Big Timber on Netflix

[thecfarm]

I watched the first one. Might get to the others when snow flies. I found it interesting. Don't see much logging, winching that way around here.

[Roxie]

I'm so glad you brought this subject up. My niece who is a city gal watched this and said, "we have to get you Netflix so you can see this!"
I told her "dah, I talk to real deals everyday, why do you think I love the Forestry Forum so much?"  She got real excited talking about them fixing equipment and mentioned the toilet seal incident and I told her we have members that would make McGyver look like an amateur (shout out to Mike Belben)!

Her opinion on the difference between this show and others she has watched mirrors exactly what you fellas have said about more realistic, less fake drama, and watching the process from start to finish on getting lumber. 

[HemlockKing]

Well there is all kinds of hype on it now. I'll half to boot the ol tv up some stormy day and watch a few episodes. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I have never been one to take part in something because there is a lot of hype, and I don't think you are either. :D But I did enjoy it more than those other shows I've seen most of which have too much drama, cursing, and other stuff that actually detracts from the story. 
 Yes, Nebraska, I was talking to the screen also here and there. Anybody who knows what they are looking at should naturally have an instinct to ask questions and wonder why they would do some things that seem to not make sense. I wonder how much of that was as a result of how things were edited and not really a reflection of what happened in the moment.

[aigheadish]

I wanted to get through the whole series before commenting. It is a pretty good show! The toilet seal trick was amazing!

I would have liked to see more of the actual milling but seeing the felling and retrieving was pretty cool. I had the same question as Nebraska. Why would you just leave those giant stumps sticking up to cause all kinds of problems?

Also, I'd absolutely want nothing to do with the part of the job climbing down the mountainside and hooking those big logs up. I could hang in the drag machine but that climbing and chaining part looks much too tough for me!

[Lostinmn]

So I gotta ask..
I only watched the 1st esp. They made 2 claims I wonder about. First that big cedar, they said $30k and another was worth $10k.
I know that's crap but really about how much would they be worth?

Reality TV shows in general have a habit of applying final retail values with no regard to costs included.
My background is real estate and commercial appraisal. I lot of shows in that field put up number from a purchase of a flip to the sale price and give the impression they made the difference.  A truer profit picture would of course account for materials, labor and consideration for entrepreneurial profit, but that would be a smaller number that doesn't look as good on TV.  

Could be a similar deal here?

I really did enjoy watching Big Timber though! Really makes our Minnesota trees and hills seem like toy sized models...

[Iwawoodwork]

After reading about the show here, I found and watched a couple episodes, some what Hokey, the highlead logging I worked on the hook tender would have skinned the rigging/log back when it came to a hang up rather than going ahead and busting the choker, also after the hangup  if there were more logs on that road, the hook would have gotten the saw and cut the offending stump off at ground level.  Also the first part of the show indicated that the site/setting was fresh felled, wrong,  that wood had been down for several seasons as there were no green or even  brown leaves on the down wood and the 
the bark was falling off some of it.
 I did like seeing the old junk reused and the show as a whole was easier to watch than previous logger shows due to less screaming and ranting.  When I worked in the woods if a boss or hook yelled and/or screamed at the men as shown on some of the shows, they would soon be looking for a new crew and he might even show up for work the next day with a few bruises.

[Nebraska]

I'm sure to folks who work directly in the logging industry, it's really easy to see better ways and even not want to watch....Just like I don't  watch the incredible Dr Pol for very long either. (Not that he does bad work). Just too close to home.

[JoshNZ]

We got it all the way over here in NZ on Netflix even, my partner put it on the other night thinking I'd like it and we binged our way through it in a few nights. Pretty entertaining show

I've taken great delight in narrating my sawmilling work to my partner since. Over dramatizing every hiccup causing me to lose one million dollars per second and stressing that if I don't fix it, we're gonna go broke and have to sell the mill  :D :D.

It's a shame these reality tv shows do over dramatise everything because it's got a great foundation anyway, it's pretty entertaining content on its own without the narrator chiming in at every flat tire saying they could go out of business if it's not fixed.

Will look forward to another season!

[terrifictimbersllc]

I enjoyed it, goes into a lot of detail and seemed to me to get most things right.

What I didnt understand was who clearcut the claim in the first place and what was the overall strategy of the govt in that?

[Roxie]

Josh  :D :D :D

[Old Greenhorn]

....Just like I don't  watch the incredible Dr Pol for very long either. (Not that he does bad work). Just too close to home.

I was catching up on this thread and just re-read this reply in a better light and whole heartedly agree. My wife would watch some of these shows that I couldn't stand to look at because of that. I recall some of the early 'fabrication' shows where they were working in shops similar to where I spent 50 years learning and working and had similar or identical tooling, and the show would make big drama over some 'incredibly difficult challenge' that I knew was easy as heck.... IF the guy knew his equipment and had the technique to execute it. Not his/her fault, they just didn't have the experience, but the show would make it clear that this was 'very difficult, out of the box, never been done before, fancy work' Which, of course, it was not. I could have taught the guy how to do it in a hour. A couple of those things and I was done. Some of the 'Homestead Recue' episodes do this for me also. A lot of drama there and a lot of the subject families should have never left the city life given the planning and prep work they did. I mean who puts their life savings into partially building an off grid home with no plan at all for getting water and no new or current source of income?!
 I just found Big Timber did a fair job of reducing this artificial drama to a point I could watch and enjoy it and ignore the narrator trying to build excitement.

