Northwoods ?

northwoods1 · February 16, 2011, 08:31:56 PM

SwampDonkey · February 16, 2011, 08:43:08 PM

What happened to all the snow out there? ;D Looks like a huge cedar lot, you can see it follow the field edge way on down there. Nice cedar to by the way.

donny hochstetler · February 16, 2011, 10:54:29 PM

nice job like the 440d I always thought you had a 540d from other pictures guess I didnt look close enough 8)

northwoods1 · February 17, 2011, 05:34:04 AM

The snow is disappearing fast here it was in the mid 50s' when I took those photos yesterday. Quite a change from last week, I had 3 days in a row where it was -23 in the morning. I think I am about ready to call it quits and just get my wood moved off this job the warm weather makes me nervous. The road bans are still a ways off but I don't want to take any chances with the mud. So far I have been able to keep the cedar very clean and I hope to keep it that way. I got about 1/2 of this job cut and am going to save the rest for next winter.
Autocar, this job is down in the farm country and I am surrounded by fields. It is a very good area for looking for artifacts

, I have my eye on one of the fields next door to this job it has some sandy hills that the snow is melted off , and it is right near a creek.
Clark, it is a good run of cedar I am really pleased with the way it has been cutting out. I didn't leave anything behind in the woods, everything got brought out right down to 2". Everything that needed to be butted I did so on the landing so I could even haul all that home. If anyone needs any cedar lumber don't be afraid to ask :D

SwampDonkey · February 17, 2011, 06:39:41 AM

Those but cutoffs make great kindling, might even be some curl for a bowl.

Norm · February 17, 2011, 07:11:37 AM

Nice JD440 you have. I didn't know you guys had so much white cedar there. I'd like to have a truck full but after reading Gary's exploits in Wisconsin I think I'll keep my semi in Iowa.

Stephen Alford · February 17, 2011, 07:20:57 AM

Sweet combination of gear. Nice to see you on the land things have come to a dead stop here. Can almost smell that cedar.

snowstorm · February 17, 2011, 07:39:39 AM

is it spring break up there already??

isawlogs · February 17, 2011, 08:00:25 AM

Nice whack of cedar. How many truck loads do you think/know you have to haul out? How far you need to haul it?
Norm, sheesh whats life without some excitement .... send Patty ti get a load

Burlkraft · February 17, 2011, 08:17:43 AM

Quote from: Norm on February 17, 2011, 07:11:37 AM
Nice JD440 you have. I didn't know you guys had so much white cedar there. I'd like to have a truck full but after reading Gary's exploits in Wisconsin I think I'll keep my semi in Iowa.

Chicken :D :D

mad murdock · February 17, 2011, 11:01:20 AM

I was thinking the same thing when I saw the warm weather pics. I bet weight limits will be thrown on any day if the weather doesn't turn colder soon. I hope you are able to get all your wood out before they shut the roads off. Nice looking job, nice equip. and some DanG nice cedar, if I do say so, myself! 8) 8)

barbender · February 17, 2011, 11:52:36 AM

It's supposed to get cold again tonight- for how long I don't know. Our woods road is a mudfest, we had to shut the trucks down on this job. The forwarder even shut down for a couple of days. The road will be nasty when it freezes, all rutted up now :( Nothwoods, that is a really nice looking job. Where are you cutting at?

Ron Scott · February 17, 2011, 07:47:55 PM

Nice Cedar job. Do you have good markets for it there?

northwoods1 · February 18, 2011, 08:02:24 AM

Quote from: Ron Scott on February 17, 2011, 07:47:55 PM
Nice Cedar job. Do you have good markets for it there?

