The Logging Thread

[Thor's Hammer]

I was distracted. A lady friend had phoned me while I was working.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Better than from being distracted picking your nose. Those lady friends...

 

[Tucker943]

I break a lot of shit myself fellas. If any of you ever have a machine running and holding up exceptionally well, give me a shout. I'll twist it right up.

 

[cory]

That was good.

 

[Mick!]

I break a lot of shit myself fellas. If any of you ever have a machine running and holding up exceptionally well, give me a shout. I'll twist it right up.

Ha! Very honest, sometimes you go through periods like that.

 

[Dave Shepard]

The next five or six trees are going to be a real pain. As I mentioned, I've got to winch with the Kubota to get them close enough to skid them out of the woods with the skidder. I rigged one butt log with the Kubota, and using a single block, I was able to pull it fairly easily into skidder territory. I might have to borrow a long piece of wire from a friend that is eye x eye to get the distance I need. Some nice stuff coming out, so it will be worth it. At least nothing came unscrewed, caught fire, well, except for my toaster this morning or otherwise caused major grief.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I was distracted. A lady friend had phoned me while I was working.

Now they are going to outlaw cell phones whilst root rummaging on the excavator.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Take the guy at the home center place tonight... The excavator that I am using at the tree logging site where I am currently working, has a tear in the rubber caterpillar track, so I find that if i kind of sew it together with some small diameter cable, it stays on the sprocket reasonably well. The repair lasts a few days. So, I stop in at the large store to get some cable, and instead of looking around for some member of the slim staff at that hour just prior to closing, to measure and cut it and mark the tag to take to the register, I do it all myself, then wind it up and bind it with some veneer tape that they keep at the cable section for that purpose. I generally do it myself anyway, it's a six grade education thing. At the register, I say, "Two meters". The numbskull lady knows me, I have tried to chat with her before, to try and add a slight degree of variety to what must be a rather boring job, and not that she is inclined to talking much. With the length mentioned, I give her the little tag that you tear off next to the cable, that says 41 yen (forty cents) per 10 centimeters. Still, she feels obligated to call some authority to assess the irregular situation because I have supplied all the information myself. He comes over with an authoritative stride, a young guy, and I say, "Look, it is two meters there, I measured it". "Were supposed to do that", he responds, and starts to take off the tape so he can measure it himself. I tell him again that it is two meters. He is still fiddling with the tape and I say again, It's two meters, don't you believe me?" He doesn't say anything, but still wants to verify it. I tell him again that it is just what I say it is, and he should believe me, then I can't help getting a little pissed. "Do you think I have been coming to this store for twenty years and shopping, so when there is the golden opportunity, I can try and screw you around for forty-one yen by lying about a shorter than is really there length?" Again, no reply. The veneer tape holding it together appears to be knotted, I bound it up well because the cable ends are sharp and I know the girl at the register will be picking it up. He can't undue it, and gets rather frustrated, apparently doesn't want to cut the tape, and he eventually tells the girl to charge me for two meters. I have already made up my mind that if he unwinds and measures it, I will tell him that I have been appointed to the town's police commission, and one of my duties is to help protect us all from theft, and I now have changed my mind about the cable, and will leave it at the counter and simply walk out. As it turns out, i pay my eight bucks to the lady and leave on a thank you note. I glance at the guy, he looks confused.

Can you believe some people? I go in there about every day to buy something, for sure he has seen me numerous times. I've been going there longer than he has been working there. What can you do with total idiots like that? Brains that don't function is the problem. Needed to vent....

 

[Dave Shepard]

When I set up a friends Wood-Mizer with a three phase motor, I went to the local supply house and asked for 75 feet of 6/4 SO. No, what you really want is 6/3. No, I want 6/4. No, you see the 6/4 has three hot wires, you only need two, 6/4 is three phase wire. I said I'm trying to run a 15 HP three phase motor, what wire do you recommend? Well, you need 6/4 for that, it's three phase! Yeah, that's what I though.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Who sells cable rigging, like snatch blocks? I've got a piece of 1/2" wire to extend my reach, but was just curious what some of this stuff costs. I also have a single snatch block for a 2:1, which is working well so far. No money for anything but I can dream, right?

