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Do any other small time guys enjoy felling big trees?

Started by hackberry jake, January 28, 2013, 03:39:32 PM

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hackberry jake

I might cut down a dozen or so good sized trees a year. With the big ones my heart races and I get all excited seeing each one hit the ground. I'm sure most of the people that do it for a living probably just look at it like work. Does this make me evil for enjoying killing these 100+ year old beauties? Most would probably say yes (except you boys  ;D). Does anyone else look forward to the next big un?
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EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

Autocar

Most loggers [ I'll speack for myself ] has never looked at it as work. I get the same thrill cutting timber today as I did thirty years ago. We have always said eather you hate it or love it ! And for myself I love it  ;D.
Bill

loggah

I used to think it was work dragging chokers thru 2 or 3 feet of snow uphill in -20 degrees weather ,and having to shovel snow from around the trees when it was deep and bending over in those holes holding your breath trying not to breathe all the chainsaw fumes in. Logging in the mountains and hand cutting up here in the white mountains is work!!! but it was work i liked !!! ;D ;D An old buddy of mine used to say "trees are (edited by Admin) ,there only good when there down'  :-[ ;D ;D
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Jay C. White Cloud

Jake,

You are just like the rest of us I'll wager.  I have been asked exactly what you said about, killing something that is that old, or destroying something.  It usually comes from one of the "greenies," I know.  Most of them are sweet folks, just don't have the common since the Creator gave a cricket.

You every get over my way, or if I get home to the Ozarks, I'll take you up into the tops of one of those big trees.  You talk about exciting!  :o  There is nothing like dropping 50 feet of a 150' tall tree, ye ha, now that is a ride.  I'm sure some of the other climbers in the group will tell you that.

Your thrill is a natural and in you bones.

Regards,  jay
"To posses an open mind, is to hold a key to many doors, and the ability to created doors where there were none before."

"When it is all said and done, they will have said they did it themselves."-teams response under a good leader.

thurlow

I've been cutting trees.......part-time.......for many decades;  fence posts, firewood, sawlogs.  I had the levee re-done on the pond behind the house last Summer (levee has leaked since the pond was built in the late '50s).  The guy who did it also has a small logging operation (he doesnt' do the logging himself).  There were a few trees that had to be removed and he said there were a couple of loads of logs if I wanted to sell 'em;  they were mostly white oak and my share (half) was 1100 bucks.  Every time I've ever started putting a tree down, I've gotten just a little......not frightened, but a sense of heightened awareness, maybe?  I asked the logger if he knew what I was talking about and he said that if I ever reach the point where I don't have that feeling, I'd better hang up my saws............
Here's to us and those like us; DanG few of us left!

justallan1

Every tree I have ever dropped I walk clear around, sometimes more than once and at a distance. I make darn sure I have an escape route, even if I have to cut one. I take my time and have everything planned and still there is that piece of me that is saying watch out!
I like the adrenaline, but more, I like the feeling it gives me knowing I'm doing something that a lot of folks wouldn't even try.

coxy

to me it doesent matter if its 6in or 4ft the thrill of getting to the ground IN ONE PICE  its the thrill of the out doors trying to put in spots not to smash other trees i just love cutting trees 8)

thecfarm

My big ones are just about all gone. But I always get a thrill of shutting the saw off and hearing the big ones hit the forest floor with a loud thump and you can feel it go through your body.
But every tree I fall,is for a reason too. Be it just because it's no good except for fire wood or I want to build something and need logs for my mill or just because I need some money and selling logs.
One thing I will not forget. We was cutting on a horseback,a REAL steep high knoll. My Father knew what was going to happen. I cut a tree at least 3 feet across on this steep hill. As I always did,I saw the saw off when it started to fall. I bet that whole tree left that stump for about 10 feet before it hit the ground. That was so peaceful and so quiet for a few seconds. I turned to my father and said WOW. He was kinda grinning.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

m wood

 I'm with you all.  Justallan1 you made a great point.  Who doesn't study it closely, and then closer still (if you didn't, your the lucky fool to still be reading these threads).  Ever see one hit the ground and then roll up hill befor it come to rest?!  oh hackberry, aint it a thrill tho!!! never gets old; but its about good forest management too, right? ;)
I am Mark
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Stephen Alford

   Generally speaking the taller spruce trees are taken near the end, just to reduce damage. When I am pounding wedges, keeping one hand on the tree works for me. You will always feel "movement" long before you see it.



 
This was the tallest.


 
There are never many, but they limb out nice.


 
This is the boardroom.   :)
logon

shortlogger

I always love falling one right where someone else says you can't put it
1 Corinthians 3:7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase . "NKJV"

hackberry jake

Quote from: shortlogger on January 28, 2013, 09:23:10 PM
I always love falling one right where someone else says you can't put it

I had the task of dropping a pecan tree for a co-worker and it was leaning out over the river. He was 100% positive that the river was the only place the tree would fall. I made my notch, started on the felling cut and once my bar got a ways into the tree I stopped and drove a wedge into the backside. I then cut down to about a 1" "hinge" and pulled my saw out. He still tells the story "he just kept hitting it with the sledge hammer and each time he hit it the tree started straightening up until it fell away from the river." too many people have been told "you can't fall a tree uphill". Makes my day when he tells that story  ;D
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EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

thenorthman

If its in yer blood you will always enjoy falling trees,

My partner and I will tease each other and try to see where the other will land his tree, (this is for the close in danger tree work). Soda cans make great targets, and it never gets old when you hit it and yer buddy doesn't... (hes pretty good at placing them to far away... but I'm usually in line)
well that didn't work

