couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[chevytaHOE5674]

Dull chains, tweaked bars, and pushing are all good ways to split the bigger ones.

[David-L]

Still wackin this Pine lot. Some nice ones these last few days.



 



  

[barbender]

We probably cut 95% pulp wood, so the processors don't get into saw quality hardwood very often, pallet if anything. Most of the time guys just aren't paying attention, IMO.

[BargeMonkey]

 Not really any good "cutting pictures" but it's what I've got.  :D
 

  

  

 

 
Never figured I would be sharpening and setting shear knives again.  :D 

[Ken]

/quote]

But it also take a very talented operator to process those bigger ones without breaking things.  I don't get to cut a lot of hardwood logs but do know that it is not as easy as it may look.  What size head is that on the ponsse?

[1270d]

Pretty sure he runs a 73.

[chevytaHOE5674]

73E head. ha

Takes a little bit of skill and jockeying to get a 28" tree safely on the ground with a 21" bar.

[David-L]

Still gettin some big pine down. Trucker says his loader was grunting on a few of these. Off to the mill. Feel real fortunate to be cutting such nice timber.



 

 

 

[jwilly3879]

Nice pine!

[Offthebeatenpath]

My pine isn't nearly as nice as David L's... but the view's decent.



 

Stacking pulp with the skid steer.

[Peter Drouin]

Dave L has the price of W Pine come down some?

[David-L]

I have been averaging the same since the job started on this pine from a local mill. its' been 280 to 300 bucks at the mill. The scale seems to be good. Trucking is what it is so after paying the landowner it's still alot of work for not alot of money for handing choppin and skiddin. Much better than going to an office setting though. It's a challenge to keep it all going no matter how big or small you are. Hats off to all in this business.

[Peter Drouin]

Thanks for the info, And yes It can be hard sometimes.

[coxy]

Thanks for the info, And yes It can be hard sometimes.

if it was easy every one would be doing it  8) 8) 8)

[jwilly3879]

Busy weekend for the Williams crew (John Jr and John Sr) we did have a small pile to start with.

Logs on the left end and firewood on the right. Piled as high as the roof of the loader cab.



 

The sap is running out of the maple logs.

[Straightgrain]

 Big Leaf Maple clumps are casting too much shade on the understory; I'm getting three 12 foot logs from each tree jetting up from the old stumps. These last two stumps yielded 31 twelve-foot logs.

Slow-going having to work around the young firs in the understory, clearing limbs etc.



  

  

  

 

My felling is improving.

[enigmaT120]

Are you able to sell those maple logs?  I just made firewood from mine.  I hate those coppiced clumps of maple and alder, though I like the free-standing new trees that can actually grow straight.

SOMEBODY must buy maple, as I bought some flooring from a place outside of Corvallis that I think was milled locally.  I didn't even have a full truck load though.

[Straightgrain]

Are you able to sell those maple logs?  I just made firewood from mine.  I hate those coppiced clumps of maple and alder, though I like the free-standing new trees that can actually grow straight.

SOMEBODY must buy maple, as I bought some flooring from a place outside of Corvallis that I think was milled locally.  I didn't even have a full truck load though.

I'm trying; have adds on C/L and only a couple calls.

Here's the ad: (Ad deleted by Admin, refer to rules about such ads)

Selling fire wood in Oregon is almost as tough as selling sand on the beach; I refuse to deliver 😁

I will probably end up butchering it, and burning it in the wood stove for winter 2017-18.

I hear that Birl Wood is a PITA, and I dont have any Fiddle Wood (that I know of).

[enigmaT120]

I don't sell firewood, though I gave some to my machinist friend for obvious reasons.  I can't deliver much in an '81 Toyota short bed pickup, no trailer, and I don't want strangers on my place.

Have you tried that forest directory site?  I can't find it now, but it has listings for all kinds of people, including who might buy maple logs.  It's Oregon or northwest specific, I think.

Found it, it's run by OSU:

http://www.orforestdirectory.com/

[wannaergo]

Just finished a big clear cut with a bunch of random junk wood. Took a pic of the landing, thought it looked kind of cool.

[longtime lurker]

Sometimes I look at the piles of logs you guys put up in a day or two and I'm amazed. I hear y'all talk about how many trees a day you can cut and ramp working solo and I feel kinda... inadequate.