Well, I have my own sawmill so the plan is that I will be sawing all this up and marketing it in that form. I'll probably be turning a fair amount of the finished lumber into some kind of product to stretch the value that way. I have yet to sell a single piece of wood off this job and after 7 weeks of work with no pay, having payed the landowner lump sum in advance, paying for fuel, paying for trucking etc. etc , I am getting a little nervous :D
Its all good though but sometimes I wonder if just having a normal job wouldn't be much easier!
I did have one fellow approach me last week and he wants to buy as many posts as I can provide. My plan at the moment is to get all the logs moved out as soon as it gets cold enough to do so which should be within the next week, and then finish out the year cutting posts as long as the weather and conditions permit.
Barbender I am cutting in Northern Oconto county. Having a rutted up woods road freeze solid can be a real pain. I always make it a point to get out there right at the time you can still work with it and level it out the best you can. I have a drag that I pull behind the skidder. That is what I will be doing right away this morning. Lots of time when I drive out of the job I will get it smoothed out and leave the skidder out at the end of the road.
Isawlogs, I don't have far to go with this wood only about 15 miles to my farm. I haven't estimated the volume yet, it is kind of difficult and I haven't really needed to. I just want it to work out so that there is full truckloads of both long material and 8 ft. , either I will have to buck up some of the lesser quality long material or pull out a little more wood out to do that. Then I will only be cutting post material and I would really like to get 2 big truckloads of that would make me very happy.

barbender · February 18, 2011, 03:24:30 PM

I had to look at a map- I had heard of Oconto county but I didn't know where it was. I've only been through that area once. I went out to the woods at 4:00 pm, the road was so soupy when I looked in the mirror my tracks were filled in with mud, left the woods at 3:00 am and everything was frozen solid and GNARLY! I wish we had something to straighen the road up with, the guy I am working for is a contract cutter and we just have the processor on the job. I know from driving truck that it is going to be miserable going, the landing is about 2 miles in, I bet it will take them 1/2 hour to 45 minutes one way to get in there now.

treefarmer87 · February 18, 2011, 05:54:59 PM

nice clean job northwoods, i like that hydro ax, how does it work for you? i have been wanting a 221 or 321 like that.

isawlogs · February 18, 2011, 05:59:12 PM

I ment to ask about that axe on the front of da peeck-up but did not get around to it .. so ;D Whats wit da axe on da front dere ??? Ya forget your keys to da gate and its a delocker ???

northwoods1 · March 08, 2011, 12:41:15 PM

Well I guess I can say "mission accomplished" for my little cedar logging job, got the last load hauled out yesterday morning, a load of fence posts shown in the last pic. For a few minutes I was wondering if he was gonna get it all on but he did, just had to heap it a bit :D

I got 1/2 of the job cut and will be doing the rest next winter which should be nice because what is left is the better half of the job. I figure there is about 35-40,000 feet of logs all piled neatly up at my farm with about 2/3 of that being long stuff I cut at 25'.

So, now it is on to "phase II" , get to work and saw some cedar. 8)

Marcel that axe came with the bumper along with one of those high lift jacks that fits right on there over the axe. I've never chopped a darn thing with that axe I guess it is just for looks :D, now on the other hand that high lift jack comes in really handy.

Treefarmer that little feller buncher works real well for me. I like it because I can go into any kind of a job either pulpwood, logs, land clearing or whatever and make pretty short work of all the small wood. I like to cut timber by hand but it is the small wood that is time consuming and kills your production average. With the buncher I can cut all that and sort it right in the woods, by the different species or put everything with bolts and small logs together so you don't have to make so many stops on the landing with the skidder. What works the best i have found is if you can bunch and sort it in the woods and buck it up right there. With the buncher you can carry the wood for quite a distance and if you have a sensitive area you can carry all the wood away from it and not fall it by the stump or require the skidder to go into it. Then take the forwarder and drive up to your bucked up bunches and load an entire dray load right there, all of one species or pulp, logs or bolts.

Magicman · March 08, 2011, 01:48:27 PM

You stated that the last picture was post. Are the previous short wood loads pulpwood? No one takes short pulpwood here anymore. It's all tree length.

northwoods1 · March 08, 2011, 02:25:54 PM

Quote from: Magicman on March 08, 2011, 01:48:27 PM
You stated that the last picture was post. Are the previous short wood loads pulpwood? No one takes short pulpwood here anymore. It's all tree length.

No magicman cedar is not used for manufacturing paper it is not pulp. However, all of the pulp mills here take 100" wood there are no paper mills that take tree length wood up in these parts like there is down south. I would guess that is because the pulp wood here is from a variety of species and not just southern yellow pine.

The last pic shows a load of fence posts but in order to make posts it has to fall within a certain diameter range, be sound and straight.