[JoshNZ]

Suddenly Coleman has a realisation, that may just save the day.. They're still making new tires...

Neh I agree, it's tolerable!

[YellowHammer]

I watched some of the episodes.  I think that any company that uses worn out equipment will have plenty of drama.  Kind of like Swamp Loggers.  I loved that show, but old equipment breaks, production stops, stress is induced, people get mad, good TV.  

The barge thing was driving me crazy.  The barge sinks, it's been sunk for a year, because it's got some holes in it.  Raise the barge, pound in wedges and toilet bowl wax, into a steel hull, go to the expense to float the barge to a different site, put multiple pumps in the barge, constantly refill the too small pumps with gas, swing by and check on them constantly, then put big equipment on the barge, and guess what, the barge still has holes in the bottom so it will sink if not baby sat.  On no, the pumps are out of gas, the barge is gonna sink.  Lots of drama.  Hey, I've got an idea, fix the holes, no drama.  They finally did that.  End of barge scenes, no more drama.  

Cut off the stump, quit breaking $20,000 logs.  If they were really $20,000 dollar logs, I guarantee the stump would have been cut off, after the first one.  Or don't cut it and keep filming breaking logs.  Oh no, broke another log.  What should we do? I don't know, let's do nothing and see if the next one breaks...oops, it did it again.  Hey, let's try it again, maybe this one won't break... Hey the boss is mad, I wonder why?

Plan for the bridge to be closed, it's government, things don't happen overnight or suddenly.  The bridge wasn't closed, it was simply weight restricted, it still would accommodate a half truck load of logs.  So they stopped hauling altogether?  That's doubtful.  Let's see, they inspected the bridge, it won't carry a full load of loads.  So if we can't haul logs, we go out of business.  So how many logs can we haul? About half a load.  So let's not haul anything...and spend all our effort raising a sunken barge and not fixing the leaks.  

I think the most realistic part of the show was the other company owner/guy needing logs, not wanting to put up with these issues, and quickly canceling his contract.  That's real life.  

Anyways, I liked the show, it's better than most of the "reality TV."   To be honest, most TV is so bad, I'd watch a show of a bunch of guys paving a freeway....I mean, I've already watched three seasons of guys hooking up tow trucks on the "Mighty Coq."       

[Mooseherder]

I binge watched until episode 5 or 6 and fell asleep.  Have to find where I left off later for another binge.  :D

[Ljohnsaw]

I think we have 2 episodes to go.  I, to, found myself yelling at the TV - cut the stumps, fix the holes, haul half loads...  You'd think they could find the guys trying to sell a big air compressor.

[Iwawoodwork]

when/where I worked in the woods the logger would have got an ok to cut into the bank and bypass the bridge as it appeared to be a seasonal nonflowing stream bed, or even more likely the boss or someone with a radio/cb would be parked a ways down and the loads would come on across just as they had been up  to the day/ hour the bridge capacity was reduced. The bridge did not deteriorate that much in a day or two and was  handling loads up to then.

[Mooseherder]

I watched the rest of the season last night.   More people will want to get into the business of 30 thousand dollar logs after watching the series. :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Folks, it's entertainment, don't let the tricks the producers pull to get attention suck you in. It's pure theater and little more, intended to excite those who know little about the subject. I enjoyed the show and hope they do another season, but I don't get too worked up over the drama they induced back in the editing and voiceover studios. There is a lot more they don't show you in order to create the drama. For instance, they could have known of that bridge closure months in advance but that didn't make for a good show so they adjusted the reality a little and made it a crisis.
 (And yes, I admit, I was talking to the screen also, you can't help it.) :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Just a bump here to let folks know that season 2 is now available. Not for everyone as noted above, but I kind of enjoy it. They need a better writer for the narration still, too much dramatic talk in non-dramatic situations, but they are all like that.
This year (so far) they are beachcombing for drift logs until the snow melts on their claim.

[thecfarm]

I've been a watching it!!!! 

[terrifictimbersllc]

We're watching it too!

Kevin build a cedar table for $6000 supposedly in one evening from a cedar slab that was out in the yard that they beveled first with the LT70. Customer from LA. Wonder what the humidity difference is, and how that worked out?

My wife and I were cutting a whole pick up truck load of edgings to length. She would pull out three at a time and I would cut them off to kindling length  with my cordless Stihl saw. We got a system going where it didn't take too long. Sometimes I'd say "gotta get the BIG TIMBER!!! " :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Gee Dennis, thanks for the 'Spoiler Alert Warning' on the episode I am watching right now. I heard them say it was $8,000. Probably would have come out nicer and easier if he had a slabmizer in the stable. ;D

[aigheadish]

Thanks for the bump Tom. I rarely get on Netflix so I probably wouldn't have noticed for a few months.

[JoshNZ]

We just got done watching the second season, the whole lot is them pulling logs off the beach really. Hard to believe that was worth their time. Guy in the band sharpening shack must have been cursing them.