 

[Altissimus]

...my local saw shop always has a couple Crosby for sale ....I think around seventy bucks...I bought one and have run half inch cable w / it

 

[Dave Shepard]

I'm going to be attempting to do the first eye splice in Jerry's video. I don't have a 500 ton ferrule squisher, so I'll just use a cable clamp. Does anybody have any idea what I have to do to get the embed code to work? Thanks.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jBlvFRDHdgM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/jBlvFRDHdgM

 

[Dave Shepard]

The splice will be kind of like this one, only a little smaller.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p-S6TELpcRY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/p-S6TELpcRY

 

[Cold Logging]

Make a winch out of an excavator drive motor unit and bolt it on.

What an Excellent idea. !!!!!!!

 

[Cold Logging]

t was doable. . Usually the hook tenders saw was an 041/038 with a 28" on it but I've done it with a 56 Super with a 36" on it.

Gotta atleast hang a block and have someone else pull the rigging up if there's hands. I was the only one I ever worked with that could/would rig a tail or intermediate spar solo in one climb. I developed my own technique of climbing with two guy lines attached to the belt and the bite of a rope with the third guy line on one end and a good sized block on the other. That was a hard climb with each step making it worse. I'd hang the two lines on me first obviously, then pull up and hang the third guy line, then pull up the block between my legs otherwise it'd throw you off balance. I'd wrestle it up through my legs and rest it on my lap while I wrapped the strap.

Let me tell you by this point your spurs are drove deep. Lol. Than you'd still have to down climb never rappeled or had a climb line even in those days.

Yup. I seldom had a pimp either. I'de put a Hindu on each side of my climbing belt with the other end in the shell with the goose neck pinned and mollied with the lift chocker eye in the goose neck. . . After 50' up the tree the haywire/ strawline. would be dragging the belt down. And God help you if you got a big limb on the coils on the ground. Forget doing it with RopeMasters or Skookums that.were over 13" . But with Youngs

 

[Cold Logging]

Splicing 6-19 wire rope up to 1" isn't too bad once you know how. 1 3/8" mainline is a hard chore for 2 good men. On the big Skyline/ Slack lines " the ONLY line on a yarder that is called a Cable " you need to use the haywire to pull in your tucks. What a chore that is!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dave Shepard]

Made it back into the woods today. I had a couple of days to finish up, but I lost all the snow and frost where I was working last week. I'll have to leave some of it for next winter, but there are a half a dozen that I can get to, I just have to make a mess of the cow pasture for about 250 feet. I talked to my neighbor yesterday, and he was worried, I'll just have to grade it off and seed it when it dries out all the way. I got two big pines down and out this afternoon. Both were about 3' at the stump. The second one will make a 68'-6" 12"x12". Anybody need one? Only $4,080, you pick it up at my mill.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Sounds like a deal!!!

 

[Dave Shepard]

If you wanted one out of white pine, it would be. You can get crazy big Doug fir, but it's really hard to find pine like this for sale. Lucky for me, it's my next door neighbor. I've had to look for big pine before, and one guy I talked to said when he orders 8' and 10' Doug fir, they send him 40' timbers and he has to cut them down. Southern Yellow would probably be pretty easy to get some huge timbers out of. Good strong wood, too.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I can't skid through the woods now that the frost is going out. Had to get creative. Do you need an escort vehicle for 70'?

 

[Reddog]

Farm exemption

 

[MasterBlaster]

That'll work!!!

 

[Dave Shepard]

Check out this app: www.boardcalc.com I just bought the Pro version. Now I can tabulate all of the logs on each job and know exactly what I have and how much I've got to pay for.

 

[old irish]

Dave I think that you are going to make a heck of a logger. Keep chugging,.
Pat

 

[Dave Shepard]

Disclaimer, the log weight so far are anything but accurate. It said that log in the last pic weighed 13,000 pounds.

old irish, I'm not a logger, I'm a timber framer. At least that's what I keep telling myself.