couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[barbender]

Nice timber, reprod! Those steering axle trailers are something, I've watched some videos of European trucks coming down switchbacks with poles on and a steering rear. It's crazy the corners they were making!

Clark, that is some balsam there!

Yep Gearbox, bring lots of saws and take your time.

[newoodguy78]

Now that is some serious sticks of wood. They must cut them to length at the mill?

Do they haul that length down the open road or are they only on logging roads with those trucks? Either way I bet there is quite a learning curve to those type of trailers.

[reprod]

Now that is some serious sticks of wood. They must cut them to length at the mill?

Do they haul that length down the open road or are they only on logging roads with those trucks? Either way I bet there is quite a learning curve to those type of trailers.

They haul them down the road this way.  Flaggers are typically needed on both ends of the truck.  Some smaller county roads are restricted, but most allow us to haul on them. 
They are already cut to length.  We sell poles 35' to 130' in length.  They debark and treat them at this length.  The longer lengths are getting harder to come by.

[coxy]

how do you get paid for them  by the ton,board ft or the length 

[reprod]

how do you get paid for them  by the ton,board ft or the length 

Most of the time by scale/bd ft. 
Some buyers pay by the pole.  They have a spreadsheet with all of the pole lengths/grades they are looking for with the price they pay or each.   

[enigmaT120]

Are those poles generally worth much more than the same tree cut into more normal length logs?  They must bring more money to somebody, since it costs so much more to haul them.  I see them sometimes, they're cool to watch.  Not that I need to worry about it, the only trees I have that tall are much thicker.  And it's hard enough to get regular length logs out over my bridge/curve.

[reprod]

Are those poles generally worth much more than the same tree cut into more normal length logs?  They must bring more money to somebody, since it costs so much more to haul them.  I see them sometimes, they're cool to watch.  Not that I need to worry about it, the only trees I have that tall are much thicker.  And it's hard enough to get regular length logs out over my bridge/curve.

Generally they are worth more, but not always.  There are times when they are worth a lot more.  When the market is hot for poles, the pole companies will usually pay for the trucking.  I generally don't bother with poles unless the market is quite a bit higher than export. 
One of the problems with producing poles is fall down.  Fall down is the price you get if the pole doesn't make grade.  You don't know if the pole made grade until after it is peeled (at the pole yard).  If the pole gets rejected, it is still good for logs...  but the price you get for the logs is the "fall down".  The fall down price is usually quite a bit lower than the normal log market and much lower than the pole market.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Still cutting USFS ground but have moved from nice red pine to ratty hardwood and over mature half rotten aspen. And to top it off its on a very steep hill. Pictures don't do it justice but most of the hillside the forwarder can't access so I've been pulling what I can to the top and the rest gets launched to the bottom tree length and processed at the bottom. Slid down about 20 feet on the snow uncontrollably this afternoon at which point I decided it was time to call it a day. 

[BargeMonkey]

 Log prices are back but I've got some clearing work Ive got to do when I get home, I honestly don't need the wood and need to put cobble in my yard come spring so holding off on trucking in.  Got called back to the boat on short notice for a family emergency so killing time now.


  

  

 
Its too wet and i dont feel like tearing up 1 mile of road, had to send pictures to a friend showing him I still knew how to pull cable.  :D


  

 
The boy counting drivers the other day as we made up a box of chain. I bought a borzon wheel for 3/4 and .404, if you grind chain they are the only way to go, wish I had tried one a while ago.


  

 
Maintenance is the killer right now, got a bunch of repairs planned for this winter and just trying to keep everything going. Our mechanic is good and I pick up the slack when I can.

  

 
Lost my injector pump and was down for a few days, never know what your going to be turning wrenches on from day to day.  :D , squared away and going again, still debating the 3/4 conversion, I'm running the GB bars now and 90% of the time .404 is ok but I still think 3/4 is the way to go in ugly wood. I heat my house with all the ends and crap off the processor mixed in with some slabwood, only way to go. 

 
Opening day of deer season I end up putting in an 8' belt splice, got to keep stuff going. I'm ok at it, there's an art to splicing belts. All and all we have some of the best guys working for us and it shows. 

