The Descriptive Process

[madhatte]

Truck drivers? Cooperative as can be, compared to soldiers. You should see some of the messes they leave us.

 

[Gologit]

Truck drivers? Cooperative as can be, compared to soldiers. You should see some of the messes they leave us.

Good point. I'd probably think twice before I started to yell at a couple of hundred guys with heavy weaponry.

 

[slowp]

Good point. I'd probably think twice before I started to yell at a couple of hundred guys with heavy weaponry.

I would call it "training".

 

[Gologit]

I would call it "training".

Maybe. But who is training who? And what are the consequences if the training doesn't go well?

 

[slowp]

Maybe. But who is training who? And what are the consequences if the training doesn't go well?

We shall hope that life insurance is paid up for the forester. I can already see the drone coming in to "remedy the breach".

 

[Gologit]

Should we take up a collection and buy Nathan a flak jacket?

 

[slowp]

Should we take up a collection and buy Nathan a flak jacket?

Isn't the up to date terminology Kevlar Body Armor?

 

[Joe46]

Talking to a Plum Creek guy several years ago he said they would crown their roads in the fall so the snow/rain would drain off easier. This was in the Little Naches area of Eastern Wa.

 

[madhatte]

I've wondered about body armor before. We do sometimes have artillery explode on fires; a few guys got knocked down by a dud the year before I hired on, and I don't know how many times I've been in a wasp's nest of belted ammo going off. Fortunately, the brass is the part that flies away, and it doesn't hit hard. I also had a shell or something go off a few hundred yards behind me as I retreated in the truck after fire rolled across a holding line. I could feel the concussion through the floor of the truck. Still, I've never seen anybody get hurt working fire here, other than the usual sprains and strains and an occasional minor burn. I guess we're lucky, maybe?

 

[Gologit]

Isn't the up to date terminology Kevlar Body Armor?

Probably. Flak jacket...I'm showing my age aren't I?

 

[Steve NW WI]

Not in a lot of the big logging companies either. We might be talking about two different things. Where I work a lot of people call graders blades. I've seen laser guided blades working flat ground on construction projects but I've never seen one working on logging roads. Not in my part of the woods anyway. Maybe the FS uses them but on the private ground I'm familiar with we don't see any advantage to it.
Running a blade on a logging road is usually more like finish work, spreading material, or smoothing out the bumps. A good operator usually just eyeballs the work and adjusts accordingly.
If a new road is being pioneered...a very rare thing these days...the lead Cat cuts to grade by using the surveyor's stakes. The blade comes in beind him and neatens things up so that the trucks can get in and out. Same with spurs and turnarounds.
Maybe back east they use GPS or lasers on logging roads?

Grew up riding with Dad running the township Austin Western every chance I could. Those banks of levers on each side of the wheel were amazing to an 8 year old, still are 35 years later. I have enough work running 3 levers on farm machinery when I get to play in the dirt. I know they weren't all used all the time, but they were all used. There are very few good blade guys left here now, most of the dirt roads have been paved over.

It is said that this guy could pick your nose with that machine. He was doing "sensitive road construction". Any extra material was to be end hauled to a waste area so he was careful to not make any extra waste.

View attachment 415249

You can look on youtube, shouldn't be hard to find vids of those guys flipping a quarter into the bucket with a tooth. Guys have skills...and others are total hacks. One ex mfg (forget which one) has a vid of their machine climbing a tower. Neat stuff. I'd find links, but I'm on my phone.

 

[slowp]

This is how it USED to be done here. A pass up the ditchline on each side of the road. A serious cutting up and down on the road surface--to do this you have to have some moisture in the road, but not too much. Then a final pass down the center, crowning the road out. I think I'm remembering it right or maybe the road surface was cut down and the ditch cleaned out then smoothing with the final. Anyway, it took 5 passes. Skidders could not do the job no matter what Fast Eddy would claim.

That was back in the cutting of the "last of the old growth". Traffic was heavy. Roads had been built to a high standard and were wide to get the big equipment in and out.
There was also money coming in and a big budget.

 

[BeatCJ]

...There are very few good blade guys left here now...

I'm pretty sure that's true everywhere. I used to work in construction engineering, until I was promoted to a desk (hated that job for 5 years, went back to school, now I love my job) and I remember one job where the company owner thought he was a blade man. This was way before lasers. He was going broke quickly, until he hired an experienced blade guy. The machine slowed down but the work sped up.

 

[1270d]

The machine slowed down but the work sped up.

That's quite often what the best way to make money.


Here's a look at what I do

 

[HuskStihl]

That's quite often what the best way to make money.


Here's a look at what I do

That's the weirdest chainsaw I've ever seen

 

[BeatCJ]

That's the weirdest chainsaw I've ever seen

It's just the colors of the plastics that's throwin' you off.

 

[northmanlogging]

Been slower than expected around here lately... but I moved the missus this morning start cutting saturday...

Only hitch in the git-a-long this time was trailer brakes not working with the peddle (manually they did fine) and hitting a massive pot hole that I hadn't seen and catching a little air in the ole f-600, chucked the trailer into the other lane... Ya ever catch air in a spring suspended dump truck... its uncomfortable... lots of rust falling off the ceiling having to hunt around for the cb mic, visors flapping around, mirrors a needing adjusting again...

Also managed to put my not a Morse cable cutter together today, its been hidding in the forge for 5 years now without a bottom blade... found some replacements a few weeks ago.

That thing is the bee's knees for hacking cable in two, half a dozen smacks with a 3# hammer and pop goes the 1/2 cable, wishing I'd gotten it fixed 3 years ago, beats the hell out using an old axe and stump all day long.

 

[SliverPicker]

That's quite often what the best way to make money.


Here's a look at what I do

Smooth beats fast every time.

 

[Joe46]

So I've been kinda layed low with some kinda crud so I 've been watching a lot of videos. Came across one last night from a logger down south. He had about 19-20 trees in a row that he was going to drive. Now he explained how the breeze was blowing and how safe it was going to be because he assured us viewers that all his face cuts were OSHA approved. I guess I must still be on the turnip truck because I didn't know OHSA approved face cuts.

 

[2dogs]

Been slower than expected around here lately... but I moved the missus this morning start cutting saturday...

Only hitch in the git-a-long this time was trailer brakes not working with the peddle (manually they did fine) and hitting a massive pot hole that I hadn't seen and catching a little air in the ole f-600, chucked the trailer into the other lane... Ya ever catch air in a spring suspended dump truck... its uncomfortable... lots of rust falling off the ceiling having to hunt around for the cb mic, visors flapping around, mirrors a needing adjusting again...

Also managed to put my not a Morse cable cutter together today, its been hidding in the forge for 5 years now without a bottom blade... found some replacements a few weeks ago.

That thing is the bee's knees for hacking cable in two, half a dozen smacks with a 3# hammer and pop goes the 1/2 cable, wishing I'd gotten it fixed 3 years ago, beats the hell out using an old axe and stump all day long.

A cordless grinder with a cutting blade works great too.