Old Time High Lead Logging Blocks

chris_girard

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I remember when I was a kid, seeing pictures of the huge blocks that were hung from the spar poles during the High Lead logging days and thinking how incredible it must have been working with that kind of equipment. At the time, I had no idea who made these types of blocks, but I certainly admired the men who climbed those trees and helped to set that rigging.

Years later, I was reading Jerry B's Fundamentals book and A Tree Story DVD and saw pictures of pull trees being rigged with these blocks (only the blocks were on a slightly smaller scale). I'm pretty sure that Jerry said that these were Young Blocks and that the ones that he used to haul up the tree to set the "hard rigging" weighed over 100 lbs! That's a lot of weight to haul up, if you are tight-lining a job by yourself and don't have any ground help to pull down on a pass block.

Below is a cool link to some of the old time High Lead logging that was done on the Olympic Peninsula during the 1920's-1930's with a setup showing some of the Young Iron Works blocks that were used. Some of you guys may have already seen this info, but I still think that it is so cool.

Check out the size of the block that the rigger is sitting on in the second page of pictures.

http://content.lib.washington.edu/curriculumpackets/logging/index4.html
 
The loggers would joke as they carried those heavy blocks," geez if this is a young block I'd hate to carry an old one":lol:
 
Cool!

ck187.jpg
 
OMFG, on page 69, can you freaking imagine cutting thru that log with a cross cut saw????? Those guys must have had muscles in their shat!!!

Amazing find, Chris!
 
Cool thread, thanks for posting.

That third pic makes me wonder what the women were like in those days?
 
Much of the skills with cast iron have disappeared. Not so much call for casting metal like in the old days.
 
I thought I had pics on my computer but I rebuilt and painted a couple big blocks and put on a pair of big cedar logs at the logging shop years ago. I'll have to find my other pics. I think they were 30 and 36" blocks
 

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I have a couple of old blocks laying on the front landing of our little workshop at home. I'll try to remember to get a pic to post. The bigger one is a Young, looks just like the avatar pic Butch posted.
 
I can't imagine rigging a spar tree hanging off a set of hooks . Hanging an 8 foot cross arm is bad enough but a 4-500 pound block is really taking things to the limit .They must have been some tough rascals is all I can say .
 
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No doubt about it those guys had strength and skill to spare. Still I would have thought that they would have found an easier way to descend instead of dropping down fast the way that they used to do, but I guess that that was part of the high climbers show that went with the job. The other loggers probably would have thought that you were a pussy if you took a small pass block up with you to rappell out of after topping the tree.
 
I have rigged a few Spars.

The Blocks are pulled up after you have topped it.The blocks are taken down before the back line Spar is felled.We used "Rope Master K" blocks from memory.Sometimes you had to tighten up the sheath by winding off a cheek and advancing the Hex nut a bit.

If you were "Bridling" using the Tail Rope to pull the Rigging away from the Skyline at an angle,you had to pack a Block and Tail Rope Strop around with you.Plus run out "Strawline" (Haywire to Americans).Good thing was you didn't have to carry it back up with you.You attached the Block and Strop to the end of the Tail Rope and off it went,bouncing up the Hill.
 
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I have a couple of old blocks laying on the front landing of our little workshop at home. I'll try to remember to get a pic to post. The bigger one is a Young, looks just like the avatar pic Butch posted.

That's cool Burnham, did you ever use the big block for hard rigging?
 
That's cool Burnham, did you ever use the big block for hard rigging?

Nope...that is just a bit of what we reforestation types call "unit booty"...stuff you find out on a block of ground, post-harvest. I carried that mutha out of the bottom of an old school skyline harvest unit, it weighs about 60 pounds, a little one :|:. The smaller one, I acquired the same way, but it didn't hurt as much to get to the road :D. Overlooked rigging, forgotten in the big picture by the rigging crew...no doubt they got a chewing out later :).

All the hard rigging I've done has been with 4 and 6 inch sheave blocks. If y'all want to see pics of those, I could get them easily enough...got a half dozen or more in my shed and truck.

We did some crazy shat, pulling over standing oldgrowth into streams, rootwad and all, for fish habitat work. I could tell you stories to curl your hair.
 

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Well, my hair is naturally curly, but I'd like some stories anyway:)
 
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