  

 
My father standing by some pine I've got to cut in the next little bit, real nice white pine is hard to find around here sometimes.

[coxy]

barge you got some nice equipment but whats with the artic crap side by side  :D :D why not stick with all yellow    going to have fun today have to help my buddy  put sand in a trench for electric wire 800ft long and has to be 2ft of sand on the bottom and 2ft on top the mud is going to be bad after putting the tracks on the skid steer

[1270d]

Here's a clip from this summer, cutting in a spruce swamp.   To date this is the deepest bog I have operated on. 

https://youtu.be/yTSY8IGnRpM

[newoodguy78]

That must be an unnerving feeling operating on ground like that. At least I know it would be for me.

[barbender]

Hoo boy! That is deep! We usually try to save  those for winter ;D

[barbender]

I've always enjoyed the look on someone's face if they are riding along in a processor on a bog and  the operator shoves a stick down lime that. Kind of like when a Southerner watches an ice auger hit water for the first time

[newoodguy78]

I've always enjoyed the look on someone's face if they are riding along in a processor on a bog and  the operator shoves a stick down lime that. Kind of like when a Southerner watches an ice auger hit water for the first time

:D :D I know that look you're talking about when a southerner sees water coming up out of the hole for the first time. It's the combination of that ain't right and what have I got myself into now look.

[1270d]

You can see waves in the ground as you move the machine around.   8)

[thecfarm]

41 feet of mud. I have to cross a bog to get to the back lot. The ground will move when a forwarder crosses it. Even the tractor use to do it. Now with a layer of rock about 2-3 feet deep has taken seeing most of the ground moving away.  ;D

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've heard of a guy that was cutting a bog like that down by Amasa and the machine all the sudden broke through and his processor went down so fast he didn't think he was going to make it out of the cab in time. When it finally stopped the machine was down to the roof and took 4 large excavators to dig it out.

[1270d]

If there is no root base and I haven't laid a mat, I don't go there.   I don't need an adventure like that Chevy, calculated risk only, no driving around to see if it's soft.  Mat first.

It is difficult or next to impossible to lay a durable mat without adequate stumps and roots underneath.   

[xalexjx]

I started a lot 2 winters ago, had about a 1/3 mile skid through what i would consider a pretty soft swamp. Still have 40 acres or so of hw (mostly hard maple) on a rigde past it to cut but dont dare go back till we get some steady sub 0 temps. It was weird skidding through it and watching trees 30 ft away swaying. Just moved equip to a new lot last week and things are starting to tighten up here pretty good will get some pictures up soon.

[Gearbox]

I remember in the spruce swamp shaking the snow out of the trees along the road when going out loaded . With a 250 we could not get out of the low side until we got to mineral soil . 6 above this morning making ice on the skid roads .

[barbender]

This is a road we built across a swamp this fall to make all season access into a large tract of timber. We used a layer of fabric, then 22' tamarack poles for corduroy, then another layer of fabric, then about 2' of "jig rock"over the top. "Jig rock" is the name used for the overburden and waste from the iron mines, which we have millions of yards of up here. It works great for crossing soft areas, it typically runs up to 3" in size, with good "angularity" so it really locks together and bridges the soft areas.

The only drawback with the jig rock is that with the iron content, it is red, and that red gets all over everything. Your vehicle bleeds red 6 months after driving on it if it gets wet ;)

[1270d]

That's an interesting road.   Do you leave it permanently?   We have huge piles of red mine waste here as well, but they sure don't let it go cheap.

[reprod]

Here's a clip from this summer, cutting in a spruce swamp.   To date this is the deepest bog I have operated on. 

https://youtu.be/yTSY8IGnRpM

Wow!  Great video.  I've never seen ground like that before.

[barbender]

1270, yep that will be a permanent road. We put it in for UPM on their land. The road got pretty tall, because the tamarack was layed in approximately 2' thick, and then all the fill on top. We're figuring the whole road will sink at least a foot before it stops settling. The last time I.checked,.most places.were getting $1/yard for the jig rock, it may be more now. It's pretty cheap.