Making it through another year '21-'23

[Walnut Beast]

This is what you need Greenhorn. You could pull those logs on and off that trailer by hand smooth as silk

 

[Old Greenhorn]

This is what you need Greenhorn. You could pull those logs on and off that trailer by hand smooth as silk

DO you mean by hand or in conjunction with the hoist?
 In the first case I am afraid my legs aren't up to that work and I already have too many things wearing out my legs. ;D ;D
 In the second case I think those are a bit too long and I will lose all my vertical travel room. I already have a pair of log tongs but opted for the security of having a choker all around the log(s), because a slip could be dangerous.
 For mushroom logs these are definitely out because they will scar the logs, but I know that's not what you were intending.
 I had spent 40 minutes with a detailed reply to all the previous posts and then fat fingered it away. I don't have time to re-do that now. I am working at home today, so maybe this afternoon. Suffice to say right now that I appreciate all the suggestions and keep looking at these options, if not for a direct answer then for a lead into something better. Thinking is good, and these make all me think. (Some make me think a few of you would do well with a little counseling. :D )

[gspren]

This is what you need Greenhorn. You could pull those logs on and off that trailer by hand smooth as silk

How hard was it to train the dog to use those tongs?

[doc henderson]

"I'm not crazy, my mom had me tested!"  Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory.

[Nebraska]

Looks like that winch worked out  pretty well. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Looks like that winch worked out  pretty well.

Yeah, color me surprised!
Doc, Sheldon was talking about himself, the jury is still out on you. :D And some of these other guys are a bit concerning also. ;D ;D

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, its been a few days since an update. Not much exciting going on with me. Friday I fixed some stuff and piddled around, pretty tired from the day prior chipping and unloading those logs. Still it is heartening to see that my legs and back are holding up better these days and recovering (mostly) by the next morning. Friday I got a call from the Ashokan center, they were looking for about 3 yards of fresh Harwood chips to make a chip bed for planting mushrooms as a demo project on their campus. So I made some calls and when my logger buddy drove by I followed him back to his yard to give him some cash one of his clients left with me. We talked and he had some cleaning up to do at his place chipping the brush I left from mushroom logs back in March and a little bit of thinning on the new 60 acres he just bought across the road. SO we made tentative arrangements for me to do that work with him 'sometime in the next few days'. 
 Saturday was hot and I decided to be a bum. The wife and I went to a flea market for its opening day and I ran into some woodcarvers and we chatted for a while. They plan to give me a call in a few weeks, but they said that when I met them last year. ;D  I bought a knife to replace the one I lost a few weeks ago from them, and the wife bought a cutting board shaped like a fiddle for my SIL. When we got home the mail had arrived and the book I ordered came in. Lee Marvin's biography. Since I am working at a house that I was told was his, I got curious about the man and got a used copy of the book looking for insight. He was an interesting guy for sure. I had been wanting, when I retired, to get back into my old reading habits, but for the last 15 years I have had increasing issues focusing and relaxing enough to read and enjoy a book. It has concerned me quite a bit. I have hundreds of books in my library on everything from outdoors living to American and other histories and lots of biographies. Many are not even in English, but they were important to what I was doing, so I muddled through. But when my head began getting messed up with the Fire and EMS stuff that kept me up at night, I lost the ability to get lost in a book and I want that back. I bought several good books from their authors over the years and could never finish one of them.
 Well Saturday was hot and I was a bit weary in general, so after chores and such I grabbed a chair and set it in the sun, along with a beer and started in. It was a pretty good read for me and I got through about 200 pages by bedtime and finished the book Sunday morning. Sunday night I ordered another book by Lee Marvin's second wife. As she is from Woodstock, I am hoping that will have some better references to the house in question. I also looked up the online legal records and managed to figure out that the property was bought by Lee Marvin's father in 1946 and Lee spent time there after he got a medical discharge from the USMC from wounds suffered in the battle for Saipan. He (Lee) worked as a plumbers apprentice for a local family business that is still active in the area. (He kept his union dues paid up until he died.) Anyway, when Lee's father died, the property went to Lee and his siblings and eventually to Lee, then to Lee's widow, Pam. Her estate sold the property to my current client for something north of 500 grand. Interesting that on the parcel map I see the property also includes a section across the road, which my client never mentioned. I wonder if he is even aware? Will have to follow up on that.
 Anyway, it was good to read a book, it's been a long time. 
 So Sunday I got the call that we could make some chips and I put my chainsaw pants on for another hot day. We hooked up his smaller chipper to the smaller dump truck (F550) and started working around his 80 acres finding and chipping up the stuff that had been left here and there during other cutting operations and we also thinned a few trees here and there. We even found a catalpa tree we trimmed up, a first for me, I didn't know we had it around here. Grows like a weed. Along the way, we also had a trespasser drive through on the private road that bisects his property. Some youngish hippy type in a little car. I was walking back on the road and when he drove by me, he didn't wave or make eye contact. I thought that strange. Then a little further down the (barely one lane) road, he encountered the dump truck coming back the other way. No way to pass and my buddy wasn't going to yield on his own property, so the little car backed all the way up to where I was still walking. My buddy stopped the truck and climbed down and we both asked the young fella if there was something we could do for him? He stammered and said, "well um, it looks like I took a wrong turn", 'Yeah, you did'. I told him he looked familiar (and he did, I am certain I have seen him somewhere else) but he seemed to have no interest in discussing it and he hastily backed up, turned around and left. Thinking about it now, I suppose we made a bit of a sight to him, two guys in hard hats and filthy work clothes covered in sweat and woo dust with a big truck, one short young, wiry, muscular dude and the old guy with him, not looking all that happy either. Now  wrong turn is one thing, but when you are driving down a 3rd class road and pass 2 red signs with white lettering on either side that say "private property, no trespassing", one has to wonder what one might be thinking, does one not? ;D Anyway, we got back to work and filled the truck, then did a walking tour of the new property for my benefit. Looks like he will be waging war on those beavers killing all his nicest white oak stems. It's almost like the beavers know how to high grade. ;D Anyway, it was hot, but it didn't take long to fill the truck. His smaller chipper is a 12" and it swallows quite a bit. We parked the chipper and I took the truck over to make the delivery, but unlike I was promised, nobody was available to show me where and lend a hand. I had also left the gate code back in my truck. So I got hold of the caretaker (90 miles away) and got the code, then got some folks on the phone to 'sorta, kinda' tell me how much they wanted dumped in each of 2 locations. 


