couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[cutterboy]

PoginyHill, nice straight tree but, oh, so many little branches. Lots of kindling on the ground.
I have a similar situation as you with old pasture grown up to trees, except mine is all hardwood, mostly ash, black birch and red maple. Not many good saw logs but lots and lots of firewood.

[PoginyHill]

These spruce did not self-prune. My red spruce does better at that or at least smaller branches. Most of my balsam fir are superior trees. Minimal butt rot, small branches where there are dead ones, but very good at self-pruning. Generally straighter trees also. This white spruce was rather good, but most have a least a small crook or two within the 27 ft I normally can yield.

Cutterboy, interesting how a pasture can grow up with different species mix. Guess it's the nearby forest or soil conditions that determine that. Fir is my most abundant pioneer species, but lots of grey birch, red maple, and quaking aspen.

[Resonator]

Poginyhill's picture looks like the Norway spruce on my land. They grow out big and bushy, and then over time the branches die off from the ground up and look mangey. Don't know if it's bugs or fungus, or what kills them off. Ever since I got my mill I've spent the last few years cutting them before their completely dead and rotten, to try to salvage some lumber out of them. Some of the spruce trees I cut this winter were planted as a windbreak along the road. And since they were dead and dying, I wanted to get them cut down before they blew over and became a hazard.

[PoginyHill]

Normally it is lack of light that causes branches to die off.

[SwampDonkey]

I like balsam fir to that grow around here. But it does need thinned to be healthy for sure. I'm on the second thinning, and that is the slowest because the trees are a lot bigger than they were 20 years ago. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Getting near the end of Mushroom log Harvest and I am into some bigger trees than I usually cut. Sunday we took a nice WO I am hoping to do some milling on the butt log. We also took a couple of others including a decent RO. These are trees the LO needs gone for various reasons.
Yesterday I took 3 decent ones near the shop complex, two had to be driven over, one of these had me nervous. I took one WO, and it went easy with a few taps. The next one was a decent RO at about 22" on the stump, looked like it might be a pipe inside. Tried to thread a needle and miss by about a foot, it hung, hard.

I loped two 6" logs off the bottom trying to get it to fall. It was truly a pipe, so no lumber lost. But I still had a lot of weight up in the air and it was getting close to vertical, so I was uncomfortable with that. I would normally put the diesel to it, but no access in there without making a mess and damaging more trees. SO I walked around and thought on it. Then realized if I laid the next big WO right on the mark, I could knock it down. But the RO was leaning on a WO keeper that I wanted to get back upright.  I decided to go for it..
There was a lot of back leaner weight on that WO that I had to overcome. Going the wrong way was not acceptable for this one, major damage if it went wrong. Plus I had a very narrow window of where I could hit that RO and get it down. Too close to the butt would have no effect. Too close to the top and I would have two hung up trees. I used every wedge in my pouch holding and lifting this tree over. Lots of pounding, checking, moving, pounding some more.


Over she went and luck of all lucks I nailed it right on the money and both trees hit the ground.



That RO is a real pipe.


I had to leave and didn't finish marking and bucking but everything was safely on the ground. That saver WO sprung back up like a catapult.
On my way out I ran into the LO and told him about the lost lumber in that RO and what a shame it was, he smiled. He's been looking for a hollow log to drop over a vent pipe in a septic system he is finishing up, well this is perfect and should look pretty cool. Win-WIn!

EDIT TO ADD: That last photo is about 30' up from the stump and the entire lower half of the tree was full of water. I had some rooster tail coming off that chain and it was and 'interesting' smell that came with it. There was an AWFUL lot of water!

[Firewoodjoe]

Looks good guys. Been awhile. No good pics. Been busy. Still in hard maple. Will be for a little while. Another 20ish acres to go. Had snow blizzard rain and now 70 in the last week. going full bore though.

[BargeMonkey]

[/attach]
I took this picture going thru 6-7 days earlier. They smoked the leg on the south span so basically off the port bow is the one they hit, that's headed into Baltimore.

I will be in Baltimore Monday morning, bringing down a barge to unload containers, then possibly bridge pieces, deckhand got a picture tonight as we where leaving,


Haven't cut any wood, had 15 days off since first week of Aug so far, making 1/4 money Ed makes sitting at home.
 
I didn't buy that forwarder, I was 17x shades of mad, had trucking set up, there was a prior lien and couldn't get clear paperwork on it, something just didn't add up. Kid I sold that Pete to wanted out so I bought that back in a bag of money, I'm still hunting for a decent hotsaw.

