Total of our experience-Logging and working in the woods

[york]

Hi all,
logged in with 60 yrs....Helped me granddad,in what he called his "sugar bush"
they tapped maple trees...I was 9 or 10...then in 9th grade i volunteered to plant plantation trees.... Then,still in school pruned plantation trees,mostly red pines...

Me granddad also had a small circle mill...Also cut and burned firewood most of my life...

Late 60s,wanted to build a log cabin-cut and skidded out red pine-got my first mill,Meadows #1,from dealer in pa.

Also became interested in tree work-became a partner with "Williams tree" not with him any more...

Now i have a Band mill...never did build my log cabin-the wall logs were easy to sell....

I need to keep going-want to get another chipper-love doing tree work...will be 70 in November-feel good....thanks Bert

[semologger]

Been logging for 12 years now. My darn dad started us out with a old c5c tree farmer. We started out thinning pine stands. Now we have alot more equipment and working just as hard as the first day. Sawmill or logging is in my blood i guess. Grampa was in the business and 2 uncles still in the wood business. I guess i was just meant to be stuck in the business but couldnt be happier.

[chucker]

  started working in the woods with my dad when i was 10 . we cut pulp and fire wood for sale and for the neighbors here in centeral minnesota. hauled and loaded pulp in an old 1950 ford ? f1 3/4 ton truck. loaded pulp by hand into rail cars for northwest paper co. in brainerd.dad pulled logs and most of the wood with a team of horses, as well as a jd b in later years .i still have dads orignal homelite saw with the gas tank on top of the motor old blue.28 " beaver tail and around 5 horse power.things sure have changed!
now i use a arctic cat 300 and a home made skidder with a hand winch to pull logs from the woods and a small trailer to keep from damageing the trees on a lot clearing job . when ever pulp is at a fair market value the small unit comes handy for a one man operation and a fair days wage. over the years i have learned a lot from watching the ole man of the northern forest do the best he could to do for a family of 12 kids and mom .

[thecfarm]

chucker,welcome to the forum.Pictures would be great.Go to the top of the page and click on to Help.There is a tutorial that will tell you how to post pictures.

[rockenbman]

 I would say I started in my teens but that was off and on over the years and now I part time cut after work .This is my second season for saw logs and fire wood.Working two jobs in cooler weather is hard on a old fat boy like me 

[Kodiakmac]

Worked in the bush with my Dad and Uncle when they were still using horses...wasn't much help in those days.  Then we used a Fordson Major tractor with 1/2 tracks.  I worked in the Upper Fraser Valley (McBride, Prince George) in the early 70's using , Clarks, a Monashee Timber Toter, old 440 JD and Dozers (HD16 and a HD21).  Got out of it for thirty-odd years and now I'm back into it.  Logging is just like hunting: a good way to get away from it all.

[BW_Williams]

I've been runnin' a saw in the woods since i could keep the bar out of the rocks! 31 years, how did that happen.  If'n I'd knowed I was going live this long,. . . . . .

[BrandonTN]

Phew!! That's alotta years. That's why this board is so great.

[tw3006]

I started logging full time the day i got out of high school, i got my first chainsaw and started cutting firewood when i was 12, so almost 11 years now, but full time logging and tree service for almost 5, have done other things while in high school but when they say sawdust runs in your blood, its true. Theres no other place or occupation i'd rather be.
Hope to learn something from y'all here

[Cadenhill]

Logged in at 45 years, but probably 50. Always have cut firewood, fence posts, did tree work, and helped a good friend in their family sawmill business. Never have got tired of it.
I have a pair of trained mules that I do some skidding with and working with some morgan horses to do the same.
My kids and I team up and do about 50 cord of firewood each year to heat our homes and my shop.

[timber tramp]

  Went to work for my Dad when I was 15 settin' chokers, worked my way up a bit since then.

[ontariologger]

i started when i was 14 cutting firewood, now i have been logging for 3 years and just love it

[LE-1]

Howdy , been loggin' for 30 plus years , body feels like its been a 100..

[Banjo picker]

I was about 16 when I got my first ride.  A 1953 international pickup.  not long after that dad got hurt.  (cut his foot open with an ax)  I had to cut firewood for us to stay warm.  I promptly cut a semi- small oak on the International.  It didn't ruin it but sure hurt its looks.  I'm glad to say that's been the last bad experince in the woods.  Tim

[ErikC]

  We worked in our woods since I was born it seems like. Mom used to bring me out in the backpack thing and check on dad. I got officially named firewood stacker at about 10. When I was 14 choker setting for a logging job on their place with a grouchy old cat operator, and on we go.

I was about 16 when I got my first ride.  A 1953 international pickup. 

Me Too! Mine was a 4wheel drive flatbed. Actually I think it was mostly a 58. Hauled a lot of wood, mine was ugly when I got it. It was tough though. Of course I am 20 years younger than you so it had more time to wear and tear first.

[Banjo picker]

  We worked in our woods since I was born it seems like. Mom used to bring me out in the backpack thing and check on dad. I got officially named firewood stacker at about 10. When I was 14 choker setting for a logging job on their place with a grouchy old cat operator, and on we go.

I was about 16 when I got my first ride.  A 1953 international pickup. 

Me Too! Mine was a 4wheel drive flatbed. Actually I think it was mostly a 58. Hauled a lot of wood, mine was ugly when I got it. It was tough though. Of course I am 20 years younger than you so it had more time to wear and tear first.

I gave mine to a guy about two years ago.  He is supposed to restore it.  I finally realizied I was just not going to ever get around to it.  I hope he didn't crush it when scrap got so high.  Tim

[mad murdock]

started peeling popple at 8 yrs of age.  Worked with a logger who skidded with a horse at 13, peeled and cut and bunched by hand, decked by hand that summer.  First started running a saw at 13.  My older brother and I6 and 14 respectively got our own contract for 300 cords peeled popple, and cut and bunched 296 cords that summer.  I guess that would put me at more like 37 years since I first started working in the woods.  I only put 20 on the poll.  Needed to think about it more I guess.  Own a 40 acre tree farm currently in the North Oregon Coast Range.  Work for a company who directly supports the timber industry via aerial application by helicopter.  There is no place on earth like the woods!

[capt n cutz]

if i only knew then, what I will learn tomorrow.

[mad murdock]

I found a pic of a nice tree that we harvested in '06.  There were a few this size, it took the Garrett model 15 pulling in front and a JD 350B pushing from behind to get the first 2 41" logs out, each long scaled in over 800 bd/ft each!
Had I to do it over again I would have cut them shorter, would've gotten a little better scale asw the logs averaged 32" inside the bark.

[Warbird]

Just added in my 20 years.