 

I got that done and headed back and parked the truck. My buddy was just pulling his log truck into the shop. The gasket on the filter port of the hydraulic tank was leaking so I gave him a hand getting that apart. Then he had some Sunday company show up to test out his pool, so we had a beer and I headed home around 3. I am just glad I could get them their chips before I get into the log harvest at the end of the week. I have enough to do right now. Not even sure what I am doing today, but there is plenty.
 Time to get at it.

[Old Greenhorn]

Not much going on here these last 2 days, just chores mostly trying to clear the board for when I get into this mushroom log thing. Bucking firewood, mowing the lawn, rototilling the garden, cleaning and sharpening gear, just lots of odds and ends. And it has been hot, so I slow down and work around the sun.
 Got another email from Cornell today, they are moving forward with this 'river transport thing' and wondered if I would be ok with them videotaping me harvesting logs. Seems they want to document this thing where the product gets harvested, transported to the sloop in Kingston and then follow it all the way through from woods to 'farm'.  I still don't get the whole deal with the boat and such, but I can play. My job is just getting the logs to them.  I told them I can probably shoot some video, but they would have to do the editing. They said 'Oh No, we will send somebody up to do the filming, you don't need to worry about that'.  I am thinking 'OK, if you want somebody to meet me at 7am I am game. Whatever, just let me do my work.' I just hope they can make all their arrangements quick because I may start delivering their logs before the end of next week. 500 logs is a lot of work and a lot of trips. ;D
 I hope I can get started on these Friday or Saturday. I figure the first day as a loss while I try to get set into a routine and figure out if my plans are accurate or not. After that, I am hoping for the best and hoping my legs hold up. :D
 Tomorrow is another day, and if I get the word, I will load up in the afternoon for work on Friday.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I hope the documentary goes well. We spent the last week going to Fla and back for a buddy's wedding and overnight on the way down to see the daughter and Shirley Temple look-alike granddaughter and her brother.  Boy is she a sweet kid - probably gets it from her grandpa.

