a few more loads from last week (for the boys who like pics)

[Ianab]

IAN, if you can fit another whole log on a truck by 'cutting the rubbish off' your amazing

Truck weights here are strictly enforced. See how the truck in the pic doesn't have the trailer bunks full? That's because it would put him overweight, and once you get in the traffic policeman's "naughty book" your life will quickly become VERY frustrating.

Most of those dedicated logging trucks will have on-board scales so the driver knows exactly how much he's carrying, and how it's distributed over the axles, so they leave the landing as close as possible to legal.

So hauling 500lb of rubbish simply makes no sense.

(OK you might not get another log that size on the truck, but with smaller logs, it's going to count.)

Ian

[PAFaller]

Thats cool you guys work with your dad. My dad and I both share the stubborn swedish gene so Im not sure we could ever work together and maintain any level of sanity :D We tend wear on each other by the end of a long weekend, let alone working together every day!

MEloggah, there isnt a tax like is common in NH and Maine, but in PA we have an income tax and you have to claim that revenue as such. And of course the Feds get some in the form of capital gains taxes. As for the mills there are good ones and bad ones, I got hooked up with a real good one and am mostly a contract cutter. I get paid by the foot and by the ton to cut and skid. Its not a get rich quick job, but they appreciate a good clean job and buy pretty good timber so you can make an honest living if you work at it.

As for the stumpage deals Im not one to tell a guy how to go about his business, I just stay away from percentage deals. Most of the shady crews here are less than ethical in their dealings. Its pretty common for the independent crews here to cut a patch of timber, lay the logs out on the landing, and have different mills come and bid on them. And some guys take the whole tree and merchandise it and do right by the landowner. Others will only pull the gravy to make the numbers look better and pad their pockets, without doing the work of trimming out the lower grade logs and pulp. If you cut 60 trees and only take out the first 2, maybe 3 logs and leave the rest the value of those is pretty good. Especially in species like cherry, although it tanked, or hard maple which may average 800-1000 per thousand. I couldnt bring myself to cut a job, leave a lot of good wood in the woods, then take 400-500 dollars per thousand just for skidding out the gravy. Other crews have their own truck and Ive been told they cut a whole lot of pallet logs that arent pallet logs. I have no proof of this but word spreads within the logging community pretty quick, there aren't a whole lot of us left around here. I will never rival Bill Gates or Donald Trump in what I earn logging, but I can say with honesty that every day when I put the saws back in the box and head for home I did the job to the best of my ability and would have done it the same as if I owned the ground I'm working on. Ive never once laid awake pondering whether I gave someone a raw deal or should have done something different, and to me that matters more than how much I made or got done.

[MEloggah]

Ian i knew what you meant lol i was being a W/A. when i used to load canadian trucks they would look at their axels then 'sign' me for a 10" or an 8" or maybe a 16" log so they would be as close to but not over on weight. i know all about the blue boys, dad had 7 trucks on the road at one point.


kind of a slow day today. had a case of the mondays lol


 

[MEloggah]

PA what you described is high grading and your right that is shady.