couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[BargeMonkey]

No clue Tom. Got the call 30mins ago that I've gotta go to a diff boat, another new engineer rang the bell. They are talking about painting the main pier here green and call it "The Mile".... 😆
That's a 545II. Brand new, bought it for almost half, floor model. I can't bring myself to buy a Stihl, even at cost, but I hear they are adopting the same spokes"person" as Budweiser and have some killer deals for Pride month.
Jokes... just jokes....
 I bought a few more new 372s this weekend 🤦‍♂️. Next saw I buy is the yellow 5702 Husqvarna model. 

[Firewoodjoe]

What are the 372s running now $$? I have a few in boxes I hope to never open. 

[Firewoodjoe]

Little patch if hard maple. Not a lot of veneer but good cutting clean wood. Filling the gap between sales. Got the old buncher and hand cut the big ones. Just keep the ball rolling. 🤷‍♂️

[B.C.C. Lapp]

The forester in charge of the public land job I was working gave me the boot last Thursday due to the wet ground.   I don't blame him a bit, it was pretty bad.   Hopefully go back and finish that in May or June.  In the mean time I went south and  started a real nice piece for a different mill and I'm real happy with the job.  Decent ground, skids not to long.    Timber isn't huge but its okay.  Its amazing the difference driving 70 miles south of home verses going 40 miles north of home. Its high spring down there.  Here's the first load that hit the landing.

[Firewoodjoe]

I miss my timberjack. Just to small for my liking. Hopefully someday I can find a good dozer with a winch. I'm kinda picky when it comes to equipment🤦‍♂️ 

[Walnut Beast]

Great pictures and a very nice skidder!!!

[barbender]

 Last night in Itasca County, MN



 

Over the years, I've always made it a practice of pulling the pin on bad ground before the forester shut me down. 90% of them learned to trust my judgment and didn't give me much scrutiny. If I told them the ground is holding up ok, that was good enough.

Other guys would totally destroy jobs if the forester didn't shut them down, and they got to stay home on days where they probably could've worked because the forester didn't trust them to try it🤷

95% of the time it does not pay to bump heads with the forester. Actually, I never did, if there was a disagreement I let my boss take care of that end of it. I had a couple over the years that were pretty dang disagreeable, but it didn't do me any good to have an adversarial relationship with them.

I'm not saying you guys were fighting your foresters, just musing😊

[Ron Scott]

It's always best to cooperate with the forester especially when they hold a performance bond on the job. ;)

[ehp]

I work close with my forester and were friends , you treat people correct and that gets around pretty fast 

[ehp]

Guys not sure if you know but the 365 XT and the 372XT are the same engine , same piston , same cylinder  , the only difference in the 2 transfer doors on cylinder has a air deflector in the transfer port to stop as much air getting to the cylinder port so that is how they lower the HP over the 372 , take those 2 deflectors off and its a 372 and up here its $200 to $250 less for the 365

[barbender]

I really don't understand why Husky does that. Or at least, why the difference in price?

[ehp]

to sell saws and to make more coin, it cost about the same to build each saw but the 372 is $200 plus dollars more, It also makes them more coin cause they donot need to produce different cylinders and pistons so keeping stock is easier , Just look back at dolmar , the 6400, 7300 and 7900 were the same saw just a different cylinder and piston , the rest was the same.   Im going to try and skid abit tomorrow around my landing as it's up on a hill 

[ehp]

65 F plus Degrees here today and sunny , that will help and it does not look like much if any rain for a bit

[BargeMonkey]

 Forester told me on a job, "I'm going to work with you repeatedly, I'm going to work with this landowner 1-3x in my career". I would rather deal with a forester anymore, know exactly what you've got and expected. I'm watching landowners just get dumber. 

 Anywhere from 8-900, 1 was still in the box. If dealers can get them they are sticking it in deep, Stahls in PA didn't have anymore, I cleaned the 4 I could find off FB. The price of stuff is getting nuts, Borzon wheels are double what I paid last time. Grinder, files, 33 loops of chain, 3 bars, 3x 3/4 chains, 2x wheels, 2200 bucks. 🤦‍♂️. 