 I picked up my metal roofing for my outhouse/composting toilet and got all the framing done today. Now I just need to build the door, figure out the windows and put the siding on. Another customer is calling tomorrow for 3 similar sheds. Its getting hard to price them. The metal and pt lumber for the base is double what it was a year ago. I'm tempted to cut up locust posts into decking frames.

   Must be mating season for raccoons as I hear a couple raising cain outside. I first thought it was an old doe deer snorting. They do that a lot when we walk out and startle one in the yard and such. Boy are these guys loud. Sampson is happily sleeping in front of the TV and wants no part of them.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, nothing from me lately because I was waiting out the 3 days of rain. I filled the time doing chores, fixing chimneys, etc. As noted on another thread, Eric dropped some trees for me yesterday.
 SO, TODAY was the day to get started on this mushroom log harvest. I overslept until 6:30 and barely made the appointed meeting time, I had hoped to be 1/2 hour earlier and get a nice breakfast, but I ate as I drove and was only 5 minutes late. We went up to the site and did a walking tour. I had looked at the plot layout online and the sat photos, so I had a pretty good idea of the layout, but you can't see the skid trails on those. ;D Especially anything that was put in yesterday. :D  Anyway, its a sweet layout for me and Eric made it easy. I could get the Mule right up to a tree, cut out the usable stuff for me, throw a soft choker around it and drag it out, CTL and load. Some of the roads were just a little wet and the Mule should have handled them fine, we both agreed. And for the most part it did, but the Mule weighed about 750 pounds more going out than coming in and after a few runs I was taking a toll in some spots. But as with many things, you learn to pick a better line through those areas and it got much better, but there were a few moments than had me sideways, hooking it up, and hoping for the best. ;D
 By the time we walked the tour and Eric left me to my own designs, I got unloaded, squared away with the right tools (mostly) in the Mule, and got to the first tree by 10am. It took me a while to figure out an attack pattern, but I finally settled in on picking the sections that fell within my diameter requirements, and did as I mentioned above. Sounds easy and it is, but it's hard work. I cleaned one tree, got a full load, ran it back to the trailer. and then started messing with the lift and swing system. It worked fairly well. I do have to work on the bundle sizes more. Too much and it is a real bear to swing, handle, and lay where you want it. So I would leave larger logs out of the bundle and hand load those to fill in spots. I took the bulk of the load out of the Mule in one shot and hand moved a few extras. I did of course lose a load as I was landing it in the trailer, (you gotta find out where the limits are and I found that one) so I just took the straps off and shuffled them around. So I think this bundle and crane thing saves a little time when it works right, but what it really saves is me lifting every single log by hand and that means my body holds up longer, so in that respect, its a winner and the ones I hand load are a small percentage. I cleaned out all the wood that I could get access to, but there was no way to get the Mule into, or out of the skidder wallows. I needed more logs and was searching for what I may have missed and found a few here and there, then there was one tree about 75' across a big wallow so I pulled the mule as close sad I could and pulled out the winch line, cut what I could and tried to drag them in with the winch. That turned out to be a poor idea. I worked harder for those 5 logs then any others all day. (Obviously not worth it in hindsight but I had to try and learn why.)
 So I went back and unloaded, pulled the tools from the Mule, secured the mule and parked it behind an old horse trailer, bound the load and pulled out at 4:30, the truck thermometer said 85° and I was parched in spite of drinking water all day. 
Some Photos are in order. I could get a fair load in the mule, maybe 15-18 logs.



 

Loading the trailer on site, As long as I had the load balanced, it was fairly easy.


 

Offloading at home, not so bad either, the crane worked out pretty well if the trailer was level. I am pleased that idea worked out.


 

Stored the mule behind an old horse trailer, surrounded by old tractors, it is invisible in this crowd. :D


 
(I just looked at that photo and realized I left my axe on it.)

I came across one of these today. Does anybody know what it is? What kind of power plant? Interesting little unit.