[SwampDonkey]

As the log turns. 

[Firewoodjoe]

Dang barge I was hoping to hear what your opinion was on running it. I sure like this Deere but the fact that the blade is useless and these stinking electric mini joysticks drive me crazy. Way too many adjustments. It's very tolerable at this point but I sat in a low hour cat 574 and it's a much better feel. The blade is great. Problem now is I'd go backwards on the Deere. Being i just bought it and the prices have dropped some since. 

[ehp]

Barge , come on at least tell the truth , first off you make WAY WAY more coin than I do and I'm guessing 99% of the people on here , second you were driving that ship that took out that bridge but to throw everybody off they said the driver was from India or some country over that way . As far as me I'm hoping to hear back from the bank maybe monday of tuesday as I would like to buy a bottle of pop and a mars bar and see if I can swing that big bad boy loan 

[BargeMonkey]

I was sitting on the other side of the canal with an oil barge waiting on weather. Fells point can be a GOOD time, best on a weekend during daylight hours. Harlem / the Rouge in Detroit / Haiti are all higher on my want to visit list than Baltimore.

 
Handed it off and turned back around. I've got 4wks to go so crew change doesn't matter to me. Slowly seeing the iron deals but alot of junk, I'm waiting on the kid to hatch and go look at that Tigercat in KY. 

[ehp]

You will have to be home before you know it Barge, Diaper duty will be your next job , we all have done that job lots , well I know I have done it lots . It's about the same here on equipment with a lot more junk everyone is trying to flip or they want way to much for a old machine in not to bad of shape . 

[Firewoodjoe]

Well there's pics in may gallery if someone wants to look. Last snow and been buying parts when they're cheap enough. Iron out there is rough and high dollar fix my stuff up for now.

[ehp]

Have not posted any pictures for a while but here is some of the stuff I cut this so called winter not sure how you post them but I put 4 pictures in my galley

[ehp]

and why so many adds keep flashing all over my page when on this site

[Firewoodjoe]

It's for income for the forum. And I understand. But one reason (I'm also busy) I'm not posting as much is because I have a iPhone and no internet. Bad phone reception generally. So trying to post is tough for me. All those pics I did twice and gave up. Maybe when I got a new phone it will help. But this one is only 2 years old. I don't know. It all works great for me but the pic resizing and my bad reception makes it a challenge. 

[beenthere]

and why so many adds keep flashing all over my page when on this site

Pays the bills so we can have the Forestry Forum.

Joe
Set your phone so it takes smaller byte pics. They will post much easier, I understand.

[Firewoodjoe]

When I do that it only give two choices high efficiency or most compatible. 

I can manage my way of getting the pics smaller. Problem I have is when I get all done and ready to load a domino's or Amazon add pops up. Hit post and nothing, again and again. So I refresh the page and everything is gone I have to start over. I know my problem is bad reception. Country living at its best. Bad phone company bad phone. Dumb operator don't know. All of the above I'm sure 😂

[Firewoodjoe]

Ehp good looking wood. You hinge cut all that? I would but I'm surprised as everyone is all about slick stumping or spur cutting now a days. 

[PJS]

So far I've found the easiest way to add pics, is put them in your gallery then copy and paste the BBcode normal into your message where you want your pictures.

Been slowly cutting away... learning more one tree at a time... most go where I want... then some just have a mind of their own lol few hang ups, bring the forwarder in and drag them down, need to get the back bunk re-welded so I can haul more out. 

[quilbilly]

Pin got stuck in a new hole. We had to move it to try and balance weights on the axles after we went through the weigh station. I pushed down with the loader and we pushed up on the pin with a jack and tapped sideway with a sledge. It was stuck enough to lift the loader 

[Southside]

@PJS just how loud of a noise did that bunk make when it snapped off? 

[ehp]

You have to remember we have laws here  but I have never had the govt check me in this area like up north where I was checked steady , I get checked by the tree bylaw guys here but not the stump police , Every stump has to have a notch and your back cut has to be above the bottom of your notch . After cutting so many trees that way it's hard to change and I cut in alot of wind pretty much every day , If it's not windy I hardly know what to do lol . I watch videos of guys slick cutting and doing the corner cuts , the slick scares the hell out of me and the corner cuts style I would not see working to well here with the wind , Half the time I cannot bore cut half way to the back without trouble cause the wind is blowing hard

[ehp]

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=11195&pid=353426#top_display_media