Boy, now i know why i buy my logs!

[Kelvin]

Pheweee! 

What a week.  I cut some trees at my brothers place, who by the way is a little neurotic.  What a time.  I was planning on taking one cherry and one oak tree to keep my mill running, and supplies up.  Well to start, the cherrry i was savoring taking for the last 4 years, was rotten to the core.  Don't know how it was standing up anymore.  Anyhow the first 8' was gone, with about 1" live wood, and then one good log, and then i split the next one, as the top forked, and the branches split down through the tree!  Of course this is in my brothers lawn area so the mess had to be clean up perfectly.  What a job.

Next i turn to a decent 26" dbh red oak that grew in the woods (still in the lawn) so had a good 30' trunk without much taper or branches.  Course it was leaning the wrong way, so i got my wedges out and that tree sat down on them so hard i couldn't drive them in.  We got a come along and started pulling it over.  Hinge was in a rotten spot and i cut the hinge too thin too boot.  Sideways it goes right into a bigger oak tree.  Well there was no way of getting it out without cutting the other.  Oh, well.  My brother wanted more sun, and hated the leaves.  No real tree hugger.  So i cut that, what with the added weight i thought it would fall easy enough.  Well i knew how dangerous this spot is, but the way the crowns were locked the one was not going to let go, actually they were so locked i couldn't get the trees to fall.  Was actually holding them up.  Its weird the way the forces interacted.  So, what did i do?  Kept at the hinge, until i made that one to thin as well, and "pop" both they go sideways again, taking out 2 more trees in the nice part of the yard.  Crashing just about to the house, and driveway.  Knocking the mirrors off my dump truck, denting my door.  Well i was a little worried about what my sister in law would think of her yard, so i quick started shoving the tops my cousing cut free, and tore the headllights off the front of the dump truck ($125 each)  scraping the paint all the way down.  The branches didn't look that big from where i was.

Well we went on to clean things up, explaining what happened and apologizing about the other trees.  Not such a big deal that i know about yet.  So, moving the trees around, my cousing, who is a new to tree work sets my 036 stihl saw in the yard, not next to a tree, where i was moving things around.  I hate getting off the tractor, so i just thought it was okay.  1/2 hour later, crunch!  Ughhh!  I hate that.  Breaking things for no reason other than trying to save time.  Well after a few days of loading logs, tops and brush.  (Remember this is suppose to look like a golf course when done!)  My brother asks if i can push some "brush" away from his blueberries.  Sure.  Went down with the tractor, to see the "brush".  Actually about 8" diameter small trees.  Well i just started breaking them down with the tractor and, gush all this fluid is all over.  I knew it was my tire!  I quick get up the hill and onto the trailer, while my cousin is looking saying.  Its coming from the axle!  As million dollar repairs dance through my head, i load the tractor up so we don't have it disabled 20 miles from a shop.  Luckily it was just the valve stem that got knocked off.  So we drove the tractor to Timbuckto to get the stem replaced and new beet juice.  Took about 1/2 day and another $75, plus about 60 miles of driving.  Back at the jobs site it took forever to pick up all the little sticks, and bark and make it look like new, though the overturned stumps of the knocked over trees were making a big eyesore.  They were about 12" in diam. 

Brother... "Can't you just pull them out?"  Me  "If i had a D9 bulldozer, maybe."  Brother... "well can you go rent a stump grinder and take all of them out, i just had a few stumps done last year and don't want any stumps. "  Aughhh! 

Well, not sure how much money the trees will make me.  The cherry was junk.  The first oak has a rotten hole right on the hinge that goes up a mile about 8" in dia.  the tree it fell into of course shattered like crazy, though i put a binder on it so it wouldn't barber chair on me.  1/3 of that butt log, is toast.  5-7 days work, tired as a dog.  Slipping and falling on the ice.  Driving the tractor up and down sidehills, sliding and threating to roll over.  What a time!  All the while teenage kids of my brothers keep coming and going and always parking their cars either in between the truck and my only passage for the tractor or under the trees i was cutting, or blocking the truck.  I had to go into the house and find teenagers/friends about 37 times.  Augghh!  The local concentration yard that wants $1.50 a bd ft for oak and cherry No. 1 logs is starting to look economical now!  What a week.  Still haven't unloaded the dump truck.

One last addition to my story.  I bid on a internet auction of a really old line shaft type woodshop near chicago, about 3 hrs away right in the middle of this project.  I put low bids, called the guy, "would there be a forklift?"  "Sure, i can get the neighbors"  "Good i don't want to drive my crane truck down there!"  Thinking it would be worth the drive if i won anything with such low bids.  I got a 24" planer, a 12" jointer, and a 36" bandsaw.  "Sorry, no forklift"  They wanted to give me the 16" table saw to go with it, but i couldn't fit anymore in my dumptruck.  We used steel rollers to move these million pound beasts. The best part?  Leaving at 3 o'clock with no headlights for a 3 hour drive home!  We rolled in, in the pitch black, with my orange county plow truck lights flashing on my truck.  We killed ourselves!  Only to start on the logging the next day after unloading about 6k lbs of cast iron.  If i live through this, i don't know what i will do.

Just thought folks might like a little logging story.
KP

[mike_van]

Kelvin, I looked up "having a bad day" in the dictonary - And there was your picture -  :D :D   Some days you get the bear, others he gets you -

[Bibbyman]

 :D  Yep,  lots easier to write out a check.  ;)

[Tom]

And then there was ice too?