 

Anyway, I came down the hill and stopped in Uptown Conesville at the Conesville Country Store and had one of their world famous vanilla shakes, I was parched and tired and it gave me a nice kick on the drive home. Got home after 6, had the trailer unloaded and parked by 7:30. so exactly a 12 hour day and I am suitably tired. Some rain tomorrow and more coming Thursday dang it. I only pulled 47 logs today which is less than half what I was hoping for. BUT we have to keep in mind that this was the 'prototype' and setup day.  I only took 15 minutes to eat lunch and worked the rest of the time, even when a neighbor came by to make sure I belonged there and we had a nice chat, I worked through it. It was pretty much a 12 hour loop.
 I am learning that one of the issues here is that I have a small diameter spectrum to cut from, between 4 and 6" which means I am really not taking a lot of each tree. (and those 6" pieces are over 50# a pop.) This is a lot of work. I am not complaining, I am just saying that compared to what you are getting out, you work really hard for it. There is no textbook for it (I think I am writing it. ;D ) I am pretty tired, but for a 'proof of process' day, this was pretty good. I have some things to think about, but I am pleased I didn't come up short on tools and methods to do the work. I had what I needed. I didn't get hurt, no pulled muscles, not exhausted, just pretty tired. Just a few scratches to prove I worked today. :D
 Oh and an aside to Brandon who brainstormed with me on those bundle straps quite a bit. Turns out those sling chokers were a no-go, just too short to do what we intended. BUT those 1" cheapo ratchet straps are THE WAY TO GO. They worked like a charm and I'll get a bunch more. You take a good guess, try it, and learn, then move on and improve. Having two ideas to try at the same time saved the day today on that score.
 I am off to bed folks.

[Resonator]

I came across one of these today. Does anybody know what it is? What kind of power plant? Interesting little unit.

Quick search online, "Coot amphibious ATV" looks like that machine. Looking at pics of other ones, the drivers compartment and cargo bed should twist articulate.

[nybhh]

Sounds like the first day of shroom logs was pretty good considering the setup involved and learning the lay of the land.      If the loggers don't know exactly what you are looking for, marking trees ahead of time might be a good option if you can get access.  In some ways, I think your best play is to be a kind of "shroom forester" and go in and mark trees before a cut and then buy appropriate logs directly from loggers as a middle man.  Even at $0.25 - $0.50 per LF, it probably beats pulp or firewood prices and leaves a healthy profit for you as middleman and keeps you from working yourself to death.  Problem is going to be finding and educating loggers and landowners but it wouldn't take too many willing to deliver logs to a landing to meet your demand.  Especially if it just means is a smaller burn pile and a bit more cash w/o extra trucking.

[Old Greenhorn]

Sounds like the first day of shroom logs was pretty good considering the setup involved and learning the lay of the land.      If the loggers don't know exactly what you are looking for, marking trees ahead of time might be a good option if you can get access.  In some ways, I think your best play is to be a kind of "shroom forester" and go in and mark trees before a cut and then buy appropriate logs directly from loggers as a middle man.  Even at $0.25 - $0.50 per LF, it probably beats pulp or firewood prices and leaves a healthy profit for you as middleman and keeps you from working yourself to death.  Problem is going to be finding and educating loggers and landowners but it wouldn't take too many willing to deliver logs to a landing to meet your demand.  Especially if it just means is a smaller burn pile and a bit more cash w/o extra trucking.

