The Logging Thread

I must be missing something for sure than because both of those vids look painfully slow to me. The mill/s that a company like 4 leaf work for and possibly even a outfit that size have full-time optimization guys. Like Dave had alluded too the whole operation from stump to wrapped lumber is machined and laid out for maximum profitability.

Yes Stig I've only logged in BC, and unlike you yes I'm proud of my country. I was born into a town with mills, family's logged for generations. I do find it insulting that you look at a vid of a pro outfit like that(whom I don't know at all, five hrs from me) and immediately start on about the inefficiencies.

Show me a vid or vids of this magical harvester head actually slaying timber, because a dedicated feller/buncher like was working in the 4leaf vid is knocking it down.
 
You still have to get a forwarder to the logs. Another expensive piece of equipment, and time consuming. We just tree length to the landing and process there, less mess in the woods is a big reason, especially on private ground. Landowners want a clean job. Sometimes I feel like a landscaper. Probably every method has it's advantages depending on the situation. It would be great to do everything with one piece of equipment. I get tired of working on and maintaining all this junk.
 
Here's a an idea. Lots of monday morning quarterbacks here talking about what is so wrong with that job and too much iron blah blah blah. What if there is something no one on this forum knows about that job? What if that company just wrapped up another job elsewhere and wouldnt start another cut for a few weeks, and rather then leave a crew sitting with their thumb up their ass while another crews pays their bills, they tossed some extra men and gear at it just to keep some guys busy for a bit?

Not trying to be a dick, but here we are on the internet managing a jobsite on a tract we have never touched, and a business we never managed. It very well ould be an over tooled job, or there might be a reason that youtube didnt offer us as to why its getting done that way. What if they were behind on that cut and the mill came in and said "We need every god damned piece of iron youve got on that, and we need that done and cut in 2 weeks or we are done with you!" Any one that has cut for a mill knows that sometimes a mill puts theur foot down and you might be taking one on the chin to stay in good graces with them.
 
You are absolutely right, Chris.
But, monday mrning quarterbackng is one of the joys of the internet.
That way, even though I'm laid up with a bum knee and can't work, I can still feel superior to a bunch of dumb Canadian loggers:lol:
 
Good point chris. As I said, I thoroughly enjoyed the video, and my comment was just in passing.

At the end of the day, they might be totally wrong and inefficient, but they have a damn sight more iron and business than I will ever have, so kudos to them.
 
I wasnt trying to attack anyone. I just meant, its a video, and that video only shows the work, not the business end of that job. Ive been on a logging jobs where we put up 25000 feet a day (saw logs) with a cable skidder and a bell saw and landing loader(2 guys in woods, and truck drivers cutting and loading their own logs with the loader). Great production on mountain terrain if you ask me. Then out of no where, boss sends in grapple skidder, timbco with a processor head, and a Rottne. I was like "wtf is this? This is a zoo!" Well, other job finished up and boss wanted to keep some other iron producing until it had somehwere else to be.
 
25k /day sounds like damn good production to me.

Back in the day we used to say 5k bf/day with 2 guys, saws, cable skidder, avg trees and skid distance, was good.
 
That was a particular cut we were on with fairly stable terrain for the area. Mountainous but nice skid roads with some good straight shots that let you cover distance nicely without snake weaving all over the mountain. And some nice wood. We all know what big wood does for production. It can make a shitty logger look good in a hurry. I feel as though the men are separated from the boys when you are working small wood. A lot of work filling a landing with crap wood, you know? That was a good run we had that summer. Then the forester moved us a mile down the railroad bed and I got my ego humbled by some real terrain and scrappy wood.
 
Everything you guys are quibbling about was just coming into being when I was getting out of the woods. Not much ground here for a full mechanized outfit of machines as shown in the vids posted. Nonetheless it is amazing to see just how much it has all advance through the years.
 
When the first mechanized logging machine, the Logma, made it debut it obviously made a lot of us pulp fallers scared.
We were told to chill, Denmark was too small for it ever to be rational to do mechanized logging here.
Now, 40 years later, manual logging is going the way of the dinosaurs and when you go to logging tradeshows, most of the people there are soft, fat guys with clean, soft hands.
Sometimes I really feel like the last dino must have felt, when he looked at all those little furry critters and thought: " What the hell happened?":lol:
 
Going from a hand operation to mechanized has been quite a process. So much to learn, so much to work on mechanically. It is actually harder on the body than working on the ground, using your muscles, which I prefer. My outfit has had to scratch and crawl, gradually upgrading one piece of equip. at a time. Even now everything I own has 14k hours on it. You have to have millions of board feet contracted ahead of you to even think about buying new, when the average price is 4-500k or more. I guess what it boils down to is fewer loggers producing what it took a lot of outfits to do manually in the past.
 
It appears nearly every trade skill has become mechanized today, but if people don't have jobs how in the heck can they afford to buy any product? The answer to the question leads to a world other than we presently know it.
 
Some trades though they can be almost fully mechanized, still can't be done as well as when a large amount of hand work is included. "Done as well" can be a debatable point, but grinding lenses and woodwork are two that come to mind. If the public isn't sensitive to the differences, you get highly successful outfits like IKEA.
 
Highlead still lives on as the most kick ass form of logging. Handfalling, climbing, rigging, giant winches and super long and strong wire rope.
 
Nice pics Brian. I love that old CAT skidder, it looks in good shape for an older piece.
 
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