Cedar Savage

Slam Dancing....cutting for a cable sidder & having 7 trees already notched & ready to fall, as soon as the skidder pulls out the load, the next 7 trees slam onto the ground!!
"They fried the fish with bacon and were astonished, for no fish had ever seemed so delicious before."         Mark Twain

grassfed

I don't like trees if they are much bigger than what the average size I am cutting in an area. Anything that is out of the ordinary slows the overall process of the cut. My biggest thrill comes when the truck leaves the landing or when my truck gets unloaded at the mill. I also love getting my checks! The best part is seeing an area that I cut after 5 or ten years. Whenever a tree drops I am usually looking up to see if any widow-makers are coming down and if it is safe to move to the next tree. 
Mike

rooster 58

    It's a cool summer morning, just light enough to see the spots and slashes. You look at your first victim, a tall oak about 30" across the stump. You study it a minuteor so.
    Then ou start you saw and pull down your shield. Yiu make your notch and go to the backcut. Bore in from one side then slide to the other side and set your hinge. Ok here we go!! Start sawing to the back of the tree. Set a couple wedges and snug them up. Alright! it's time to come from the back and finish that cut. Oh man your done and she needs the wedges tapped some. Ya drive em home and that oak just doesn't want to go. The adrenaline surges when you realize you gotta take more hold wood off. Easy does it! Ok, couple more wacks on the wedges and yep, she's starting to tip. You move back and watch her go, make sure nothings comin back at ya from the tops! Ok it's thru the canopy and CRASH!!!! The coolest sound known to a logger, and watchn' the debris fly and get that ol' grin on your face! Yep, that's loggin 8)

Cedar Savage

"They fried the fish with bacon and were astonished, for no fish had ever seemed so delicious before."         Mark Twain

lumberjack48

When i ran measure stick for my farther, he made a game out of it. Telling me where he was going to lay the next tree. Then showing me how to notch it, and where to leave the meat to pull it to the left or to the right. He taught me how to talk to-em, every tree has its own personality, not two are the same. I started going when i was 7, i loved it out in the woods. My older brother and younger brother though it was work. I started falling when i was 12, and loved everything that went with it, like talking to the guys, being part of.
  When i was 16 i could fall and piece cut timber with the best of them.

I got a bigger rush out of laying trees down like dominoes, one after thee other all one way. Falling big timber is fun in its own way. But like grassfed said they slow the average job down.

cedar Savage, thats the same way i did it with one and two skidders. Lay-em down drag for drag, i call it Hooken-An-Booken, never a mess in the woods.

And say guys, my felling method had nothing to do with getting hurt. I'm not sure if i'd cleared that up.
Third generation logger, owner operator, 30 yrs felling experience with pole skidder. I got my neck broke back in 89, left me a quad. The wife kept the job going up to 96.

Cedar Savage

When ya say "dominoes" do ya mean when ya got 6-7 trees that don't wanna fall the right way... so ya  notch 'em & back cut & leave sum hinge wood on 'em & they're all still standing....
Then ya cut the big key tree that falls into one & that falls into the next & all seven trees hit the ground in one big keerash !!! While your running the other way --->
"They fried the fish with bacon and were astonished, for no fish had ever seemed so delicious before."         Mark Twain

hackberry jake

https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

shortlogger

The worst thing about falling big trees is trimming big limbs !
1 Corinthians 3:7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase . "NKJV"

1woodguy

    I still enjoy the charge I get dropping a good one!
:)
     
Experience is a rough teacher first you get the test later comes the lesson!

Meadows Miller

Why Yes I Do  :) :D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D 8)

I was just out falling some stuff with Garry My faller on a lill big pine job (2 to 3000 ton )we just started on with Jack another Logger & Sawmiller biggest trees there are 30" odd inches and 50' odd of sawlog  ;)

But Im on the Sawmill as that is where the business makes money  ;)

Biggest Drop so far was 8' across the butt A biggun  :) :) :) ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)
4TH Generation Timbergetter

hackberry jake

An 8' diameter log?... I would have to split that dude 6 times to get the pieces out of the woods and onto my mill... I would also have to borrow a bigger chainsaw. And buy a big bottle of aspirin.
https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

thurlow

Quote from: hackberry jake on February 01, 2013, 01:30:33 PM
An 8' diameter log?... I would have to split that dude 6 times to get the pieces out of the woods and onto my mill... I would also have to borrow a bigger chainsaw. And buy a big bottle of aspirin.
Reminds me of the largest tree I've ever seen (I'm in the Mid-South and have never been where the big trees grow).  In the early '70s ('73, I think), we had a 'big water', which is what the locals call it when the Mississippi floods and we have a 'back water'.  After the water had gone down, my dad and I went to buy some buffalo (fish) from an old man who lived on the bank of the Mississippi;  you had to drive to the river and then drive several hundred yards up the riverside to get to his place.  The water had uncovered a tree trunk which was at least 10-12 ft in diameter.  It was pretty much preserved;  we asked about it and were told that the local forester had identified it as a species that had been extinct for hundreds and hundreds of years.  I've tried for years to remember what he called it;  it was something like cucumber cottonwood, but I don't think that's exactly what he said.
Here's to us and those like us; DanG few of us left!

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