Well everything you said right there makes perfect sense of course. I had plenty of time over the winter to think about that, and 'think on it' I did plenty of. Even talked to a few guys about it. I learned some things and continue to learn more every day. It is beginning, even to a dunce like me, to becomes more clear. Just a couple of months ago my thoughts were pretty much (OK, nearly exactly) the same as yours and it made a lot of sense to me. SO you will understand why now I can tell you that the ideas are nice, but just not workable. I am not arguing here, or putting down your ideas (you know me much better than that) but am sharing what I have learned thus far, because your thoughts make perfect sense until you get into doing the work.
First there are some 'truths' we have to consider: the logger has to make time, they fight weather, equipment breakdowns, cutters and drivers that don't show up, or show up in a non-working condition, they have landowners to sooth and please, and pretty much the same with foresters and buyers. Keeping things moving and cash flow going is a day by day battle. There are a lot of days they don't win and on the days they are winning, they have to keep the hammer down in order to pay bills, wages, loans, etc. In the end very few (OK, none of them) are tooling around on the weekend in their Mercedes convertible (mostly because if the weather is good they are working all weekend). A slight loss in efficiency for them can mean a complete loss of any profit. Now I may be off on my perspective in this a little, but those are are in the middle of this should feel free to correct me. For now, that is my picture.
Yes, I can and do tell the loggers I work with what I need and they pratty much all hear me and realize that this is the junk they can't use anyway. But loggers are cutting each property with very different end goals on each depending on the landowner or forester's marking. I can show them good examples trees, but it's not my to place to mark for them. Besides, the 'ideal tree for me is also one I can drop and buck in about 5 minutes. 8" on the butt, straight pecker poles of the right species. These are often the keeper trees for future growth, so I would conflict with the end goal here. Consequently, I have to take top wood branches off the larger trees. which as you said, is a lot more work, but it is fine wood for this purpose.
Having the logger bring selected logs to the landing is nearly impossible for 3 reasons. 1) they would have to skid them and that ruins the wood, 2) I would be leaving what I don't take (too big, or too small) on the landing, adding to the mess they don't want there, and 3) I am finding that on these branch pieces I am almost always removing jus the middle. I go up the branch until the diameter drops to 6" and begin marking and cutting there and go on until I get down to just under 4", this leaves more top and a lot of bottom wood. Yes, it kills me to leave a lot of branches that are very close but too small or too big because I already spent time getting them out to take what I can.
On cost: well that is touchy because of the market. Bottom line basic price right now is $4.00/log to the end grower, plus more for delivery (I charge a fair price, but enough that I don't mind delivering). If I pay what you suggest for wood it would come right off the profit (I use that term very loosely here). Doing the long shuttle run with nearly a half tank of fuel a day is already pushing the limit on making any money and taking another $1.00 off my selling price per log to pay the logger would kill it entirely. Certainly if a logger were to cut to length and leave a stack for me to pick up, this would be a very workable situation, but no logger I can find would consider doing that. I don't believe it would pay their hourly rate or even come close, but I can't speak for them, I just know they won't, because I have asked. :DAs soon as you mention taking them out of the woods in a pickup bed or loader bucket the conversation dies. I have been extremely lucky (and blessed) in that nobody who I have gotten logs from has charged me a penny or accepted my offers of payment. I can't say if this is because they see the work involved (I doubt that because they are not there working with me) or the little I can pay would not make a difference to them. Most likely is they just want to help me out as long as it doesn't cost them too much in time. (I am told I can be a likeable guy at times.) I have offered as much as $.50/log, but any more and I would not making anything at all.
I can say that if the best I can do is 50 logs/day, then I am pretty much in a loosing situation. I have to get that number up to 100 or better. I am sure we can, still working on how.
I have talked to a lot of folks in the last three years about how this is best done, including the big expert at Cornell university. The only common thread I have found is that nobody does this for a profit, per se. They do it for extra cash from wood that would either become firewood or chip, and it almost always done on one's own land or for a neighbor. I have yet to find anyone with a clear handle on the economics, it's just extra cash. The closest I have found is a fella with 80 acres he maintains as a sugar bush and thins trees as time goes on, each year he takes the right sized and species wood and sets it aside to sell as Mushroom logs, but he and I had a long talk about the economics and he readily admits there ain't much money there and it is a pain, even on his own land with proper equipment.
So the learning adventure continues. All your thoughts are valid, common sense ones. That's why I took the time here to talk about them. I figure if this doesn't work out for me I may as well share the story so somebody else can figure it out better than I have. So far this whole thing reminds of that old saying: "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is". But I will keep at it because just for myself, I need to know if I can figure this out. I continue to treat this whole thing as an experiment in learning a new process, or developing one, as the case may be. I didn't unload the trailer last night because I had to, I unloaded (even though dog tired) because I wanted to see if I could do it while I was that tired and what effect it might have on me this morning. Because if/when the day comes that I am doing at least a full trip per day, I will have to do the complete cycle in a day. Yesterday's work provided a huge learning opportunity and gave me a leg up in understanding this. The conditions were pretty close to ideal and I have Eric to thank for that.
Today is another day. I best get at it.

[trimguy]

Everything else is going up, maybe it's time to raise the price on mushroom logs. When I Went in the business for myself, I had a guy tell me " if you get every job you bid on your too cheap ". With that being said, I hate to see work go elsewhere. Just something else to think about.

[aigheadish]

Looks like all the adventures are going well OGH! Keep on trucking!

