take a very long time for one of the other fallers to A notice and B make their way over to you.

A radio so you can communicate with the rest of the crew

and a big ole chainsaw, (also a thing that has lots of fight worthy oppinions) on the west coast its a 70-90cc saw with 28-36" guide bar, or bigger though bigger is sort of unnecessary anymore. The saw is used for the falling of the timber.

All together the fallers is carrying about 40-50#s of extra junk around with them in the woods, granted the gas oil and water can be left somewhere nearby until needed, the saw alone weights right around 20 pounds, each wedge about .5 pounds, axe 4-6# etc...

This is fantastic--thanks!!!

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

Is it going to show logging in a bad light? I'd prefer not help the hippies. My job is important to me and my family.

No, no, no!!!! It's a movie And it's not political lol. I'm DEFINITELY not a hippie. I'm from Virginia lol.

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

This is a small landing. Note carriage, yarder and loader, called a shovel around these parts. The guy is a chaser.
View attachment 515675


A chaser doing some limbing on the landing.
View attachment 515676

A truck being loaded.
View attachment 515677

Another hooktender at work on a fine and pleasant day.

View attachment 515678

I shall quote the rant of a logger who was a friend. "Painting and flagging! Painting and flagging! That's all you foresters do." Well, here it is. Trees to be used for tail trees in the yarding operation are picked out and flagged and painted so the fallers will not cut them. We hope.
View attachment 515680

In this case, the paint also means that the crew can cut the tree after it is no longer needed. That makes de-rigging (taking the blocks down)
easier to do. On this sale, the tail trees were left on the ground to be wildlife logs.

Great photos!!!!!! Thank you!

 

[bitzer]

One thing you are not going to get from his forum are the sounds and smells of Logging.

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

Also, logging has its own language, but I'm supposed to be killing trees right now... so I'll let others skool ya's on that one...

Haha, thank you!

 

[CaliforniaWalnut]

One thing you are not going to get from his forum are the sounds and smells of Logging.

I plan on taking a trip to the woods and to an actual logging site... I just have to cough up the money!