Me, if I can go to work by myself and get 8 trees from standing to the ramp its been a pretty good day - 1 an hour seems about the limit. Big long logs can take a bit of felling... stop and look at them a bit is par for the course because getting big long trees on the ground cleanly when they're in a stand of big long trees is a precision sawing exercise: unless you've got a D6 handy you dont want hangups.

Mind... I get hitches to the log, not logs to the hitch, and that kinda affects productivity somewhat. Smaller ones like this guy well... they come out in two lengths. The big guys got to get broken up a bit more or that poor little 666 cant handle them. (Actually she can handle them but the winch brake just wont take the weight. The log in the picture is right around the upper limit of what I can pull before the log has to be chained to the fairlead once its off the ground)



  

 

Eucalyptus species mostly weight heavy. Thats one "half tree" is about 4.1 ton of wood. Thats around the weight limit for the skidder winch, and a comfortable lift for the old wheel loader. My equipment aint all shiney and new like some... but it can lift.



 

Hard to get scale in log pictures I find... its jsut a tree, unless you got something beside it to put it in perspective, Like a truck. This is a left behind piece from the last crew through there about 40 years back. Them big guys... sometimes its not logs to the truckload, its truckloads to the log. At that point of course we aint lifting tree length around with a wheel loader, we're back to the age old technique of rolling them up a ramp with a dozer.



 

the smaller/ mid sized trees jsut work out easier.



Works out at around a 24 ton load in just 4 trees...  I guess I shouldnt complain about 8 a day huh?

[BargeMonkey]

 24ton in 4 trees is nothing to be ashamed off,  :D. I like the pictures, another great viewpoint from 1/2 way around the world from me. I wish I was "quality over quantity" but the virgin woodlots aren't around here. How does it work down there as far as fuel ? Parts ? Equipment cost ?

[longtime lurker]

24ton in 4 trees is nothing to be ashamed off,  :D. I like the pictures, another great viewpoint from 1/2 way around the world from me. I wish I was "quality over quantity" but the virgin woodlots aren't around here. How does it work down there as far as fuel ? Parts ? Equipment cost ?

Fuel... with exchange rates where they're at works out around $5 US a gallon, less $1.20 a gallon with govt rebates... they tax fuel out the wazoo then generously give us a pittance back.
Parts... if i dont need it in a hurry MinnParr is great for Clark, and the only place I know for gearmatic is Driveline Fabrications in Va. Domestic Cat is brilliant on parts, Deere is hit and miss on the forestry machines and expensive as it gets, Komatsu is okay if you can wait a week.
Equipment costs are expensive new, and they hold their value well if you get what I'm saying. Finding good second hand equipment at a reasonable price is very difficult, to the point where I look at importing gear as an alternative. You guys dont know how good you got it in terms of the depth of second hand equipment available, I've been looking for a good clean 667 grapple for a couple years and will probably end up getting one out of BC or the West Coast and freighting it around the world. I like the Clarks - not as nice a day at the office as some but they're about the toughest skidder ever built.

Everything is more expensive here...  wages, living costs, food, etc etc etc. But we get paid more too - at the end of the day I think its the same the world over... things are tough in the timber game and its hard to do any more then survive right now wherever you are. I only harvest for our own mill, I'd hate to be doing it for a living. Not much of a margin in sawmilling right now either - but one slim margin plus another slim margin is better then either seperately.

They aint quality either BTW. They're on the big end for euc hardwoods, but up until 30 years back no-one much worried about that around here because we still had access to the rainforest resource. My old grandad... he thought he'd done well if they got one log a week with axes and crosscuts and bullock teams but them rainforest logs can grow like Redwoods do in the PNW...  that big it boggles the mind just how they ever handled them. Grabbed a pic with the wife and kid in it at a static display up the road a bit a while back... its hard to comprehend the sheer size of the things. Granted not everyone was that big and mostly they tried to stay under around 6' diameter for the mills to handle but still...



  

 

My logs hit the ground with a thump you can feel through your feet. I'd have loved to heard one of these big girls go.

[Ken]

Cutting a check to the floating company.  It's moving day.  Always like moving on to a different site.  Little change of scenery.

 

[lshobie]

 First tree with my new skidder - a red oak to be live edge milled for table tops and mantles.  This thing hauls!