[Old Greenhorn]

Yes, almost certainly the price goes up next year, but I can't say how much. For now I made promises at the current price point and will hold them. 
 I will also add in a sliding scale for small quantities of some sort, because doing a deal for one or two logs isn't really worth it except to make a new contact. I am learning as I go, but I am not going to charge my customers for my pricing 'errors'.
 You are correct, nobody has complained about the prices except one person who found a cheaper source (free) and choose that.

[doc henderson]

I was thinking the same thing.  Even the wholesalers will take all you can give them (at this price)  I assume you have gone on line and found a price point.  If you are going to break even, there are ways to do that without all the work.  maybe even spend time with the family.  You are a smart guy, and i know you will figure out what it is worth to you.  Sounds like you are getting your body conditioned for this kind of work again, and that can be healthy to a point.  If you get taken out by an injury, then it is all for naught. 

[aigheadish]

This seems like minimal work in comparison to what you are doing otherwise but could you toss a battery operated drill on that winch handle (or the nut it's attached with)? I feel like that'd save you a little time and muscle but I've never really paid attention to how those winches work.

[Old Greenhorn]

I came across one of these today. Does anybody know what it is? What kind of power plant? Interesting little unit.

Quick search online, "Coot amphibious ATV" looks like that machine. Looking at pics of other ones, the drivers compartment and cargo bed should twist articulate.

Yup, that's it! A 12HP tecumseh engine is all it has. I didn't touch this machine to look for the engine, just took a photo. These seem pretty slow and strong footed but meant mostly for fun and carrying people. I was wondering hoe it would handle roached out skidder tracks and found some interesting videos on you tube. Not sure what this one would need and not sure I'd be looking for another project. (I don't like Tecumseh engine at all.) But still it might be a fun machine to mess with, given the time.

[doc henderson]

It would be a conversation starter, all painted up with your logo on the side.

[Old Greenhorn]

This seems like minimal work in comparison to what you are doing otherwise but could you toss a battery operated drill on that winch handle (or the nut it's attached with)? I feel like that'd save you a little time and muscle but I've never really paid attention to how those winches work.

Well it's impossible to see from still photos, but the hand winch is really just light duty and used for making the cable taught. (Also, it will probably need replacement after not very long because it is cheap.) All the lifting is done with the hydraulic jack. The few cranks I use the winch for go pretty quick. I have been thinking on this crane thing quite a bit as I use it because it is working well as far as it goes. It would be nice to have a small power pack to work the hydraulic jack with a remote so I could use my hands to guide the load in and down. It would be hugely more useful (game changer) if I could adjust the boom length/reach while under load. This would be a huge increase in usability, but there is a balance in that and how much load I can put on the trailer mount point. More to think about or shop for a better setup. Something with an 'elbow joint' would be ideal, but as the reach increases, the mount becomes critical. These are indeed the things that keep my mind going as I work.

[Old Greenhorn]

I was thinking the same thing.  Even the wholesalers will take all you can give them (at this price)  I assume you have gone on line and found a price point.  If you are going to break even, there are ways to do that without all the work.  maybe even spend time with the family.  You are a smart guy, and i know you will figure out what it is worth to you.  Sounds like you are getting your body conditioned for this kind of work again, and that can be healthy to a point.  If you get taken out by an injury, then it is all for naught.  

Yeah Doc, I have been watching the 'body/conditioning' aspects pretty close because this is an undeniable limiting factor. I got a wake up call back in March when I harvested logs for a half day and I was really sore and had the life sucked out of me beyond what I had expected. Happy to report now, that is not the case and I appear to have improved. I am very aware of things like water consumption, Sustainable work habits, avoiding stupid moves (as much as possible), getting good rest when I can, and preventing injuries. So far, so good, but it only takes one slip.
Pricing is what it is for now. I will use my current price to get some clients and then next year after they see what I supply, they can decide if the increase is worth it for them. Honestly, I can't say I see this turning into a long term business for anyone for a number of reasons. First, this is a current trend that may go away (growing mushrooms) or die down, second these logs last a grower 5-7 years with good care, so how many will they buy year after year? Third, getting a raw log source is a never ending road. Fourth there are all the details of proper cutting, time to cut, finding buyers at the right time, access to and transport of the logs, etc. Unless somebody is in just the right circumstances it is just a lot of hassle.
On that Coot, yeah, it looks cool, but I am not sure it is a better solution that what I have now. Just fun to think about. I don't think I need another project, especially if that has a blown gear reduction unit or something like that.