 
  The quantity of F's left in the jar is very few, like watching a trainwreck and a dumpster fire combined. No help 🤦‍♂️ 

I miss my timberjack. Just to small for my liking. Hopefully someday I can find a good dozer with a winch. I'm kinda picky when it comes to equipment🤦‍♂️

 Sit back a little bit, the low hr stuff is coming out, a month ago I couldn't find a cab J series dozer with a forestry package, 3 just popped up, seeing more, decent forwarders for sale. 

[Walnut Beast]

It definitely does seem like more and more stuff is popping up for sale! Lots of newer Skidsteers and mulching heads guys are selling. Seems like the higher costs and payments are getting many people 

[BargeMonkey]

 I don't think it's fire sale pricing but the insanity is over. There's 3-4x brand new Eastonmade processors kicking around for sale now, couple hundred hours, guys bought them and their supply stopped, salesman's getting laughed at online. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

It's always best to cooperate with the forester especially when they hold a performance bond on the job. ;)

For me cooperating with foresters is the ONLY way to survive.    Lots of loggers will tell you foresters get in the way.   I don't see things that way.  
Here's the deal, at least for me.   Some mills I contract with are easy to work with and for. They stay out of the woods and pretty much let me make the decisions how I log a tract and when I call it due to wet ground. I work when I want as much or as little as I want.   But SOME mills want to micro manage you.   And most of those want the logs out right now and mud and ruts be danged.   When  working for a mill like that a good forester is your best friend and secret weapon.   The mill that had the contract on the piece the forester sent me off of would have wanted me working in there if the ruts were belly pan deep and I was pushing water and mud back and forth.  And that aint fun and its really hard on machines.   The mill will argue with me but the they listen to the forester, or else.
I can see ahead of time when I might have to get off a tract for a while and I always have a plan B ready to go.    And that plan B very often is because a forester friend tells me "hey you ought to check with so and so mill, they just bought a big tract in".........Well, you get the point, be good to your foresters and it will bear fruit.

[teakwood]

Last night in Itasca County, MN

Nice tires barbender!! :D

[ehp]

I have not seen the prices on those green 548 G3 come down any to where I could afford one , remember I'm for sure not Money Bags Barge

[Ron Scott]

Foresters and loggers need to work cooperately together and walk in each other's shoes to provide and implement the best management practices on their associated work sites.

[barbender]

Teakwood, that tire condition is what is known as "black and round"😁 All the rears need to do is hold air, once I get a hitch on they aren't spinning. Although they do have a tendency to push when backing up😊

[Riwaka]

Barge must have it pretty tough if Filipinos of NY can't fill the roster.

[BargeMonkey]

 Without a big history lesson about the USMM, WW2, theres something called "The Jones Act" that alot of people would LOVE to do away with. If the company's could crew the boats with foreigners paying them 50.00 a day and a bag of rice they would do it in a heartbeat. Covid was like the kiss of death for any employer, especially out here where most of your experienced workforce was over 50, I personally know 5-6 qualified people that left for good. They can't print licenses fast enough at the schools to replace people here, I'm one of the few in the middle here as far as age, either kids or guys 60+, in 5yrs the entire industry has some serious issues. 

[WhitePineJunky]

Without a big history lesson about the USMM, WW2, theres something called "The Jones Act" that alot of people would LOVE to do away with. If the company's could crew the boats with foreigners paying them 50.00 a day and a bag of rice they would do it in a heartbeat. Covid was like the kiss of death for any employer, especially out here where most of your experienced workforce was over 50, I personally know 5-6 qualified people that left for good. They can't print licenses fast enough at the schools to replace people here, I'm one of the few in the middle here as far as age, either kids or guys 60+, in 5yrs the entire industry has some serious issues.

Same with trucking, at least in canuckistan. Most of the experienced guys are retiring now. 

[BargeMonkey]

First it was Bud-Light... now Stihl has jumped on the bandwagon...