So the 8' wood that I hauled home is whatever would not make long lumber. About 1/2 of it is straight sound 8' bolts. The rest is the crooked, not sound and whatever else. Even the unsound logs I will saw up and make it into material to pile lumber on or it can be used for a variety of purposes where decay resistant material is required. A lot of this will be turned into privacy fencing, siding or decking for outdoor use. With cedar saw bolts are commonly taken down to as small as 6" diameter if it is a straight slick and clean piece. A 4x4 or 2x4 is a pricey thing to buy if it is cedar when compared to most other types of softwood. Even the pieces that I had to butt off the trees I hauled home. If they are sound and at least 12" diameter and 20" or so long, I have several people who carve decoys that will take them. You might be surprised at what I can get for just 1 little piece of cedar like that :D

My biggest head scratcher is what to do with the crooked small diameter logs that I can't get at least 6' boards out of. And I think I have figured that out. I think I should be able to get rid of it all to people who need short lengths for cordwood construction

cedar is the best type of wood for that because it doesn't shrink much and has exc+ insulating values.

barbender · March 08, 2011, 02:35:23 PM

Beautiful Cedar, Northwoods! I like the thought of marketing the "junk" stuff for cordwood construction, sounds like maybe a craigslist ad is in order ;) MM, I know of only one mill in the north country that takes tree length pulp, Boise up in International Falls. There are several sawmills in MN that take tree length wood to, one sorts out the saw logs and chips the remainder, then sends the chips to , you guessed it, Boise in International Falls :

Autocar · March 08, 2011, 03:41:19 PM

I sure wouldn't want to drill all the post holes by hand for that load of fence post you have there :D Sounds like you dot all your eyes and cross all your T's good work on moving everything. Will you saw all and stick all your lumber by yourself ? If that's the case your not going to have anytime to look for arrowheads or mushrooms ;D

northwoods1 · March 08, 2011, 03:47:56 PM

Quote from: barbender on March 08, 2011, 02:35:23 PM
Beautiful Cedar, Northwoods! I like the thought of marketing the "junk" stuff for cordwood construction, sounds like maybe a craigslist ad is in order ;) MM, I know of only one mill in the north country that takes tree length pulp, Boise up in International Falls. There are several sawmills in MN that take tree length wood to, one sorts out the saw logs and chips the remainder, then sends the chips to , you guessed it, Boise in International Falls :

There is 1 big sawmill here that I know of which takes tree length wood http://www.biewerlumber.com/
when it 1st opened up in the late 80s' I cut a lot of wood for them, all pine. The mill is all fully automatic, I forget how many full length trees go in one end every minute and they just keep getting spit out the other end at an unbelievable rate.
Last year I had someone contact me who lived up near Duluth and they had a school where they taught cordwood building. They were in desperate need of some cedar at that time and wanted to drive all the way down to my place to get 6 cords. The price I had to quote them for sound saw bolts was very high and I was not really inclined to sell them wood in the round anyway as I have a sawmill. This crooked wood should be just the ticket for what they needed.

northwoods1 · March 08, 2011, 03:53:45 PM

Quote from: Autocar on March 08, 2011, 03:41:19 PM
I sure wouldn't want to drill all the post holes by hand for that load of fence post you have there :D Sounds like you dot all your eyes and cross all your T's good work on moving everything. Will you saw all and stick all your lumber by yourself ? If that's the case your not going to have anytime to look for arrowheads or mushrooms ;D

Auto, I can't say that many things are going to happen for certain, but of the few things I venture to predict is that I will be looking for mushrooms and arrowheads

I need a new place to mushroom hunt by the way, they are getting scarce where I have been going.

With the lumber I pretty much just saw custom orders. I saw it and it goes down the road quick. Anything I saw incidental to custom orders will be blown out $$ wise and if I start getting to much low grade stuff it will be chipped along with the slabs and sold for mulch or bedding. One thing I do not need is piles of lumber to be accumulating.

SwampDonkey · March 08, 2011, 05:32:33 PM

Magicman, we have some mills up this way taking treelength, some take 100" and some take anything between 8' and 24' mixed in the load. ;D Frasers in Edmundston takes 4',8', and tree length softwood pulp, Verso in Bucksport, Maine take 4'.