[Nebraska]

50 sticks your first day out sounds good, you will get more efficient  with time.  Add your heavier trailer,  plus other improvements to your crane system I bet it gets to be a fairly  smooth  operation.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I was back up there yesterday with an altered plan and was in the woods by 9. I spent some time scouting trees and was getting really disillusioned. Lots and lots of maple and beech but no RO except those that were too big or too small, finally I found one, then another and so on. I finally had to start flagging trees so I didn't lose them before I came back to cut. It didn't take me long to fill the mule and on my way out to load the trailer I ran into Barge's friend that lost his shop last week. When I realized who it was I had to sit and talk with him for a while. The poor guy is heartbroken and I sure get that. We talked for quite a while because I sensed he needed that. I felt so bad for him. He had two younger fellas with him and they were all looking at the iron around the property for any special finds. I suggested the 'Ford section' over where i was cutting. ;D
 Anyway, I lost about 40 minutes there, unloaded and got back to the Ford section to fell, buck and move another load. They wandered through while I was cutting. When I went back and was filling the trailers again I ran into them as they were leaving. The young fellas left and the old fellas talked some more. By that time it was 2pm. My son was having a get-together and the wife was a little ticked I was working, so I cut it off early and headed home. Traffic here on the weekends with all the tourists is bad because they are all distracted and can't seem to maintain a steady speed or even drive at the limit. It makes for a long drive. I got home and unloaded the entire load, took a shower and made it to his party by 5, but again, I was pretty tired. The temp was up near 90 and the sun would suck the life out of a man.
 I only pulled another 45 logs, but I did that in about 3 hours less than the previous visit. An adjustment in tactics seems to have paid off. I am pulling some larger logs, up to about 7-1/2" but these are beautiful logs for mushrooms, almost all fast growers and 90% sapwood. A growers dream. I am also pulling out 90% of every tree I drop. This load was pretty much the same size (count) as the last one but weighed about 30% more. I'll be back up tomorrow. I needed to rest the muscles today big time and get the lawn cut.
 I have a friend that might be coming to help with labor on Wednesday to see how that goes, time and production wise. Thursday I am due to deliver 120 logs a few counties south of here. Then I have to see if I want to go forward with that 500 log order. It seems daunting right now finding enough of the right trees and having enough wind in my sails.
 Tomorrow is another day. Lets see what happens.

[Old Greenhorn]

I wrote an update last night but just but before I hit 'post' the cat sat on the keyboard and it was gone. I was too exhausted to re-write it.
Hit it hard again yesterday (well, as hard as a guy like me can). This hot weather sucks the life out of me and the black flies are the icing on the cake. Near 90 with a heat index warning. I went through a lot of water.
Bottom line: started cutting by 9am, out of the site by 2:15. 58 logs.



 

Ran into Barge when I stopped for a late lunch to eat on the way home. He looked more tired than I felt. It was a long drive home behind some guy that thinks 55MPH is a suggestion and he did anything from 40-60 randomly for 30 miles with a line of about 10 vehicles behind him.
I could not wait to get those chainsaw pants off when I got home. Changed into shorts and unloaded. I now have about 135 logs in stock, most of those get delivered on Thursday.
Nothing else to report of note, just the usual daily extra couple of holes in my arms.


 

While I was cutting I did run across this in the woods. Nice shape, looks like it just needs a tune-up.




 

Maybe a little cleaning up on the body work too.
 I was in bed before 9 last night and didn't sleep well at all because of the heat. 
Today is an off day because I am shot, have to do invoices and arrange the Thursday delivery details. Tomorrow I am bringing up a friend to supply manual labor and see how a 2nd person affects the operation. It sure will be nice to have company and a second set of eyes. I keep finding fresh bear scat all over (like 'last night' fresh) and often feel like my 'bear repellant' is too many steps away in the Mule glove box. (I already have too many things on my belt.)
Have you ever noticed how 2 oblivious little chipmunks that are fighting/playing/mating can make as much noise as a full grown man coming through the underbrush? :D
Anyway, I don't see any break in the heat coming this week and tomorrow will be a long one loading up for the next days delivery. I'll decide on the next steps as I drive down to do the delivery.