I've had days like that.

I've also figured out the answer to your last statement

If i live through this, i don't know what i will do.

Go fishing.  :D  ......in a shallow pond. :D :D

[Steve]

 :D :D

Reminds me of someone I used to know--
rest his soul.

Be careful out there!!!

[brdmkr]

I may print this off so I can remind myself what a bad week is really like

[chet]

If I were you I'd burn da logs,  :D  Who knows what might happen if ya tryed ta saw um.  :-\

[ChopperDave]

If you bought your logs you won't have this story to tell and were would the fun be in that!

[treebucker]

Hello Kelvin,
What a time. Maybe you'll look back and laugh at this one day.  Rotten trunks, slippery snow, careless teenagers, no headlights and many targets. The more I contemplate this the more it seems you got off lucky. I've had some close calls, times I should have employed better techniques, and times things just seemed to be working against me. But you seem to have had it all in one job. Did you tell your brother that tree services charge $1000.00/tree for removal? Tell him you'll settle for 500.00/tree. ;D

[DWM II]

Sometimes we cant win for losing. Keep your chin up Kelvin, sounds like it can only get better.

[Tim L]

I have had a number of people offer "free" wood .All you have to do is load the tractor on the trailer ,drive 30 miles in a non fuel efficient dump truck, unload the tractor, cut the trees all 3 of them. Clean up the brush, load the logs on the trailer and drive home. Then fire up the backhoe to unload the logs ,drive 30 miles back to pick up the tractor back home again to deal with the yard logs that you now find out were for juniors tree house and they have more nails in them than a Home depot ! Folks are stunned when they say "I got another free tree for you " and you say no thanks !

[Percy]

Heya Kelvin.
Im really truly sorry for alla the grief you had and I feel like a bad person for laffin all the way thru your story. My gut is hertin bigtime. Ive had days/weeks/months years like that and I laff lookin back at them but when it was happenin, I was usually playing my lips.

Anyways, thanks for the great story...and as my grandaddy used to say..."Cheer up, things could be worse." So I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse.. :D :D :D :D

[scsmith42]

The heck with all the sympathy, what I want to know is DID YOU GET THE LINE SHAFT TOO??   :D  :D  :D

I've been searching for one for an exhibit building at the railroad museum across the street w/o any luck.  They are getting harder and harder to find.

Seriously, my sympathies on the job at your brothers!  As a fellow that I used to work for says, "No good deed shall go unpunished..."

Scott

[Riles]

Sure sounds to me like he got the shaft.....

[Norwiscutter]

That's some great stuff right there.
That sounds like some of my experiences getting free logs.
You know what though, at the end of the day you wouldn't trade this stuff for the world.  I am completely broke but I spend every day trying to make a buck with a whole bunch of really cool toys. My kids think I am the coolest because I get to do fun stuff all day : while other people have to sit behind desks.

[TexasTimbers]

Whoooooooooa. I can't say I've had quite that bad a day. Ever. I hope I never do! Sorry you did.

[Dana]

Are you going to post pictures of the new machinery when you get a chance to catch up? I have a 12" Belsaw planer andhave been looking for a larger planer. Let me know if you run into another good deal you don't want to bid on.

[Cedarman]

I thought I had a bad day yesterday because it was cold  (18)  and I hung my saw in a small sapling bent down by a big cedar.  Pulled the tree off with a winch and had to climb in among the branches to retrieve the saw.  Had to pull 3 trees down that leaned into others, did this on purpose. 

Kelvin, you make by day.  I feel like I had a really good day yesterday.
And I know you make a lot of others feel better too.

I have a rule about tree cutting for others.  They always get the priviledge of cleaning up the mess.

[OneWithWood]

Bad time trying to do bro a favor + excellent deals on some iron = just another day at the office 

I would let the bad luck logs set until I got all the iron up and running.  By then the bad karma will have evaporated from those logs and you will be able to make some neat stuff out of them with the new-to-you old iron.  I think I would drive back over there and pick up that 16" table saw if it is still available.

[Nate Surveyor]

1st, I feel sorry for you.

2nd, I feel sorry for you. (did i say that?)

3rd, I recommend that you stay away from standing timber, until you figure out what is going on!

I went through mostly the same thing, some 20 yrs ago. Then, someone that understood the mechanics of tree felling sat me down, and we talked alot. I remember alot of it.

I still could stand to learn more, but it sounds like you could use a little help.

Rule: IF it has rot in it, or is hollow, you'd better re-think your felling method. Some of those REQUIRE a cable and come a long to get them down in the right spot. Also, a single LITTLE limb on an adjoining tree can REALLY foul things up!

I am not trying to sound condecending. Just to say that such a story made me shrudder. ALOT!

Nate

[Stephen1]

Just when you think things are not going well, you get to read about someone elses bad day!!!!  Glad to hear you did not get hurt, and probably learned something in the meantime.

[Qweaver]

Several of my cousins work in the woods on a regular basis, and they can really fell the trees right where they want them.  But not me.  So now after a few close calls, I hook a cable to my tractor and pull on almost everything I cut down.   It takes a little more time but I avoid a lot of anxiety and broken tree tops.  ;D  But no matter how hard we try, we'll all have a bad day now and then.  I feel your pain!  ;)

[WkndCutter]

Hope you took some time off after that.  I havn't had a bad day like that in a long time.  I feel your pain.